November Finances

We are halfway through December, nearing the end of 2018, and I am just now catching up on November. The end of the month and the first half of December were packed with work, hospital visits, concerts, telephone conversations with social workers and doctors, and then the not unexpected but still seemingly sudden death of my Aunt Ginger. Small wonder that I am just now getting around to looking at the household totals for November.

The numbers ticked upwards for November. There were some external reasons for this: buying baking supplies and then preparing Thanksgiving for six among them. The former added about $45.00 to the monthly totals, the latter about $25.00. (I did not track either event separately, but added the purchases into the overall grocery bill.) We spent $204.89 on food in November and another $19.51 on household items for a grand total of $224.40. After 11 months, we are averaging $181.30 a month for groceries and household items. While this is not the $175.00 we have been aiming for, it nonetheless is satisfying.

As I predicted, our eating out expenses rose in November. While the trip to Mayo in early November did not cost that much ($44.61), PASIC in November racked up $98.00 in eating out (breakfast was included with our hotel room or the final figure would have been higher; the Dream Cymbals dinner out also helped keep that figure lower). Because of the wildly improbable way we ended the conference, we did not get to Shapiro's Delicatessen. Our final eating out costs for the month came to $156.43.

I do not know what December's numbers will look like, although I have been recording them. At mid-month, we have already spent around $161.00, so December, like November before it, will exceed the $175.00 mark. There was a major shopping a week ago in which I restocked household supplies and staples that had gotten low and there is still Christmas dinner, albeit it looks it will be small this year. I bought food for the reception we had for family and friends after Ginger's death, but did not include those expenses in my monthly totals, even though some of that food ended up back at our house.

Two more weeks to this year, and then we'll see where we ended up.