Closing out January was amazing and I feel so great about how everything came out.  Here are the last few days of January and the breakdown for the whole month:

Monday:  NO SPENDING DAY

Tuesday:  $10.00 utilities - gas  

Wednesday:  $9.62 PetsMart ( Chloe's pill pockets)  $32.09 Barktown and Suds (Chloe's dogfood)

Thursday:  NO SPENDING DAY

January Budget: $1,531

Actual Amount Spent:  $1,709.05

Extras:  $351 (Boarding Chloe over NYE, Georgia Association of Paralegals dues, textbook for paralegal class, and two books for Bible Study)

Total without the Extras:  $1,358.05

Basically, without the "Extras" this month I would have saved an extra $172.95.  All in all I am really pleased with how it all turned out and how I was able to slim my budget down by running errands only one day a week and being smarter on my grocery shopping and planning meals.  The best part is that I was able to change my habits and that shows in the numbers.  I also cancelled my satellite tv account which will pay for itself starting in March and am spending more time at the boyfriend's house because it is drastically closer to Emory's campus and has internet access.  My goal for February is to continue to keep my budget as tight as possible so that the wages I have saved can go farther until I am able to find a job.  I start my paralegal classes tomorrow and am ready to get in the classroom!

Happy Spending Freeze!