July 6th represented the implementation of the new budget. I have a plan for spending for July and August, with July paying a significant portion of older daughter's tuition, and August paying the remaining property tax payment for the year.

My allotted spending looks like this: WEEKLY
$118.50 for groceries and all household expenses (cleaning/paper/personal care)
$80.00 for gas (both vehicles)
$15.00 for entertainment
$15.00 for clothing
$10.00 for miscellaneous
$5.00 for charitable donations (outside of tithing)

To date for the week I've spent:
$124.03 for groceries and household
$87.67 for gas (I filled my vehicle up and will count some of that toward next week's expenses)
$12.54 for miscellaneous

I will take $15 cash and carry that over to next week.

Enterainment for the week will include going to the $1 movie at the bargain theater tomorrow morning and buying snacks at CVS - total for that should be $10.00

My mother's birthday was this past weekend and the kids made cards and I stitched her a cross-stitch picture from a pattern she admired, cost was minimal as I had the fabric and most floss. Definitely the gift was a labor of love with the amount of time it took.

We actually had a NS weekend, going to Mass on Saturday, my parents' on Sunday for a cook-out and birthday party. The girls had sleepovers, but those are relatively inexpensive because they snacked from the pantry.

My mother got a 30% off of Kohl's purchase and I think I'll use her card to take care of our growing list of things that people need and/or would like: socks for school, gym shoes for school, new underware on most fronts, a belt for oldest son, etc.

I ended up buying two new-to-me couches on craigslist. Beautiful Ethan Allen sofas that cost $2,300 three years ago. For $500 plus the cost of renting a truck (estimated $30). My mom gave me $200 toward the purchase, and I'm excited to be getting them on Thursday. We're donating our present couch and loveseat. This means that I will need to purchase new living room drapes, and I'd like a new tablecloth for the dining room (the rooms are connected), so I'll be scouring coupons to do this as inexpensively as possible.

Off to catch up on the blogs!