Monday, August 1, 2011

The End of The Month

And the beginning of a new one.

And apparently I am not paying enough attention to Buddy and when you don't pay enough attention to Buddy he will DEMAND it by just getting in your face. And then maybe biting you.


So, after keeping track of where all our money went in July, I added it all up and all those dollars here and dollars there is quite eye opening and gives you an idea of where you could stop spending some of those dollars and start saving them.

Obviously, the usual monthly expenses like your house payment and car payment are kind of obligatory and you've really got no choice but to pay them. The electric bill went up some last month because it's summer and all and we've been using the air conditioner but I'm thinking we must have the cheapest water rates in the country because our bill never goes above $25.00, and the gas bill was only $15.50 because we are not using the oven as much or quite obviously the heater. I get irritated when I pay the $36.00 homeowners association fee each month but at least it's not in the 100's of dollars like some of the fancier neighborhoods around here. It still irritates me, though.

So, on to spending that could be curbed some.

Food. $658.49. Yikes. Some of that was definitely spent on impulse buys, like the gourmet flavored almonds and pecans because my snack options are so limited and I can't have cookies and I want something low carb to shove in my mouth when I'm starving, and the chips that Keith likes to buy to shove in his mouth. And some of the wasted food like the cole slaw mix that I forgot about because it was in the bottom crisper drawer and the half of a seedless watermelon that was also in said bottom crisper drawer. I'm going to try to shave at least $100 off of food buying this month.

Eating out. $153.67. We didn't go to any real restaurants this past month but did eat a few fast food type dinners and stopped for iced coffee a couple of times.

Household and personal: $194.72. Not sure where to save here, you kind of need to wash your hair and clothes and clean things unless you want to stink and have a nasty house, so...

Pets. $180.73. We did find some dry food at Tractor Supply that the cats seem to really like and is a little cheaper, but since we've got 2 more cats coming and we don't want to starve them, not much room for savings here. But if we didn't have any cats, hmmm...an extra couple hundred a month there. We need to make them get jobs or something.

Movies and books. $175.07. No actual going to the movie theatre and most of the books I buy are from the Goodwill and are under $1.00 each, but I did buy some DVDs for TV shows that I can't otherwise see because we don't have cable so that's why this is so high this month. I think the usual I would spend each month would be less than $50.00 and I'd go nuts if I didn't have books to read, so...

Home Upkeep. $100.49. This is the stuff you need to keep the house up, like yard fertilizer and odds and ends for home repairs. This was high this month because we did buy a couple of new plants and pots to put them in. The cost of plants isn't that bad, but those darn pots to put them in are EXPENSIVE!

Clothing. $66.45. I hardly ever buy clothes, just once or twice a year, but I did need some shoes and can't remember what else I bought.

Gas for the car so Keith can go to work which is kind of important. $280.00

The rest of the money we spent last month was on unusual expenses and that one very frivolous go kart.

$300.00 to James to take the cats to the vet and get all their shots before we take them across state lines and the border patrol decides to confiscate them or something. Hey, wait a minute, now there's a plan!

$200.00 for travel to the funeral.

$95.20 for materials to build the cattery for the cats that maybe we could convince the border patrol to confiscate.

$85.00 for new patio furniture (see below) but it was on clearance sale and it was the last one.

And, $214.49 for the go kart.

So, the total spent on just living like the house and car payments and utilities and insurance comes to $1751.00 and the total spent on LIVING IT UP BY EATING AND STUFF come to $1809.62 and the total for unusual and frivolous stuff comes to $894.69. For a grand total of $4455.31 spent last month. DOUBLE YIKES!

Now, the new patio furniture. Keith got his quarterly safety bonus which is like $250.00 but after taxes comes out to like $101.00 and he spent it on this glider and table which we had looked at a few times over at Lowes and had been marked down on clearance and was the last one, so...


We really do love it and it looks so much nicer than the $6.00 plastic walmart chairs that used to sit here.

And I know we will save at least $800.00 this month because we won't be sending money to James for cat care and won't be going to any funerals I hope and won't be buying any more patio furniture or go karts.

1 comment:

DancingMooney said...

I've seen those chairs at Lowe's too, love the retro look, and so cool that you got them on clearance, yay!

Kevin and I have seperate bank accounts because we both have work expenses, so I have no idea how much we *actually* spend each month on things, he's way to un-organized for me to even bother trying... but somehow the bills always manage to get paid on time, so I can't complain. ;)

I've started clipping coupons to save a little here and there on groceries and kitty litter and such like that. It doesn't add up to much each month, at first I signed up for the Wed/Sun paper delivery {an expense, ugh} but then after doing that for about two months, canceled it, because you can get all the grocery's sales flyers online, or inside the door at the stores, and then, most of the coupons I was looking for, for specific brands of things, I've been able to find online, so clipping from the paper was helpful, but not necessary in my opinion. anyways!

Good for you for getting yourself a few new things now and then, and for keeping track of it all so you can figure out ways to save more as well. ;)