I’m always curious about seeing how well other people stick to their budgets so here’s my April wrap up. April was the first month I finally got it tweaked right and was able to stay under budget on the whole. In previous months I was being too strict with myself. In April I adjusted my numbers so that I can spend up to 75% of my regular income (just my take home pay from work).
I went over in a few categories: home (annual renter’s insurance payment this month), bills & utilities (my city collects payment on water/trash/sewer every other month so it alternates being over and under), personal care (took my coats and suits to the green dry cleaner, first time going to a dry cleaner in 3 years but my clothes needed it), and business services and cash/atm (these categories have an allotment of $0 but I do use them from time to time so if I do they go over budget but are still included in the total so they have to come out of somewhere else).
Overall I spent 94.7% of my budget which means that, in addition to the 25% I force myself to save each month, I saved an extra 5.3%. I did especially good on groceries this month, spending only 49% of my budget in that category (meal planning, focusing on wasting less, and couponing have made a huge difference). It’s important to me to be eating good quality food so in May I will be incorporating more fresh produce, nicer cuts of meat, and more organic products.
How well did you stick to your April budget? Will you be making any changes to your budget or lifestyle in May?
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It’s easy to recycle glass, just take it to your local recycling point.
Related posts:
May Budget Wrap Up
August Budget Wrap Up
September Budget Wrap Up
October Budget Wrap Up
June Budget Wrap Up
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{ 5 comments }
I did better than I did in March, March being my start to really trying to be stricter with myself. I know I will do even better in May as we are working on a “spending fast” going for needs only and no eating out. Hope to last the whole month!
http://simplypracticalblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/april-budget-roundup.html
We ended up spending more than planned last month. Not on bills, food, etc… It was because my PC died, so we got me a laptop. Had it not been for that we’d have been under budget.
As for plans for May. We’re changing to more environmentally friendly cleaners, and more organic products. I’ve also managed to arrange for somewhere to take glass items, since the curb side recycling scheme we have doesn’t accept glass.
Just to let you know we are buddies in the Blog Improvement Challenge this week
You can contact me at bakerjodie at gmail dot com or by dropping by Bookgazing. Looking forward to working with you.
What budget planning software do you use?
@Ashley
I use mint.com
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