Friday, January 25, 2008

February budget completed, and Lent

Only one minor change in the budget, our rent went up by $15.oo, so therefore our income increased by $5.00, due to roomie's rent increasing ($15.00 divided by 3 people is $5.00 each).

Income: $1330.00

Rent: $565.00
Bresnan (Cable, internet, and phone bundle) $120.00
Groceries: $200.00
Gas: $50.00
Hobbies: $60.00 (split between 2 people)
Pets $10.00
Dinners out: $50.00
Savings: $275.00

Total outgoing: $1330.00

Since people have asked, I'm going to explain the budget categories:

Rent: Our apartment complex covers the utilities

Bresnan: We have a package through our internet provider to receive cable internet, phone, and cable TV at a set price ($120.00)

Groceries: I feed 2 people on this per month. We shop once a month, and roomie reimburses us his 1/3 of the total cost, so while we'll actually spend say, 210 at the store, roomie pays us back 70.

Gas: we don't drive much. I drive to a park and ride lot a couple of miles away to ride the shuttle bus to and from campus. Saves me money in the fact that I don't have to pay for a parking permit or pay to park each day on campus, and I'm not driving as far. I put MAYBE 30 miles a week on my car. Fiance drives to and from school, and maybe puts 30 miles a week on his car.

Hobbies: Fiance plays World of Warcraft, and has two accounts ($30.00). I flip flop back and forth between Lord of the Rings Online and World of Warcraft, and knitting. Depending on what I want to do for the month determines what I do with my $30.00.

Pets: We use this category to buy fish supplies, or kitty litter, or food. This amount is low because fish don't eat much, and we buy the big bags of kitty food and litter, which lasts a while.

Dinners out: pretty self explanatory.

Savings: we have a 2000 mile move to save up for.

Budget categories that have changed in the past year: Ciggies and Visa have been eliminated. With January's budget, Visa was paid off, and I quit smoking in January. Changed the budget by $150.00. Also, our rent went up by $15.00.

Why isn't there blow money? Because both fiance and I "work", and money we earn is our blow money. I clean a house once a week, and fiance is a teachers assistant on campus for a couple of his instructors. Any money we make becomes our blow money. For the last couple of months, I've been using my blow money to both save for an iPod (which I bought last week), and paying off Redline Recovery. Since those are both taken care of, my blow money has more wiggle room.

On another tangent, Lent is coming up. Yes, I'm Catholic. I've been thinking recently about what I want to give up for Lent, and it's come down to Mochas (did this last year), and red meat (also did this last year). Me giving up red meat last year really hampered our grocery budget, and sucked for meal planning, as fiance and roomie still wanted to eat red meat. I think it's going to be Mochas again this year. Considering I drink at least one per day, that could get interesting.

2 comments:

HS @ Our Debt Blog said...

I am so proud of both of you, keep up the good work, enjoy your lives and each other, and remember that good things await you in your future.

Anonymous said...

I know this entry is old, but I just found your blog from llnoe and I'm living on about the same income. I was wondering why don't you pay car insurance? Or maybe I missed something that you posted before.