Week in Review (July 13-19)
By Matt - Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
Last week was a very expensive week for me in that I was playing a little catch up with my bills. The net result is that I spent almost two thousand dollars last week. Other than the bills I spent a bit too much money on a few items but before I get into the details here are last weeks final numbers:
| Budget | Actual | |
| Alcohol | $65.00 | $123.30 |
| Food@Office | $25.00 | $26.87 |
| Food | $125.00 | $148.91 |
| Gas | $75.00 | $105.50 |
| Entertainment | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Smokes | $50.00 | $59.60 |
| Misc | $115.00 | $35.85 |
| Transportation | $18.00 | $23.50 |
| Stupid | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Bills | $1337.37 | $1313.19 |
| Baby | $0.00 | $63.14 |
| Investments | $50.00 | $50.00 |
| Total | $1860.37 | $1961.35 |
| Updated July 20, 2009 – 12:29pm | ||
My bills ended up being a bit less than originally budgeted simply because I was guestimating one of them to be $140 and it turned out to be $115 when the amount came out of my bank account. This was a pleasant surprise. What was an unpleasant surprise was my spending in pretty much every other category with alcohol spending being the largest surpise. I spent nearly double my budgeted amount on this; other than simply purchasing more expensive items and a bit more than we would normally buy I can’t see any reason why this ended up going up so much. We purchased a bit more because we went up north to a cottage and got some for everyone but this wouldn’t account for the large discrepancy. This will be an item that needs a lot more attention going forward.
The gas costs and food costs were higher than I expected and this is simply due to the trip to the cottage, although this cost is coming up again this week overall the extra spending here is what I would call within acceptable limits.
Another item that is now visible on the list that was not included in previous weeks is an investment category. I have decided that I need to start setting aside some money in mutual funds every pay or I will likely spend the money on day to day living expenses. A $50 bi-weekly contribution isn’t significant but it will add up over time.
Overall I’m a little surprised at my spending and I’m also glad that I have been focusing on my weekly budgets so much because I am starting to realize why I have been living beyond my means. This weeks budget is less of a data collection activity and more of a target for each of the line items. I think the hardest item to meet will be the alcohol spending simply because it seems we spend way too much money on it.
This entry is filed under 2009, Weekly Budgets.
4 Responses to “Week in Review (July 13-19)”
1 AA says:
July 22nd, 2009
at 1:47 pm
Are you putting aside money for the inevitable liver transplant?
2 AA says:
July 22nd, 2009
at 1:58 pm
Also, you’re off by $526.91 in your spending. Lay off the sauce when adding numbers!
3 Ken says:
July 22nd, 2009
at 3:11 pm
Huh? $1402.95? I figure expenses were $1929.86…
4 Matt says:
July 23rd, 2009
at 6:55 am
Ken: You’re correct the numbers were actually copied and pasted incorrectly and I just wasn’t paying close attention.
AA: At maybe 3 beers a day I doubt I’m in danger of any liver transplant (I am including alcohol bought for me, my wife and in some situations friends and family). Not to mention the sauce I buy happens to be pricey.
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