DD’s Monthly Expenses – October 2009 – Halloween Party Edition

I’m going to blame the tardiness of this expense report due to my Halloween Hangover.  It’s either that or the time change.  It can’t be because I was too lazy to put this together can it? Nope, must be Daylight Savings Time.

Here is the latest installment of my family’s monthly expenses. Below are the results from October:

• $840.39 – Mortgage
• $759.20 – Health Insurance
• $675.00 – Life Insurance
• $531.67 –  Groceries
• $450.00 – Preschool
• $166.51 – Halloween Party
• $160.00 – Student Loan
• $158.18 – Gas
• $120.35 – Electricity
• $113.50 – Donations
• $103.71 – Phone & Internet
• $89.00 – Books
• $75.82 – Dinning out
• $61.02 – Utilities (Water, Sewer, Garbage)
• $47.07 – Car Maintenance
• $42.38 – Cookware
• $31.26 – Clothes
• $28.60 – Shoes
• $26.60 – Kids Care
• $26.53 – Gifts
• $22.26 – Dance Class
• $20.00 – Medical
• $14.00 – Hair Cut
• $10.74 – Beauty Products
• $10.54 – Household Misc
• $8.00 – Kids Fun
• $2.00 – Tennis

For a grand total of $4594.33!

Actually considering that we paid our life insurance premium this month.  I don’t think this is all that bad.

Biggest Budget Busters:

1. $531.67 –  Groceries.   Go back a couple of posts and you’ll see me talk about how I’m using my credit card for the next three months instead of cash to pay for groceries.  I said I hoped it wouldn’t alter my average spending on groceries which had been $381.43.  HA!  I blew that right out of the water.  But here’s the deal, I can’t totally blame this increase on using plastic.  A couple days after I wrote that post my wife & I decided to give Tony Gonzalez’s “All Pro Diet” a try.  The big thing for us was the smoothie for breakfast which will hopefully give us energy.  It involves hemp milk, protein powder, and a bunch of natural/organic foods.  Needless to say this increases our grocery expense. (My preliminary estimates are $55.41)
2. $166.51 – Halloween Party – Back when Mrs DD & I lived in the Twin Cities a friend of ours threw amazing Halloween parties.  So when we moved back to South Dakota, my wife wanted to throw one herself.  I fought her off for years, but she finally wore me down.  It was pretty fun. We had great food (another reason this month’s budget is out of whack), games, and some fun costumes.  But the best thing is, my wife decided it wasn’t worth all the hassle, so we’ll stick to plain old “trick or treating” next year. When I told her this total, she was surprised on how quick everything added up.  But at least it was cheaper than my B-Day party.
3. $89.00 – Books – I know what you’re saying, “DD how can someone who professes to love the library end up spending so much money on books?”  Well I’ll tell you how. Killing time in a Barnes & Noble is how.   My wife had an engagement shoot in Sioux Falls and I thought I’d waste some time in the bookstore.  Time wasn’t the only think I wasted. Actually only one of the books was an impulse buy.  The others are super cool and I’m glad I got them.  For example one is an historical account of my home town, and there is a picture of my house in it (with a horse & buggy going by).  How could I pass that up?  Of course this total also reflects the above mentioned diet book.  Time will tell if that ends up being a waste or not.

Biggest Budget Breakthroughs:

1. $75.82 – Dinning out – It seems strange to me saying that spending $75 on eating out is a breakthrough, but with two out of town trips and a “girls night out” this total could’ve easily been much worse.  That is the breakthrough.
2. $8.00 – Kids Fun – I already mentioned our family fall weekend that set us back a whopping $6, but I also wanted to bring up the best $1 I spent all month.   My mother in law was in town for Halloween(I think there was a witch convention or something) that meant a trip to the mall.   A mini arcade has gone in right next to the food court, so I thought it would be a blast to have our kids play the car racing game.  I was right! With my 2 year old son on my lap and my 4 year old daughter on my wife’s, my kids put on a clinic on how to drive.  It was hilarious.  I haven’t laughed so hard in a long, long time.
3. $2.00 – Tennis – This is how much a can of balls cost me.  And thanks to four straight cancellations in my tennis league, that can will last a long time.  Hopefully I remember how to play.

~Let’s do the Time Warp~

Last October we spent $4211.94.

Considering that we weren’t paying for our own Health Insurance then, I think we’re right in line with our spending from last year.  I see that I complained about a high grocery bill last year too.

499.75 – Groceries – We’re getting too close to the $500 level for my comfort.  But I have good news. My daughter’s food allergies have weakened enough so we no longer have to avoid wheat & dairy.  This should help lower the cost of groceries going forward.

So clearly we like to eat high on the hog in October.

Until next time,

-DD