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| Christmas is Over! |
No, you can't make me...noooooooooooooooooooo!
You know when you are watching a scary movie and you know something intense is about to happen and you squeeze your eyes almost shut or hold a pillow up to your face and just sneak a peek every once in a while??
Well, that's how I feel about looking at my December 2010 monthly spends - I just want to take a quick sneak peek, or maybe just keep my eyes tightly shut and pretend it never happened.
But I know I must face the music, the sooner the better, like removing a bandaid with one quick painful RRRRRRIIIIIIIIIPPPPP!!!
So, I opened up http://www.spendingdiary.com/ (thanks Maureen for this site!) and entered my last few spends.
The results are in so may I have the envelope please.....cue drum roll.......
- overspending on groceries wasn't too too bad - spent $517.04 and budgeted $450 so over by $67.04
- entertainment - a whopping $526.01 - this included $73 for tickets to the ROM, restaurant meals, movies, popcorn, coffees, parking in Toronto, books from Chapters, LCBO, a couple of lunches - didn't really budget for any of this!
- gifts - $697.92 which includes the clothing purchased in Toronto - had $800 saved so did ok there so the extra $100 helped out with my high entertainment costs
- On the plus side I reduced debt by $1171.00 and saved a total of $1050 (includes TFSA, RSP & Emergency Svgs)
So I will start planning NOW for next Christmas so I am in control of my spending (I had to take some $$ out of savings as I didn't set nearly enough aside) so will start saving $100/month in Jan. I don't pay property tax in Nov. and Dec. so always add that into my Christmas account so I will have a total of $1500 for next year's Christmas. I am also going to cut down in some areas and use any leftover to pay down debt.
You know - it could have been a lot worse. In the past I have thrown caution to the wind and spent much much more - I was more restrained in gift buying this year and spent with more awareness but there is definitely room for improvement...isn't there always??
Saving while spending...sounds like you have everything under control. I would say the money in Toronto was well spent. If we do nothing but worry everyday, where do we begin to live? Your daughter will grow up and you will awaken to the fact that time is gone. Much like I did. Better to spend a little and have the live time memories.
ReplyDeleteThat bandaid could not have hurt that bad with the amazing results you had! :)! Congrats on a job well done!! :)!
ReplyDeleteJane,
ReplyDeleteActually I think you did pretty good.
It's also a good idea about budgeting more each month for Christmas next year.
I start buying some gift cards early each month and I find this helps with the cash flow throughout the year.
I need to boost my gardening savings this year. Do you plan for that?
I'll probably use my Christmas bonus for this. We don't receive it till Feb.so I may buy some gift cards at the nursery and then I'll be all set.
Not too bad at all Jane....I'm too scared to work my December spends out!
ReplyDeleteJane,
ReplyDeleteI think you did okay with your budget. At least now you will be able to plan for next year's Holiday fun and it will not hurt near as much. :)
I have to suck it up and tally up my Christmas spending damage too. It is not going to be pretty at all.
If it helps you feel better, I stopped counting mid-way through December! LOL!!! Onto 2011! ;)
ReplyDeleteI think you did really well for December. You got money into savings and you didn't go into debt. Both very big pluses.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Jane considering you had a weekend away in with that total I think you did OK not great but definitely OK, and putting away for next year is definitely the way to go.
ReplyDeleteI laughed at your analogy, I would have thought more about getting those legs waxed, or even the bikini line. LoL
Jane, that all sounds pretty good to me. So you came to TO and had a really fun weekend? GREAT! One has to have balance, right?
ReplyDeleteThis is an expensive city to cruise around in. Next time you come, I have a parking spot (free) and perhaps I can even whip up you and your friends a sandwich and we can say hi in person. That should save you a few bucks. Oh, can you come in the summer next time? The patio is nicer without snow ;)
Honestly - good stuff. I have had a similar observation of "it was worse in the past" and have been pretty humbled by it. So, even though we think we might have done better, let's not lose sight of the fact that we are already much, much better!
Witch: good point about the gardening budget as NO I don't have one. The spruce seedlings we planted last summer were from our forest so FREE, but I want to start planting other varieties of trees so will need to put aside some $$. I'll check MacPhails for pricing and get to work figuring that one out. I may have to try to increase my Crofters Lane jar $$ to include gardening money.
ReplyDelete