September Money Review

Here we are in early October. After a week of blistering, high heat summer days (temps in the 90s), Thursday evening the weather suddenly looked at the calendar and dropped into suitable fall weather: cool days, blue skies, and crisp nights. The lettuce I planted last weekend has come up (its germination helped along by the high heat, no doubt); now the question is whether there will be enough days before the frost to get a bowl or two of salad out of my efforts.

And the black eye (and black and swollen jaws) from last week are fading, enough that casual interactions do not result in curious stares or questions. Kim of Out My Window worried whether my predicament was the result of treatment. Nope: I do not have treatments at Mayo. My situation was simply my body saying "I've had enough." As I told my dad when I saw him earlier this week, my body is a union shop and it walked out. Management has duly noted the severity and legitimacy of the issue and changes will be made.

After the vacation-increased food expenses of August, our September spending dropped substantially, although not to or below the $175.00 a month average I am aiming for (to my surprise). We spent $178.31 on food at the grocery and farm market (come on, it was the end of the sweet corn season!) and another $19.74 in household (half of which was a big toilet paper pack at Aldi; most of the rest of which was foil, freezer bags, and other kitchen items related to food storage) for a total of $198.05. When I plug September into our year-to-date spending and divide by nine, I get a monthly average of $181.74.

So we're running six dollars ahead of our goal. If we hang around that mark, we'll finish the year $120.00 ahead (in a good way) of where we finished last year.

Eating out in September included the trip to Mayo, We spent a whopping $36.75 on that trip. ('Whopping" is to be read with great sarcasm.) Our food costs were so low because we packed a lunch/supper for Day 1 (the supper was supplemented with a salad from my beloved Kwik Trip) and ate the free breakfasts that came with our overnight accommodations. The rest of the month came to $72.77, a figure that included a concert night in Mansfield and treating ourselves to fair food when the county fair rolled around. Grand total: $109.52.

October food costs on the home front should be routine, with the exception of the opening of Season 41 with the Central Ohio Symphony. I'm anticipating we'll be hosting a reception afterwards; my mind is already turning to what to prepare and how to keep the costs reasonable. If nothing else, I do not have to buy any proseco, because I still have the five (5!) bottles from our reception at the end of Season 40.

One food expenses we will not have this year is Halloween candy, not because we are ignoring it, but because we leave town on the 31st for a two-day conference in Pittsburgh. I will miss our town's Beggar Night: I love to see the children and their costumes, I love to pass out the candy, I love to snack on the candy while I sit outside...

Next year.