The Conscious Shopper: February Round-Up

February Round-Up

>> Tuesday, February 17, 2009

We did pretty well this month, but there have been some consistent differences in each category between what I'm spending and what I've budgeted. I need to adjust the categories of my budget to better reflect our spending, but I'm waiting for our house to sell (fingers crossed, sometime next month).

Monthly Spending (budgeted amount in parentheses)

Groceries: $686.14 ($500)

Transportation: $134.93 ($300)

Electricity: $96.14 ($150)

Water/Sewer: $20.00 ($50)

Entertainment/Miscellaneous: $298.03 ($300)

Clothes: $0 (no set budget)

TOTAL: $1235.24 ($1,300)

Trash Report: 5 bags of trash (13 gallon bags); 1 bag each of metal, plastic, glass, and paper (reusable bags about the size of a paper grocery bag)

Changes I Made This Month:

Started drying my razor and using soap to shave.
Switched to the Keeper.

Goals for Next Month:

Deodorant, shampoo, and conditioner
Check out Durham SEEDS
Attend more Sierra Club meetings

4 comments:

Jenn, February 18, 2009 at 6:45 AM: Hi - I am not sure if I've ever posted a comment here before... but I found your blog through another green blog posting. Thought I would say, "hi".

I was going to leave a suggestion for you to try for your next month's goals. I've been using a homemade deodorant for about 6 months now and it works better than any commercial brand (more cost effective, too) and I just started using JR Liggits shampoo bar. The bar is supposed to last as long as a 24 oz bottle of shampoo. Good luck~
Erin aka Conscious Shopper, February 18, 2009 at 9:45 AM: Jenn, What do you use for the homemade deodorant? Also, where do you get your shampoo bar? I tried the Burt's Bees Rosemary and Mint shampoo bar, and it made my hair a greasy mess. I'm willing to give a different shampoo bar a try, though.

Thanks for the suggestions!
JessTrev, February 18, 2009 at 11:15 AM: Hey Erin, I like Lush's shampoo bars and they a)recently stopped using plastic packaging and b)are supposed to be phasing out parabens. I'd check on both, though. I bought mine in a little tin container for reuse. Love that you came in under budget! You go, conscious shopper....
Erin aka Conscious Shopper, February 20, 2009 at 8:32 AM: JessTrev, Thanks for the tip! There's a Lush store here in the Triangle, so I'll have to give it a try.