I’ve always been fascinated with graphs and charts that help explain numbers and money. Probably because I am a visual learner.  One thing I love about QuickBooks, an accounting program I use, is that you can clearly see where your money is being spent. This is very helpful when you’re trying to cut down on frivolous expenses and carefully create a savings plan. Something I’ve noticed this year is that my husband and I are eating out less and cooking at home more. I really wasn’t sure if it was saving us much money since we aren’t big eaters to begin with, meaning that when we do eat out, we usually share a meal. However, because I have categorized my expenses in QuickBooks, I was able to compare last year’s meal and grocery expenses to this year’s. What I found was that we are actually saving money on meals and food, a whopping $1,580.

Grocery and Meal Expenses 2008 vs. 2009

You can see in my pie chart that meals & entertainment (I grouped these two items together) are only part of a larger expense this year, where as last year they were their own portion of the pie. Groceries have increased a little bit, which makes sense since we can’t live on bread and water alone!