Here's a quick update on our month-to-date spending:
Entertainment $0
Booze $22.95
Other $0
Clothes $106.05 (I spent $100 on jeans for Dave, but he hasn't even tried them on yet and I imagine at least one pair will go back to JC Penney.)
Gas/Auto $67.74
Dining Out $70.62
Kids $2.16
Household $177.55
Groceries $384.80
Halloween $114.37
TOTAL $946.24
It seems like I'm already WAY over on my grocery budget, but I'm really not. I just exceptionally well stocked up. My freezer is FULL. I'll need to buy milk this week, but that's about it!
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6 comments:
I just noticed you have Halloween as a separate thing in your budget, yet in the original one you showed before you did not have it, will this one merge into the household category?
and also, a question... I have a very detailed budget, I track our spending to the cent. and when I don't spend in one category I use that to up our savings.
like I have $100/mo budgeted for clothes, but sometimes we end the month and we did not use that money for clothes or anything else. so that $100 goes to savings.
do you ever have categories in which you don't spend in that month? if so, what do you do with that money.
also, wanted to mention, after all the comments you got on the amount you budget for food, I've been checking on mine, I have two boys (4 and 2) and my husband (and he takes lunch from home everyday) and thus far we've spent $194.80 and I'm still good to go till next week. so I'm thinking it has to be the amount of food you use, not the pricing or anything else (for reference I'm vegan so most of my grocery is vegetables/fruit, I buy at farmers markets, lots of frozen veggies, and we do spend quite some in fresh fruit, like this week I spent $12 in strawberries...but the kids and the husband do eat meat at least 3-4 times a week).
I love your website, thank you!
What items are in household?
Peyton,
I'm not detailed enough to roll my budgets over from month to month like that. We do most of our spending on our VISA and then pay it off and there often other things I put on that card that aren't categorized by this budget, so if there's anything EXTRA, I would just use it for those other expenses.
I keep saying this, but it's true: WE EAT A LOT. I honestly NEVER throw food away and yet we spend $700 a month.
Kristy, my household category is a catch-all for things like paper towels, cleaning supplies, shampoo, soap, ziplock bags, cards, and anything that's for the house that I can't classify as a home improvement.
Halloween is a separate category. It doesn't merge anywhere since it's an annual expense. We just agree on an amount every year and try not to spend over it. We do the same thing for Christmas.
$177.55 seems quite high for those types of things. I buy those things as well and it never totals $177.55. This makes me wonder about brand's etc. I have brand loyalty for only a few items but other than that I buy store brands and generic brands.
I don't actually have much brand loyalty either. Just TIDE and those paper towels that come in the pick-a-size rolls so I use less. I still use an entire roll of paper towels every day. (I am a NUTJOB about wet towels, so I can't reuse the same dish towel. Using paper towels, even lots of them PALES in comparison to how much laundry I'd have to do to use cloth towels. Buying paper (which is HIGHLY bio-degradable) in my case is both cheaper and better for the environment).
But it seemed high to me, too, Kristy, so I just double checked and remembered that the category also includes PERSONAL items and both Dave and I had hair cuts this month for a total of $79. That's something we only do every 6-8 weeks, though, so it evens it out.
I also bought $10 worth of zip lock bags at Costco, a mascara for $8 and yeast infection cream (fun! AND expensive!) for $9. Those types of things add up!
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