May 2012 Canadian Budget Binder Family Budget Update
May 2012 Canadian Budget Binder Family Budget Update
It seems as if the month flew by but that’s because May turned out to be a busy month for us but we managed ok in the end. The hot weather has hit us right in the face here in Ontario and I’ve been working away at getting the landscaping up to a reasonable looking level until I have my design. This has been an ongoing project since moving in the house.
We were going to hold a garage sale but with lack of time we opted out although I’m sure we will try again soon. We sold a couple of items on Kijiji one being the barbeque that I told the wife to put on the road with a “FREE” sign. Well after some back and forth with Mrs. CBB (She won of course) it was posted for sale on kijiji! I felt like an arse when I came home after work one day and she was flashing $90 in my face. Not bad considering she listed at $100. Her reasoning was ” It’s May 24 weekend someone’s bbq is going to break” Sure enough a bloke turns up and tells her that he was having guests over for a bbq and his bit the dust and the shops were closed.
All I have to say is…”never say never” if someone wants something you’ve got they will pay for it!
We also managed to participate in a study for a local organization netting us $30 each cash for 13 minutes of our time. Love those but the best are the $100 1 hr focus groups.
Changes to the Budget This Month
While looking at our family budget particularly the “Home Maintenance” category we noticed we had spent quite a bit this month. We currently budget $50 a month but that simply is not enough with all the renovations we want to do including landscaping this summer. What we have done for June’s budget is we are now saving 1% of the cost of home which is $329.00 a month and under renovations $50 a month for a total of about $5000 a year for maintenance and renovations.
This seems realistic given there is so much we want to do to our home. I said to Mrs. CBB that I don’t want us to feel guilty every time we pull money from our Emergency Savings for renovations. So all in all, we are happy now. We both said it would take a good year to get this budget the way we want it. If anyone out there budgets they know it takes time and many changes to get it just right although it’s always ongoing. Moving forward we hope to go self-hosted with the blog shortly so I can start building some passive income. I’ll keep you updated with any exciting news!
New Projected Expenses
- Renovations $50 a month
- Home Maintenance $329 a month
- Electricity and Water we changed to projected at $153.05 per month with the bill coming every 2 months.
Our Net Income for the month of May was a bit higher due to
- School Bursary Award – $500
- Interest from the Savings Accounts $0.03,$2.30, $89.68 ,$36.33=$128.34
- Sold items on Kijiji -$40 Dhalia bulbs $90 BBQ
- Overtime Pay…still haven’t had a reg pay since my raise
- We participated in a Study for a local organization $30 x2 =$60 cash
We also had a bit of muck up with The Grocery Game Challenge in May and it was my fault. I admit I misplaced a receipt and it didn’t get entered into the Canadian Budget Binder Spreadsheet. It was entered in the Grocery Game Challenge and that is how I found out in the end. I thought we had more money in the grocery budget then we had simply because I didn’t enter that receipt. I have since corrected that error and urge everyone to make sure all receipts are taken well care of and entered into your budget. We overspent our grocery budget for May by $36.20.
May Monthly Overview
We have 3 Canadian Bank Accounts with our chequing account being with President’s Choice Financial. We chose PC Financial as one of our banks because we didn’t want to pay any bank fees.
- Chequing– This is where all the bills get paid from.
- Emergency Savings– This is where our Emergency money sits.
- Savings– This account holds money for projected expenses.
The CBB Family May Budget Breakdown
- Monthly Budget Total: $5,876.10
- Monthly Net Income Total: $ $6,843.45
- Total Coupons Used: $224.41
- Projected Expenses: These are expenses we know we will pay for throughout year and save monthly for = $754.64
- Total Expenses Actually Paid Out is: $4200.01
Calculated is $6843.45 (total monthly income) – $1888.80 (total monthly savings) – Projected expenses $754.64 = $4200.01
Actual Cash Savings Going Into Emergency Savings Funds: $1888.80
Calculated is $6843.45 (total monthly income) – $4200.01 (actual expenses paid out for the month) – $754.64 (budgeted expenses) = $1888.80(Total Savings for May)
The Outcome: Overall we did ok, we spent a bit more than we bargained for on flowers but we needed to spruce up the yard. Now that we have more money allotted to Home Maintenance it will help us get more projects on the go. We will work on our grocery budget once yet again in June.
Total Net Income May:$6843.45
- Allowance $15-Spent $61.10 (beer and coffee) I typically buy beer from April-August.
- Car Repair/Maintenance $23.50- Spent $0-Saved $23.50 in account for future
- Christmas $25- Spent $o- Saved $25 in account for future
- Clothing $10 Spent $124.70 (needed clothes for grad but am bringing back the shirt at $22+tax next week
- Dentist/Prescriptions $5- Spent $14.36 (will get prescription fees paid back)
- Electricity/Water $153.05- Spent $263.73 this is paid every 2 months and is now a projected expense in our budget.
- Entertainment-$7- Spent $0-Saved $7 in account for future
- E-test–$4- Spent $0-Saved $4.00 in account for future
- Furnace/Hot Water Rental–$37.46- Saved $37.46 in account for future
- Union Gas (domestic) -$59.19-Spent $40.34 ( was under budget)
- Gasoline/Diesel (vehicle)-$192-Spent $93.83 (well under wow!)
- Grocery- $190- Spent $226.20 ( over by $36.20)
- Home Maintenance-$50-Spent $490.06 This has also been changed to $329 starting in June as we were well over budget. It is now a projected expense.
- Car/Home Insurance-$189.46-Spent $205.00 (this will go down in June)
- Income Tax Filing-$2.50-Spent $0-Saved$2.50 in account for future
- Investment-$767.00-Spent $767.00
- Licence Renewal Fees-$11.84-Saved $11.84 in account for future.
- Life Insurance–$135.05-Spent $135.05
- Lottery-$12 -Spent-$12
- Membership/Club/Sports-$6- Spent $0-Saved $6 in account for future.
- Miscellaneous-$294.50-Spent $347.08
- Mortgage–$1389.12 -Spent $1389.12
- Parking-$5 -Spent $0
- Pet-$2.08-Spent $0-Saved $2.08 in account for future.
- Property Tax-$287.45-Saved $287.45 in account for future
- Emergency Savings-Saved $2643.44-$754.64 projected expenses = $1888.80 saved
- Vehicle Sticker-$16- Spent $o Saved $16 in account for future
- Cable/Internet/Cell/Home Phone–$165.56-Spent $162.49 This will now be $144.10 in June after renegotiating plan in May)
- Work Tools-$50 Spent $0- Saved in account for future
You can follow me on Facebook HERE or Twitter HERE or Pinterest HERE . Introduce yourself, say hello, don’t be shy! Cheers Mr.CBB
Photo Credit:Copyright (c) <a href=’http://www.123rf.com’>123RF Stock Photos</a>
See you next month when I come back with June 2012 Canadian Budget Binder Family Budget Update
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- How We Designed Our Budget Step 8- Knowing Our Coupon Savings! (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
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I’m checking Kijiji as you suggested for focus groups. Thanks for the idea.
Your welcome!! Look under COMMUNITY and sometimes Jobs… Cheers!
Hi are you able to give me ideas or a blank budget plan so I can start a budget I feel lost.
Thank you
Hi Karen, Could you please email me at canadianbudgetbinder@yahoo.ca and we can go from there. Thanks Karen. Mr.CBB
wow this is awesome!
never seen your break down before and its great to see someone elses and its pretty amazing and great to know that others do this too
we try to one similiar to this but the whole savings and emergency fund are really hard to always do cause it really seems that something else happens and eats up that money or we pay a bill or two ahead of time to try and get ahead
Thanks Juanita, We post the numbers because not many people want to and people want to see numbers, real numbers and one’s they can relate to not millions of dollars. If you go back in the budget category of the blog you can see our budget posts from Feb until today. I post it once a month. You can also see our Net Worth Monthly update which I believe everyone should do. Cheers and thanks for your comment. Mr.CBB
great post! I am also one of these people who tend to give things away for free. I know post items on the local buy & sells, and am very pleased with it.
“self hosted”…how does differ from your present situation and why do it?
As usual, I am impressed with the “precision & accuracy” in your finances. Almost obsessed, but that gives a bad connotation. A good obsessed, I guess…
Does it really looked like I’m obsessed.. I never thought of it that way. I just like to watch every penny and know where it goes. Why go self hosted? I’d like to build the site with better pluggins, and do some advertising as well. There is only so much you can do with .com. If I ever started over I’d go with .org and save myself the hassle of having to move my site and the cost that comes with it. Cheers Mate.. Mr.CBB
What are dahlia’s? (obviously a plant lol) Send me a pic! I can’t believe they are $40! What agency do you go to for focus groups? I’d be interested in that for extra $. I wish I knew what you guys did for a living! And wish I had that much $! lol
I don’t know if I have any pics of the dhalia’s I’d have to look. It was actually about 50 bulbs and they offered to me that price and I said yes. I just knew we didn’t want them in our garden this year as they are too tall and fall all over the place but lovely flowers. Check kijiji, ours was through my University but you can check online for focus groups in your area on kijiji. Mr.CBB