January Budget Roundup

Wasn't January a really loooong month!  Budget-wise it sure was.

Groceries
Budget for two adults $425 Canadian.
This budget includes all over the counter medications, personal care products, and groceries.

Actual $440.22. Over  by $15.22 which shall come off February Budget (only 28 days - this should be manageable)

Coupons used $13.00.

This month I managed to stock up on meat and both my mini-chest freezer and small freezer attached to the fridge are full.  I took full advantage of specials and now have lots of chicken and ham.  There are also some porkchops, shrimp, and canned Tuna in the Pantry,   In an effort to continue to reduce my grocery spend I bought dried black beans versus canned.  Next week I will make some chili.  There was a great post by Elaine over at Sunny Simple Life on how to prepare dried  beans for recipes so I am going to follow that.  This month I will be on the lookout for some fish sales as we have been eating more of it lately.

I also separated Food and Non-Food items this month.
Food  $288.67  plus Non-food $138.55 = Total  $440.22

Our non-food items are high mainly due to over the counter medications (two non-life threatening diseases reside at our home -  IBS and Fibromyalgia both of which we currently only take over the counter medications). I did manage to do a large stock-up on tin-foil this month, at least a two year supply when it went on sale in early January.

We are trying to eat healthier so in February I will  be buying lots of fruit and veggies to round out our supplies.

Clothing
Clothing budget for the year is $200.  This budget is only for myself.  Hubby spends what he needs as he wears suits a lot and is the face of our company so we consider that business related.  Please note that I set the budget for myself for clothing.  If hubby had it his way I would spend a lot more but he is continually amazed at my finds and has not told me I look like a bag lady (yet) so I must be doing something right.

This month I bought brand new shoes for $3.25 and a pink sweater for $5.25, both at Salvation Army (see post here).  Balance remaining for the rest of the year is $191.50.

Hair
Budget for the year is $250, much lower than last year.  Nothing spent in January.

I need a haircut and to find a sale on hair dye so there will be some money spent in February.   I use First Choice Haircutters in case anyone is wondering.  The ladies who work there are just as adept at cutting my hair as the high priced salons, and I find out what day my hairdresser is working and wait for her (they don't make appointments, wish they did).  Hubby now goes there too.  In Alberta my last hairdresser whom I was very loyal too started out at a First Choice Haircutters and then bought her own salon (therefore my costs went up but she was really good!).  I always tip them as well somewhere from $3-5.  Usually I get out of there for around $20.  They occasionally mail out coupons too!

No Spend Days
I tracked no spend days in January for the first time ever.  I do not intend on tracking these every month as expect it is similar from month to month.  Seventeen no spend days out of thirty one days.  If nothing else I paid more attention to grouping errands so probably saved some gas.  I use very little gas each month ($60 this month) due to working from home.  It takes about $20 in gas to go see my Mom (two hours each direction) and we did that for her Birthday mid-month as she was just here at New Years.  Hubby uses my car a fair amount too - he has a sportscar (that I found at a garage sale and that we paid cash for - one day I will do a post on that) so doesn't like to take it out in bad weather.

For anyone interested in how I track things - the low tech method.  Dollar store notebook.  Put receipts in there and tally up every few days to keep on budget track.  Separate columns for  groceries, then food, nonfood, and coupons.  You really can't get any easier than that!