Thrifty Birthday Party Budget

We had a great party for DuckyBoy's 7th birthday. As some of you know, we are living fairly comfortably this year off last year's excess income (the Lord DOES provide), but are trying not to be extravagant since simply living in NYC is an extravagance itself.

So, we set a budget of $200 for this year's birthday party.

It helped that DB got into his head to "only invite 8 kids," I think because he saw that the birthday paper products come in 8-packs. So, despite my usual inclination to invite more, more more, I invited 8, and didn't even invite more when I got a couple of no's.

So, we ended up with 7 kids, including DB. It was plenty.

We always invite parents, too, 'cause no way am I crazy enough to have a drop-off party, and most of my friends are Nest parents anyway and they aren't ready to drop their kids off anyway. So we feed the adults too, which some people might not do. So there were 8 adults who ate dinner.

And, in true Poverty Party fashion, here are the actual expenses:

Cake: $23
This included a Transformers cake-topper toy DB had been eagerly awaiting. It's a bit of a dud because It.Will.Not.Stand when properly transformed, but there's a priceless lesson right there.

Beverage total: $36
Beer (plus bottle deposits): $18
Soda (plus bottle deposits): $13
Ice for the cooler: $5

I splurged on beer we like, Stella Artois and Blue Moon, and on the little 100-calorie cans of soda 'cause they're cute and Husband likes them.

Food total: $73
5 lbs beef brisket: $25
Other food: around $48

I got buns from a local bakery outlet, BOGO potato chips, and a few veggies from our weekly CSA box, which all helped. And we have a bunch of stuff left over -- buns, bbq brisket, veggies, and a whole $7 package of nuggets -- so some of this can roll over to the grocery budget, right?

Paper goods: $25
I got both sizes of plates and both sizes of napkin, plus extra 99-cent plates in case we needed more. I could have returned one pack of big plates abnd a pack of big napkins, if I hadn't opened them already. Could still return $1.98 of plain plates, but is it worth the gas? Anyway I'll use the napkins for his mini-party at school.

I didn't buy a Transformers tablecloth; I had one with the right colors (red and blue) so I used that. Also, I decorated with a couple of printouts of the page I scanned to make his t-shirt, and also with drawings of Optimus Prime cut from gummy boxes (I've been saving them for this). Oh, we did buy one poster for $2 (half the price we'd seen weeks earlier at the same place!)

I made a $4 impulse splurge on little popcorn boxes so the kids could have popcorn while they watched the cartoon on the big TV. Those were SO worth it. Could have skipped the $14 worth of nuggets, in fact, since we let them snack first...

Games and prizes: $25
Um, we didn't play any of the games I planned. DB has a lot of toys, and after they watched a Soundwave episode of Transformers Animated, they colored these paper guitars I have left over from a splurge order of misc. nonsense years ago from Oriental Trading, and they played with those.

Soooo, we didn't hand out any of the prizes. Well, we had one $3 ring we dubbed the Allspark ring (it's a blue square), which we gave DB's girlfriend 'cause she was the last one there. (Her mom said, "Is this an engagement ring?!")

But DuckyBoy already knows about the prizes, so I don't think I can return them (except $3 worth and again, worth returning? hardly). I'm hoping to save them for rewards for the school year -- a week of completed homework or of no reports of yelling, stuff like that.

Favors: $27 + $10 = $37

I made favors for 10, and here's why. Two of DB's friends each have 2 younger sisters. I didn't know if one set was coming, and knew only one of the other set was coming, but didn't want the sister-who-couldn't-come to feel left out. 'Cause I like her. Now, they're younger, and they're girls, so I thought they might prefer something other than Transformers stuff, so for those 4 girls I got some different stuff. About $10 worth of stuff. Would do it the same next time.

My friend on LI had her son's favors in brown paper bags, which made me want to save those few bucks too. So we gave DB the choice -- Transformer goody bags, OR he could have the $ they would have cost (which was like $8 since I'd have needed 2 sets!). He chose the money, so all I spent was $1 on ribbon to tie the bags shut. (I folded the top over and punch2 holes, then tied each bag shut and put the name on. I think they looked nice.

6 favor boxes had: Transformers coloring book with mini markers, bubbles, package of gummies, and an Allspark cube.
4 had: Tiny purple notebook, Pez dispenser (shh! don't tell DB!), gummies, bubbles, and 2 got a coloring book and 2 got an Allspark.

Other: $54

• About $20 for a plain T-shirt and iron-on transfer paper, which I had to buy twice (long story).
• $4 for a special birthday-boy ribbon to put on his shirt. Which we forgot to put on him, but he'd worn it the day we got it and got the use out of it. Maybe we'll reuse it for the class party.
• $30 for babysitter. I expected more siblings who'd have needed wrangling. Even though the group of kids was smaller, she was still a big help. Plus I just liked having her around.
  

Grand total: $286.

• About $15 of the prizes, I will use for rewards.
• At least $25 worth of food and beverages was left over.
• He'll wear his custom $20 t-shirt all year long.
  
• $5 of paper goods will go toward his school party, for which I'd have to buy something anyway (and still need to come up with other favors for).

So that's $65 worth that, with some creative accounting, can get lopped off, meaning I can think of my party expense as: $221.

Since we spent cash we'd been saving from our weekly budget, Husband says it seems like it was free.

But he also said that for what we did, a low-key home party, it seemed like it should have only cost $50. Next year he can do more of the shopping!

Haiku Friday: Dreaming of Kid-Free Days

"Mommy ... Mommy ... Mom..."
How can one child bug me so?
I am school-ready!

Seventh birthday first,
one week away from today --
too tired to plan!

Love to hear him laugh,
and he's been a real trouper
on lots of long walks.

But -- I can hardly
think straight all day long with the
TV-buzz background.

Need some quiet time
so I can think about life
and what to do next.

I am so ready for school to start. DuckyBoy is too, I think. We've been into Manhattan, around our neighborhood, and he's watched a wide variety of Transformers videos (from the cartoon series to toy demos on YouTube) for about as much as any human can stand.

I'd like to make sure we get all those little "We'll do this in the summertime" things done, like visit Governors Island and ride the "NYC Ducks" land/water tour, in the next couple of weeks. But frankly, by the time I get him into bed, it's all I can do to pick which DVR'd show to watch.

As a loyal member of Bossy's Poverty Party, I've been buying school supplies on sale all summer long, so I don't have a big expense for that. And DB's all set for clothes, I think.

We've even set a budget for his party and gifts that should be easy to abide by. But making the mental effort to find what he wants, which is only available online, and order it without feeling ripped off? Exhausting!

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Fast Food, Now! Costs More!

I can't believe it cost me more than $8 to feed a 6-year-old. OK, so I ordered a couple of little sides. Off the supposed dollar menu, though!

This is one Big Kids 6-piece nugget meal -- the most expensive out of all 6 or so kid meal options, as I now know-- and a side of onion rings (sometimes it's hard to decide between rings or fries), plus 2 of the new little mini "burger shots."

Yeah, no wonder they put an exclamation point in the middle of the receipt!

I gotta tell you, when we got home and he wanted something else to eat, I told him he had to eat the rest of his fries and nuggets! They were probably better here at home -- reheated in the oven (both items were cold, even though we had to wait at least 5 minutes for the food) and with a little salt, which the fries had lacked.

Oh, and be sure to notice the price of those Burger Shots: $1.49 , NOT the $1.39 which is the price emblazoned IN HUGE NUMERALS on the side of the bag they were served to me in (along with an asterisk that said, of course, "Prices and participation may vary." And! And! The guy suckered me in for cheese. He simply asked me if I'd like cheese. He didn't tell me it was going to cost extra-- not only extra but 40 cents extra for 2 microscopic squares of cheese!

That's not gonna happen again! (The Burger shots were good, by the way, but probably not worth the effort -- next time I'd need to order them plain --as in, no ketchup or pickle -- for DB to really enjoy.)

Oh, and they have removed the playspace from this Burger King. Do you see a reason for me to go back???

Blessed by Overtipping

Yesterday by accident I put $2 (or it might have even been $3) in the tip jar at Dunkin Donuts. I love this particular DD so much I even thought of tipping, which usually I don't. But the bills stuck together and whoops! There it was, a small wad of bills in place of the single I planned on putting in. Was it even all singles? What if that was a $5 bill inside there?

The counterperson had moved on to taking someone else's order so I had a few seconds.What to do?? I wanted to get it back, simply because it was a mistake! We're not so rich we can tip like THAT! We're on a tight weekend budget, and all of Sunday stretched out before us!

I put my finger back towards the bills but they were folded together tight. I'd have had to remove my gloves, then remove the entire wad and unfold it and peel $1 off to put back in.

I didn't know how I was going to explain what I was doing if the counterperson happened to glance over! No, I'm not helping myself to the money in your tip jar!

So I left whatever it was.

And we ended the weekend with $95. Out of $100. The coffee and three donuts cost more than $5...not even counting the amount of the Unknown Tip! Figure that one out.

This post is my contribution to Bossy's Daily Poverty Party.

Random Money Thought

Ya know what would be REALLY helpful? If Discover Card rewards had places like the post office and the grocery store as partners.

Now, those are rewards I could easily get into.

Don't get me wrong, I'm tickled pink to have $50 to spend at The Gap. But those other ones... Tres practical!

A New Bathrobe

I saw a bathrobe for DuckyBoy at Sears a couple of weeks ago, and have had enough extra cash for it and been wanting to go get it for a week now. It's the right time of year, nice and cold, and his old one is so small it's useless.

Finally yesterday, I took him to Sears and got it. I was glad he was with me -- the 6/7 is perfect for him to grow into while the 4/5 is almost too small ... but just by looking at it I really couldn't tell! I couldn't imagine my little guy was big enough to wear that 6/7!

So this one is almost floor-length, Husband says he looks like a boxer. He'll be able to wear it for a nice long while.

It's a cozy fuzzy robe with a polar bear on the back. I can tell he likes it, as he snuggled into it after his bath.

I like that he can appreciate getting something like that -- there are times we wonder whether he simply sees every situation as an opportunity to acquire, and if he takes everything he has for granted.

So for him to enjoy what could be a little thing like a new robe makes me feel good.

Saving for Swimming

Poverty Party update:

I'm proud of us that we've figured out a way to SAVE CASH, yes, cold hard cash, out of our weekly budget to pay for DuckyBoy's 2 weekly extracurricular activities, swimming and gymnastics. I don't mind saying things like "No, we can't go to Burger King today because we did X or bought Y instead," but I'd hate for him to not get the little bit of physical activity he gets in his life due to funding issues. Plus, swimming is one of the only things we MAKE him do, so there's that bit of character building that we get thrown in for free with each $40 swim lesson. He always enjoys it when he's there, but sometimes complains beforehand.

Fittingly giving my previous post today, one of the areas we're cutting out is the liquor budget, which Husband has more of an issue with than I do.

I plan to enjoy the lulling effect of watching DB swim this afternoon, and hope the humidity of the pool room and aforementioned lull help the hangover.

In other news, we're thinking of spending upwards of $10k on business coaching. Eek!

For $6k a Month I'd Expect a Better Lifestyle

I'm noticing a cyclical mood swing: Every month when it's time to pay the bills, I get freaked out about spending down our savings on unknown business ventures with an unknown payoff date and amount! Guess I'm just perceptive like that. Hmm, $0 in, $6000 out, Aggghhhhhhhhh!!

On an up note, my wonderfully supportive life coach reassures me today that I am a much different woman than he started working with 2 years ago. I don't feel different enough, meaning I wish I was a different woman who has a flexible job that earns $100,000 a year. I find savings in bits and pieces -- like cutting out $300 a month for a life coach. I will take you up on your offer to email you, Bill ... or maybe I'll just pretend I'm talking to you in my blog, who knows.

Doesn't $6,000 seem like a lot? For it we get to live in an apartment building that's been poorly managed for decades (recent changes notwithstanding), in an apartment that though having been entirely gutted and remodeled just before we moved in 5 years ago, is not up to code in terms of electrical and has peeling paint in the bathrooms.

We also drive a 7-year-old (paid-off) car that we all love but is starting to need more care than we want to pay for.

In order to really save on those monthly expenses it's big things that need to be cut -- like our car, which is kind of a necessity given where DB's school is vis a vis our home, and our weekly expenses - uh, food and the like. I could (and do) drive less to save on gas.

I'd eyeball the digital cable bill, since we're paying for the service on 3 TVs, but DB and Husband would probably cut out eating before they gave up cable. I can try turning off my computer every night to see if the electric bill goes down. We could switch to a cheaper phone service or cut back to the most basic level, since we have 2 cells as well. (The idea of not having a landline at all kind of freaks me out. We needed it during the NYC blackout of '03.)

We do need to look at our life insurance, which is currently more than $100 a month apiece for the 2 of us.

Our weekly cash is $500, which covers groceries (and liquor), the cleaning lady (yes, I could give her up, but she's like a member of the family), the laundry machines, our parking space (if you've ever tried to park in Forest Hills you know that as long as we have the car, we need this space), anything we do on weekends, any night-out activities, babysitters, and pocket change (with which I buy stamps, socks, fast-food kid meals, give to charities, and the occasional toy; not sure what Husband buys). I'm also buying Christmas presents with my weekly cash. We've just decided to cut the monthly cash amount back by $40 a month so DB can keep taking swim lessons next semester.

I feel like we're stretching that weekly dough about as far as can be.

Beyond that, it's where we live. Between the mortgage and the maintenance and the current maintenance assessment, plus the parking space, the cleaning lady, the laundry machines, it's over $3000. Moving would probably cost $6000. So how much lower can we get those expenses to recoup that? Can we buy ourselves two months? Is that worth it?

I feel like I'm a frugal person who's good at finding a few dollars here and there to save. Not that you'd know it from this blog, which was started when I was in high-income mode. At a certain point I realized I was spending more time on combing the coupon circulars than it was worth, given our income, so I stopped. I'm back in sale-shopping mode but don't do the store-hopping I did the last time we were unemployed. Part of the reason I did it then was to have somewhere to go with the toddler DB. When I was lucky, he napped as I bargain-shopped.

Now, I'm overwhelmed by the $6k number, and though I'm saving $1 here and there when I can, I feel like finding ways even to save $20 here and $50 there won't add up to anything helpful in the long run.

I guess we need a better handle on how long we think these businesses will take off enough to cover our monthlies.

But every month I get more and more worried that it won't be soon enough.

Last but not least, got to give props to Bossy and her Poverty Party for making me think critically about the issue instead of freaking inside, which is what I usually do.