January 2023 Monthly Budget Update
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
If you are new to Canadian Budget Binder, welcome to our 12th year of sharing our monthly budget update.
I’ve changed how I share our monthly budget update for several reasons.
- No one cares about our net worth since we are debt-free
- Our monthly net income is not that important
I will no longer share a monthly net worth update post but will post percentage updates with any increases and decreases in our investment portfolio.
Over the years, I’ve noticed little interaction with these posts, so I’ve had to axe them.
Below I will share our changes and our January 2023 monthly budget update.
January 2023 Monthly Budget Update
Moving forward, everything below is what I will be sharing with you about our monthly budget.
I’m certainly open to ideas if you’d like to learn more about how we budget, so please reply to this email with your ideas.
Specifically, I made the changes to focus on crucial budget aspects.
2023 Changes To Our Monthly Budget Update
At the end of 2022, I detailed changes we planned to make for our 2023 January Budget Update.
I have finished the 2023 Canadian Budget Binder, which has made tracking things easier.
Near the end of this blog post, you’ll notice we are tracking our grocery discounts for 2023.
We’ve wanted to do this for years to see how much we save on reduced food products.
Aside from that cool new feature to the monthly budget update, below are changes I’ve incorporated into our new 2023 budget.
Budget Category Changes
Monthly Budgeted Amount is $6840.26, which includes our investments. We estimate to spend this amount in each budget category, hoping not to go over budget.
That sums up our new January 2023 Monthly Budget changes, although nothing is ever concrete in the budgeting world.
Budget Expenses Percentages For January 2023
Our savings include investments and any savings for this month based on our net income.
Equally important is that we save money on our projected expenses due in the coming months.
All categories took 100% of our income, showing that we accounted for all the revenue in January 2023.
This type of budget is a zero-based budget where all the money has a home.
Year To Date Household Budget Percentages 2023
Canadian Banks We Use
- Chequing– This is the bank account from which we pay our household bills. We use Simplii Financial, TD Canada Trust, and Tangerine Bank. Join Simplii Financial today! Read more about the best Canadian online virtual banks.
- Emergency Savings Account– This money is in a high-interest savings account (HISA)
- Regular Savings Account– This savings account holds our projected expenses.
Grocery Discounts 2023
Soon, I will be writing a detailed blog post about why we plan on tracking any discounts we receive on food.
This section will have a blurb about our monthly grocery discounts.
I will tally it at the end of the year to see how much we saved buying reduced food products.
For January 2023, we saved $39.42 by purchasing food that was reduced in price.
The Grocery Food Savings Jar will be a Canadian Budget Binder printable for your binder.
Estimate January 2023 Monthly Budget and Actual Budget
Below are two tables: Our January 2023 Monthly Budget and Actual Budget.
Our January 2023 monthly budget represents two adults and an 8-year-old boy.
Budget Colour Key: It is a projected expense when highlighted in blue.
Since May 2014, we’ve been mortgage-free, redirecting our money into investments and renovations.
Spending less than we earn and budgeting has been the easiest way to pay off our debt and save money.
January 2023 Monthly Budget Amounts
Actual January 2023 Monthly Budget Update Expenses
That’s all for our January 2023 budget review, although I may change things as I go along.
If there’s something you’d like to see, send me an email with your ideas.
Thanks for stopping by, and please subscribe if you are new to CBB.
Mr. CBB
Good morning from freezing Winnipeg.
One subject that I would like discussed is “how to stop buying so much when groceries are on sale.” A example of this is if I see meat on sale in Flash Food I will buy so much I don’t have enough room in my freezers. I am a compulsive sale shopper be it on flash food, Amazon or groceries stores. I have a budget for groceries but I see a sale and buy it. It has gotten worse since Covid lockdown.
Hi Dale,
What a great topic, and certainly one that Mrs. CBB and I struggle with as well. We struggle with in-store deals that we aren’t aware of as opposed to Amazon and FlashFood although we do use both. What do you consider a good deal on Amazon for groceries? Is it only sales that grab your attention? I’ll tackle this topic since it’s dear to my heart and wallet.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Mr. CBB
Hi, on Amazon I shop the add on items. For example I bought stuffing mix for .97 cents a box. And I would buy 5 boxes or more. Amazon has lots of deals on food. I buy cereal, condiments cake mix and gluten-free mixes when they are on sale. Lately is is hard for me to buy anything that’s not on sale. Its does take a lot of work to shop this way. When I find something on sale at Amazon I will check an on line store like Save on Food to make sure I am getting the better price. I will be looking forward to see what you write on this subject.
Haha, you do the same thing we do Dale. There’s nothing wrong with price checking, and Amazon does have great add-on deals. I track the prices as they go up and down and use the buy 5 save 5% only if it’s a great price. Our cat food is cheaper on Amazon than the grocery store for example. Also, our sons chocolate sauce.
Thanks for the Budget 2023 updates, Mr. CBB.
I use a pie graph to map out my Pie of Life expenses, so your bar graph is a new idea for me.
Also, based on your grocery budget of $900.00/mo for a family of 3, it really reassured me that my own monthly grocery budget for a family of 4 is very close to your amount. I was not sure if my grocery spending was reasonable, based on number of family members, 2 of them being a teen boy and a tween boy, GTA prices and very rarely do we eat at restaurants (a handful of times a year). Leaving the supermarket with an arm’s length size receipt often makes me wonder if I am doing it right.
Thanks for sharing all these details, and thanks again for another year of your insights, experiences, advice and relevant articles.
Hi Angelina,
First off, congratulations on using a budget and taking your finances seriously. Like you, we hardly ever eat out apart from the odd ice cream cone, coffee, or donut. He does get a pizza from the corner shop once or twice a month. Like you, our receipt is also very long. I think our $900 is realistic, especially since it includes items such as toilet paper, paper towels,s and other items that aren’t food related at the grocery store. What you are doing is excellent and I’m sure you learn a lot about your spending habits by tracking your expenses. It’s like a report card for our spending. I’m pretty excited to track our food discounts for 2023, so keep an eye on our monthly budget post to see how that goes. How did you originally come up with your grocery budget number?
Mr. CBB