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More Budget Tweaks

February 7th, 2011 at 11:32 pm

I decided to go ahead and tweak my monthly budget. Since I spent $360 out of $500 budgeted grocery dollars, I am going to cut my grocery budget to $450. I am going to save an additional $20 in my emergency fund, pay an additional $5 on my credit card debt, and bump "Everything Else" from $163 to $188. Ideally, I won't be spending much of "Everything Else" and so will have some surplus built up in checking to handle unbudgeted expenses.

"Groceries" is really for groceries and household items such as cleaning products, lightbulbs, etc. I have to feed myself, my 15 year old son 5 days a week, my 34 year old nephew, and 3 dogs. One dog is my nephew's, the other two are dogs my ex-husband let my son adopt. When my ex-husband lost his house to foreclosure last year, he couldn't find a rental which would allow him to keep the dogs. My son loves those dogs, I couldn't let them go to the pound, so I have them now.

Also, I count my son's meals at school as "groceries".

I think I can do better than $450, but I don't want to adjust my budget down further based on only 1 month's grocery expenditures. I'm still new to this tracking business, so I don't have much data for analysis.

Posted in Budgeting, Credit Cards, Spending, Savings | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “More Budget Tweaks”

  1. ceejay74 Says:
    February 7th, 2011 at 11:46 pm 1297122406
    1297122406

    WOW is all I can say. You're doing great on that amount. We cut our grocery/household budget from $900 to $700 per month several months ago, and we're constantly going over, dipping into our misc. line item. We are 3 adults, one infant and a cat. I knew we were somewhat self-indulgent in the food area, but this makes me want to see that we at least stay within the $700. (That will get easier once the baby doesn't need as many diapers or formula, but I feel like we could get it under control before then.)

  2. CB in the City Says:
    February 8th, 2011 at 01:32 am 1297128758
    1297128758

    You sound a lot like me -- at one time I had a dog and three cats because my kids took them in -- even now the two cats I have originally belonged to my kids (who are grown and on their own now). Of course I love them all -- kids and pets! Oh, and I guess I have to count the three ferals, since I feed them, too. (I hope I still have three).

  3. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    February 8th, 2011 at 04:12 pm 1297181568
    1297181568

    Yay, expense cutting with a purpose! You've wisely reallocated the savings.

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