DD’s Monthly Expenses – January 2010
I must be getting old, because time is really flying by. Hopefully that means spring will be here soon.
Below is my family’s expenses for January:
- $840.39 – Mortgage
- $759.20 – health Insurance
- $507.48 – Groceries
- $450.00 – Preschool
- $382.55 – Electricity
- $305.88 – Contacts
- $168.36 – Clothing
- $134.07 – Household Misc
- $120.00 – Student Loan
- $111.22 – Dining Out
- $108.65 – Phone & Internet
- $85.00 – Tennis
- $65.00 – Donations
- $63.43 – Water, Sewer, & Garbage
- $61.91 – Bedding
- $42.94 – Gas
- $41.34 – Hair Care
- $40.00 – Pearl Jam
- $39.12 – Medical
- $34.08 – Gifts
- $30.53 – Yoga
- $23.50 – Kids care
- $22.26 – Dance Class
- $22.01 – B-Day Party
- $14.06 – Movies & Videos
- $14.00 – Babysitting
For a grand total of $4,486.98!
Even though we missed our $4200 goal that I just set last month, I’m not too disappointed. You see, the $300+ spent for contacts was actually spent on Dec 31st. So if it wasn’t for that we would’ve made our goal, barely.
Biggest Budget Busters:
- $507.48 – Groceries – Over a year ago I started paying cash at the grocery store. The last three months I’ve been charging my groceries to take advantage of credit card rewards. Sure enough we started spending more on groceries. But as I mentioned before, I can’t blame it on the plastic. Instead the blame falls on Tony Gonzalez and his all-pro diet. Hemp Milk Smoothies are expensive!
- $382.55 – Electricity – Not only is this a high electric bill, it also means that we didn’t pay very much down on the student loan. While it is a high bill, it this is way better than last year.
- $168.36 – Clothing – Things really got our of control in this category. It started out simple enough with taking unwanted Christmas items back and picking up a few other items. Then a clearance sale was hit, then another.
Biggest Budget Breakthroughs:
- $65.00 – Donations – Yes I know this is a little higher than it normally is, but like many of you probably did, we gave a little extra to help Haiti out. If you’re looking for a quick ay to help out a little more here’s my recommendation on how to help.
- $40.00 – Pearl Jam – Last January I was raked over the coals for spending $180 on my favorite band. S0 clearly this is a huge improvement. It helps that there is not a special edition album coming out.
- $0.00 – Dog. Timing has been biting us in this category the last couple of months. But with no medication and no food needed to be bought in January, we finally catch a break.
As I’ve already mentioned, last January I received plenty of feedback on my Pearl Jam spending. In addition to that, it was also the first month that we started paying our health insurance. So now at least these month-to-month time warps will be fair. And in the first “fair” comparison, we spent $4205.68 last year vs. $4486.98 this year.
Darn contacts!
Until next time,
-DD
Paying with Cash…Does it Save Money?
Holiday Spending 2008 – DD’s Quick Recap
Okay, I didn’t google it or anything (yet) but what on earth is a hemp milk smoothie?
The short answer:
They are a yummy breakfast drink.
The long answer:
Hemp Milk Smoothies are what my wife & I have been drinking every morning for the past few months. I heard Tony Gonzalez on ESPN radio peddling his diet book. He said that once he changed his diet, his energy levels went up. At the time both the Mrs & I were really dragging, so we bought into it.
So far the only part we’ve done is the breakfast smoothie. Which uses hemp milk instead of cow milk. So I go down to my local health food co-op and order a case of this stuff every so often, which runs $45+.
You then mix it with frozen bananas(peeled before freezing) and other stuff (our favorite is baby spinach). Throw in some whey protein powder (also expensive…we only use half a scoop), blend it all together and enjoy.
My wife says she has noticed a difference, I haven’t yet. But the thing is we haven’t followed the rest of the diet. We’re supposed to cut way back on red meat and diary (hence the hemp milk), eat more chicken and black beans, and work out.
I just started working out the past two weeks, but ironically, I also have cut back on the smoothies(no time in morning…must get up earlier…but too tired from working out).
It’s a work in progress, but as long as at least one of us think that the smoothies are helping, we’ll continue.
I have to admit that it is kind of a pain to drink a cold drink (basically a shake) when it is freezing outside.
Okay, so a hemp plant can be milked? Wow.
I dunno, we have a few houseplants here that “bleed” white stuff when you snap a leaf off or bump them with the vacuum cleaner. It kills cats or something (we’re not cat people).
But I can guarantee that I’d never considered making a milkshake out of the stuff…
Where’s that blender… ;0)
I am surprised that the health insurance is soo expensive ? It´s normal in Usa ? I live in Denmark but pay high taxes and all health insurance is almost covered by the goverment(included in my personal tax).
I only need to pay if I want like VIP treatment in the hospital queue.. some sort of insurance that promise treatment within 3 months.