Lessons learned from 11 days of expense tracking

[Radiance]

New at budgeting, first look at my tracking. Comments, advise, insight?

It feels I have been tracking expenses forever, but the true is I have been tracking 100% of expenses from 6/15 to 6/25. Consistently, effortlessly, I chose to do my tracking online. I can sent entries from my phone.

11 days of full tracking, a first for me. I have already learned a lot about my own spending.

Tolls – I don’t know why I thought this was difficult to figure out, I only use tolls to go to work, very rarely during the weekend. Assuming 22 working days a month, 1.50 per day (round trip) = $33 per month. Let’s round it up to 35 to allow for the occasional weekend toll.

Lunches – ok, I know that eating out is a budget killer, but I am not ready to say I have a meal plan. I learned that eating in places around my workplace is $10 ($9.25 - $11.00) including a drink. So, applying the same logic, if I take it easy on myself for now, I would allocate $10 x 22 working days = $220 a month in lunches. When I have my meal planning working that number should reduce.

Household – I spent $33.21:
Deodorant
Toilette paper
Rain Poncho
Storage Supplier (Space Bags) - I have baby clothing in carton boxes, they will get damaged. Or was there a cheaper solution? This was $20...

Baby Clothing - $6 in 11 days, I think I should allocate $30/month here... My son is 16 months and growing.

Baby Toys - $4.50 in 11 days – I think I should allocate $20/month here.

Unnecessary expense that I made anyway:

Two bottles of wine – 24.26, Wine is a stress release for me, a bottle should last a month, so, do I allocate 12/month in wine?

Things I don’t know yet, will know soon.:

Groceries – I did spent 56.75 in groceries Milk, eggs, cheese, baby food, chicken, fruit, etc. My Ex however helped with food because I had a medical emergency, so I still don’t know how much do I spend in groceries.

Gas: I spent 27.5 in these 11 days (my commute to work is 22 miles one way) but I was sick in bed for 3 of those days, so not clear picture yet.

Unexpected
Medical $215– for me, I had a miscarriage
ER Co-pay $100
Wellness center appointment - $85
OB/GYN check up co-pay - $30

What do you think?

[creditcardfree]

I'm sorry about your miscarriage. ((Hugs))

Great job tracking your expenses. I think more time will tell you more.

Your lunches are probably the biggest thing to work on. You can eat well with a sandwhich and a piece of fruit for much less.

I think you clothing and toys budget are reasonable. You might be able to try consignment/thrift shops or garage sales for clothes and toys. At your son's age, they don't care what they wear!

[GREENBACK]

You seem on track. You'll figure out a system unique to your situation after a month or two of tracking expenses. Just categorize things and summarize it every week and at the end of the month

[graceful]

Good job tracking!

The one that that jumped out at me is the daily lunch out too. It will be hard to cut it out cold turkey if you still don't have meal plans yet but here is where I can see where you can make immediate changes to save $ without too much effort.

DON'T buy drinks. Can you drink water instead? DH just drinks plain ole water at the office and for lunch. No costs and healthier and less fattening for him.

For the kids' lunches, I don't buy juice boxes. I do buy a case of bottled water at Costco or the supermarket. On Monday I send them into school with a bottle of cold water. I label the bottle cap and body with the initial of their first names in order not to get them mixed up. When they get home I rinse them out. I filter our tap water and mix a batch of Crystal Light lemonade or ice tea that I keep in the refrigerator for our family's daily consumption. I re-fill their water bottles for the rest of the week with either water or lemonade or ice tea. The cost is minimal. Maybe $0.60 for the whole week each? Better than the $1-2 a day you spend to buy.

I would maybe invest in a Brita filter to keep at work or suggest that your employer get it for the entire office. Even bringing in your own bottled water or drinks from home you buy in bulk should still be cheaper. 22 days means at least $22-44 in savings alone on just your lunch drink a month.

Buying lunch can be expensive. Is there a refrigerator you can use at work? Consider buying a larger sandwich or whatever every other day and saving half for the next day. Bring in snack foods like fruit, granola bars, crackers, nuts, etc. from home to supplement. This will cut your take out lunch budget by at least 30%, doesn't really required you to fix lunch at home before hand and is probably healthier for you in terms of portion control.

Good luck.

[zetta]

((Hugs)) So sorry to hear of your loss. What a tough time for you all around.

Here's a lunch suggestion until you get your meal plan going. Stop by the grocery store and buy 5 cans of soup and/or chili, 5 pieces of fruit (apple, orange, pear, banana, etc.), a large box/bag of crackers or chips, a can opener, a microwave- safe bowl, and a small container of dish soap. Presto, you've got lunch for the first week. (I'm assuming you have access to a microwave at your office -- if not, you can buy the "just add water" soup and a thermos to take hot water to work.) You might also consider going walking during your lunch break to clear your head and help relieve stress.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Would getting your 16 month old switched to regular table food be of any help? I have no idea how much store bought baby food costs. But if I remember correctly, most kids have some molars by that age and are quite interested in what everyone else is eating. I know they like to feed themselves by then and the famous finger foods for toddlers are table foods.

[kork13]

Originally Posted by graceful

I would maybe invest in a Brita filter to keep at work or suggest that your employer get it for the entire office. Even bringing in your own bottled water or drinks from home you buy in bulk should still be cheaper. 22 days means at least $22-44 in savings alone on just your lunch drink a month.

This is a GREAT idea IMO. I bought a brita pitcher a year ago, and bring a liter of water to work every day. Rather than sodas or whatever else that is unhealthy and rots your teeth anyway, I have water in the office fridge that I drink throughout the day. I save money on buying drinks from the snack bar, don't have to take my chances on potentially foul-tasting drinking fountains, and it's healthy to boot.

Also, anytime I eat out, I almost ALWAYS get water w/ lemon. Drinks are a ripoff, and any restaurant's biggest single source of profits -- it costs them about 5 cents to fill your glass with soda/tea/whatever, but they charge you $2-$4 for it. Yea, no thanks....