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[Music]
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hey guys and welcome back to my channel
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and welcome to today's video so today I
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am going to be tracking expenses with
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you guys for January as you can probably
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tell I have not recorded anything um in
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quite a while so there's a lot of
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transaction that I need to track I've
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written them all down and I've been
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keeping track of them kind of manually
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but just not sitting down writing them
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all in I try as much as possible not to
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get into a situation like this but you
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guys know how it is it's January I've
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had holiday stuff with like lots of
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people out of town and then backtack
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kids birthdays and birthday parties so
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we are catching up today it is a
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Saturday the girls are out at like a
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football kind of play dat type of thing
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with Jason and some of the dads so we
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are going to go ahead and sit down track
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all of the expenses and then in
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a like a couple days you guys will see a
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video where I go through and do a weekly
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check-in so that's what we're doing
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today so I have my 2025 humble
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beginnings budget planner here these are
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right now marked down because we have a
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bunch of them left in stock so if you've
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not picked up a budget planner and you
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want to get started started with
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budgeting I definitely recommend picking
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one up again they're marked off I will
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have a link down below we want to
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continue offering budget planners going
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forward um we've offered one in 2024
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obviously this one in
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2025 we are thinking about 2026 which is
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crazy to think about because we just
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started 2025 but we need to be able to
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sell a certain number of planners and
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able to do that um and so anyway share
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it with your friends family members um
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let's get these all sold out so we can
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start working on the 2025 version okay
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so like I said my budget planner I will
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also have a link down below where you
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can p purchase budget stickers so this
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is the humble beginnings budget um
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sticker kit it has Washi that will work
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on the tops of all of the um spreads as
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well as event stickers or sorry um
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expense tracking stickers and buildo
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stickers so great option if you're
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wanting to track your expenses the way
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that I do um so we're going to start by
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going through and recording all of our
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variable expenses so the way that I do
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it is I have my variable expenses here
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my fixed expenses here variable expenses
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are exactly what they sound like they
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vary by month and so I like to keep
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track of them in my monthly view so I
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can get a good sense of like okay how
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often are we purchasing certain things
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are we um buying groceries you know
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usually at a specific time and if we
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don't follow that does it end up making
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our groceries more expensive or you know
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whatever patterns I can come up with so
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that's kind of what I do um and then I
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do have a separate transaction log which
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I track all of my sinking funds um and
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any transactions that may occur for that
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so we'll be going into that um in a
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little
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bit okay so first thing is hot lunch so
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I'm going to put let's see I think I'm
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going to do groceries in this color here
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so I'm just going to write
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groceries we'll
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do eating out
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in uh we'll do eating out
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here eating
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out household
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and then gas for our cars will be in
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this darker blue so I like to write
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these on you could also do custom
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scripts which I've done in the
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past um so I have those I'm just going
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to put together like a little key over
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here just so I
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know um what everything
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is I don't want to run into a situation
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where I'm not sure what the colors are
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cuz I am doing different colors
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for
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every
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month okay
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so we are going to start with groceries
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so first thing that we purchased was hot
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lunch this is for Macy's school lunch
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and it was
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$72 for the month of January so that's
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always on the first I document it um I
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typically purchase this like ahead of
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time so like not really on the first but
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we're going to put it on the first just
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because it is for
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January um okay next up we went out to
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brunch with my sister and that was at
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Buttermilk we rarely go to like sitdown
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places and this is exactly why the total
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was 104
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46 which honestly just seems outrageous
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to me for
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brunch um I think Jason and I have
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gotten into like a good routine where we
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really like things like Chipotle or
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Chick-fil-A we don't we try as much as
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possible to only go out with the kids
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when we know they're going to like
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really eat well so anyway that was it
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was kind of like a fun little thing that
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we did and it was great I'm glad that we
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spent time with them but man is that
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crazy that's like a third of our eating
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out budget which is insane um next we
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have groceries again Jason went to
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Woodman's and we spent a total of
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21
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58 and that was on the
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second this was obviously like New
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Year's week so it was kind of a goofy a
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goofy time Jason also filled up the Rav
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4 with gas so I'm going to put Rav 4 I
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don't worry about like the gas station
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we go to I just try and track it by car
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so that was
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3854 and that was on the second I'm
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guessing that he went to Woodman's
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because Woodman's does have a gas
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station and it's usually cheaper than
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the other areas around us
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um then we had another transaction on
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the second and this was
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groceries this was
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1075 okay then we have groceries again
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of Fort Aldi that's usually the two
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places that we go to is Aldi and
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Woodman's and ALDI was
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81
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31 again I think usually Jason would go
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grocery shopping on this on a Tuesday
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but because of the way that
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the um New Year's fell and everything I
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think just did not
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happen Okay so that is that
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then Jason and I had a little date night
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we went to L famous and I'm just using
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our eating out for
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that so that was a total of
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$34 and 36 Cents like I said it was a
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date night so it's just Jason and I but
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Jason did end up getting a ton of tacos
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we went to a movie first and then
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decided to go get dinner after and I
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think just from not like having anything
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for a couple hours at the movie he was
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just like starving so he got a lot of
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tacos and he tried out like some new
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thing
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too um that cost quite a bit of money
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but it worked out all right um Jason
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took Macy to McDonald's this day for
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lunch I think she was still off of
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school and he decided to take her out
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for McDonald's that was
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$12.12 McDonald's is honestly one of the
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only places that if the girls are going
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to eat out that they like want I I can't
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tell you why but it is it is what it is
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um Jewel we
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spent
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[Music]
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17
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1778 at
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Jewel on the 3 I don't remember what
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that was for but
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regardless spent
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that okay then we got
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Chipotle on the 5th so that's going to
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be
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here and that was
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$150 Chipotle has been mine and Jason's
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goto
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lately all right and then we needed a
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new grocery
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pad um so Jason really likes these ones
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from Amazon they have a section where
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you can put like your list of what
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you're going to have for GR like for
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meals and stuff and then on the other
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side like what you need to grab from the
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grocery store and it has the edge where
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you can like rip it off so anyway we got
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that from Amazon that was $126
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65 we've been using those for forever
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and that's like definitely something
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that we need for meal
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planning okay um so we have that then we
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got back into groceries again so again
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Jason went to Woodman's and then to
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Aldi so Woodman's was $608
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and then Aldi was
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106 and that was on the
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seventh and then I did pick up some
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supplements from Amazon that were $35
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and those are come out of grocery so
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anytime it's like protein drinks
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anything like that I do include that in
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grocery if it's something like Tylenol
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or vitamins I typically do that out of
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household there's not really a a great
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Rhyme or Reason but that's kind of the
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way that I've handled
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it all right and then we had um a Costco
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trip
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so Jason got like chicken nuggets and
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stuff like that from Costco that were
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$64 81 and then he also got laundry or
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uh dish pods from Costco as
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well
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and I typically don't like to
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do household and groceries in the
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same um transaction but typically when
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Jason Goes that's like you know he'll
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grab toilet paper and paper towels and
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things like that so I have to split it I
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don't always have the receipt so I kind
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of like eyeball it I know the laundry or
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the dish pods are always around $20 so
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some of it may be going a little bit
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extra towards groceries but I'm not too
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worried about it again we're not like
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abusing it or anything like
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that um okay then we had eating out
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from Duncan um this was for Macy's
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birthday we spent $14 I got a bunch of
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munchkins I always do that for the girls
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birthdays they either get munchkins or
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they get like donuts they get to choose
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for the morning of their birthday we
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really don't get donuts or anything like
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that very
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often um okay and then Aldi we spent
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2226 on Macy's
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birthday I think Jason just picked up
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stuff to have people over for
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dinner and
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then we we did some more eating out
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surprise surprise um we had steak and
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Shake actually Jason and the girls did
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Steak and
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Shake and that ended up being
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16 68 and I got chipotle
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I have been on like a fitness journey
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for some time
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now
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and I used to have a specific meal when
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I was like really trying to cut back on
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calories now that I am trying to build
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muscle I'm trying to get way more
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protein so I'm not really like I'm not
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limiting calories or really too worried
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about them I have you know a whole
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system and I know where I need to be and
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it's a lot more flexible now that I'm
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out of that phase but regardless
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um my Chipotle order has doubled in
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price now that I'm like really focusing
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on getting a ton of protein and eating
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more calories so that's kind of an
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interesting thing
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to realize with my
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budget um Jason pilled up the RAF 4
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again that was
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$38.80 and that was on the
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12th the Rav 4 is like our main family
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car so that typically gets filled up a
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lot more than the others and then I
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think that same day we got Duncan again
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every once in a while when we are low on
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groceries I will get like wakeup wraps
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for the kids um usually we have plenty
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of stuff
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for breakfast and stuff like that but it
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just so happened that this day I think
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we were like really out of a lot of
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stuff and that happens it's all
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good okay back to McDonald's McDonald's
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I think what we typically do is on
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tumbling nights we'll get McDonald's
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once in a while so that was
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$20.70 the girls love it and again we
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were low on groceries this specific week
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this
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weekend all right next is groceries
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again so back to
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Woodman's we spent
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5749 this is on the 14th you can kind of
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tell we
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have a lot of trend
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and things like that like typically our
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groceries are done on Tuesday eating out
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is normally mostly on the weekend
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sometimes occasionally on Monday and I
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feel like it's kind of interesting like
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seeing these patterns but that that's
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just me um that's why I like doing it
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this way then we had
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Aldi
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8172 and we did fill up the Prius so I'm
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going to put that in as well was that
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the same day yes it was and that was
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$23
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94 the Prius has been going for quite
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some time um I have had the Prius since
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Jason and I got married almost 12 years
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ago it's
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2013 and it has over I think it has like
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over 104 maybe 110,000 miles it's quite
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a bit um but it's it's still going it's
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great so it is um it's still going I'm
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honestly kind of surprised sometimes
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that we've had like we haven't even
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changed the brakes in the Prius it
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financially it was a great great car to
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purchase um sizewise though it would be
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nice now to have a larger car for the
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kids and stuff but regardless it still
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works great um next
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caputos I just had to run and get some
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Basics so that was $122
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I had to get milk for the weekend and
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then I also got like some bread and some
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candy while I was there and then again
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Chipotle I'm telling you I feel like I
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have a whole a whole
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um system with like certain restaurants
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and eating out's not always the greatest
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but when you're low on groceries and you
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need to you know eat and you want to
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make sure that you're eating pretty well
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I feel like Chipotle is a a good option
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okay so that is it for variable expenses
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um it is quite a bit to record all at
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once and again I typically try and do
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this like every couple days record it so
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just know that if you're in this phase
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and you're like holy crap that took 20
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minutes to go through um it's typically
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easier than that um not always crazy
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anyway let's go on and move to
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transactions for my syncing funds
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because there have been quite a bit of
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syncing fund transactions so the first
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thing was on the
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1 we spent
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187 from
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activities and this is for the girls
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tumbling next we we had the girls go to
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a place with my sister and her
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kids it's like a indoor play place on
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New Year's it was
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$44.58 and that came out of
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entertainment so yeah that was an
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expensive day for us but it it was fun
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for the kids I have been trying really
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hard nowadays to find like cheaper
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options for that because I feel like it
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adds up especially during the winter for
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us but regardless it's all good on the
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third like I mentioned before Jason and
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I went to go see a movie so that was $17
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for the movie tickets and that came out
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of entertainment as
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well okay now moving on to the more
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expensive stuff so on on the 4th we
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spent
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$4
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9528 on and this was from Christmas and
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gifts and this was for Mimi's birthday
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party so honestly it's we put down a
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deposit we had a ton of people show up
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so it's kind of shocking that it didn't
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cost even more money that includes like
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cupcak
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um any decorations that we had it
00:21:02
include like getting um pizza and fruit
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and snacks for everybody my entire
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family was there Jason's family was
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there we had Mimi's entire class come so
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it's expensive birthday parties are
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expensive but we got to celebrate with a
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lot of people and I'm I'm really
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grateful that we got to do that um on
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the 5ifth we had our Amazon Prime
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membership come out and that was
00:21:27
$139 and that came out of
00:21:30
subscriptions there's only two things
00:21:33
that we have come out of that um it's my
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gym membership through our Park District
00:21:37
and then Amazon
00:21:39
Prime then we had on the 10th we had to
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pay our trash bill that was
00:21:48
$591 and that just came out of trash we
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do have a couple TR or a couple um
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syncing funds that are utilities so
00:21:57
that's one of them
00:22:00
on the 10th I also picked up supplies
00:22:03
for Macy's birthday and that was
00:22:06
124
00:22:08
996 that came out of Christmas and
00:22:14
gifts and this was from
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Target I'm going just say
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Macy's
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party so Macy's party was a little bit
00:22:26
different we didn't get a lot of stuff
00:22:29
with her party it was more like okay
00:22:32
with Mimi's Party it
00:22:34
included the party package included a
00:22:36
lot of stuff with Macy's party I had to
00:22:38
get like um plates and napkins and forks
00:22:43
and all that type of stuff I also had to
00:22:45
get snacks Macy's stuff like we had to
00:22:47
provide all the food and drink so ended
00:22:49
up being um comparable in price but it's
00:22:53
just you see it a little bit different
00:22:55
we've already paid for Macy's party so
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we didn't really have to pay a ton for
00:22:59
that um but we did actually end up
00:23:02
having two parties we had one party for
00:23:04
Macy with her friends at like this fun
00:23:07
interactive game place and then we had a
00:23:09
separate party later that night with our
00:23:11
family just because the um younger kids
00:23:15
in our family were not allowed to go to
00:23:17
this inter interactive place it's really
00:23:19
for only kids six and over so even Mimi
00:23:21
didn't get to go so we wanted to just be
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able to celebrate with everybody um so
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on her actual birthday
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we had to pay for an extra kid so that
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was
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$36
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92 again from
00:23:42
Christmas um we paid for 10 kids we
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ended up having 11 kids show up so we
00:23:47
had to pay a little bit extra and then I
00:23:51
feel like I can just probably continue
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to to do like the thing and I could just
00:23:56
do the little marks to replicate it cuz
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we have a lot of charges for Macy's
00:24:00
birthday so we spent
00:24:04
316 on a Portillo's chocolate
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cake that was Macy's request for her
00:24:12
birthday so I'm just going to do these
00:24:13
little marks just because there's going
00:24:15
to be a
00:24:16
lot um then we had we got chicken for
00:24:22
Macy's birthday Macy is obsessed
00:24:25
with like chicken any type of chicken
00:24:27
chicken wings Fried Chicken all that so
00:24:29
we spent
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$51
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85 on getting Browns Chicken and this
00:24:38
was for our family
00:24:45
party then we got let's see 36 so this
00:24:50
actually must have been the other charge
00:24:53
for her party
00:24:56
32 24 I'm not sure what this charge was
00:24:59
for then oh that was for pizza sorry
00:25:03
that's where
00:25:04
I'm anyway another Macy's
00:25:11
party and
00:25:13
then um we had a
00:25:18
return which I think ended up equaling
00:25:22
out right yes yes yeah I see it okay
00:25:28
that's not something that I need to
00:25:29
worry about and then the last thing is
00:25:33
we ended up signing up the girls and
00:25:35
Jason for the father daughter dance that
00:25:37
we do every single year so that was
00:25:41
$27 and that is out of
00:25:46
entertainment and that's the
00:25:53
daddy daughter dance
00:25:58
okay so you can see we've had a lot of
00:26:01
transactions come through our budget in
00:26:05
January um so again just another little
00:26:08
kind of heads up I really
00:26:11
try every single month to go through and
00:26:15
do this on a more timely basis so you
00:26:18
know every couple of days go through and
00:26:22
write in all of our transactions I try
00:26:25
not to leave it to you know this far
00:26:29
into a month to do this process but if
00:26:31
you are in the same position that I'm in
00:26:34
it's better to start now than not start
00:26:36
at all so anyway I have all this set and
00:26:40
done for both my variable transactions
00:26:45
here and also my sying funds here the
00:26:48
next step that I'm going to do and this
00:26:49
is going to be in a separate video cuz
00:26:51
this one's already ridiculously long and
00:26:53
my battery is flashing at me is I'm
00:26:55
going to go through and do a weekly
00:26:56
check-in again typically I would do this
00:26:59
on a weekly basis but I didn't do that
00:27:02
in January and that's okay um never too
00:27:05
late to start so I'm going to just go
00:27:06
through see where we're at as of kind of
00:27:10
the middle of the month and then that
00:27:11
will give me a good starting point for
00:27:13
the rest of the month so again never too
00:27:15
late to start um I will have everything
00:27:18
linked down below I have the budget
00:27:20
planner there's still plenty in stock if
00:27:22
you're wanting to pick one up the budget
00:27:24
stickers as well this is kit 220 if you
00:27:26
like the way that this kit looks um I
00:27:29
also have other kits as well and we do
00:27:32
have ones that coordinate with like
00:27:34
January February March so anyway that is
00:27:38
this video I hope you guys enjoyed
00:27:40
getting to see how I handle being a
00:27:42
little bit behind on my budgeting and
00:27:44
definitely check out the following days
00:27:47
video where I post my weekly check-in
00:27:50
for January see you guys later and good
00:27:53
luck with budgeting bye guys
00:27:58
[Music]
00:28:05
about to leave already
00:28:08
packing come with me I'm not really
00:28:12
asking we'll get away to
