The Saved Quarter Challenge, January Recap

Oh how I don't want to write this post!

I've done terribly this month and as much as I want to blame it on a stomach bug that had me on the couch for a week or the actual FLU that has gone through three children, making going out very difficult, I can't. Im definitely not blameless in my utter failure this month, seeing as how I went out with friends twice and had non-budgeted takeout three times.

So the numbers: (forgive me, I've forgotten all of my HTML)

____________Budgeted__________ Actual __________Difference
Rent ........................1400 ..............................1400 .................................0
Renter’s Insurance .26................................. 25.67............................. -0.33
Vehicle Insurance ..317................................. 317.................................. 0
Power .....................250................................ 200................................ -50
Communications ...150................................. 100 ................................-50
Food/Household ...300 ..............................424.62........................... +124.62
Gas ..........................120.............................. 156.50............................ +36.50
Kids’ Allowances.....67..................................... 0................................... -67
School...................... 40................................. 34.45............................. -5.55
Birth/Holidays......100................................ 10.37............................. -89.63*
Giving.......................88.................................. 109................................. +21*
Micah’s Cell.............22.................................... 18................................... -4
My Spending...........25.............................. 169.85.............................. +144.85
Bank Fees................10................................ 22.06.............................. +12.06

Totals.................... 2915..................... 2987.5................. +72.52

Total Income 3469

Total Debt payment 480 (pretty much all of this went to family members that I owed money to)

Discussion

• Power/Communications, I reduced these to cover other costs during the month. Yes this is a slippery slope as now I have to come up with the short fall next month. I realize how crappy this is.


• Food/Household, Given my friend's post last week where she did a little experiment and found that Canadians pay more than double for the same grocery items as Americans, Im a little happier about this number. There was about $50 spent in take out this month that I'd like to avoid next month and I know I could have done better with sales. There's still two weeks of the pantry challenge left so maybe that will help.


• Gas, public transportation has been on strike since November so I've been driving a little over 50km each day to drive my brother to and from his university. Thankfully the drivers went back to work yesterday so my gas costs should decrease. To be fair, he did pay a large amount towards his gas usage, but it didn't quite cover it.


• Kids' Allowances, The kids and I discussed how we'd have to look at their allowances and how much we were spending on school things (thanks to Penny's suggestion) to rethink their amount. For now they understand that they're in transition and so I haven't paid anything in allowances. Micah ordered a chess game for his phone and thanks to a $30 start-up credit he had some money left over. He decided to put this towards his allowance as well as a book order. There have been a couple trips to the store in which I gave them a bit of change as well. That money was added to the household budget.


• School, See above


• Birthdays/Holidays, this category was supposed to grow each month with whatever wasn't spent on birthdays so that by the end of the year, I had some to put towards Christmas. Instead I had to take the money from here to cover other costs discussed below. We did have three family birthdays this month, a schoolmate's birthday and I bought my nephew's gift early. All of that for a little over 10 dollars is pretty good if you ask me! I did it by cooking/baking things for my family members on their birthdays and using our gift stockpile for the schoolmate's birthday. All I really had to buy were a few ingredients and my nephews gift which was on clearance for $5.


• Giving, This category is a little muddled as I discovered that I haven't been paying anything to The Mercy House. I need to look at what happened and send 5 months worth in February which would mean 125. I gave a little more at church and sent some money for my sponsored child's birthday this month though, so that's why this is higher than budgeted.


• Micah's cell, Due to the start up credit, I only had to purchase a smaller prepaid card this month so that his credit wouldn't expire. Ill be doing this until the credit is used.


• My spending, Oh this is where I hate to give details! Im going to Portugal this month and so I decided that shoes without large holes were a bit of a priority, since Ill be doing a lot of walking. I was able to buy some for $25 as well as a winter jacket for $39 because mine has been worn out for years. Without Jason to shovel the driveway, I realised that Ill be spending a lot more time outside in the cold this year, which made the jacket a necessity. Then there were the books I picked up for my trip and the two girls nights which involved restaurants/movie/coffee shop. For all of this, I think I still did fairly well at keeping the costs down. Plus I have a free admission to the theatres that I bought at a reduced rate with my meal. I can use this for a future girls night or a gift!


• Bank fees, I never have to pay extra fees! This month though due to poor planning I had a bunch! Totally have to fix this in February.

I'll be posting a revised budget for February tomorrow and you can be sure it'll include some of the lessons I've learned in January.