Here is a breakdown of my expenses for November.
|
Household |
$404.25 |
|
Entertainment |
$190.60 |
|
Transportation |
$187.56 |
|
Food |
$49.39 |
| Medical/Dental |
$57.44 |
|
Utilities |
$91.17 |
| Debt | $20 |
|
Total |
$1000.41 |
My expenses for November were at a reasonable level. I set a goal of keeping them under $1000 a month and I only went 41 cents over so I’m not going to feel bad about that. Food and transportation were both down significantly this month. This is because I ate out less often and didn’t drive as much. Food costs only include when I eat out by myself and the few groceries that I buy for the household.
My transportation expense should be even lower this month unless I buy a couple more tires which I do need to do before too long. The entertainment total included a couple nights hotel in Kansas City for a quick getaway my wife and I took after Thanksgiving. There shouldn’t be any getaways this month so that expense should go down.
My household expense might go up a little since I will be including Christmas gifts in that but I have earned a few gift cards from SwagBucks and elsewhere that should keep that cost down. We still didn’t have to turn on our heat in November so utilities should be about the same. Other costs should be about the same as well.
That is impressive! I will need to try and set a goal like that.
Thanks.
Nicely done! How do you keep yourself on track throughout the month? Do you use an envelope-based budgeting system or do you just keep track through Quicken, etc.
I just use a free Excel spreadsheet that I downloaded from the web. I’ve thought about using more powerful tools but this system works for me so I don’t think I’ll change it.
Wow! you really do an impressive job of minimizing your expenses.
Thanks. I do try.
Really I am impressed with under $50 for 2 in the food category for a month! How were you able to manage that? Even Thanksgiving is thrown in this month. As good as I am I can’t do that! I spend about $150/month for 3. Please share more, I’d love to hear it!
I didn’t do a very good job of explaining in the post. This figure is only for occasional lunches I buy for myself and the few groceries I buy for the household. My wife covers the grocery part of the budget and she spends about $175 a month. We also eat out a few times a month and I count that as an entertainment expense so the food figure isn’t really impressive at all. It should be about $0.
I have the same question as MarilynsMoney, how are you able to keep your food costs so low? I just have myself and end up spending $50 a week on food.
What types of food do you buy? How would you rank the “healthiness” of the food you buy?
You can see my answer in the reply to Marilyn. If I were eating on $50 a month it would probably not be very healthy.
i wish i could keep my budget under 1000. good job