February Results

For February here is the result of my budget:




Fast Food: $92 ($210 - $92 = $118 less than last month)
Groceries: $108 ($139 - $108 = $21 less than last month)
Restaurants: $319 ($319 - $106 = $213 more than last month)
Vacations: $177 (This is amortized, but increased $77 over last month)
Gifts: $50 (This is amortized)
Electronics and Software: $100 (This is amortized)
Rent: $350 (Same as last month)
Movies: $17 (Same as last month, netflix accounts for the whole of this and next month I'm cancelling the dvd plan)
Internet: $15
TV: $10
Cell Phone: $100
Gas: $50 ($85 - $50 = $35 less than last month)
Utilities: $29 ($50 - $29 = $21 less than last month)
Furnishings: $20 (Amortized)
Home Improvement: $10 (Amortized)
Clothing: $10 (Amortized)
Books: $15
Home Supplies: $10 (Amortized)
Sporting Goods: $50 (Amortized, saving up for a bike)
ATM Fees: $3
Other: $0
Total: $1,535
Income: $1,954 (Paycheck higher due to taking more deductions)
Tutoring Income: $111

My total investment contribution: $530
Prosper: $30
Brokerage: $300
Liquid Cash: $200

Investment value last month: $6358.95
Current value of Investments: $6985.21
Gain: $626.26
Gain attributable to my deposit: $530
Gain attributable to investment growth: $96.26

Once again I can't really count on this sort of return.  Sometimes my portfolio will outperform or underperform my expectation, very rarely will I actually hit my expectation of a 2/3% return per month on my investments. This month I went on vacation to New Orleans we spent a great deal of money on food. In order to keep my amoritization reasonable for my vacation budget I kicked my vacation spending up by an extra $77. Most of my non-vacation related purchases were at restaraunts in New Orleans. I also went out with my girlfriend for our anniversary which together made the largest expense food at about $519 this month, I'm hoping to lower that to about $200-$250, which should save me about $200 to $250 a month.  Again I should add that several of the categories, for example the vacation or electronics and software budget, are amortized so they won't vary.