February Budget Wrap Up

We track our finances in a variety of ways, but I always find it helpful to do a total look back on the month as a whole. Here's what we spent & how we did against our budget.

We were under our monthly budget by $315. Woohoo!

A strong showing after coming in over budget in January. There were still areas we were over & under - they netted out well. Here are some specifics. (Some small number discrepancies due to rounding).

Areas where we were over:

• Groceries, by $130. I'm likely just going to increase the budget, because I don't think we've EVER come in under budget, and it's a source of dispute in my house. ;-) 
• Utilities, by $159. Actually, I counted that I paid the power bill last month, but actually forgot to hit "send" on the bill pay, so this month I had to pay it for real. 
• Dining out, by $22.16. Given that it was a double birthday month, and we were traveling, this is better than expected. 

We were also under budget in some areas:

• Childcare, by $419. Mostly because we were out of town for a few days, and I've been continuing to keep a close eye on my schedule & work hours.
• Cleaning, by $90. I canceled a cleaning & did the work myself.
• Gas, by $38.68. I'll revisit our gas bill again, as it's likely too high given current fuel costs.
• Insurance, by $5.41. Need to update the amount, as my budget is slightly too high.
• Alcohol, by $40. We spent $0 on alcohol. That probably means a wine stock up next month. ;-) 
• Toiletries, by $10. We spent $0, and I've been focusing on buying absolutely nothing in this category. 

This is one of those rare months where we were actually under budget, & I'm feeling pretty great about it. I want to continue practicing this frugality, because next month involves paying for SUMMER CAMP. I've already spent over $6,000. I don't know what to say, other than that summer camp is a giant, expensive, crazy beast. 

How did you do on your February spending?