Expenses

Apart from the issues I had with the last upgrade of Quicken, I really find this tool useful.  It's the end of the year once again and I've been running Quicken reports like crazy to see how I did with my expenses in 2007.  Here's what I've learned so far...

I've been very fortunate to not have any significant unplanned auto expenses this year.  Aside from needing to replace two tires on the Acura, I've been able to keep to my normal oil change and car tag expenses.  I've gone two years now without a major auto expense.

Child birth expenses were about the same this year as last year.  Overall, however, because of our quality health insurance from work, the affordability factor is pretty high for having children.  This is one expense, however, that we won't be incurring again.

Fuel charges were about $200 more this year due to higher gas prices and a couple long trips we took.  I'm paying about $2,000/year in fuel which equates to about $166/month.  There is definitely room for improvement here.

Our movie expense category was cut more than 60% thanks to NetFlix.  No more trips to Blockbuster.  This was a great idea Dayna had.  We're only paying about nine bucks a month and we're still watching as many movies as we have in the past.

I've managed to keep my Starbucks habit to about $78 a year.  I'm still working to eliminate this habit though.

Home improvement costs were cut in half this year since I didn't have much time for house projects because of my time demands from the kids.

These are the things that stand out this year.  Overall, it's been a very good year considering all the chaos introduced with another child and everything that goes along with it.