Saturday, January 3, 2009
New Year Accounting
I've been working on the budget and accounting for the past three days. The first of the year is a bit more work because I have to clean up everything from the previous year and set up the new budget and all the spreadsheets for the new year. It also takes a long time because I only get little bits of time throughout the day to do it. Unlike some people in my family, I've only done extremely strict budgeting for the past 3-1/2 years. A few years ago, one sister pointed out this helpful reference: The Official USDA Food Plans. This gives you an idea of what it costs--on a national average--to feed a family if all your meals and snacks are prepared at home. I still don't have enough money in my budget to allocate what the government recommends in the "Thrifty Plan." However, I know that if I get close to that amount and save the extra money each month, I can then have enough to update our food storage two or three times a year when the local stores have better prices on bulk products or cases of canned items. We also discovered that you can eat quite well on the government's "Thrifty Plan."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thrifty is good! I should look at that again--it was interesting to look at earlier.
ReplyDeleteI don't set up spreadsheets for the entire year up at once--that would be interesting to do (and a big job). I am proud of my big file folder with all the monthly finances since we've been married. We've been in the detail mode for most of that time--by hand the first few years and on the computer for the last 9 or so. :)
Okay, I'm back. I just looked at it again--like I've said before I wish someone gave me that much money a month for food. :) I could teach the thrifty plan people a thing or two. (But, I guess they don't all live where I live and have the stores I do--and they obviously don't eat what we eat--or have the time to shop like I shop--or have the light eaters that I have--or...!) :)
ReplyDeleteWow, if we spent the thrifty plan amount on food, we wouldn't have enough money left for other things like housing and utilities.
ReplyDeleteThe thrifty plan for a family of four is about $500 a month. That's crazy! That also does not include any eating-out costs, which many of people do frequently. Our family is a bit of an anomaly here. Most other people I go to school with eat out a minimum of once per week with 2-3 times average. That does not include lunch costs (or going out drinking), which many people purchase rather than bring from home.
Kristi and I probably average eating out once per month and that includes days when I have to buy something on campus because I'm here for 10-12 hours and need some food (I'm thankful for dollar menus).
Before the holidays in my lab we had a little discussion about eating out. One of the other students said I was a "KFC type of guy" because I didn't like to spend money eating out. I replied, "Oh, KFC's much too expensive for me. I need a dollar menu."
Anyway, that's what's even scarier about the "Thrifty Plan" - as I said earlier, it doesn't include the price of eating out.
Wow. I never realized I was being super-thrifty... I buy prepared food, and don't always shop the sales, and still come in well under the thrifty budget. I guess making pancakes, muffins, cookies, soups, etc. from scratch really keeps the costs down.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. I've been feeling bad about how high our grocery bill has gotten, but I see that it is still well under the "thrifty" level, so I guess I just need to get over it! :-)
ReplyDelete