Budget Results

Now that we have started a new month I can go back and look at my September budget and see how much it differs from my August budget:

Last month we spent a total of $4,033 and this month we only spent $3,271 down $762!! This also had to do with the fact that we had missed a lot of July's bills and had to pay double in August so our bills made up $2,284 of that in August and they were only $1,428 in the month of September. We did manage to save quite a bit in some places and spent more in another, unfortunately.

Gas: In August we spent $365 and in September we spent $340 down $25
Groceries: In August we spent $391 and in September we spent $275 down $116
Necessities: In August we spent $142 and in September we spent $115 down $27
Eating out: In August we spent $372 and in September we spent $602 Up $231 (yikes!!)

It's very obvious that the decrease in our bills is the main reason we were able to spend so much less. Bringing down our grocery budget was due to a great idea brought to me by my good friend Sarah who suggested going to the store more frequently and only purchasing the things that you need for that night's dinner and maybe the next night that way you don't end up throwing away half your food.

The Increase in eating out is definitely due to my insane cravings and needing to go out at 9pm to grab a chicken salad sandwich. At least I am able to look and see that we are spending way too much on eating out and cut that out significantly. The best part about tracking my spending habits is seeing where my money is going and where I need to cut back. Hopefully we will be able to bring down our monthly spending even more in October!