The Stay at Home Budget Resuts.

This week I finally tallied up the ole April budget. Unfortunately (but as I expected), I did spend more than I thought, albeit still less than I normally would. Some categories  went way over, some were much less and some were simply being pulled into a different direction as they say in Sweet Charity.

While my best Mother's Day gifts were prime rib and Krispy Kreme delivery, these were also well loved.

The biggie, of course, was groceries. While nothing close to the graphic of last week, my food (with some household items like wipes and detergent) was at $960 for the month. We are all eating three meals plus snacks a day, plus we drink soda and wine and are carnivores. And we did do stocking up. One of us is six food six and thirty years old and would usually eat at work. A couple shopping trips were big deliveries through an app where there was a fifteen dollar shopping fee and a twenty per cent tip (worth every penny I tell you, but still more than I would have spent). We also switched to dairy delivery that includes milk, juice, eggs, butter and a loaf of bread, at least temporarily. I expect this week begins my back to normal shopping. I'll still use delivery, but I'll be getting produce, whatever meat they have on hand and needed staples for the week or two weeks. And if I have to fill in on meat from other sources, so be it.

Entertainment/Amusements went way, way, way, way, way down (unsurprisingly). Even with adding a third streaming service, and allowing occasional paid for movies at six dollars and even a couple of full price kindle books. No weekly lunches and happy hours, no in theater movies and snacks, no going to pottery painting or to our weekday matinee concerts. Truthfully , much of this I have not missed as much as I thought, and Thursday/Friday's post will be more about that "happy at home" stuff. I expect this expense will stay lower as I entertain myself more at home or in less expensive and smaller group ways.

There was a one month/two month spike in, of all things, clothing. Yea, this one seems odd during the stay at home time. But I spent part of that time going through all my clothing and making lists of needs and wants for a year around wardrobe considering current life and coming changes. There was the situation of alot of clothing be purchased in the first year or two I moved, and having multiple clothing pieces wear out at the same time. There also have been some great sales. Never mind that this has fed into my committment to make my day better by actually dressing for the day (and my vow to never own pants  and skirts that are not soft, or without pockets). Two nice shirts, two spring sweaters,  nice capris, a skort and a new maxi dress are among some of the new entries in my closet. While there are other things I want (tops in my second colorway) the only other thing I expect to need in the next months is a second pair of sandals. The good ones.  

In other news, there was nary a car expense including gas (which accounts for my dead as a doornail battery, I've learned my lesson). Hobby expenses remained surprisingly low compared to the normal budget (a testament to what I had on hand I suppose) even with purchases to make napkins and place mats and my sweater yarn). Personal care expenses are obviously nil for the near future. I did have one larger than normal for me medical bill.  Since I couldn't see a doctor, the fee for the teledoc service was...........wait for it.........$109 (as opposed to no fee in house copay). Just to get my maintenance meds. Other health expenses are at zero as rec centers and gymns are closed. And obviously travel and day trips are non existent.

This month I have a couple fairly small but unusual and mainly one time adjustments to my budget expenses. While I expect the food to be lower, I purchased a cover for our pergola that I pray will fit (it has pockets and weights to hold it down during the wind) and a couple other comfort expenses like new throw pillows to add to the mix. Since we should be comfortable at home, even without a stay at home order. Sister has purchased plant and garden stuff but that would not normally be my part of any budget.  

Ours is six by sixteen, much smaller to cover our mini pergola

But no matter how you look at it, expenses are down. Not as much as I hoped during the at home time, but still way down. And with my desire to spend more time at home and not nearly as much time out at movies and happy hours (even with the world slowly opening), I expect them to stay low, if not go lower.  All of which is good for my summer travel to Texas and my future move expenses.  Which I still need to tabulate and calculate.