March Monthly Budget Round-Up

Last month I asked if these monthly budget round-ups have become redundant. Well, I decided to keep posting them simply because, as Downdoggin in MN pointed out in the comments of the last round-up, they do make me accountable.

So far this year, we've been high on groceries every month. I've been stocking up on a few things, so I'm hoping it will average out over the year. For example, I bought a 5-gallon bucket of Charlie's Soap, which will takes us three years to get through.

We were also high this month on transportation miles; my youngest had surgery two weeks ago, so we had to make several trips to the doctor and hospital. Unfortunately, I haven't switched to a closer pediatrician since we moved into our house last summer.

Here are the numbers:

Monthly Spending (budgeted amount) [year average]

• Groceries: $711 ($650) [713.51]

• Transportation: $149 ($150) [148.92]
  

• Energy: $162 ($150) [155.31]
  

• Utilities: $46 ($50) [44.9]
  

• Entertainment/Miscellaneous: $383 ($400) [362.59]
  

• Clothes: $0 (no set budget) [24.21]
  

• TOTAL: $1,451 ($1,400) [$1425.46]
  

The Numbers:

• Trash: 4 bags of trash (13 gallon bags); 1 recycling bin with plastic, metal, and glass; 2 paper grocery sacks of paper
• Miles Driven: 951
  
• Average daily electricity use: 34 kWh
  
• Average daily water use: 122 gallons
  

Best of...

• Most Popular Posts: Make Your Own: Homemade Febreeze (486 pageviews) and How to Recycle Everything (149 pageviews)
  
• Most Commented Post (excluding giveaways): Challengicious Monday: Start Composting (11 comments)
  

Next Month I'll Be...

• reading The Green Hour
  
• watching Dirt! The Movie (didn't get to this last month)
  
• working on lightbulbs, energy audits, heating and cooling, and cooking for The Conscious Shopper Challenge
• going no 'poo for a month for the April Extreme Challenge