My updated frugal monthly budget and some projects [View all]

[Kaleva]

$1192.00 SSDI
$140.05 Veteran Pension

$1332.05

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$10.00 VA Co-pay

$10.00
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$40.00 Electricity (averaged out over 12 months)
$13.99 Amazon Prime
$11.99 Hulu
$10.00 Great Courses Plus
$25.00 Cell phone with unlimited text and talk
$40.00 Natural gas for heating, hot water and cooking (averaged out over 12 months)
$43.00 water & sewer
$67.00 Land line and internet

$300.43
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$140.00 Property taxes and homeowners insurance

$140.00
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$37.00 Credit card payment
$40.00 Credit card payment
$54.00 Credit card payment

$91.00 (two credit cards should be payed off by mid summer and the third by the end of the year)
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$200.00 Food, personal hygiene
$100.00 Miscellaneous, clothing
$25.00 Donation to Kamala Harris campaign
$5.00 DU

$330.00

$1332.05 - $871.43 = $460.62 available for discretionary spending

Food

I'm going bare bones here.

"I averaged out the 7 dinners, the two breakfasts and added the lunch and mid afternoon veggie snack and multiplied that by 30.

I really tried to make sure there was adequate servings of dairy products, grains, vegetables and fruits each day.


Breakfast
Hot cereal breakfast $.91
Cold cereal breakfast $.99
average $.98

Lunch $1.47

Mid afternoon snack $.51

Dinners
Finnish hot dogs in sauce $1.22
Easy Chicken A La King $1.25
Black bean soup $1.17
Chicken chili $1.56
Chicken Stir Fry $1.47
Rotisserie chicken noodle soup $1.68
Sauerkraut and weenies $1.15
average $1.36

$.98 + $1.47 + $.51 + $1.36 = $4.32 x 30 = $129.60"

https://www.democraticunderground.com/11283858#post24

Gas for heat and the water heater

I have the thermostat set to 62 and I'm comfortable while wearing an unbuttoned flannel shirt in addition to my regular clothing. In the past, I've had the thermostat set as low as 55 degrees but I don't want to do that again. The thermostat on the water heater is set to Vacation. I don't use much hot water so vacation setting produces all the hot water I need for showers, washing dishes and washing clothes.

Water

I'll take Navy showers where I wet down, turn off the water, lather up and scrub and then turn the water back on to rinse off. I'll have the tub drain stopper in place so I can transfer the shower water to a plastic storage tote. That water will be used to fill the toilet tank after the toilet is flushed. For now, I'll wash and rinse my clothes in separate plastic tubs. In the future I'll get a hand held clothes washer (the one that looks like a fancy toilet plunger) and a washboard. Will probably get a hand crank clothes wring too as wringing out wet clothes by hand is hard work. I have clothes lines in the basement and I'll set up a dog runner wire between the house and garage when the weather gets better so I can use that as a clothes line.

Electricity

I won't be using the electric dryer. All the lights in the house have led bulbs.