DD’s Monthly Expenses – September 2009

It seems like I start off every one of these posts by saying I can’t believe how fast time is flying, BUT I REALLY CAN’T!

I think the cool and wet summer we had screwed up my inner clock.  It is still waiting for the 4th of July.  Oh well…

As some of you know, I track my family’s monthly expenses, and what follows is the tally for September:

• $840.39 – Mortgage
• $759.20 – Health Insurance
• $614.50 – Daycare
• $400.00 – Preschool
• $399.22 – Groceries
• $169.82 – Landscaping
• $150.00 – Student Loan
• $134.01 – Tennis
• $111.76 – Electricity
• $111.47 – Vehicle Registration
• $103.72 – Phone & Internet
• $93.64 – Dinning Out
• $92.00 – Events (Film Fest, & Bazaar)
• $87.47 – Gas
• $76.00 – Medical
• $74.19 – Shoes
• $66.18 – Dog
• $60.01 – Household Misc
• $57.98 – Kids Care
• $53.32 – Utilities
• $28.62 – Beauty Products
• $22.26 – Dance Class
• $19.50 – Donations
• $4.77 –  Gift

For a grand total of $4530.03. Yikes, and I thought last month was bad.

Biggest Budget Busters:

1. $614.50 – Daycare – “Just when I thought I was out…they pulled me back in.” I know what you’re saying, “DD, I thought your daycare closed in June?”  It did, this is the final bill…that I’ve been forgetting to pay.  So this should be the last time that I pay for daycare.
2. $169.82 – Landscaping – Four years ago or so, we had some professional landscaping done.  A nice brick patio was put in.  It was really slick.  But The landscaper convinced my wife that we should put in a sandbox in this empty spot between the house & garage.   Why not right?  I’ll tell you why not, all the neighborhood cats treated it as their litter box.  We finally bricked it over ourselves.  It doesn’t look nearly as slick as the professional job, but at least that area doesn’t smell like cat poop anymore.
3. $134.01 – Tennis – I really should include the $74  I spent on shoes too, because that was for my new tennis shoes.  I was surprised at this high of a total, until I remembered what it was for: a tournament(came in 2nd) indoor league (3 months) and some new balls.  This will be a big part of my entertainment/exercise for the next 3 months, so I guess it’s not too bad.

Biggest Budget Breakthroughs:

1. $400.00 – Preschool – This total will normally be $450/month.  But since my wife is taking the school pictures we got $50 knocked off our bill this month.  I hope the pictures turn out.  🙂  Actually my wife is kicking herself for not asking for $100.  Live & learn.
2. $74.19 – Shoes – This might seem odd that I include this here while I complained about tennis up above.  Let me explain.  I normally spend a lot more on my tennis shoes than I did, so part of me (the part writing this right now) thinks I did a good job showing some restraint. So there.
3. $4.77 –  Gifts – On the same day we bought the bricks to cover up the litter box, my children were invited to a B-Day party.  One of their old daycare buddies was turning the big 04.  So  we settled on three Sesame Street activity books and didn’t break the bank.   

~Let’s do the Time Warp~

Last September we only spent $3,370.68.

Those were the days.  The big difference that caught my eye was that we didn’t have to cover our own health insurance premiums back then(didn’t start until Jan 09).   The tidbit that I found amusing was that much like this year, I was complaining about how much I spent on tennis.

Tennis – Actually this is for a 3 month membership in an indoor court.  Last year it was quite a bit more than this, but I played twice a week last winter, this year I’m playing once every other week.I’d say there wouldn’t be much expense in the category the rest of the year, but I just broke a string, so look for that next month.

I guess I have a twisted sense of humor because the amusing part of that is I only spent $55 on tennis last September.

Until next time,

-DD