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If your dog suddenly starts eating less than her well-established norm, it's reason enough for a trip to the vet's office. Minor appetite fluctuations occur sometimes and are perfectly natural, and external factors like different food, increased treat feeding and changes in activity level can affect how much your pet eats. However, a number of illnesses, from the fairly benign to the very serious, can cause a noticeable and lasting decrease in appetite.
When you hear the word "piranha," you may think of the Amazon River and have visions of whole cows being eaten alive. While piranhas have become famous for their ability to devour live prey in only minutes, not all of them do that. There are many species of piranha from at least three different genuses. What they all have in common is sharp teeth and an aggressive nature.
Although the amount families spend on monthly household expenses differs, knowing what other families pay out each month may help you create a practical budget based on your take-home pay. In general, urban households have higher gross incomes and more expenses than the average rural family. Where the money goes depends on a family's needs and priorities. Your family's lifestyle and where you live in the country can affect how much you spend.
Accurately budgeting your monthly costs is challenging. In order to avoid debt and to start saving, you will need to either pad each category in you budget, or create an overarching contingency account. Items may cost more than you think and emergencies will come up, requiring you to dig deep into your pockets.
Budgeting is very important for companies as well as individuals. When individuals budget, they take stock of their finances. They are able to properly apportion funds for the present expenditure as well as plan big purchases in the future. The individual is able to foresee and forestall all the problems that are likely to arise in the future and make apposite plans to counter them today. Budgeting involves contrasting the inflows and outflows of cash, and devising plans to make the most optimum utilization of the money.
A family of five is naturally going to have a lot of expenses. After all, three children and two adults don't come cheap. Without a budget, a large family is at a disadvantage, because the amount of money needed per month is unknown. The average budget for a family of five varies depending on location and income.
The monthly budget for food for a family of four can vary greatly from one family to another. The actual costs depend on the shopping habits of each family. Some factors contributing to this variance are whether meat is part of the diet, the cuts of meat purchased, buying sale foods or full-price foods, and using coupons and rebates. The USDA publishes the cost of food for four different family situations every month.
The old adage, two can live as cheaply as one, is not entirely true. An average monthly budget will depend on where in the country you live and your standard of living.
If you're new to living on your own or have recently moved in with a romantic partner, you may be surprised, if not shocked, at how much you spend each month on food alone. Unfortunately, there's not good way of figuring out what a food budget should be, because how much you spend on food depends on so many factors, including the cost of living where you live, where you shop for groceries and how often you eat out. However, by looking at your individual situation, you can come up with a budget that makes sense for you.
The average American "consumer unit" spent about $6,300 on food in 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This works out to about $525 per month. The unit spent about $3,700 per year -- or $308 per month eating at home and $2,600 per year -- or $216 per month eating out. The unit did all this on an annual expenditure of $49,097. Consumer unit is a term used by the BLS to denote a family, a group living together and sharing expenses or persons in the same household who do not share expenses. The average consumer had 2.5…
Managing a monthly budget can be a stressful experience for many people. For years, Americans often spent more than they earned. Then came the Great Recession, and families began to cut back. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which tracks consumer spending, the average family spent 2.8 percent less in 2009 than it did in 2008. This represents the first time the BLS has seen a drop in consumer spending since it began tracking the data in 1984. The BLS tracks the data by consumer units, defined as a family, a single person or a single person with…
Who doesn't like to eat out. It is a time to socialize, indulge your taste buds and not worry about preparation or clean up. But there is a down side. Those lovely dinners out and quick fast food meals add up to lots of money spent on eating out. If you've been overdoing it, here are some tips to help you eat out less.
