2008 Year End Spending.

Here's a break down of where our money went in 2008.



Groceries.......................................................$8,249.29

Dining out......................................................$2,459.19

Lunches eaten out/food on the road.........$ 757.59



Dental Care...................................................$5,006.42 (daughter got braces)

Dr./prescriptions/other health care.. .......$4,089.13



Household repairs/upgrades....................$7,418.65

Water/trash................................................$ 963.69
Homeowners insurance.............................$ 906.00

Electricity.....................................................$1,430.38

Internet........................................................$ 627.52

Home phone.................................................$ 599.52

Cable.............................................................$ 137.55

Furnishings..................................................$ 115.63



Car Payments..............................................$8,015.46

Auto insurance............................................$1,396.62

Auto maintenance.......................................$ 870.78

Registration..................................................$ 475.47



Kids clothing................................................$1,061.96

Children's school expenses.........................$2,898.24

Food at school..............................................$ 455.00

Other kid expenses.....................................$ 398.92

Daughters cell (special plan)......................$ 187.73

Son's birthday..............................................$ 146.89

Daughter's birthday....................................$ 129.35

Children's fundraisers................................$ 144.91

Childcare......................................................$ 57.00



Gifts (all year)..............................................$2,334.17

Elliptical machine..........................................$ 765.36

My clothing..................................................$ 720.34

Clothing, not sure for who..........................$ 473.66

Personal care...............................................$ 781.54

Entertaining/going out...............................$ 908.58

Books/magazines........................................$ 458.43

Liquor store.................................................$ 446.22

Cash donations..........................................$ 300.00

Movie Rentals.............................................$ 144.57

Games..........................................................$ 99.03



Vet expenses...............................................$ 720.41

Dog food.......................................................$ 538.81

Grooming.....................................................$ 280.57 (I think I'm missing some, this seems low)

Pet supplies.................................................$ 122.83

Cat food/litter.............................................$ 69.60



Student loan payments.............................$1,065.00 (went into deferment when I started school again)

2nd mortgage.............................................$4,000.00

Loan for new windows..............................$1,796.13

Credit card payments can be found here.



Vacation food..............................................$ 422.14

Vacation travel/gas...................................$ 371.48

Souvenirs..................................................$ 165.55

Shows..........................................................$ 64.73

Lodging.......................................................$ 37.15 (stayed with friends on most trips)

Pet sitter....................................................$ 30.00



Wow! After listing it all out like that, there are definitely some changes that need to be made.



Groceries: this amount does include my Jenny Craig food, so it is a little deceiving, but still. WOW! This year, I'm going to make Jenny Craig into a separate category. I think we'll stick to the list a little better and try to cut this cost down.



Dining out is also high, I thought we had cut down on that. This comes to about $200/month and that is way too high! The lunches eaten out are too much too! This is mostly DH, and I think we're going to have a talk about this.



The household repairs/improvements aren't going to change. This house is a work in progress.



Auto payments. We are stuck here. A few years ago I decided to lease a new minivan. Payments are $430/month. As far as I know, we can't get out of the lease without a big penalty, so it may be worth it to just ride it out. I'm going to look into this more and post later. I really want to get a smaller car that is around $250/month.



Auto insurance. We went with a new company a few months ago and are really saving some money on that now.



Kids expenses. We have 2 kids, ages 12 and 9. One started private school this year. So, those expenses look about right.



Pets. We have 2 HUGE dogs and a cat. I don't think we can go down on this any.



Looks like food is our biggest problem! I think I'm going to do a post like this at the end of every month. A good monthly look might help me to curb some of these expenses. I'm also going to look into getting out of that auto lease.



But, on a good note, all of this was paid in cash!