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Browsing posts in: Monthly Spending
Sep 8, 2025    |       4 comments

Pre-Planning for Black Friday Purchases

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My husband and I sometimes joke that I missed my calling – with as much as I love crunching numbers, I would’ve been a great accountant or financial planner! 

I run a pretty tight ship with regards to our finances. And I’ve gotten pretty good over the years at anticipating and planning for those once-in-awhile type of expenses. I have a “semi-annual fee” budget line where I save a flat rate per month to help cover those one-off expenses that come up. This includes things like our annual Costco membership, our quarterly HOA payments, our biannual car insurance payments, and here lately, I’ve added another thing to the list: savings dedicated to Black Friday purchases.

Now, this isn’t those gift-giving type of purchases (those come from a separate part of my budget specifically set aside for gifts). This is for household purchases that are cheaper if purchased during big Black Friday promotions and sales. The thing that’s brought this up is our Water Filter replacements and our Reverse Osmosis filter and membrane replacements.

At first glance, this may seem a silly item to budget for and plan to buy at Black Friday time. But I’ve been watching the sales for long enough now to know that the biggest sale, by far, is at that time of year. You can find a 5% or 10% off coupon once in awhile. But last year for Black Friday, Dupure had a 40% off site-wide sale. And if you are familiar with reverse osmosis systems, those filters and membranes can get PRICEY! I’m talking $121 for the outer filters (required annually), and $169 for the membrane/inner filter (required once every 3 years). This is the year we have to replace all the filters, with a price tag of right at $300! You better believe I’ll be waiting for the 40% off sale instead of buying right now.

I’ve also been looking at products I use for skincare. Sometimes you can find little discounts, but last year at Black Friday time was the only time I’ve seen a 25% off coupon for a specific brand I really like.

The same is true for the yoga studio where I practice. The only discounts they offer are for new client sign-ups. But once a year they offer a sale on pre-purchased packages and – yep – it happens to fall right around Black Friday time.

Now that I’ve noticed and paid attention to these sales and know how much these items cost, I’m going to add them to my “semi-annual” budget so I can save and account for them. It’d be a lot of money to drop all at once at the end of November if it wasn’t planned out in advance! And with Christmas time coming up, I likely wouldn’t be spending extra money on things like skincare and yoga memberships. But again – if I plan and save up in advance, then it’s no big deal when I make those purchases because I know I already have the money sitting in an account ready to cover the expenses.

It’s easy to do once you’ve been tracking your spending for a while. I simply add up all of these “semi-annual” expenses across the entire year, divided by 12 months, and that’s how much I need to save per month! For me, it comes to about $350/month. Then I use this as a revolving account. I spend when expenses arise, and I replenish with a new $350 every month! 

When the really expensive months arise (like our car insurance, which costs $858 every 6 months), I don’t have to stress about it being a high-spending month. I pull from my savings to cover the cost (over and above the $350 that I budget), and the next month when I have no semi-annual bills due, I put the entirety of the $350 back into the bank to save back up again.

It works great and relieves so much stress from when I used to “borrow from Paul to pay Peter” (which trust me – I’ve had to do in the past!)

I know lots of people anticipate irregular expenses, but I wondered if anyone else has done this method of anticipating Black Friday purchases (not gift-related purchases, but the more typical household type of purchases) and specifically budgeting and saving to make those purchases at a time when big sales are typically in effect?

 

What types of things have you noticed go on great sales for Black Friday that I might want to anticipate for the future?



Sep 6, 2025    |       24 comments

Debt Detox by Room, Part 2: Laundry, Utility, & Garage

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If the kitchen collects plastic containers, the laundry room and garage breed plastic bags, boxes, cords, and “mystery hardware.” These spaces are trip-hazard central for both my dad and me.

I’ve kind of stepped back from the garage as that is really his domain. And it gives me somewhere to pile stuff that I can’t get rid of…yet…but we don’t need in the house.

Logical

Thankfully both my dad and I lean toward practical and logical. Since I’m running the house for the most part, he’s let me take lead and rearrange things (cleaning and purging as I go.)

And I’ve just started piling “must keep but don’t really use” items on his workbench in the garage. A truly out of sight, out of mind function for right now.

I have learned that not only do I need to tell him, show him, and remind him of where I put things. But also expect to be woken up in the night when he’s searching for something. He feels bad about waking me up, but I would prefer he did that than get frustrated trying to find whatever. This week, it was the electric knife at midnight when he decided to cut up a watermelon and store it in his yogurt containers.

He used to keep the electric knife in the cabinet where his hoard of yogurt containers now lives. So he found the containers, by accident, but couldn’t remember where the electric knives were. They had been moved to the hutch which I had moved from the living room to the dining room. He remembered me telling him where I had put them, but not actually where I had put them.

Money Impact

  • Fewer duplicate runs to the hardware store “because I couldn’t find it.”

  • Lower injury risk (and medical costs) from trips and falls.

  • No more utility-room pest parties from clutter, piles of cardboard, and old detergent gunk.

Not to mention in clearing out the laundry room and rearranging some furniture, I was able to really clear off the countertops to make them easy to clean and more useable.

all white laundry room - stock photo

The Prep Shelves

Dad has LOTS of prepper stuff – from generators, to propane heaters, to gas containers and so much more. What we kept in the house has been organized by item.

  • Flashlight + batteries (dated), small radio, basic first-aid kit, duct tape, multi-tool.

  • Lightbulbs.
  • Enough sanitizing stuff for the next decade or more which I understand considering COVID and my mom’s health.

  • Winter stuff – blankets, jackets, gloves, etc. Reminder: we are in Texas, but it did freeze real bad a year or two ago.

I am still working through room by room, drawer by drawer, closet by closet. But with every load out, I think we both breathe a little easier. And I believe he’s really coming to appreciate the improvements especially the cleaning that goes along with it

What’s the most ridiculous “mystery hardware” you’ve kept? Did you ever find what it belonged to?

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