No breakdown of groceries but a bigger deeper dive into our spending. I so far put down at $500 deposit on our refi so that was unexpected. I also traded our American Girl $140 e gift card for $99.96 Home Depot gift card. Unfortunately we got the american girl gift card last year from girl scouts. Well the store closed down during covid and we never had a chance to go and use it. So rather than hanging I took the advice of everyone here.
Spending so far this month has been a lot. I'm a bit stressed out but what can be done?
Groceries $344.70
Eating out $174.60 (brunch was $93.90)
Alcohol $77.18
Dog $120.09
Travel $759.03
Gas $45.57
Utilities $557.31
Home Maintenance $600.06 ($200 gutters, Fence $345)
Personal Care $35.27
Auto $12.60
Home Goods $77.13
Gifts $121.29 (unsure if I am returing one to amazon)
Misc $509.61 (refi $500 deposit)
Services $180
Amazon $154.20 (mostly home maintence DH buys stuff for house)
Kids $778 ($610 camp, $135 piano)
Activities $80 (living social paddleboard rentals)
Clothing $99.15 (will return 2 out of 3 jeans)
Total so far $4726.11 for the month. We have $800 for our mulch and stuff for our yard is on the books for next weekend. Ugh.
Hope I keep spending under control the rest of the month. I have a plans for maybe another $200 for groceries and no more eating out. Since we are tracking our spending so closely it's weird how I predicted $100 for brunch and spent $93.09. And how much it hurts now to see that 1 meal out for us which did last us until dinner and we had lots of leftovers, could cost $100.
Maybe I should have a budget. I should allow us to eat out a set amount. The truth is that I am just trying to be "normal" and not tell my family the budget. It makes my DH feel constrained and he hates that. He's hated it since the days of us making very little money. Now he still makes 5x what we made and are back on a "budget". I think it better being 20 years wiser instead to carefully watch our spending and not say budget but "spending" plan. He'd tell you that he barely spends anything. He buys nothing.
But the truth is that he spends a lot on the house and things for the house. There is no budget monthly I'd say he's more an annual person. That there is a certain amount of spending to be done on the house. And this is why homes are money pits. Kids are money pits too!
April 20th, 2021 at 04:02 pm 1618934521
Good deal on trading that AG card!
April 20th, 2021 at 05:07 pm 1618938423
April 20th, 2021 at 11:09 pm 1618960148
I say ‘you can have anything you want, but you can’t have everything you want.’
If you don’t have a plan/budget, then the money that you want for the big things is often used up on small things that are fleeting, in the moment ‘wants.’
A budget reflects your priorities in life.
If you track your spending, you often find that your spending doesn’t reflect what you think matters.
A budget is a reward that says you care enough about yourself to make your efforts result in getting what you need and want. It isn’t a punishment.
April 21st, 2021 at 05:15 pm 1619025335