I feel like I did a far better job of reigning in spending last month than we did in January. I made a few changes last month that will help us continue to save money all year long. You can read about those below.
Groceries: ($130.00) $101.14
We did well last month and spent only 78% of the food budget. I made two trips to Kroger, one trip to Walmart and one trip to Safeway in Washington D.C. I pulled a few no-spend weeks in February after the outrageous Super Bowl spending that happened at the beginning of the month, which likely helped a lot. I also took meat, cheese, milk and homemade chex mix on vacation so we only had to buy inexpensive items in the capitol city, like lettuce, carrots and bagged cereal.
Personal Care: ($15.00) $10.97
I bought toilet paper ($9.58), toothpaste ($0.89) and two boxes of Kleenex ($0.50) this month. We were officially 27% under budget!
One thing I did this month to save money: I made some reusable tissues to help cut toilet paper usage. I think this helped. One roll of Scott lasted eight days.
Household: ($25.00) $6.83
We bought two packs of baby hangers ($2.00) and one bottle of Ajax ($1.75) this month, along with a cookie press ($1.26- broke the first time I used it... boo!), measuring spoons ($0.95) and measuring cups ($0.75).
Clothing: $4.21
I bought a 3-pack of tights for Baby Girl this month. If you don't remember, my goal for the year was to spend $225.00 on all three of us. If calculated by the month, it would be about $6.25 per person. Obviously this isn't realistic (usually we buy a few larger items every year), so I'm just watching the amount as the year progresses. So far Hubs has spent $0.00 of his $75.00. I've spent 27% of my allotment and 47% of Baby Girl's allocation. I have a feeling that at least half of the clothing budget will be spent on Baby this year. I would like to buy another nursing T-shirt... sometime. But other than that, we adults don't need much for clothing.
One thing I started doing this month to save money: I darned the holes in my pile of holey socks. This maintenance put about five pairs of socks back in the rotation.
*****
So, that is what I spent on our 2018 Categories That Need Work last month. I'm looking forward to another month of industry and frugality.
Til next time,
-Bethany
Groceries: ($130.00) $101.14
We did well last month and spent only 78% of the food budget. I made two trips to Kroger, one trip to Walmart and one trip to Safeway in Washington D.C. I pulled a few no-spend weeks in February after the outrageous Super Bowl spending that happened at the beginning of the month, which likely helped a lot. I also took meat, cheese, milk and homemade chex mix on vacation so we only had to buy inexpensive items in the capitol city, like lettuce, carrots and bagged cereal.
Personal Care: ($15.00) $10.97
I bought toilet paper ($9.58), toothpaste ($0.89) and two boxes of Kleenex ($0.50) this month. We were officially 27% under budget!
One thing I did this month to save money: I made some reusable tissues to help cut toilet paper usage. I think this helped. One roll of Scott lasted eight days.
Household: ($25.00) $6.83
We bought two packs of baby hangers ($2.00) and one bottle of Ajax ($1.75) this month, along with a cookie press ($1.26- broke the first time I used it... boo!), measuring spoons ($0.95) and measuring cups ($0.75).
Clothing: $4.21
I bought a 3-pack of tights for Baby Girl this month. If you don't remember, my goal for the year was to spend $225.00 on all three of us. If calculated by the month, it would be about $6.25 per person. Obviously this isn't realistic (usually we buy a few larger items every year), so I'm just watching the amount as the year progresses. So far Hubs has spent $0.00 of his $75.00. I've spent 27% of my allotment and 47% of Baby Girl's allocation. I have a feeling that at least half of the clothing budget will be spent on Baby this year. I would like to buy another nursing T-shirt... sometime. But other than that, we adults don't need much for clothing.
One thing I started doing this month to save money: I darned the holes in my pile of holey socks. This maintenance put about five pairs of socks back in the rotation.
*****
So, that is what I spent on our 2018 Categories That Need Work last month. I'm looking forward to another month of industry and frugality.
Til next time,
-Bethany
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