by Tricia
I’m still missing one receipt for April and I’ve officially declared it missing. So, I guessed where a receipt went (more on that below). I’m trying to get our income and expense reports posted earlier in the month but what can I say? Keeping tabs on receipts is still something we are working on.
So, here is April’s spending. As always, my comments are below.
Income: The hardest part for me with looking at this income and expense report is the income. It decreased almost $1,500 from March. We were spoiled with March…that’s for sure. Our income will probably hover around this mark for a while. For those curious, the income here includes all income (blog income, employer match for 401(k), even finding money on the street).
Food: Lots of money going out for groceries in April, but it might not be as bad as it seems. The missing receipt I alluded to earlier was a Walmart purchase for $138. When we spend that much, it usually means we bought groceries. Chances are good we purchased something else as well, but since I can’t remember and the receipt is missing, I put it all under groceries.
Overall, our grocery spending will be going up. Since starting on my weight loss journey, I’ve been spending a lot buying fresh fruits and healthier foods. It is dipping into our pocketbook. May should give us a pretty good idea of how much the impact will be.
Holiday: I still love the holidays and Easter is no exception. Everyone in the household received a nice Easter basket. My son’s was filled with goodies like a Magic set and coloring books. He also hunted for eggs and some were filled with money. Of course, there was lots of candy and I splurged and bought some good chocolate bunnies. This is not my proudest category, and I still am dealing with spoiling my husband and son with surprises. It has always been a weak spot for me.
Household: The household category holds many things related to house and home. Here’s this month’s breakdown (I usually link to it, but I decided to include it right here this month since there is significant spending here).
The biggest spending here was for our bathroom. I spent over $30 on a good scale for keeping track of my weight and body fat for Blogging Away Fat. The scale I had was old and the glass was broken. Turns out it was underweighing me by quite a bit. The other spending for bathroom was for doing a little redecorating. I haven’t started it yet, but I bought a medicine cabinet, shower curtain, border and paint.
The other big spending was for stamps! Yikes! Much of that was to ship my husband’s camera under warranty to be repaired. It was so expensive due to insuring the package. The warranty place also required $20 to ship it back. Add in a few packages to relatives and sending our tax forms via certified mail and it all added up.
Interest Expense: This is the cost of interest for our mortgage and school loans.
Medical: The medical insurance here is for two months. I have another bill due at the end of the month. I’ve been paying it a little late to buy more time, but I’m going to try to pay it on time this month.
Recreation: This is for my son to play a sport. So, those types of expenses are starting up now, but the smiles on his face show how much it’s worth it.
School Supplies: This includes school pictures and my son’s lunches.
Taxes: Big huge jump here for our taxes. That’s because we owed money for the Federal and State for our 2006 taxes. I really don’t like underwithholding so I will be increasing my withholding at work shortly once my husband’s side jobs start kicking in.
Utilities: Now that the weather is getting warmer, our electric and gas bills will be shrinking. I am so happy about that! Time for a little relief and hopefully some extra money to pay towards our debt!
FINAL THOUGHTS
April was a rough month. It was the first month since starting this blog that our net worth decreased. By looking at the bottom line of this report, you can see why. We spent more than we made.
Some of it is due to paying our medical insurance that is due every two months. Another chunk was for the money we owed for 2006 taxes. I can’t deny that there is spending that was more of the “want” nature than a “need.” I wanted to have nice Easter baskets for the family. We didn’t need that stuff and I do feel remorse for that spending. It didn’t make the day any more joyous or enjoyable for us. In fact, the previous year we had a really nice Easter that was very inexpensive. I’m not sure why I lost my focus here and ended up making a big dinner this year.
Just goes to show that even after a year I’m still trying to figure myself out.
You have to do some things that make you feel good, and if that means doing for those you love, I say the debt can wait a little longer. If there is one thing I’ve learned from reading your blog, and from my own experience, it’s that debt reduction is a long process. No matter how much restraint you use, extreme patience and self-forgiveness are required. Those two virtues are much of what’s to be learned along the way. I find having patience to be particularly difficult…it’s hard.
I am a new reader here, but help me understand this… how do you spend $500 on groceries in one month!?
Granted, I am turning 21 this week and spend more money eating out than I do on groceries, but still! Do you have 4 kids or something? Healthy eating cant be THAT expensive can it!?
Blain – there are three of us. Groceries also include soda pop (I used to split that out but stopped doing it). I really wish I could find that receipt because I have a feeling at least $30 was for other things. Still, we would have quite a bit under groceries here.
The groceries have always been a spot to work on with us. I think at the lowest we got it down to $300 for a month. But then the next month is $400. The thing about the healthy eating is that once I decided to do it, there is some cost with going out and buying better choice staples when we already have some at home. Things like healthier cheese, mayo, etc. I’m going to look at the detail here because that will tell more.
Oh – one other thing too…we do not have bulk food stores where we live. I have received some great tips about buying in bulk, but we don’t have a Sam’s Club or anything like that. The closest we get is a Super Walmart.
I agree with Blain also Tricia. My wife and I don’t spend nearly that amount. My wife and I spend around $200 and we eat really healthy. I bodybuild quite often so the food must be there for me, and quality food for sure. I think you need to break down your grocery list and ask yourself do you really need this item (like do you really need apple sauce when you could buy apples? That sort of thinking. Do you shop with a price book? Also, do you plan your meals a week ahead? We plan our meals and then shop only for those meals. We then make sure we have various things (like deli turkey) for lunches, lots of fruit, veggies, grains, and protein. Good luck with all of it! Hopefully you can lower it, while lowering your weight.
I must say I’m disheartened by your discretionary spending, especially given that it means dragging out paying off your debts over so many years. Now is not the time to redecorate your bathroom. Especially since you spent more than you earned this month! Until that habit stops, you’ll never stay out of debt. Changing financial habits means that at a minimum you do whatever it takes to spend less than you earn each month. Also, imagine how much further you’d be toward debt reduction if all of the money from your “want”/discretionary purchases from the last year had instead been used toward credit cards…maybe that painful $392 in interest charges every month would be closer to $300 or even less.
And eating healthy absolutely does not need to cost more money. Stop buying processed and packaged food, and load up on healthy and cheap things like brown rice, oatmeal, lentils, beans, veggies, etc. It’s a myth that eating healthy has to cost a lot, although it might take more time to actually prepare real food. For example, for the cost of McDonald’s for one person (which you mentioned in your other blog), you could make a meal for the entire family of brown rice, broccoli, and chicken or tofu. And water is free and healthy compared to expensive and sugary soda.
Thanks for being honest and posting your financial information even when you aren’t thrilled with it. I hope next month you find yourself with more income and fewer expenses 🙂
I have also found healthy food to be cheaper (with the occasional exception, like some organic fruits and vegetables, but those can also be affordable depending on where they are bought). Numerous studies and articles have also addressed this topic and concur.
I have found healthy food to be cheaper, actually.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to justify our grocery spending. I know it is too high. I ran the report I mentioned and here it is:
April 2007 Grocery Spending
The bigger spending is for our grocery trips to the store. The little spending is for a candy bar with gas…running to the store to get something small (but ending up getting more)…etc. The little trips are adding up and I’d like them to stop. All of that is recorded and counted as groceries.
We do not plan our meals, and that would help greatly. It would make sure we use all that we buy and we could work some menu items around sales. It will be interesting to take a look at how May turns out because I am eating considerably less! It’s one of those things you hate to say, but it’s true is that both my husband and I are overweight (I’m obese even). It costs money to maintain that unhealthy weight in more ways than one.
As for the bathroom, I admit that April was not the best month to spend the $60 for it. But, the changes made for that cost I hope will pay off when it comes time to sell our house in a few years.
I don’t meal plan, either, and I am not really sure it would help. I forgot to consider organics. Healthy food is cheaper if it’s not organic. I have found that running to the store every few days for a few days worth of fresh and parishable things is the healthiest and least expensive way to go, but the most annoying.
I also try to drink only water, but can’t get my husband to.
I have to say that I think that saying you should not spend $88 on Easter or $92 on your bathroom is missing the point of what you are trying to accomplish.
You aren’t trying to live as austere a life as possible until you pay off your debts, you are trying to learn life-long habits about saving. It’s like dieting. If you never ever allow yourself chocolate during your diet, the second you go off your diet, you start over-eating and then you’re back to your starting weight.
Instead, you want to make changes that will stay with you permanently, but that still allow you occasionaly to indulge in small ways.
But I do think that meal planning can help bring your grocery bill down, and bring it down permanently. Also, I’m not sure if you can convince your whole family to do this, but I limit myself to $10 a week of the “gas station” grocery- that is those little trips you mentioned- grabbing a Starbucks on your way to work, or a candy bar at the gas station, or a frozen yogurt. Those couple dollars for a coffee here or a soda there or a candy bar there really add up. Some days, you’ve had a bad day, and you really just want a frozen yogurt. I know myself, and I know that sometimes I feel that’s necessary. So I budget for it. Once I’ve hit $10 a week, I can’t buy more “gas station” grocery that week.
I find that going to the store more often can cost more than going less. Going less has fewer times to be tempted to buy something else that goes with the meal or buying an extra item that the store put on special for that day. You also lose time if you work full-time and are doing other things to raise your income. And with gas prices these days it will cost more in traveling to the store unless you are lucky enough to live in walking distance to a grocery. A good investment when times are good would be a small freezer to keep lots of frozen veggies, fruits and meat (that you found on sale) around to limit trips to the store and keep items on hand for whipping something up at a moments notice. Plus if you are able to grow some of your own veggies you will have it for the surplus.
It’s mostly up to the individuals needs and circumstances. There is NOT one magic way for everyone.
I hope that you really have the discipline to make this work. That extra candy bar may seem like a little thing at the moment, but when you add up a few over time is can make a difference in terms of your finances and your weight loss.
I think that is probably the biggest point I would like to make. $60 for a bathroom remodel may not seem like a lot of money when you think about selling your house in a couple of years. But that is acouple of years away … I think you should focus on the self-discipline it takes to make the hard decisions about your financial future and your weight loss NOW.
Look at how you got where you are … why are you over weight? Why are you in debt? Because you didn’t make the hard choices. Maybe you should make them now.
My husband and I have found that the easiest way to avoid overspending
at the grocery store is to bring a list with all the ingredients for the
Shoot! Sorry about that!
…for the meals we’ve planned in advance. However, even with just the
two of us, we usually spend about $250-300 a month on groceries. Part of
that is because we buy organic as often as possible, and so we budget
accordingly. As others have said, there is no “right way”. You’ll just
have to figure out what works for you.
Have you looked at savingdinner.com? They do all the menu planning for you and provide you with a shopping list as well. They have free one-week menus on their website so that you can “try before you buy.”
I highly recommend them if you’re trying to get into menu planning. Their meals are healthy and nutritious and they have options for kosher, people losing weight, low carb, etc.
I really admire the way in which you are at least trying to track all of your expenses. My wife and I have tried doing this so many times that we’ve given up.
Good Luck
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one getting April’s budget up late (hopefully this week sometime), but better late than never. We’re having an expensive month as well, so don’t get down on yourself for buying Easter candy, etc., just get back into frugal mode this month. It’s hard, but just keep at it. Good luck!
Meal planning never worked for us, because I found myself “planning” to make and eat meals that we usually eat anyway. So, there was no money savings, just a lot of extra work- writing things down that I knew I was going to do. As far as impulse purchases, you just have to develop the whatever it is that makes you get the will power to not give in. Not everything is easy, but a lot of hard stuff is worth it.
Tricia, do you have a Trader Joe’s near you? I don’t care about organic food either way but Trader Joe’s has the best prices on fruit! I go there about once a week and stock on on fruit and also salad mixings and its only about 10-15 dollars!
I have a feeling that the justifications you use to make purchases with money you don’t have are why you ended up in debt. Increasing the value of your home years from now is not a priority at the moment — getting out of credit card debt is your stated priority. You can redecorate your bathroom when and if you actually decide to put it on the market OR when you are out of debt. And this is not living an austere life! It’s not exactly austere or harsh to deny someone a bathroom upgrade or fancy Easter baskets. Permanent behavior changes must include living on less than one makes, and this is not unrealistic or harsh.
I don’t understand why $500 dollars a month on groceries for three people is considered outrageous. Per person that works out to be less than $2 per meal (which is about what the tip would be if you ate out!)
Not my business, but an easy way to cut down debt is to stop smoking. It’s healthy and saves yourself future medical expenses down the line. Being as you are changing your life – financially – you might use this as a period to adjust your health. Just my two cents. In any case, good luck.
Great comments. Tricia, to date, we’ve paid off roughly $32K in debt in 18 mos. by budgeting as you are. One lesson we learned is that it was virtually impossible for us to control our grocery spending using our debit card or writing a check. Since we began using cash – taking out $200 at the beginning of the month and taking that in an envelope with a list each trip to the store – we haven’t had problems. We’re now very concious that once the cash is gone, we live on what we’ve got in the cupboards. And believe me, our cupboards are never bare. As for amount spent, we’re just two people and $200 works for us. It’s sometimes a pinch, but hey, we’re dedicated to getting this debt out of our lives. Also, I’ve done this all while being on Weight Watchers, and I’m now a lifetime member. And I’ll second Brian’s though about smoking. Enough said.
Great comments, MVP! And congratulations on your Weight Watchers success and on successfully making tough decisions to get out of debt. It’s so much better to do what it takes to get rid of the debt faster. You must feel great doing all that in 18 months.
Tricia – it would be so exciting if you could put $200-500 more on credit card debt each month. That could happen if you reduce groceries to about $300, cut out soda and some or all of the cigarettes, and stop spending on all/most unnecessary “wants” and “splurges”. Good luck!
Bob: the point of budgeting for groceries isn’t to consider yourself a success if you spend less than going out to eat. Comparing one expensive thing to another more expensive thing isn’t exactly fair. $500 is a lot because, as you’ve seen from other people’s comments, it’s easy to do it for a lot less and still have plenty of healthy food for 3 people. So, while trying to get out of debt, some people avoid spending extra money if it’s not needed. And while $2 might seem “cheap” to you, it depends what you compare it to. My breakfast of fiber cereal or oatmeal costs less that 25 cents, so that makes $2 seem out of control when trying to get out of debt.
Tricia,
My husband and I spend $400/month on groceries. I do get some food that is more expensive b/c it prevents us from going out to eat. And, don’t believe what people here are saying: buying quality food does cost more money! I was just going through your budget thinking it looked a lot like mine.