May Expense Report

I've decided to start a monthly addition to my little blog on my money. I did this a while back ago when I paid off all of my credit card debt (which was ultimately in the $18,000 range), but I'm going to continue this sort of disclosure here each month.

Since I'm quite sure that nobody is reading my blog (hi, Alison and Chris), I'm not really concerned that I'm "spreading all the business." Rather, I want to start making myself more accountable for the money that I make and the money that I spend. I'm a big girl, so I need to pull up my big girl panties and start being more honest with myself about my spending habits. The goal: Nothing earth shattering, I just want to be spend my money well. I want to be a responsible adult who can keep her shit together. That's all.

So, BoA's online banking service has a nifty little feature that lets you "see" where all of your money is going by dividing your expenses into categories, adding up those categories, and giving a percentage of those expenses in relation to one's monthly income. I've listed my May expenses according to percentage of income and I've also included my justifications/rationales/freak out thoughts for my or your amusement.

My May Expense Report [gulp] from April 25th -May 25th:

Expenses:

• Groceries: $900 [What the hell?!? I spent $900 on groceries last month!?!]
• Utilities: $405 [This includes electricity, water, telephone, and internet. Yes, internet is a utility that we can't live without. Facebook is a necessity.]
  
• Restaurants: $371 [OMG! I spent more than $1200 last month just on FOOD!?! Okay, I have two growing boys and a Marc but still $1200 on FOOD?!?]
• Healthcare/Medical: $369 [Okay, this isn't entirely accurate/fair. There are several visits to the pediatric neurologist and psychiatrist in here for Tobey, which are not regular expenses. But, this is also my trips to Wal-Greens, which would include my (abso-freakin-lutely) necessary sunblock, make-up, Slim-Fast shakes, and hair color. Still, that's a lot of sunblock and make-up.]
• Car Payment: $300
  
• Hobbies: $284 [This includes the boys' karate and my dirt therapy. This is a bit inflated because I went a bit crazy in my dissertation-depression and bought a crapload of plants last month.]
• Gas: $269 [Not too bad.]
• Insurance: $186 [This is car and life for me and the boys. Gotta have it.]
  
• Service Charges/Fees: $153 [Okay, in my defense most of this is to the TWU library for overdue books, which I had to have for my dissertation, and the overdraft fees ($10) from savings to checking. We'll just think of the TWU library part as a "donation."]
• General Merchandise: $133 [Stuff from Wal-Mart odd and ends]
• Satellite: $100
• Other Expenses: $242 [This includes my monthly charitable donation, entertainment, dry cleaning, home improvement--odds and ends "stuff."]

Total Expenses: $3750ish

Yikes. Because, let's just be honest here. We all know that I don't bring home $4000 a month. The worst part of the whole thing, the part that makes me shake my head--I spent $100 last month just at Sonic. Only Sonic. That means, I spent almost $100 on Diet Dr. Pepper's with Vanilla. Ho-ly Crap. The worst part is that this doesn't include sending my mother any money, which I need to be doing like I promised her.

So, what is going to be different next month. Let's start with the restaurants. We are going to cut waaaaay back on the restaurant expenses. I'm thinking in the $150 range next month. I'm also going on a Sonic haitus. Cold-turkey. I've got to do better about running to Sonic for a drink when I'm at home bored.

I'm also going to start looking for ways to cut back on my grocery expenses. I recognize that Alex and Tobey are growing boys but seriously, $900!!! That's just outrageous. I probably need to own up to my newfound love of all things salty, which means frequent, unnecessary trips to Earl's for chips, dip, beer. That's gotta go, too.

So, my resolution for May 25th - June 25th: Stay home. Don't spend money. Eat what's in the house.