Bad Month but looking Up

This has not been a good month for me. Several things have been going on at work including not getting a promotion that I had hoped for. Life at home has been crazy and the Low spend challenge went out the window within the first week. Here were my goals I set this month.
January Goals

1. Keep track of my weekly spending-  Fail
2. Plan a Meal plan for every week and stick to it.- So far have done this
3. Pack a lunch every day for work.   -So far so good

I guess keeping track on two out of three goals isn't too bad. I have planned our meals this month using what I had in the freezer.  I cooked some of the chicken I had and shredded it and put it in the freezer for meal. I then used the leftover bones to make chicken stock. I had stocked up on a lot of items during the Holiday season so we I still have plenty to go through. The only thing I am out of it ground beef.

This week's Meal plan is
Monday:  Taco Casserole
Tuesday: Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Wednesday: Teriyaki Chicken in the Crockpot
Thursday: Goulash
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Boy Scout outing.
Sunday: ??

I have managed to save money by packing my lunch every day.  I put leftovers in individual containers so it is easier for me to grab and take with me for lunch.

This has been a very expensive month for us. Our son is in baseball and winter practice started at the beginning of the month. This includes buying all the necessary uniform.  We are given one uniform but we usually end up buying a second one because of tournaments and needing a clean one. There is also the extra stuff they need. A new bat , a new glove and the list goes on.  January is also the only month when parents can buy team apparel. So we can all show our team spirit at games and tournaments. :)  Usually we have a chance in November and January but this year we only got January.  This is our third year and last year we didn't buy much so it seems like this year we had more items to replace.  I need to add this to my yearly budget so I can plan for this. 

Planning for big items is definitely my weak area. I can budget the monthly expenses but I struggle on budgeting for the little items that come up.  I have an emergency fund but I don't count these as emergencies. I need to create a slush fund or extra fund for these items.

Hopefully I will be back to weekly blogs next week.

Have a good rest of the week.