Progress against the budget

Well, I am into the third month of my budget, and I decided to see how things were going. Things look OK, but here are a couple of areas that have varied from the goal. (but the net-net is good)

1) The budget for Pennachuck Water is $75 per month, and the January bill of $124 really shocked me. But this was a bill that included all the water used by all the people who were here after the funeral. The Feb bill was down to a nice $49.93 and March came in at $43.67. It looks as though I might have over budgeted there.

2) Verizon Wireless was a similar thing. I have $115 per month on the budget, and the January bill came in at $124.77. That worried me, until the February bill came in at a reasonable $95.86. It was the combination of several things. Increased calls in January after the funeral. Then I forgot that we would be returning a phone and therefore lowering the monthly bill by $20.

3) The Vonage bill came out the opposite. I had initially thought I would junk the service and stick with the cell phone only. Well, I have kept the Vonage so far...at the $17.95 level rather than the Skype $1.55 per month cost.

4) I actually had one unanticipated house expense in repairing the hot water heater for $100. Actually, it was in the budget as I have a $50 a month of house repair.....so I suppose it was in budget.

5) Fuel for the car was a big problem for the budget. I had $117 in the budget and spend $251! Yikes, fuel did go up in price, but I am not sure what happened since last month I had spent $98.00.

Those are the big differences....I will keep the budget as it is for now. A few more months will tell.

BTW: I think I am saving heating fuel but can not tell because I am on a fixed budget. Time will tell with that.