Credit Creep

Jordan is absolutely thrilled to share that his Visa has been paid off - and this time - he's going to cancel it.  He's been using his personal spending allowance to slowly but surely pay it off.  A few birthday and cheques had gone towards the debt too. 

Once the final interest accrual is posted, he'll be calling the company and calling it quits! 

Last Week - ReCap

This is where I've been all last week - it was our one year anniversary :)

Year over Year

Now that we caught up on Friday with the last three months of spending - I'd like to update you on our year -over year tracking.  Below is our average monthly spending from July 2010-July 2011 then July 2011 to July 2012 and the difference thereof.

It looks like our battle to eat out less is winning - however our grocery bill has more then ate up what we were saving - this is a really interesting trend.

With regards to alcohol - that went up a bit - but I'm satisfied that this is reasonable considering how often we buy wine as gifts but I often track it here rather then in the gift category where it belongs.

We're spending more on home maintenance, but this really doesn't surprise me.  Now that we're settling in to the new space - and slowing buying furniture and what not - I expect that this will continue to be a top line item in our budget for a while.

I'm pleased that we're not spending as much on emergencies however; this unfortunately doesn't mean that we've had less of them - just that they've been closer to home this year.

I believe that we still have a bit of work to do when it comes to managing how much goes in our mouths - but perhaps we take a cue from one of my aunts and look at how much we buy in terms of groceries and how much gets wasted and/or thrown out.  We often buy way  more then we need and then in spoils...there used to be some once a week photo captures of the weekly food toss people were doing - I might see if anyone still does that and join in - maybe the visual would help.

Three Month Catch Up

I haven't posted the last three months of our spending, so this is a bit of a catch up post in that regard:

The categories that are in bold are that which our day-to-day joint spending account are for - the account that we give ourselves $300/week for.  The other categories are typically saved up for before purchasing - or purchases we've been able to make because of, for example, birthday  money/tax returns/ ect.

While groceries continues to feel like a lot for two people - gas has finally leveled out which is good.  Our eating out is fairly high as well - but nothing like it  used to be in years past - the same goes for Entertainment with just one splurge in July.

Education has leveled off because Jordan and I are (for now) currently both done with our most recent educational pursuits.

Home Maintenance also includes large 'for the home' purchases - furniture and that sort of thing.  We're still settling into our new home, so I imagine this line will continue to see fluctuations. 

Any questions?  Feel free to ask!

~Jesise