Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Weekly Money Check-Up


photo
Weekly Money Check-Up courtesy of My Pretty Pennies
1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on our rent.
2. Today I am thankful for my husband. I had a horrible migraine last night and he went to the store to get Gravol for me and cleaned up the vomit bucket. :(
3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was cleaning up our balcony. I didn't realize how much I hated looking at it until it was nice to look at again!
4. I will consider this week a success if I spend less than $400 in Ottawa this weekend.
5. The most delicious things I ate all week was a Wolseley bar from Stella's! It's a delicious oatmeal/granola bar with chocolate chips, sunflower seeds and dried food. Delish!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

May Goals

Ah, May! I am loving the warmer weather, the greenery and being able to wear flats without socks again! I'm hoping I can get some motivation this month to get out for some walks more and use the warm weather to my advantage!

Financial Goals

  • Spend less than $400 in Ottawa (meals, outings and any shopping).
  • Save $750 towards the house down payment fund.
  • Limit eating out to $150.

Household Goals

  • Clear out my closet. This has been on my weekend to do list's for weeks now, so I must get this done!
  • Spring clean the kitchen. (It's one of the few spots that hasn't been done yet this spring). 
  • Clean up our balcony and prep for the summer.

Personal Goals

  • Work out 4x a week.
  • Get an A on my mid-term
  • Get outside at least once a week for a walk

April Spending Recap

I'm finally back on the wagon when it comes to tracking our spending. Since we were away on vacation in February, I got a bit sidetracked, but here is our April spending report..


Item
Spent
Breakdown
Rent
$1,122

Rent – ‘nuff said
Food
$969.01
$663.72 – groceries
$305.29 – eating out or snacks at work

Car
$838.01
$99.75 – parking
$500 – two car payments
$150 – two transfers to our car fund (for insurance, oil changes and future repairs)
$88.26 – gas

Savings
$400.00
$300 – RRSPs*
$100 – vacation fund

Misc. and household
$273.08
Various drugstore purchases, household items.

Gifts
$126.69
Gift for my MIL’s birthday (This also includes my BIL’s gift for his mom and he paid me back)

Cats
$54.68
Pet insurance (we include their food and litter in the groceries amount)

Entertainment
$35.00
We went to a play starring a friend ($15 per person, plus the cost of a drink for husband)

Clothing
$33.05
One new summer top for me

Health

$15.30
10% of my 6-month dental check-up

Bank fees
$10.95
Monthly fee


*this does not include my pension, which is taken directly off my paycheque. 

Food is crazy high and we need to get better about not eating out or ordering in so much. I think we need to start going to the grocery store more often. If we have food that I want in the house, I am not as tempted. It's when we're low on snacks or easy-to-make meals that I get lazy and just go and buy something or order in. If we go more often and stock up, maybe this will ease up.

But what really surprised me was how high the misc. and household category was. I can't even remember what some of that stuff was. I know we bought a closet organizer, some vitamins, and that's about it... So I really have to start tracking where that misc. money is going better. 

Now that I'm back on the wagon, I'll try to keep better tabs on what was actually purchased instead of just the category and amount.