Get a comprehensive recap of our March 2025 budget update. Find out how we fared in our spending goals and plans for staying on target the next month.
I’ll show you what a good budget is for a month if you give me a bit of your time.
Before we begin, the Free 2025 51-page Budget Binder is ready for download!
Why I Share Our 2025 Monthly Budget
For anyone new to CBB, this briefly explains our monthly budget update.
First off, if you’re a person who wants to learn how to create a monthly budget, you’ve come to the right space.
Budgeting puts you in charge of your money, meaning you are the boss.
That’s a big role to fill if you want to keep your company afloat.
I look forward to putting this post together as it lets us see where we spend our money.
A budget also acts as a diary for your expenses so you can look back to see success and failure.
Our budget update also lets readers know that we are not perfect and must make changes like everyone else.
We use the tools (Free budget Binder), and I hope you have downloaded your free copy.
Alright, let’s get into this.
March 2025 Home Budget Household Percentages
Savings of 54.28% include investments and savings based on our net income.
Our life ratio is 21.83% and contains everything from groceries, entertainment, miscellaneous items, health/beauty, clothing, etc., all variable expenses.
Transportation is 2.40%, which covers our vehicle’s gas, insurance, and maintenance, and holds no debt.
Our house and vehicle are paid for, and we have zero other debt; however, we still pay property taxes and maintenance fees. For our housing, we came in at 8.07% for March.
The projected expenses of 10.12% can change based on what we encounter monthly, such as a new item we need to save for.
March 2025 Home Budget Estimation and Actual Budget
Below are two tables: the March 2025 Home Budget and our Actual Home Budget.
Our March 2025 home budget represents two adults and a 10-year-old boy.
Budget Colour Key: It is a projected expense when highlighted in blue.
Since May 2014, we’ve been mortgage-free, redirecting our money into investments and home improvement projects.
Spending less than we earn and budgeting has been the easiest way to pay off our debt and save money.
This type of budget is a zero-based budget where all the money has a home.
Estimated March 2025 Home Budget
For March, the estimated home budget was $8,390.29; we used $7081.72, spending under budget by $1308.57.
We may not need all the money we budgeted for in each category; however, remember the number is only an estimate from the previous year.
Don’t forget to budget for projected expenses because your entire month can fail due to not planning.
Actual March 2025 Home Budget
Current Canadian Banks We Use
March 2025 Home Budget Year-To-Date
With the volatile stock market, like everyone else, we are seeing major losses in our net worth.
That being said, you’ll note how we started 2025 strong, but it dipped in February, increased a bit in March, but you’ll note the big dipper come the April Budget.
Month-to-Month Home Budget February to March 2025
Our emergency savings increased by 30.58%, meaning we spent less than we did in February.
Always expect to see changes from month to month, as that’s normal since money is being spent and, in some cases, more than anticipated.
Between February and March, we had a –7% reduction in actual expenses, meaning we spent less.
Breakdown- March 2025 Home Budget Categories
Below are some of our variable expenses from March 2025 that I will discuss.
Please let me know if you’d like me to explain anything or include other information in the next budget upadte.
Groceries
Find all the online groceries we purchase in the CBB Amazon Storefront.
Our monthly grocery budget is $960 plus a $25 stockpile budget; we spent $1240.14 in March.
Since we’ve overspent since February and have not caught up, we now need to catch up by $438.14.
We are optimistic that we can fix this, but it won’t happen next month as we are heading to Costco.
I conducted a poll on Facebook to see if my fans think trying one month of online grocery shopping would help us save money.
What do you think? Is it worth trying?
Our running total as of March 2025 is $3972.26 for two adults and one child.
In 2024, our grocery budget was $900 monthly, but with price increases, we calculated a further $60 monthly or $720 yearly.
We’ve since changed part of our diet, adding higher-protein foods and a low-carb/keto lifestyle.
Since we started tracking our grocery shopping from 2012, we’ve always carried any overspending to the following month.
Eventually it evens out or we ensure by the end of the year that we balance the grocery budget.
In December, I shared a blog post about our upcoming 2025 Food Budget Challenge and was looking for fans who wanted to join us.
Currently, we have three CBB readers participating in the challenge and their grocery expenses are located at the end of this blog post.
I complete a Grocery update each month so you can follow along to see how the three CBB fans are doing with their food budget challenge.
Types Of Groceries Purchased
The two grocery stores we shop at the most are Zehrs and Food Basics. Also, we buy grocery items from Amazon Canada.
- Anthony’s Organic Black Cocoa $40 (Amazing for baking and tastes like Oreo crumbs)
- 2 bags of Yupik Ground Flax Seed $17
- Case of Crystal Light Singles $25.93
- Powdered peanut butter PB&Me $23.02 (2 jars)
- Case of Crystal Light Pink Lemonade $sINGLE 36.50
- Matteo’s Barista Style Sugar-Free Coffee Syrup Salted Caramel x2 $16.99
- Mr. Tortilla 1 net carb case $28.99
- PC Apple Juice 20 bottles (Our son gets 1 cup mixed with water and drinks 6-8 36 oz Contigo bottles daily)
Costco And Our Grocery Budget
We anticipate a trip to Costco in April or early May, which might put us over the grocery budget.
I wrote a post about typical products we buy from Costco, which I update as I find new products to add.
If we shop in April, I will share everything we purchased for the next monthly budget update.
March 2025 Grocery Food Savings Jar
I can’t believe we’ve already saved nearly $1000 this year from Flashfood and coupons.
In 2024, we saved $1,712.87 using coupons and buying reduced products at local grocery stores.
So far in 2025, we’ve saved $847.13, which we have kept in our high-interest savings account.
Throughout 2025, we plan to track our savings, which include the following;
If you’d like a copy of the Grocery Savings Jar, you can find it on the Free Resources page.
Our Flashfood Orders March 2025
For 2024, using the Flashfood App saved our family $992.60!
Combining the Flashfood savings with our grocery savings jar, we saved $2705.47 in 2024.
We will continue to use Flashfood in 2025 as we save so much money, so please consider signing up using my affiliate code below.
As I do, you get $5 free when you place your first order. It’s a win-win for both of us.
Every person who signs up gets a $5 credit, a freebie Flashfood offers for new app customers.
Also, Flashfood has added a small service fee to every order, which I feel is acceptable.
Use my referral code, MOCD28ZN4, for a $5 credit.
Your first purchase must be over $15.
Flashfood Orders March 2025
We may have gone overboard buying from Flashfood in March but we filled our freezer with lots of chicken and beef.
Our main purchases tend to be dairy, meat and on the odd occasion pet food.
What do you think of our deals?
Pet Expenses
We’ve created a $350 monthly budget for our two cats which we feed premium dry cat food and a higher-end wet cat food.
Treats are a mix of naughty and nice depending on what’s on sale.
In March we went over budget a bit because we purchased two insulated indoor/outdoor cat houses.
If you’re looking to buy an outdoor or indoor cat house this one is fantastic and easy to assemble.
So far, they are not using them but have been inside them,. The idea is to have them outside the back of the house to have somewhere to retreat in the spring, summer, and fall.
Worst case, we sell or donate the pet houses to the Humane Society. It’s hard to deal with the cats now that they’ve been outside.
Luckily they don’t go far and stick around the back and front yard of our house and the neighbours.
Extended Healthcare Expenses
My benefits cover up to $2500 in dental at 100%, $500 in eyewear every two years, and $4500 in therapies at 85%.
For 2025, we are expecting to incur expenses in the extended healthcare budget category for the following services;
- Occupational Therapy
- Speech Therapy
- Dentist
- Eyewear
- Massage (if I’m lucky)
Canadian Tire Rewards Points
If you remember, months ago I said that if the CT Money balance is increasing, I must be spending more on my credit card.
I put whatever I can on my card to increase my rewards, and in 2025, I’ve only used it for household, vehicle and groceries when we shop at Food Basics.
Shopping during 20x points events is how I increase my CT Money. There’s no real secret comparable to how we shop at Shoppers Drug Mart.
Canadians Who Shop Online Use Rakuten + Get $30 Cash
Do it if you order anything online and haven’t subscribed to Rakuten Canada.
Not only do you get $30 cash free from Rakuten when you use the CBB link, but you also get cash back from thousands of online stores.
You have 90 days from signing up to use Rakuten for an online purchase before receiving the $30.
Read my full review of Rakuten Canada if you are still unconvinced.
We regularly receive cheques in the mail from Rakuten that get deposited right into our savings account.
Since signing up with Rakuten we’ve saved just over $500 by shopping online through them. It’s fantastic!
I mean, we were shopping online anyway, so why not earn cashback with the click of a button?
PC Optimum Rewards Points March 2025
Since 2018, we have earned over 9 Million PC Optimum Points or $9000.
We started 2024 with under 7 million PC Optimum Points, currently have $8030 and are working towards $9000 in 2025.
With the recent news about customers losing points we are planning to start redeeming.
I follow a Facebook group specifically dedicated to PC Points in Canada to help with this process.
I’d like to gain inspiration and some insight on how to maximize our PC Optimum points when redeeming them.
What would you redeem our points for to get the best return on investment?
How We Saved So Many PC Optimum Points
Below are blog posts for anyone wanting to learn how we earn PC Optimum Points.
Shop Points
The Shop Cash is a rewards program that’s available to Shop app users in the United States and Canada on eligible purchases.
Since we didn’t purchase anything in March using the Shop App, there was no increase.
Moi Rewards
We earned no Moi points in March, but they are slow to accumulate.
For every 500 points earned, buying products with Moi points equals $4.
I’m in the process of writing a review of the Moi app, but I wanted to experience the program for a few months.
I’ll be sharing our ongoing rewards progress here each month in 2025.
TD Rewards Credit Card March 2025
Our TD Visa has a cash-back balance of $51.73 as of March 2025.
This TD Visa credit card is not the best for reward points, as it took us years to earn $500.
We only use this account for online purchases from Amazon, PayPal, Shop, and Shopify.
The credit card has a $5000 limit, although we initially started with $500.
Dream Air Miles Update
Most points are from our house and vehicle insurance, which offers Air Miles.
There was a point where we had to choose Cash Miles or Dream Miles.
Since my family lives in the UK, we felt the Dream Miles would have worked best for us.
I’m making it my mission for 2025 to learn as much as possible about the Air Miles program and would love some tips from any passionate collectors.
There is an Air Miles receipts program that I want to learn about so we can ramp up our points.
If you participate, I’d love to hear more of your feedback.
Comment below or email me.
March 2025 CBB Net Worth Update
Oops, I spelled Decreased wrong! Ah well. decreased
Overall CBB March 2025 Budget + Net Worth Update
I’ve had a few people email me about our mortgage and why we don’t have one in the chart.
After purchasing our home in 2009, we paid it in full by 2014, which was not easy, but we did it.
Our 2025 market home value is approximately $988,000- $1 million, and we bought the home for $265,000 in 2009.
We choose not to add our home value into the net worth update as it doesn’t make a difference since we live in the home.
In March 2025, our net worth decreased by $64,852.93, or ugh, if you look at the chart, our retirement investments nose-dived by $66,521.97.
As mentioned, you’ll start to see our net worth dip down quite significantly since Trump took office, and the stock markets are all over the place.
Perhaps we will see if anything happens after the election for a new prime minister in Canada.
Our worst hit investment has been the RRSP’s, in which we’ve lost $35,000, whereas the TFSA accounts are down $22k.
How have your retirement savings been doing? Could you share your decline or increase (lucky) in the comments below?
It hurts to see such a decline, but there’s not much we can do, but thankfully we have time before retirement.
Registered Disability Savings Plan
Our son now has a Registered Disability Savings Plan, in which we placed $5000 to get the government to pay back to the date of his autism diagnosis.
Currently, he has $15,000 in his RDSP being invested.
I’ll write a blog post about the process we went through for Mrs. CBB and our son if anyone wants to learn more about our experience.
Comment below and ask me any questions you’d like me to address in the post.
2025 Food Challenger Updates
Below are three Canadian Budget Binder fans who are participating in sharing their grocery budget and expenses with everyone for the year.
The goal of the 2025 Food Budget Challenge to see if they can stick to their grocery budget and see how much they can save in 2025.
As you know groceries are very expensive in Canada at the moment and to get the best bang for your budget planning is necessary.
Let’s see how well the challengers shopped in March.
Food Budget Challenger #1
Hi Mr. CBB,
I am feeding a family of 2 adults and live in Ontario.
In 2025, we’d like to accomplish these goals…
• Pay down debt
• Cut down on unnecessary shopping
Our monthly grocery budget is $400.00.
Typically, we grocery shop at the following stores – Wholesale Club, No Frills and Brady’s Meat.
In March, we overspent by $20.91 which isn’t bad for us.
We typically try for $100 or less weekly, but there were 5 Saturdays.
Signed,
The Grumpy Shopper x2
Food Budget Challenger #2
Hi Mr. CBB,
I am feeding a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children aged 4 and 6) and live in Ontario.
Our monthly grocery budget is $800.
We do eat out so I would like to have a combined food budget for restaurant and grocery for 1000 per month.
Typically, we grocery shop at Giant Tiger, Independent and Shoppers.
In March, we spent a total of $1184.31 and we saved $89.60 with PC points.
We also spent an astronomical $762.31 in restaurants, including my two kids’ hot lunch through the school.
We were very busy this month and I didn’t cook much.
Lesson Learned In March
This month, I learned to stick to the basics.
I’ve been overstocking too much on things to earn points (i.e., spend 150 and get $15 in points).
I bought two maple syrups this month to hit that target.
For April, I am focusing on buying only for the week ahead and fewer store-bought snacks for the kids. And we are cutting back on restaurants.
| Mar 1 | 172.66 | 21 pts | IND | |
| 10 | Mar 1 | 65.54 | GT | |
| Mar 5 | 20 | IND | ||
| 258.2 | ||||
| Mar 10 | 11.29 | foodland | ||
| Mar 12 | 4.86 | Shoppers | ||
| 11 | Mar 13 | 302.56 | meat | |
| Mar 14 | 66.01 | GT | ||
| Mar 14 | 2.47 | 5.8 pts | IND | |
| 387.19 | ||||
| Mar 19 | 23.99 | odd bunch | ||
| Mar 21 | 8.93 | dollarama | ||
| 12 | Mar 22 | 48.48 | GT | |
| Mar 22 | 77.81 | 2pts | IND | |
| Mar 22 | 83.37 | 26.2 pts | shoppers | |
| 242.58 | ||||
| Mar 26 | 19.99 | odd bunch | ||
| 13 | Mar 26 | 11.62 | foodland | |
| Mar 29 | 89.6 | GT | ||
| Mar 29 | 175.13 | 34.6pts | IND | |
| 296.34 | ||||
| March Total | 1184.31 | 89.6 pts |
CBB Food Challenger #3
Hi Mr. CBB,
I am feeding a family of 3 adults and live in Southwestern Ontario.
Our son works full-time and just buys his own snacks (unless I need a couple of things, then I include them in his total).
We are still paying down last year’s overspend with the extra money we don’t spend on groceries this year. We are getting close to being done.
For 2025, we still owe for overspend but we will tackle that when last year is paid off (soon).
Our monthly grocery budget is $ 800.00 (last year was $600.00 a month)
We spent $556.44 for the month. Costco trip was $303.25 (we did 2x this month Costco shop).
On my meal plan for the month, I used a lot from the freezer and cupboard again.
We had naan pizzas, chicken thighs, sweet potatoes, salad, fish, French fries, and sausages on a bun.
Around 99% of the time, we shop at No Frills (it is in our town and we can price match).
I also went over to Strathroy and shopped at Walmart, Food Basics (five peameal bacon) & M&M’s, four packages of meatballs $9.99 each, four packages of meatballs $9.99 each, saved about $32.00.
In March, we saved quite a bit using flyer sales & price-matching. About grocery shopping this month, we need to stick what we need.
Signed,
Tracy
