This month, I'm not including fixed costs in the budget (eg, rent, health insurance, etc), but will be focusing on a few key areas.
First off, food. Our spending in this category varies a lot, and is very high when I'm not watching it. It's been as high as $600/month at times, for two adults! Goal this month is $220. I'm getting a CSA this month, which accounts for $30/week, or $120 for the month. That leaves $100 for grains, legumes, oils, spices, peanut butter and so forth. I'm going to continue getting free fruit from neighborhood trees, but that's going to be harder to fit in as I start teaching on the 7th. Speaking of teaching, one of the things I'm doing this year to make it easier on myself is to have an "emergency" stash of food, to be kept at school for those days when I didn't pack enough lunch or didn't pack a lunch at all. So far, I've got slightly less than 10 lbs of potatoes ('cause I already ate two), olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt. These are all things that either don't go bad, or go bad slowly enough that I'll eat them down before they go.
A second category is house stuff. We moved, and we don't have any furniture for the living room, and our dining room table could use a few more chairs. I've been putting it off, but more out of laziness than cheapness. I'll be looking to get these used, obviously, so I'm hoping to spend very little money.
Transport will be another category that will be needing some attention. The rainy season has started, and I'd like some rain pants, lights, gloves, and to tune up my bike since I'm either biking or walking to school every day this year. I don't think I'll be getting this stuff used, but I may.
So, with that said, here's the budget of non-fixed items:
Water/Garbage: 120
Electricity: 120
Food: 220
Pets: 30
Household stuff: 100
Transport: 450? (I honestly don't have any idea, and this will be for both bikes.)
Misc. 50
Total: $1090. Let's see how low we can go!
ETA: Saved money will be allocated to the down payment savings account, which doesn't exist yet.