October was a costly month -- I took my Florida vacation, and I had business expenses (which will be recouped at tax time). Some surprising lows, too.

Housing - $677
Vacation/Travel - $401
Business - $165
Utilities - $149
Gifts/Charity - $138
Eating Out - $76
Groceries - $51
Phone - $51
Medical/Health - $42
Fares/Parking - $40
Gas - $37
Vet/Pet Supplies - $17
Personal - $13
Clothing/Accessories - $12
Laundry - $11
Entertainment - $8
Furnishings/Equipment/Décor - $5
Grand Total - $1900

My grocery spending was really low! I assume this was a result of time spent away from home on vacation, as well as my careful shopping.

Gifts were surprisingly high. But I had one birthday, bought some supplies for my son while staying at his house, and the rest were small gifts like the Halloween candy & cash I gave to my grandsons, and the small amounts I gave to street vendors and panhandlers.

The vacation expense covered one big vacation and one weekend vacation.

My laundry was unusually low. That's because I did some laundering using other people's machines!

My variables spending was 92%.

I went trick-or-treating with the grandsons last night. It was chilly, but the rain slacked off after coming down all day. The boys were thrilled with their haul, and had a great time. Afterwards, my son and DIL ordered pizza for dinner, so I didn't have my vegetable soup last night. It was all good, except my feet were aching terribly at the end of the night. Wish they didn't bother me so much, but there doesn't seem to be any easy answer. I probably should have taken Advil before setting out.

Today's menu:

Breakfast: Migas
Lunch: Deviled eggs and celery/peanut butter
Dinner: Vegetable beef soup