However, within the budgets that we can control, I saw great results.
Categories where we were under or right at budget:
- Childcare - under by $545 (our nanny wasn't available for much of the month)
- Cleaning - we cancelled the service, and saved $25
- Dining out - we didn't eat out as a family in January, but there were a few random individual item purchases. Under by $104
- Entertainment - under by $16
Categories where we were over budget:
- Gas - we had lots of soccer tournaments, and were over by $33
- Groceries - over by $81. I guess offset by the reduction in dining out? :-(
- Insurance, over by $1515. Our homeowner's policy for the year.
- Alcohol - over by $8. We bought champagne to celebrate our closing
- Utilities - over by $382. We paid our yearly handyman service, Next year, I should make a yearly line item for this, & pull it out of our standard monthly expenses.
All told, including the insurance, we were only over our January budget by $343. Great news, considering the insurance was $1500. Woohoo!! February needs to continue to be an extremely frugal month, despite the two birthdays we have coming up.
What about you? How did you do with your January budget? Any big wins? Did you stay on track? I'd describe the dining out budget as our lowest on record!! We spent a total of $21 on dining out in January. Awesome!!!
I am pretty sure we had the discussion before but you have increased your house deductible to save on premium, right? Considering the value of your new home it would be worth seeing what a $2000 deductible would be premium wise (if you haven't already :))
ReplyDeleteOh, we have the highest deductible allowable, unfortunately. The house has a pool, which is a huge challenge on the cost side. We weren't looking for a house with a pool, but they are very common here. We'll likely keep for a year, assess tradeoffs & cost, and then determine if we want to keep or fill.
DeleteJanuary was fair.Hubs had a mediocre month and my take home went down by $14 a month as health insurance crept up a bit. We did keep groceries low but other things like birthdays and cars added expense. February will be pricey.
ReplyDeleteAck. Sorry to hear about the salary decrease due to health insurance. It's so hard when the expenses rise, but not at the same pace as the income. You've got this - February will be great! (And, if not, short. ;-))
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