• Rent $500 (includes home, internet, utilities, maintenance)
• Food $297 (two people, includes groceries in costly Canada, household items, eating out, fancy coffees, etc)
• Family $173. This was three weeks of travel—everything from transportation to physical gifts to data use—to spend four birthdays with family, and hang with a lovely friend.
• Kid $106 (gifts, winter clothing from thrifts, allowance, emergency cell, etc)
• Car insurance $84
• Car fuel $38
• Phone $32
• Clothing for me $18 (thrift shops)
• Life insurance $17
• Me $418. I bought myself two special, secret presents 🙂

Donations are over and above these.

As you can see, it was a pretty spendy month for me. At the same time, $1265 is pretty awesome for two people to be housed, to eat, to go on a three-week vacation to multiple locations, and to update their wardrobe. This approach easily makes room for the occasional splurge of $418 on luxury items.