January Budget Results

January Grocery Budget $450 per month
Actual Spent was $448.03.  Success! Zero coupons used.  That isn't surprising as I purchased a lot of large bulk items this month that don't allow for coupons. This category includes all over the counter medications, personal grooming items, soaps, cleaners and household items for two adults who eat at home 99% of the time.  $1.97 will be added to the February budget.

We did end up getting a Costco membership again.  There are certain things there that we saved money right off the bat like hubby's allergy medication.  We cannot purchase it over the counter in the USA and the cheapest I can buy it here on sale is .50 per tablet.  Costco has a house brand of the same medication that we bought for .25 cent a tablet (Aerius for any of those who are wondering as nothing else seems to work for him).  I also bought five liters of dish soap for $7.69 which is cheaper than buying individual bottles with coupons.  With all this stocking up our freezer and fridge are still very full at the end of January.  All that is left on the current shopping list is milk, eggs, and flour which I ran out of half way through making a pizza the other night - bad planning!  So we had our pizza with half corn flour that was in the cupboard and it turned out fine.  After being away from Costco for a year I noticed some things.  For some reason Canadian Costco's don't seem to stock basics like regular flour.  They carry lots of specialty items but if you wan't regular flour you are out of luck.  They do have a great meat department and I managed to buy a large amount of pork chops that are better quality than what I normally buy for about the same price.  My Mom found cat litter and bird seed(for her feeder) much cheaper than she can normally buy them.  They also had great prices on spices but I managed to only buy what I was currently out of which were some peppercorns.

Hair Budget $175 per year
Zero spent in January - but I really need a trim and haven't got one as have been too busy working.  I will be going to get a haircut on Monday.  I don't like waking up in the morning and looking at Sasquatch in the the mirror.

Clothing Budget $200 per year
Spent this month? $9.61.  I bought five new pair of socks for $3 plus tax at Wally World.  Hey big spender!  I also purchased two shirts at the thrift store, one for $2.50 and one for $3. They are non-wrinkle material and fold up really small, great for travelling to Portugal and Holland in April.  $190.39 left to go in the clothing budget for the year.

And that was the month that was January, my least favorite month of the year.  February is a short month, the month where we tidy up all the paperwork and file taxes both for our business and home.  We also are updating our wills this month.  All that yucky adult stuff - and maybe a little bit of fun!