January 2012 Monthly Budget
I know for me personally I like to see numbers when learning about how others budget. Since we are not financial gurus nor do we make substantial incomes I hope to attract others just like us and experts along the way.
*For a detailed explanation on each category you can read “How we designed our Budget Step 2“.
Keep in mind we may tweak it to fit current circumstances. I will do a monthly overview at the end of each month.
Mortgage-$1389 Monthly Actual-$1632.15
Utilities-$450 Monthly Actual-$549.72
Smokes-$121 Monthly Actual-$68.00
Car/House Insurance-$189.46 Monthly Actual-$189.46
Transportation-$150.00 Monthly Actual-$176.70
Misc/Renovation-$125.00 Monthly Actual-$193.79
Dog-$2.00 Monthly Actual-$2.00
Dentist-$5.00 Monthly Actual-$5.00
Vehicle Sticker/E-Test-$15.72 Monthly Actual-$15.72
Krown-$11.25 Monthly Actual-$11.25
Yearly Income Tax-$9.00 Monthly Actual-$9.00
Work Expenses-$219.50 Monthly Actual-$169.50
Christmas-$25.00 Monthly Actual-$25.00
Groceries- $192.78 Monthly Actual-$231.81
Entertainment-$7 Monthly Actual-$0
RRSP-$250.00 Monthly Actual-$250.00
TFSA-$517.00 Monthly Actual-$834.00
Life Ins.-$135.05 Monthly Actual-$135.05
Emergency Fund- $888.00 Monthly Actual-$888.00
Allowance-$15 Monthly Actual-$0
Lottery-$12 Monthly Actual-$12
House Taxes-$283.50 Monthly Actual-$283.50
Clothing-$10 Monthly Actual-$0
Total $5022.00 Total Spent:$5681.36
Over by: $659.36
Monthly Overview
We actually did fairly well this month compared to this time last year. We went over on our groceries and transportation however $100 will be reimbursed for gas (car).
Our TFSA overshot by $317.00 this month due to an error but we simply left it and corrected it for next month.
We used a total of $240.89 in coupons.
We gained a total of 43,810 Shoppers Optimum points worth just over $60.00 in reg redemption.
- We were reimbursed $141.32 for transportation costs.
- We received a cheque for $110.00 from Kitchen-aid for a mail in rebate.
- We made $47.00 selling items on Kijiji.
- We received a $15.00 Gift Card from Casey’s Restaurant in the mail.
Total Made: $373.32 in January above our net wages
There was a total of $58.16 made in overtime at work bringing our monthly net to $ 5022.00+ $58.16=$5080.16 plus what we made above $373.32=$5453.48
- We Spent: $659.36 more than we made this month with that being an extra mortgage payment and $317.00 going to TFSA.
- We will focus in February on grocery to bring this down to goal. We used a total of $100.00 in Gift Cards on groceries from Christmas putting over our target if we would have not used them.
We also paid for Hydro/Water this month which went up a bit with the Smart Meter although we watch this. I will talk more about this later.
- 2010 Hydro-$284.61
- 2011 Hydro-$312.84
- 2012 Hydro-$313.70
- Rogers monthly cost is $159.68 for Home Phone, Cell Phone, Internet, VIP Digital Cable, all 4 boxes free, 2x free PVR for a year.
- Union Gas went down this month compared to the previous 2 years
- 2010 Gas-$80.06
- 2011 Gas-$93.82
- 2012 Gas-$76.34
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