Another month down, which means it’s time to analyse our spending.
Both Poopsie and I were kind of dreading this task. We thought we’d had a pretty expensive month, what with the move and needing to buy new bedroom furniture for his kids and a new washing machine.
We were very happy to see though, that it wasn’t as bad as we had thought! We still managed to save over 30% of our take home salary. Considering it was an unusual month of spending for us, we are very happy with this!
So here’s the breakdown:
| Category | Amount | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | $765.61 | This was our final couple of weeks of rent. |
| Internet | $49.95 | Standard. Unfortunately at the new place, internet will be a little more expensive. |
| Utilities | $283.80 | This includes cancellation fees. |
| Groceries | $328.47 | Quite low this month. That comes from eating down our pantry before we moved. |
| Removal | $1,650.21 | Truck hire, fuel for two trips, food on the road. Read all about it here. |
| Car Costs | $390.82 | Fuel and insurance. Still paying for two cars as we haven't sold Poopsie's yet. |
| Kids (child support, school fees, etc.) | $1,646.56 | Poopsie took his kids away for a weekend, so this is more than usual. Child support will go down in future months, but regular costs by having the kids with us 50% of the time could go up. |
| Mobile | $61.42 | Average. |
| Household | $1,347.81 | We had to buy a new washing machine for the new house. We also needed to buy beds and chest of drawers for Poopsie's kids. We still need to buy a dryer and a dishwasher, but then, we should be done! |
| Miscellaneous | $195.10 | Someone broke into our garage and stole my younger brother's spear gun that Poopsie had borrowed. We reimbursed my brother. Fortunately, they didn't take anything else. |
| Eating Out | $129.95 | A few farewells and we treated my dad to dinner for helping us move. |
| Clothing | $49.90 | Some female undergarments were purchased by me. This is the total cost after using two gift vouchers. |
| Travel | $345.65 | I spent four days in Melbourne with my sister. I am pretty happy with this price, I had expected it to have been more. |
| Gifts/Donations | $41.45 | These were gifts. |
How did you do with your spending in April?
So not great. We spent an absolutely ridiculous amount on eating. EATING! I know it’s an essential, but it was a waste of money. On the upside, 2 of the takeaway meals we got were pretty blurgh, so it appears that for the first time in our lives, we have developed an appreciation for home cooked meals.
Bad luck about the stolen spear gun
I get so frustrated if I eat out and it’s a bad meal. Also, I always order the same thing if I have been there before because I know it’s good and I don’t want to risk getting a bad meal because I am paying good money for it!!! It makes me very un-adventurous. Much easier to just eat at home 🙂
Thanks for the great information, it actually is useful.