The Catch All Budgeting Category, What Is In Miscellaneous?

In the comment section of April’s expense report I was asked by Single Guy Money,”What made up the ‘Household Misc’ category?”

My answer was:

The household misc category is made up of misc items. :)

It’s stuff like: toilet paper, bug spray, diapers, toothpaste, batteries, postage stamps, small appliances, paper towels, wasp & hornet killer…and anything else that I’m too lazy to separate out.

But to tell you the truth I had no idea what that months misc items were.  So I thought I’d provide the breakdown for May of the misc category so I could really see where our money was going.

According to May’s Expense report, we spent $305.52 on “household misc” stuff.  Let’s break that down shall we:

  • $75.29 – Foam for couch repair job
  • $36.11 – Lawn Supplies
  • grocery-junk-pile$27.91 – Bug Spray
  • $27.76 – Cosmetics
  • $23.99 – Party Supplies
  • $16.15 – Vitamins
  • $15.82 – Greeting Cards
  • $12.70 – Toilet Paper
  • $11.12 – Toys & Games
  • $10.59 – Furnace Filter
  • $10.15 – Diapers
  • $8.47 – Toy Bin
  • $8.43 – Useful stuff (WD40 & Goo-B-Gone)
  • $8.36 – Benadryl
  • $5.83 – Clifford Movie
  • $5.37 – Candy & Treats
  • $1.47 – Bottle of Pop

Add them all up and you see how we spent over $300 in misc expenses in May.

Uggh.

Actually I shouldn’t get too down on ourselves.  Some of this stuff was worth it:

  1. $75.29 – Foam for couch repair job – I already bragged about how my wife used this to make our couch much more comfortable.  So I’m not going to poo-poo this one.
  2. $27.91 – Bug Spray – This total represents most shipping.  I read a review for some new “eco-friendly” bug spray at The Greenest Dollar.  I’m not a big fan of spraying Deet all over my family, so I’d thought I try it out.
  3. $23.99 – Party Supplies – We don’t throw many parties, so when we do we go big!  And with a budget nearing $25 you can imagine the shin dig we had.

Really the only stuff I see that is wasteful are the toy related items and treats (Candy & Pop).  The greeting cards are a little high as well, but we made a bunch of homemade cards this month so I don’t feel too bad about it. Every once in a while I like to throw Hallmark a bone for making such good movies.

So there you have it.  That is what I call miscellaneous stuff.  What do you consider miscellaneous?

Until next time,

-DD

15 Comments

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *