So how did my budget fare this month?
Here’s the budget for January 2008. As you can clearly see, I went OVER budget in 2 major categories: electronics & travelling.
Everything else pretty much came under budget or wasn’t even spent at all (Clothing, anyone?)
Electronics
They’re really all one-off purchases (scanner, external hard drives for backing up work), but there’s going to be ONE LAST major electronics purchase coming up either this month or next (probably next) – a laptop…
So I can imagine that one pretty much wiping out at least half of my Emergency Fund. But hey, what can a woman do? When she needs a personal laptop, she needs a personal laptop!
Travelling
I had actually budgeted perfectly, but unexpectedly I realized I could go up earlier than I had originally anticipated in December when I bought my tickets ahead of time to get the best price, but since they are NON refundable and NON exchangeable, I got screwed.
Oh well, I have to take my time with BF when I can. And besides, he’s footing 50% of the bill, which means that what you see up there is not really indicative of what I ended up paying. In fact I may have come under by a bit..
Other than that, my budget was pretty accurate this month, especially with the not spending much on toiletries/clothing unless they’re the essentials.
I also have quite a bit leftover in Groceries / Going out / Starbucks / Entertainment because I quite simply don’t have the time to wander around in a mall or see friends as regularly as I used to, so I just don’t spend the cash. Most of my time is spent with BF, and we don’t use/need much cash to be happy/entertained (phew, what a relief!)
I’m really surprised at the Groceries budget, but I suppose it makes sense considering I’m not even around on weekends, and I only buy food for my lunch, a bit of breakfast in the morning and a bit of a light dinner (usually fruit).
I think I’ll keep it at that level though, just in case in some month I decide to eat more.
Update: $400 for rent is what I’m giving my parents instead of the $1500 they wanted before. Tres reasonable right? Considering I’m also buying my own food, etc
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
