Sunday, January 4, 2009

Money and budgets...oh my.

Nick has been bugging me to sit down with him and go over our budget so we can tweak anything that needs to be altered for 2009. I have been successful so far in avoiding that task, mainly because I just don't want to do it. I don't work well with a budget. I know how much money we bring in, I know how much is required to pay our utilities and debt snowball...so anything else is what we need to buy groceries, gas, and stuff. If I don't have money, I don't buy stuff. If we need groceries, I want to buy what we need and not have to stick without a set dollar amount because that's what the budget calls for. I don't like constraints.

He was updating his spreadsheet from 2008 and started reading off some numbers for me, which I found interesting and wanted to share with you. These are some amounts we spent over the course of the year. It's quite interesting when you lay it all out and look at the totals.

El Chico: $270.10
Asia Super Buffet: $193.00
Target: $1139.80
Wal-Mart: $4977.55 (whoa!)
QuikTrip: $1269.46
RaceTrac: $968.50

We put away $5000.00 in savings and paid off $15049.13 in debt. We spent just over $21,000 in all other bills...house payment, utilities, etc.

We shop at Wal-Mart more than any other store, which is quite obvious when you look at the total. That's primarily where I buy groceries though, so it makes some sense. As much as I might dislike some of their policies, I save a lot of money shopping there.

3 comments:

Cindy said...

I hate budgeting too!

Amber said...

I love that El Chico and Super Buffet were listed. I should do that with Chick-fil-a and McAlisters! HA HA! I'm actually impressed with your Wal-Mart budget....just wait until you have to tack on diapers to that!!

Laurie said...

blech....budgeting!! but I know it has to be done. WTG on paying off your debt and saving!!