Looking at projecting expenses for Friday's pay period. I need to pull the trigger and purchase a carseat base for my car so I can have the installation inspected by the fire department before I return to work. This pay period I purchase dog food. I also will purchase two more items from Costco that are needed. Last pay period, I did a big purchase from Costco: men's vitamins, toilet paper, cashews and a few sale items such as toothbrush heads ($29.99 for two at Target, $39.99 for 6 at Costco), dental floss. This go around I will purchase chocolate milk for my son so he can bring them to school/workouts and Nescafe. Other than that, expenditures should be just groceries and possibly a tank of gas. I've been completely local as of late so maybe not. I still have a half tank left. I do need more lotion for my eczema and may need more facial lotion, but we will see.

Lately, my meal planning has been totally on point. I've also done a better job of determining when to freeze to maximize purchase power as well as decrease food waste. It's getting better...no where near perfect. We have also happily not been eating out as much, but part of that is because I'm home and have been cooking more regularly. Sleep deprivation hasn't killed everything.

So the newborn diapers I purchased turned out to be not absorbent enough for my little one. I've been toying with a diaper service (research has yielded this is better for the environment, not necessarily better for the pocketbook though). I then remembered that I bought a lot of about 18 pocket diapers used! I had not yet sanitized them as they were too big for a newborn. The LO has gained so much, he can now fit in them on the smallest sizing. I'm busy sanitizing them today. These are called pocket diapers, so I can put more inserts into the pocket to make them more absorbent. I will see if these work out better and then I won't necessarily need to go with the diaper service. I feel that it's "greener" too because I purchased these used. Diapers DO have a lifespan though, so I hope I can get some time out of them before they stop being effective.

Today is not an NSD because I noticed I needed to add more to BS (big son) lunch account at school. I don't put too much on because he gets to spendy though he is getting better about it. I don't like to give him the temptation. The lunches at the high school are significantly more expensive. This transition has been a lot for him and he's also playing 3 sports this year, so I don't require him to make himself a lunch. I would make it for him, but I am sleep deprived and exhausted. One hill at a time...

I've got some larger expenses coming up for which I need to be planning. I've already been planning daycare, but now I'm planning a Christening luncheon and there are baseball expenses on the horizon. Need to wiggle things around and see where we are at. I want to stick to the saving $700 per month! Still haven't heard what my disability benefits will be for the 3 weeks of my leave that I have no pay. I've used a rough estimate in my planning.