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looking back on the last six months

June 30th, 2006 at 08:02 pm

Six month averages

Savings: $171 per month
- Definitely not as high as it could be!

Normal bills: $788 per month

Medical bills & prescriptions: $118 per month
- Much higher than usual with all this chiropractic/headache care stuff

House/Pet needs: $168 per month
- Not as high as I expected!

Food (including eating out and snacks at work): $260 per month
- Way too high. My grocery bills may put me in the Thrifty Plan of the

Text is USDA chart and Link is http://www.usda.gov/cnpp/FoodPlans/Updates/foodmay06.pdf
USDA chart, but eating out is busting my budget.

Entertainment: $175 per month
- Pretty high, what with all the crafting, photo-taking, and anniversary celebrating.

Gifts: $88 per month
- Not as high as I expected!

Personal products/Clothing/Haircuts/Massages: $158 per month
- Pretty high for not having had a massage for half of those months - it's the spring/summer clothes.

Gasoline/Parking/Car Maintenance: $213 per month
- So high only because I finally fixed the car in March! Without that, only $63 per month.

The worst part about this? The average total spent is more than I take home per month. *sigh*

It's easy to feel like this!



(taken at the Como Zoo in March)

Posted in Spending, Goals, Saving, Photos | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “looking back on the last six months”

  1. Peggy Says:
    July 5th, 2006 at 11:57 pm 1152143847
    1152143847

    If you'd like something to compare to, here's our budget. It's pretty liberal by my standards, and extremely stingy by my husband's, but he had an even bigger pile of student loans than you did, and they're only half paid off. We're about 30 years old, first kid on the way. We're trying not to rely on always having two incomes.

    Per month average (weekly amount x 4.5):

    Food $180 (recently increased due to pregnancy)
    Personal money (for junk food, thrift store clothes, whatever) $180
    Entertainment/eating out $68
    Misc., including cat food and household supplies $45
    Gas $180, would be more if I didn't work at home
    Rent $1050
    Utilities about $125 average
    Student loans $200 at least, we've been able to send in some big prepayments
    Car maintenance, repairs, insurance: probably over $500/month, our cars are both ancient (but paid for). Time to start saving for the next one.
    Tithe 10% of gross income
    Medical ?? Not a lot--doctor-phobic.

    We use a cash-based envelope system (refilled weekly) for food, gas, etc. No credit cards. No debit card on our main checking account. That works pretty well to keep spending below what's coming in. When the bank account grows a bit, we use the extra for student loans. We have some separate long-term savings.

  2. Meredith Says:
    August 18th, 2006 at 05:50 pm 1155923420
    1155923420

    Keep working at it. You have the right intentions and I'm sure you'll get into a better groove. =)

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