March Finances

March was kind on the two fronts I am tracking for 2018: groceries (including household items) and eating out. Stunningly so.

March groceries (food)? $115.24. Household items? $9.38. Grand total? $124.62. Eating out came in at a whopping $13.94 and would have been even lower if Warren had not had an out of town concert and grabbed a Subway sandwich for dinner.

We've been homebound most of March. We ate out of our freezer and pantry a lot this month. We also had a gift certificate for barbecue for ten, and after our friends came and ate and talked, we ate leftovers for five more days.

What this low spending has allowed me to do is set aside extra money for April, which will have some heavier expenses. We head to Mayo and that means car rental, gas, hotel, and eating out. At the end of the month, the Symphony will wrap up its season and we will host a reception post-concert reception to celebrate the season, our wonderful conductor, and the guest artist. I expect to pull off the reception with excellent food for under $75.00, but it's still an atypical expenditure.

In case some of you are wondering, no, I don't spend money on consumer items as a rule. I don't buy clothes, I get my books from the library rather than buy them, and I am immune to the siren song of sales. When I come out of my walking boot in another week, I will have to invest in some new shoes for work/dress as my old ones are worn out. Shoes are a major expenditure. I cannot wear most shoes because of the neuropathy in my feet. The ones that I can wear are more expensive. I knew this expense was coming up, but the surgery and recovery pushed it off.

Let's see what April brings.