January Spending

Well January was a short month for me since we were gone for half of it! I am not going to include trip expenses in my January budget. I already did another post on what it cost for our trip if you would like to read it here. The budgeted amount is in brackets.

Car and Gas (15%) ACTUAL: 28% This was due to fixing my door and driving A LOT.
Phone (4%) ACTUAL: 4%
Food (4%) ACTUAL: 0%
Restaurant (4%) ACTUAL: 1%
Personal/Medical (6%) ACTUAL 11% Geeze haircuts are getting more expensive!
Clothing (5%) ACTUAL: 0%
Gifts (2%) ACTUAL 1%
Education (2%) ACTUAL: 12% Signed up for an ASL course
Entertainment (4%) ACTUAL 0%
Everything Else (3%) ACTUAL: 0%
TOTAL (48%) ACTUAL 56%

Oops, went over. The hair was too expensive. I need to look into cutting that down, luckily I only get it done once every two months or more. The ASL course was also a one-time thing, will not happen in a typical month. Same as the car repairs, I had to fix my door and get an oil change which is more costly than a typical month.

However, even with this spending, I also managed to SAVE! Budgeted amount in brackets again.
TFSA (35%) ACTUAL: 38%
Christmas (5%) ACTUAL: 12%
Computer (3%) 15%
RRSP (6%) ACTUAL: 0%
Travel Fund (3%) ACTUAL: 12%
TOTAL 77%

I ended up saving a lot. So you must be thinking that I overspent because 77%+56%=133%?? Well true. But really I did not overspend my earnings. I budgeted a certain amount per month based on what I TYPICALLY make. That's the amount I want to spend on certain things and the rest can sort of be extra (I was going to say snowflakes but they really wouldn't be them). Anyway, I may go under or over this typical amount and I'll save accordingly.

All in all, I am happy with this month. I got a pretty good start to my savings and spend on some practical things. No entertainment or miscellaneous spending this month! Hope we have a good February!