I've been looking at our spending first quarter last year versus first quarter this year in Quicken, trying to see concrete results from our efforts to save here and there in a few categories.

Here's the data (2005 vs. 2006):

Groceries 1152.09 vs. 986.61 (14.4% decrease)
Dining 594.97 vs. 494.83 (16.8% decrease)
Electric 150.82 vs. 156.38
Water/Sewer 50.92 vs. 98.22

Totals: 1948.80 vs. 1736.04

So we're ahead by $212.76 compared to first quarter last year. I'm wondering about the water/sewer difference - perhaps two bills came in first quarter of this year but only one got paid during first quarter last year? I may look, just out of curiosity... Yep, that's what happened. The next payment was in the first week of April, for $54.98, for a total of $104.90 for two payments compared to $98.22 for two payments this year. That's a 6.45% decrease.

I don't know if our electric rates went up or not, but that's an area to keep working on. We've been switching to compact fl. light bulbs and are hoping to see a reduction from that.

Sometimes it feels like we aren't making progress, but exercises like this prove that we are. This is one of the reasons I am so much in favor of tracking our expenses, whether it's in Quicken or a spreadsheet or whatever. I track our savings balances on the first of each month, hoping to see them going up. If they don't, I notate why (tuition due, surgery for a pet, etc.).