Bi-Weekly Expense Report:
$147.50 Groceries
$5 Sandwich (forgot lunch)
$38.48 Gas
$12.60 Massage Therapy
$8 Wine
$20.34 Car Maintenance
$9 Personal Care (Cream)
$10 Donuts
$20 Donation
Although these past few weeks haven't been the best financial decisions, a little wine here, a little treat here adds up pretty quickly. But it's still better than what I was spending in the past. I've looked at the months of October and November of last year and I spent around $650 per month in just food alone and December was the worst at over $800. It's insane when you see where you're money is going. If I hadn't known I was spending that much and someone told me that they did, I would have probably thought they were insane.
I highly recommend using the Mint app to track all your expenses, it's user friendly and I love seeing the expense charts.
With the paycheque I received last Friday and what I managed to save from what I put towards variable expenses, I put another $1,140 towards my debt.
To further explain my budgeting, I write each paycheque amount into a separate column in an excel spreadsheet rather than a monthly budget. This way I know how much money is required to be used from each paycheque and it's easier to stay on top of bills. I write all the fixed expenses and I set aside a certain amount for variable expenses (food, gas & other), it's usually around $300. After all that gets calculated, the amount that remains goes towards my debt and any amount that I didn't spend out of the $300 also goes towards my debt when I receive the following paycheque. So far, I've always been able to save money from the $300 amount and haven't had to use the full amount.
For the groceries, I know I can do better but I do my groceries with my significant other and we split the bill regardless if he's buying or eating more than me. This is one area that I don't want to be cheap about.
In the future, when my finances are in order, I would like to combine other expenses but for now, we keep everything else separate.
$147.50 Groceries
$5 Sandwich (forgot lunch)
$38.48 Gas
$12.60 Massage Therapy
$8 Wine
$20.34 Car Maintenance
$9 Personal Care (Cream)
$10 Donuts
$20 Donation
Although these past few weeks haven't been the best financial decisions, a little wine here, a little treat here adds up pretty quickly. But it's still better than what I was spending in the past. I've looked at the months of October and November of last year and I spent around $650 per month in just food alone and December was the worst at over $800. It's insane when you see where you're money is going. If I hadn't known I was spending that much and someone told me that they did, I would have probably thought they were insane.
I highly recommend using the Mint app to track all your expenses, it's user friendly and I love seeing the expense charts.
With the paycheque I received last Friday and what I managed to save from what I put towards variable expenses, I put another $1,140 towards my debt.
To further explain my budgeting, I write each paycheque amount into a separate column in an excel spreadsheet rather than a monthly budget. This way I know how much money is required to be used from each paycheque and it's easier to stay on top of bills. I write all the fixed expenses and I set aside a certain amount for variable expenses (food, gas & other), it's usually around $300. After all that gets calculated, the amount that remains goes towards my debt and any amount that I didn't spend out of the $300 also goes towards my debt when I receive the following paycheque. So far, I've always been able to save money from the $300 amount and haven't had to use the full amount.
For the groceries, I know I can do better but I do my groceries with my significant other and we split the bill regardless if he's buying or eating more than me. This is one area that I don't want to be cheap about.
In the future, when my finances are in order, I would like to combine other expenses but for now, we keep everything else separate.