Here is a breakdown of our expenses for October.
|
Household |
$840.89 |
| Entertainment |
$14.00 |
|
Transportation |
$540.96 |
|
Food |
$439.49 |
| Cable/Internet |
$93.77 |
| Phone |
$99.98 |
| Electric |
$52.05 |
| Medical/Dental |
$245.11 |
|
Total |
$2326.25 |
Expenses in October were lower than September but still higher than I prefer. The household budget was high because we bought renter’s insurance and had a few other unusual expenses. The transportation expense was the next biggest expense. I paid for six month’s of car insurance and the car needed a minor repair. There won’t be a car insurance bill this month and I’m hoping there won’t be a car repair bill this month. I do have to renew the car license but it shouldn’t be too expensive. We will be taking several out of state car trips but they are for business and that extra expense will be deducted from our business income.
I’m not sure how we spent so much on food last month. We ate out almost every day so it was no surprise that our dining out expense increased but somehow our grocery expense increased too. We will be hosting a couple of Thanksgiving dinners which will make it tough to decrease our food expense this month but I think we can do it. We are fairly well stocked at home now.
I’m going to once again set a goal of getting our monthly expenses down to $2000. I think it is a reasonable goal and we should be able to meet it almost every month.
Interesting. My first time to visit your blog. I admire your detailed accounting but are you thinking that this is tight fisted? The electric bill looks great and the insurances are always a pain. A few things jump right out. Cable/internet would go under entainment except for the percentage allocated to business or blogging. You might enjoy going through the worksheets on my blog if you are trying to find more areas to save or for other items not listed. Hmmm…
I’m not as tight fisted as I used to be. There are some expenses I am looking at cutting down but I don’t think I’ll get back to my previous level. I will take a look at those worksheets and see if they help.
“I’m not sure how we spent so much on food last month” – if that’s a lot, we’re gluttons haha. I think the least we’ve spent on food is $600 – and we had a fair amount of stuff frozen. If you can bring it down further, it will be impressive!
There are only two of us and we don’t eat fancy food. I used to eat for about $100 a month when I was single but I do eat better now. My wife’s daughters also have a few meals a month with us but I do think we can get this down. Probably not this month with the Thanksgiving food though.
I think renters insurance is worth it though. Yes, it raised your expenses a bit, but it is good protection if you need it.
We’ve never needed it yet but I do feel better having it. This spring our upstairs neighbors caught their balcony on fire by careless smoking which should have prompted me to get insurance then but I managed to procrastinate until now.
You are doing great at around $2,000. Our expense was very high in October and I’ll have to work on it.
We are used to a lower expense level which does help us keep our expenses low. I’m hoping to keep them this low even while our income rises.
I think you are doing well. Yes, the insurance is worth it. If you are looking for some inexpensive Thanksgiving meal recipes I have quite a few on my blog. Keep up the good work!
I’ll check them out. Thanks.
As far as the recipes and Thanksgiving dinner go, I am the wife of Andy and I really do love to cook, I only get to do this once a year for Family and I don’t think we do bad. I usually cook home made food and don’t like to use prepackaged food. When you buy fresh fruits and vegetables it costs more.
Being single doesn’t cost as much, but when you have a family it can cost a bit more.