November 2015 Expenditures

This is my first time ever recording our family's expenditures in a month and  sharing it for everyone to see. I am really interested to see what were the things that we spent money on and how we can be more efficient, prudent and frugal in the months to come. I am still getting used to recording every single "sen" that we spend. It is quite a task tracking and recording everything down. Please note that this is just our spending and excludes utilities, fixed monthly payments like insurance, home mortgage and other debt repayments.

I found that as an "expense tracking virgin" asking for a receipt every time I buy something really helps because I can then take the stack of receipts out at the end of the day or (days sometimes) and record it properly. It's either that or I develop the discipline to record it all down at the end of everyday.

Hopefully I should be able to do it faster next month. Anyway here it is!

Item/Vendor	Amount (RM)	Notes
Yuan Yuan Confinement Home	$1,000	This was a deposit for me to stay in a confinement home when baby #2 arrives
Hubby’s Clothes & Personal Shopping	$676.66	This was Hubby’s once in a purple moon shopping spree and he really needed new pairs of pants, shirts & a new wallet
Pregnancy Belly Support	$127.84	I bought these to help alleviate my round ligament and sacroiliac joint pain. Bought them at 20% off from Lazada!
Stretchy Dresses	$138.00	Broke my clothes buying ban in November as I needed something more accommodating to my growing belly.  Clothes buying ban restarting!
Fuel	$712.51	For both our cars. It’s my daily commute to work, whilst Hubby moves around quite a bit
Kids Clothes	$118.24	Chapati was out growing a lot of his stay-at-home clothes and my MIL was asking us to get some. We bought like 10 sets of shorts & t-shirt and 4 sets of long sleeves & long pants for sleeping. CHEAP! Plus it’s going to be handed down to baby #2
Diapers	$108.90	3 bags of diapers for Chapati
Kid’s Foam Play Mat	$119.00	We are doing up the house to have an kids play area, so we invested in a play mat
Toddler Sense Classes	$240.00	4 classes for Josh at Baby Sensory
Baby Laundry Detergent	$67.60	4 bottles in preparation for baby#2’s arrival
Groceries	$546.77	We have been trying to cook and eat at home more often.
Eating Out	$529.40	We hope to reduce this expense in the near future
Home maintenance	$465.00	Hubby managed to replace our master bedroom tap and our living room LED downlights by himself.  Our room air was leaking water so had someone repair it.
Home Cleaning	$260.00	Our weekly cleaner who helps to keep our home clean & tidy
Electric mosquito traps	$220.00	Hubby bought 2 online
Small items	$56.88	2 book straps for the playground, jelly moulds, soy sauce bottle, apple corer, hot/cold pack
Gifts	$422.60	Angpow for Mum’s birthday and small gifts for a friend who is unwell and one who was in hospital
Medical/Medicines	$175.50	Hubby’s cholesterol pills & prenatal Vitamins
Book	$15.00	Produced by homeschooling kids
Parking	$9.50
GRAND TOTAL	6009.40

Crazy huh? I can't imagine that it was so easy to spend RM6000 over on stuff. How was your expenditure last month?