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

Photo compliments of: Copyright (c) <a href=’http://www.123rf.com’>123RF Stock Photos</a>