This was our 2012 spending (living spending):




Month by month breakdown:




UNDER by $277.60!
Grocery was pretty much spot on.
Utilities were awesome. I have adjusted it for 2013.
Fuel and Fare as predicted was over by a lot. I didn’t account for the potential increase in public transport tickets.
Health Insurance went up a lot more than I budgeted for. It’s getting very expensive.
Entertainment was good until this last 3 week, we went crazy going out. It’s a bit hard to say no to people you haven’t seen for months.
Personal/Medical, I always find hard to budget for this. I will try to get it right again next year.
Clothing is over because of this month’s spending. Don’t regret it though because it should save us a bit in the future.

So that was 2012. For 2013 (coming next entry), I’m hoping it will be as good as or better than 2012.

Grocery - $280.24 (under $80.24)
Utilities - $166.5 (under $133.50)
Rates - $141.54 (under $0.46)
Home Phone - $21.11 (under $48.89)
Mobile - $10.00 (under $10.00)
Internet - $55.00 (even)
Fuel & Fare - $177.72 (under $22.28)
Car Registration - $696.50 (even)
Health Insurance -$249.21 (under $0.79)
Entertainment -$359.7 (over $214.70)*wow this is what happens when I don’t keep an eye on our budget. We have been going out so much in the last 3 weeks.
Gifts -$47.60 (under $32.40)
Personal/Medical - $48.45 (under $11.55)
DH Allowance -$100.00 (even)
DW Allowance - $75.00 (even)
Miscellaneous - $21.64 (under $8.36)
*Clothing - $260.91 (over $260.91) Did not budget for this at all this month, but we ended up buying DH 3 suits and 3 business shirts.

TOTAL = $2,656.12 (over $287.62)


The good news is that even though we have gone over by a lot this month we are still under for the year. I will post our whole 2012 spending next.


We had 7 NSD for this month.
Put another $1000 into the holiday fund.
Went a bit over in the chirstmas fund by $82 so I put in extra in that.

We celebrated our NYE last night by having a picnic dinner with some friends around 6:30pm and then when it got darker around 9pm we came all came to my place to watch a movie and celebrate the new year.

I've copied and paste my side bar here because I will be deleting it later and putting my 2013 goals tonight. Don't have time right now we are about to go for a run and will be having lunch at my mum's. I tried to log on here earlier after everyone left but it would not let me in.

======================
2012 GOALS: Achieved all goals and exceeded some of them

Goal 1: Get mortgage down to $120K (Bal. Dec 2011 = $149K)
Action Plan: Must put in $2,500 per month.
TTD: $29,309.15 (Sep 16)
Mortgage Bal: $119,690.85
DONE!!!!!

Goal 2: Put $5000 into the Holiday Fund.
Action Plan: Will put $500 until Oct.
TTD: $5,000 (Oct 31) DONE!!!

Goal 3: Save $2000 into the Xmas/Anniversary Fund.
Action Plan: To be fully funded by Dec.
TTD: $2,000 (Nov 30) DONE!!!

Goal 4: Add $7000 into the Household Fund for new windows, etc.
Action Plan: To be fully funded by Dec.
TTD: $7,000 (Nov 9) DONE!!!

Goal 5: Add $3000 into the EF - this will get us to a very tight 6 months living expenses.
Action Plan: Put any extra money towards this goal.
DONE (31 Mar)

Last one for 2012!

Grocery - $200.00
Utilities - $250.00
Rates - $142.00
Home Phone - $70.00
Mobile - $30.00
Internet - $55.00
Fuel & Fare - $200.00
Car Registration - $696.50 (This is annual fee, got the bill a week ago and it is due on the 15th of Dec. At the start of the year I budgeted $660 for this unfortunately it has gone up a lot more)
Health Insurance -$250.00
Entertainment -$145.00
Gifts -$80.00
Personal/Medical - $60.00
DH Allowance -$100.00
DW Allowance - $75.00
Miscellaneous - $30.00

TOTAL = $2,368.50

Today is our last day of the month, the property rate will be taken out of the account today. We are done with this month.

Grocery - $272.68 (over $52.68) *We were way under last month on this so we were low on some item this month.*
Utilities - $102.45 (under $97.55)
Rates - $142.00 (under $0.46)
Home Phone - $14.95 (under $55.05)
Mobile - $70.00 (over $20.00)
Internet - $55.00 (even)
Fuel & Fare - $199.84 (under $0.16)
Health Insurance -$249.21 (under $0.79)
Entertainment -$116.70 (over $6.70)
Gifts -$0.00 ($50.00)
Personal/Medical - $85.65 (over $25.65)
DH Allowance -$100.00 (even)
DW Allowance - $75.00 (even)
Miscellaneous - $65.55 (over $35.55)

TOTAL = $1,533.57 (under $63.43)

Had 9 NSDs – so $90 into my Sunny day saving fund.
Household fund and Xmas Fund is now fully funded.
Have also put in another $1,650 in to the Holiday Fund .

I have been looking at our budget/spending (the 21K challenge) this year and also our potential spending plan for next year. By the end of this month we will have just under $3000 left for the month of December but according to the budget we could live off on $2,400-$2,500, so in the end of this year we will be under budget by around $500-600.

Next year we will most likely try to do the $21K challenge for the year again. The number will change in some categories. I know that utilities, health insurance and transportation costs will be higher than this year.

Also been making plans for a holiday that we will be taking in February next year. We have already booked the flights, my mum is going with us and we are paying for her too. We are budgeting $10K for this trip, by the end of the year we should have 75-80% already of it save so another ~$2K to go for next years budget.

I'm anticipating lower income next year but our goals and budget will be very similar to this year. Wash-rinse-repeat...

Grocery - $220.00
Utilities - $200.00
Rates - $142.00
Home Phone - $70.00
Mobile - $50
Internet - $55.00
Fuel & Fare - $200.00
Health Insurance -$250.00
Entertainment -$110.00
Gifts -$50.00
Personal/Medical - $60.00
DH Allowance -$100.00
DW Allowance - $60.00
Miscellaneous - $30.00

TOTAL = $1,597.00

Grocery - $95.48 (under $114.52)
Utilities - $189.36 (over $9.36)
Rates - $142.00 (under $0.46)
Home Phone - $14.95 (under $10.05)
Mobile - $15.00 (under $15.00)
Internet - $49.95 (under $0.05)
Fuel & Fare - $222.61 (over $22.61)
Health Insurance -$249.21 (under $0.79)
Entertainment -$249.21 (over $59.45)
Gifts -$32.00 (under $68.00)
Personal/Medical - $29.95 (under $70.05)
DH Allowance -$100.00 (even)
DW Allowance - $75.00 (even)
Miscellaneous - $3.69 (under $26.31)

TOTAL = $1,448.19 (under $213.81)

Had 8 NSDs.
Put in more money into the mortgage.
Holiday Fund goal is now done.
Have also put a bit into the Household Fund.
We went away twice last month, at the start of the month and at the end.

Grocery - $210.00
Utilities - $180.00
Rates - $142.00
Home Phone - $25.00
Mobile - $20.00
Internet - $50.00
Fuel & Fare - $200.00
Health Insurance -$250.00
Entertainment -$170.00
Gifts -$100.00
Personal/Medical - $100.00
DH Allowance -$100.00
DW Allowance - $75.00
Miscellaneous - $30.00

TOTAL = $1,662.00

Grocery - $309.70 (over $99.70) *Hmmm I’m not happy with this one.
Utilities - $360.64 (over $210.64) *I forgot the water bill, thought it will be due next month.
Rates - $141.54 (under $3.46)
Home Phone - $14.95 (under $10.05)
Mobile - $10.00 (under $10.00)
Internet - $49.95 (under $0.05)
Fuel & Fare - $193.24 (under $6.76)
Health Insurance -$249.21 (under $0.79)
Entertainment -$120.45 (over $10.45)
Gifts -$55.08 (over $5.08)
Personal/Medical - $186.87 (over $86.87) *we stocked up on some vitamins and meds there was a nice sale. This purchase should last for months, well into next year.
DH Allowance -$100.00 (even)
DW Allowance - $60.00 (even)
Miscellaneous - $32.95 (over $2.95)

TOTAL = $1,884.58 (OVER $384.58)


---------

Also got to put some money into various funds:
Holiday fund - $500
Household fund - $500
Xmas/Anniversary Fund - $652
(Anniversary weekend away - $100)
(Exercise Challenge - $52)
(Xmas Saving to be sent to family - $500)

Had 10 NSD for the month of September, so another $100 in my Sunny Day Saving

Also I will be sending $25 donation to the Cerebral Palsy Foundation for the Steptember challenge.

When I was doing our September budget the other day I had a feeling that I was forgetting something. When I got home from lunch today there it was in the mail this quarter’s water bill, I totally forgot to put it in the budget this month. Oops… it is due September 21. It’s a big one too. Normally, our water bill is around $150-$160 per quarter but this one includes an annual waterways & drainage charge and annual parks charge worth about $87 (total bill $240.10). I think I might have miscounted the months and thought that it’s due next month. Oh well, over the budget already and it is only the start of the month.

Lunch was great. We had dumplings and honey chicken with rice. Then afterwards we went to a Japanese bakery for some sweet goodies and got a cup of coffee to share. All up it cost just over $25. DH was feeling rich and offered to take this out of his allowance money. He is feeling rich today because he won $51 yesterday. He got the jackpot in the footy tipping at work, it could have been more but he had to share it with another person. They both picked all the winning teams on the weekend (9/9), lucky too because that was the last week for the season. He paid $20 at the start of the season, so actual winning is really only $31.

Grocery - $210
Utilities - $150
Rates - $145.00 *
Home Phone - $25.00
Mobile - $20.00
Internet - $50.00
Fuel & Fare - $200.00
Health Insurance -$250.00
Entertainment -$110.00
Gifts -$50.00
Personal/Medical - $100.00
DH Allowance -$100.00
DW Allowance - $60.00
Miscellaneous - $30.00

TOTAL = $1,500.00

*Property Rate bill just came last week. We normally pay this quarterly (and this bill should have been due 1st of Oct) but now they have allowed a monthly direct debit payment for 10 months starting from Sept to Jun. So the yearly amount will be divided by ten, I know confusing. DH is currently filling out the form for the monthly direct debit payment this weekend.

This is a bit early it is only in the morning of the 31st of August here but I can’t wait anymore.

Grocery - $389 (over $149.78)*
Home Phone - $14.95 (under $10.05)
Mobile - $20 (under $20.00)
Internet - $49.95 (under $0.05)
Fuel & Fare - $141.66 (under $58.34)
Health Insurance -$249.21 (under $0.79)
Entertainment -$185.60 (under $14.40)
Gifts -$120.47 (under $29.53)
Personal/Medical - $52.05 (over $22.05)
Clothing - $291.60 (over $251.60)*
DH Allowance -$100 (even)
DW Allowance - $60 (even)
Miscellaneous - $17.75 (under $12.25)

TOTAL = $1,673.02 (over $278.02)

*These are the culprits of the over spending this month. The grocery expense includes the $60 Costco membership fee. And the main over spending was in the clothing category. Basically we have used up our entire clothing budget for the year now. Overall, it is not too bad it just mean we can’t go clothing shopping anymore until next year.

Today should be a NSD, that makes it 10 for the month. So another $100 into my Sunny Day Fund.

I've added $500 into the Holiday Fund and $1400 into the Household Fund. Also saved in $200 for anniversary in October.

I'm bored right now, just waiting for this month to end so I can finalise August numbers. Had NSDs on Monday and Tuesday.

I'm starting to plan for our annivesary, which is in October. We will probably stay overnight somewhere. I think we could do it for $300 for everything. We both don't want to do anything big this year, we just want to go somewhere in our state that we haven't been to and just relax for the weekend. I will be saving $200 for it this month and another $100 next month.

I don't think we really need $2000 for christmas/anniversary (Goal #3) this year I think we can get away with $1000-$1200. We would rather save it for our overseas holiday next year.