March Update

It has been a long time since my last post. I've been working far too much lately and with what little spare time I've had left I've spent it shopping for a wedding venue. With such little spare time, I was scared to look at my budget this month and how things ended up. The less time I have, the more I indulge in convenience purchases. Luckily my tax refund came through just before the month closed to offset some of my overspending.

Entertainment includes a $280 gift for my mother's upcoming birthday. This is a group gift and I'll be reimbursed $185 of this which leaves me at overspending of $345 which is still really bad compared to prior months. I looked back through the category using MS Money which was quite helfpul. It's my first full month of using MS Money and it made reporting on my monthly results very easy. Money revealed that I went out for dinner with friends quite a bit this month which is the main contributor to the overage. Groceries were lower as a result, but it's a clear indication that eating out will kill my budget pretty quickly.

On a positive note, this month was my first month of a reduce cable bill which saved me $43. The credit applied to my account included 1.7 months of service. A normal month should total $150 which includes cable, internet and my phone bill. I recently bought a new cellphone which I haven't yet sent in the rebate, so next month this cost will increase.

April is going to be a challenging month for me. Next week, we're putting a deposit on a hall for the wedding. I'll have a little bit of extra income from doing extra tax returns on the side and will submit a mileage claim at work, but this will not entirely offset the cost. I think I'll go grocery shopping now and stock up on frozen convenience foods. While these will cost more than fresh groceries, they are still far cheaper than eating out.