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budget categories?

February 28th, 2017 at 03:19 pm

How do you categorize vitamins and powdered supplements? Personal care, groceries, its own category, or something else?

I make a smoothie nearly every morning with several powdered supplements (including protein powder and mushroom powder) and frozen fruit. I count the fruit under groceries but I've been counting the supplements under personal care. I also take a multivitamin, vitamin D, and vitamin B, and I count those under personal care too. Needless to say my personal care budget category is really high, but I'm not spending all of that on shampoo or toothpaste.

Let's not even talk about how much I spent on groceries this month! I had such a frugal January. On the plus side - my favorite protein powder is on sale at Costco, so I bought the max and will give half to my mother (she loves it too). It's good until 2019, and like I said, I use it almost every morning!

I bottled my latest batch of kombucha, and this time I added turmeric and sliced fresh ginger. I read that that may help increase carbonation. I'm excited to try it in a few days!

This week's lunch soup is a delicious three bean and vegetable chili from the New Fast Food cookbook, made in my Instant Pot pressure cooker. It has become my new favorite! Beans cooked from dried, onions, garlic, zucchini, fire-roasted tomatoes, corn, and kale. Very summery. I like to think that it's helping me fight off all of the viruses floating around the office!

11 Responses to “budget categories?”

  1. ceejay74 Says:
    1488299830

    I'm not that detailed -- I have a general "grocery/household" line item and try to fit people food, cat food, personal care and minor medications. If we're doing well that week I put wine or prescriptions or home maintenance supplies there as well, but usually we're right at the limit or slightly over, so those things get paid for by AS's income (which isn't part of our regular budget since it's irregular).

  2. CB in the City Says:
    1488302086

    Well, I don't buy vitamins or supplements, but I would probably categorize them under Medical/Health.

  3. creditcardfree Says:
    1488307494

    Our vitamins go in personal care. I'm going to look at that cookbook your chili sounds yummy. I've been hearing good things about Instant Pots.

  4. rob62521 Says:
    1488312672

    I would say personal care or health.

    I have also heard great things about Instant Pots. I have so many Crockpots at this point as well as en electric pressure cooker, I'm not sure I could justify buying one.

  5. Janelle Says:
    1488337735

    We also consume A LOT of protein powder and supplements and have a separate line item for them. First year we did this I was stunned at how much we were spending. Needless to say, a lot of expensive experimenting got cut.

  6. VS_ozgirl Says:
    1488350988

    I would only put vitamins and supplements in groceries if the amount is low so it's immaterial. If the amount is high I would put it in personal care as I would probably want to keep a close eye on that expense.

  7. crazyliblady Says:
    1488493869

    I have a completely separate category for my supplements.

  8. PatientSaver Says:
    1488572881

    Budget categories can get confusing, although generally speaking, too few categories tend sot "bury" certain expenses so you can't really see where your $ is going. I put toiletries in with groceries, but I keep cat food separate.

    For what it's worth, the need for protein is really over-exaggerated. As a vegan, I don't even try to track my protein intake.

    http://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-great-protein-fiasco/

  9. kashi Says:
    1488573397

    Thanks everyone! I decided to create a separate line item for supplements and it wasn't quite as bad I as had anticipated. Definitely something to watch though.

    creditcardfree - that's my favorite pressure cooker cookbook, and I adore my Instant Pot!

    Patient Saver - I didn't know you were vegan too! That's cool. I have been vegan for 10 years and have heard it all about protein. I'm not concerned about my intake. I do track my calories daily via an app and occasionally look to see what my macros are, but I don't use protein powder because I feel like I have to. I use it because it tastes delicious in my smoothies and I like the extra chocolately boost in the morning!

  10. PatientSaver Says:
    1488580205

    High five, Kashi!

    If you like the choc lately taste you might consider using unsweetened cocoa, which would give you tons of flavonoids without any possible additives/preservatives from the protein powder. I add it to my homemade granola, and often to tomato-based soups...it gives it a nice dark color which fakes me into thinking it's hearty "meat."

  11. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1489202869

    Kashi, have you tried PB2 Chocolate? I use that in my smoothies. Smile

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