I just did the review of everything we spent in May. I made some changes to our car insurance, so it was less than usual, as were the gas/electric, water, home/cell phones, and transportation. I was pretty darn careful all month, and it paid off! Also, we barely touched the amount I allot each month for clothing, which was nice. Sent the surplus to savings.

On the other hand, it was a Swimbaby's birthday, and said kid really needed a new bike. She's had nothing but hand-me-downs in that department for her whole life... and while that's not bad, she's never gotten to pick out her own bike or even choose a color. Well, we are out of hand-me-down bikes, so we let her get a brand new bike. She's a kid who is responsible beyond her years with everything, so I know the bike will be locked and cared for. She contributed some of the money she got from relatives, and we paid $120 toward a very nice bike.

It is a constant struggle to get the food/household bill lower. Maybe I just have unreasonable expectations! I budget $650 a month for food/paper products/personal care/pet food/shampoo/laundry soap... all that kind of thing... for six of us plus two cats and one small dog. More often than not, we go over, but almost always by $50 or less. I know I could raise the amount, but my goal is to keep those expenses as low as possible. Going over isn't really a problem, because I have a couple categories in the budget that are very flexible. We don't eat tons of meat, but I do buy tons of milk and organic produce.

Last month we spent too much on cleaning, as in "Taking The Husband's clothes to the cleaners." Our favorite cleaners suddenly closed, and we quickly just went to another one we knew of. Their prices were double! I need to find a new cleaners. This week.

We did well in the transportation category, which for us includes bridge tolls, Amtrak tickets, gas, and BART tickets. We have three cars and three drivers. We even had three day trips to the beach (with the crazy gas prices we've had!), and still did okay. I'm hoping transportation costs will go down even more in July. Probably not for June, due to a couple of planned trips, but July looks good.

I'm not expecting the June electric bill to be great, either. It's been hot, and I've run the air conditioning at least a little every day this week.

Ooooh! Did I tell you?! I love data!