December Round-Up

Monthly Spending (budgeted amount in parentheses)

• Groceries: $594.77 ($500)

• Transportation: $225.55 ($300)
• Although still way under budget, this is our highest transportation spending in Raleigh so far, mainly due to a trip to Philly for Thanksgiving.
  

• Electricity: $81.03 ($150)
• Ha! Even better than last month, even with the heat turned on. Hope that means my efforts in energy efficiency have been paying off.
  

• Water/Sewer: $20.07 ($50)

• Entertainment/Miscellaneous: $263.90 ($300)
• Aaaah, much better....We still have room for improvement in this category, though. We have a problem with itty bitty spending here and there that all adds up to a whole lot of wasted money.
  

• Clothes: $85.36 (no set budget)
• This was all birthday money for me and First Son, so I didn't include it in the total. About a third was bought at thrift stores.
  

• TOTAL: $1,185.32 ($1,300)

Trash Report: 6 bags of trash (13 gallon bags); 2 bags of plastic and glass each, 3 bags of metal and paper each (reusable bags about the size of a paper grocery bag)


Changes I Made This Month:

1. Wrapped up my paper changes, so now I'm a 100% recycled girl.
2. Committed to buying eggs and milk from the farmer's market. Also buying organic cheese at the grocery store. Still working on finding a good source of ice cream.
3. Worked on cutting back my energy usage.
   

Goals for Next Month

1. I plan to take a look at some of my beauty and hygiene products in the next few months. I already do pretty well in that area, but I've been experimenting with some DIY projects and want to report my findings.
   
2. It's Christmas, so the big goal is to stay in the budget!