Spending money

Camy here, a little depressed after itemizing our expenses over the past five months.

Okay, let me start off by saying that I don’t normally do that. Itemize, that is. I’m doing it in order to get a better idea of monthly expenses for our financial advisor.

But the amount of money spent is just a tad alarming.

No, actually, it’s not our spending that’s alarming. What’s alarming is that I thought we were spending so much less per month than we were. Delusion is a funny thing, that way ...

Now, the good news is that we’re not exceeding our monthly income. But could we cut a few expenses here and there? Sure.

I need to:

(a) stop buying so much yarn. Actually, I bought a whole bunch at Stitches West, which thankfully only happens once a year. Also, a lot of the yarn I buy is for gifts as opposed to myself (although much of the Stitches West yarn was for moi, I will confess. There is no way I’m giving away an $85 Qiviut scarf. I’d have to love the receiver a LOT. And they’d have to be a yarn connoisseur who would appreciate the yarn.)

(b) stop eating. Well, no, not really, but we seem to spend an awful lot at Safeway. I need to pay closer attention to how much we throw away, and stop wasting food.

Luckily, my itemization shows that we’re not eating out more than once a month, and half the time that’s lunch at someplace like Kirk’s Steakburgers (yum!) which is rather cheap.

Also, since the time period is from December 2008 through April 2009, some of our expenses include our gifts for relatives and friends during the holidays.

Now, while I won’t send you screaming from your computer by suggesting you itemize your expenses, how about you pay a little closer attention to your expenses this month and see how you do?

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, is out now, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, releases in July. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.

Comments

[Charity]

For gifts for Christmas and birthdays, budget a little bit each month. For instance $20 a month adds up to $240 for a year.
Secondly, plan your meals before you go shopping. For some it is easier to plan specific meals for each day. But for me, it is easier to have a list of meals that I have ingredients for and then decided what to make day by day.

[Laura McCann]

I am horrible with spending. This is definitely something I need to work on. I started doing a weekly menu and shopping list, which works out great when we actually stick to it!

[Tina]

I know I spend too much on books. Right now my credit card is going to rest because of that. :|