Truth? I have putting off this post all day. Why? Because looking at your own spending is really not that fun and even more not fun when having over spent!
After having procrastinated all day, I am finally sitting down in front of the computer and having Ben & Jerry by my side, I am determined to do this 😉
Having a budget is nice and fine but the real challenge is sticking to it as well. We have done the exercise of writing down our spending many times during the last 10 years and as things change (and expenses change) I find it very helpful to repeat every once in a while.
Since we are now in a new situation, we have decided that the budget and tracking all of our expenses will be something we do every month. Tracking your expenses is great for keeping yourself accountable and is really helps you to think twice before each purchase. Publishing it to the World Wide Web makes me feel accountable not only to myself but also to all of you. I wouldn’t recommend it J
So here goes….
|
January 2014 |
Budget |
Expense |
||
|
NIS |
USD |
NIS |
USD |
|
|
Mortgage |
4,800 |
1,371 |
4,851 |
1,386 |
|
Municipal Taxes |
500 |
143 |
549 |
157 |
|
Electricity |
400 |
114 |
323 |
92 |
|
Communication |
520 |
149 |
590 |
169 |
|
Health |
0 |
0 |
827 |
236 |
|
Insurance |
2,000 |
571 |
1,475 |
421 |
|
Groceries |
2,000 |
571 |
2,475 |
707 |
|
Gym |
360 |
103 |
360 |
103 |
|
Children’s activities |
300 |
86 |
280 |
80 |
|
Gasoline + transp. |
700 |
200 |
830 |
237 |
|
Cosmetics/ Optics |
50 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
|
Clothing |
200 |
57 |
0 |
0 |
|
Restaurants |
250 |
71 |
373 |
107 |
|
Miscellaneous |
300 |
86 |
535 |
153 |
|
Car loan |
700 |
200 |
739 |
211 |
|
To savings |
500 |
143 |
591 |
169 |
|
Gifts |
0 |
0 |
325 |
93 |
|
Donations |
0 |
0 |
500 |
143 |
|
Total |
13,580 |
3,880 |
15,623 |
4,464 |
|
Difference |
-2,043 |
-584 |
||
First of all we went over the budget with about NIS 2,000 (USD 580). That is not great and made me kind of annoyed! When I went over all the posts I noticed that:
- I made the budget based on what I thought our expenses are and also on expenses from a previous period. It is always recommended to, of course base your budget on how you want your expenses to look, but also to have the most recent data on hand to do so.
- I forgot to budget a few posts.
- We just spent too much!
Secondly, the question is now whether we change the budget or go ahead as planned last month? I think that we will have to make some alterations but bottom line that we have to keep saving and certainly continue to track all financial movements.
I will let you know how it goes….
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