Week 3 Budget Assessment
By Matt - Monday, June 16th, 2008
Last weeks budget was aggressive and completely achievable in my opinion and the results help prove this. I missed my targets in two categories and both could possibly have been kept within their targets. Here are this week’s numbers:
| Weekly Budget June 9 - 15 |
||
| Budget | Actual | |
| Alcohol | $25.00 | $19.90 |
| Food-Lunch | $10.00 | $8.38 |
| Food | $80.00 | $93.76 |
| Gas | $35.00 | $87.61 |
| Entertainment | $40.00 | |
| Smokes | $25.00 | $23.22 |
| Misc | $40.00 | $32.18 |
| Transportation | $10.00 | |
| Total | $265.00 | $265.05 |
The two categories that I missed were food and gas; one has a good explanation and the other was purchasing some additional food for this upcoming week. The price of gas has been slowly climbing and I haven’t been driving very much to compensate. This week was father’s day and we hadn’t seen my parents for a while so we went out to see them. Rather than hoping the remaining $15 in my budget would cover gas for the drive I decided to suck it up and fill up. I was completely floored by the fact that gas cost me almost $70 to fill up! On a positive note I won’t need to fill up at all this week.
On the food front again we spent a bit more on food partly because we were making fathers day dinner for one of the dads. But with all that said the allocated amount could have been kept in check. I think with some smart planning and budgeting the grocery store purchases can be brought into check quite easily.
Other than these two items I’m very happy with this past week. All of the other categories were below what I was expecting to spend. I also went out of my way to make sure some of the categories were below their numbers rather than above them. I wanted to write a post about this later in the week.
Finally the cost of gas and trying to control cash flow has made me ponder getting a smaller car. I don’t drive a lot but the fuel efficiency is something I’m sure to notice not to mention insurance prices on smaller cars aren’t as high as SUVs. I’m still pondering the idea and don’t want to make a hasty decision though if gas prices keep going up I’m sure I won’t be the only person thinking about downsizing their car.
This entry is filed under Budgeting and Planning, Monthly Planning.
2 Responses to “Week 3 Budget Assessment”
1 Jay says:
June 17th, 2008
at 9:43 pm
The car is a huge expense. I got rid of mine several years ago. Living in Brooklyn, it’s more of a hassle to have a car than anything else. And without one, I save a lot of money. The car-free lifestyle is one of the big benefits of living in NYC.
I don’t see much else that I would cut from the budget if it were mine. Amazing that it costs $800 per month to live a frugal lifestyle, but it’s the same for me. I’m amazed you guys are able to get by on $80 per week for groceries. For me and my partner it’s more like $150 per week. We eat well, but not extravagantly.
I quit smoking a few years ago and never regretted it, especially from a budgetary point of view.
2 Michele says:
June 18th, 2008
at 1:24 am
I currently don’t drive and haven’t for the last 7 1/2 years due to a work injury leaving me 100% permanently disabled with a chronic pain condition. Despite this, I watch the gas prices skyrocket and am shocked to see that it’s now $4.19 per gallon!!!!!! I’m getting ready to start driver training to learn to drive with my left foot since it’s my right leg that’s affected by the pain, but seeing the gas prices and knowing that I can’t work, I wonder if I’ll even be able to afford the gas once I get my licence back!! It’s pretty darn scary!!
Anyway, at least the reason you went over your budget was a good reason and not something frivolous. I hope you enjoyed Father’s Day.
Thanks again for the prize!! It’s VERY much appreciated!!
Michele
luvkittysmeowmail@gmail.com
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