Dollars & Spends
August seems like the longest month – we’ve been on a bit of a spending spree this past week. I posted the budget earlier this month so you know we plan to spend a whopping $4,781 in August (and I’m afraid we’re going to be over budget for the first time since, um, since last August). So far we’ve burned through $4,747 of the bucks we budgeted leaving us only $33 for the rest of the month (yeah, right!)
Here’s the skinny on who/what/where/when/how we spent $1,813 in the past week.
You might remember that I signed up for a 17-week Weight Watchers @ Work program. That bill hit the checking account this week to the tune of $186.
Since I’m pretty sure we’re going to be over budget this month (sigh), I had to move some money from savings into the checking account.
This biggest chunk of money going out this week went to the car insurance company. We had budgeted the $603 bucks that it costs us to insure our two vehicles for six months, but you’ll also notice that we had to shell out $50 to a rental car company. What’s up with that? You might remember that our car was rear ended at the beginning of the month and we’re dealing with getting it fixed. Our insurance is covering the cost of the rental, but we had to put down a $50 deposit. It’s just a deposit so it should be refunded, but I’m classifying it as an insurance expense for the moment.
We ate food again this week and that means we dropped $151 at the grocery store. This is Orion’s last week of summer vacation, so I anticipate that we’ll drop back down to one or two trips to the grocery store a week instead of four or five (thank goodness). In his defense, Orion has been cooking up some yummy meals. I highly recommend this Shrimp Pad Thai recipe I found over at skinnytaste.com.
What else? The student loan bill came due and ate up $267. We fueled up two vehicles for $100 and we paid our electric bill of $192. Have I mentioned that I’m ready for this Texas summer to be over?
We did some eating out this past weekend and dropped $44 leaving us just $1 left in that budget item. There are a lot of days left in August so I feel like we’ve really blown it here.
The biggest area where we’ve spent money that I hadn’t accounted for was on closing/moving related expenses. I didn’t think those would start hitting until September, but I was mistaken. That has eaten up $233, but that money came from the savings account that we have set aside for all of our down payment, closing costs and moving expenses. I should have had more foresight, but at least the money is there and it’s going toward its intended purpose. Still, I should have planned better.
One final expenditure… I spent $2.25 to order a copy of graduate school transcript. I needed a copy to include with a scholarship application I submitted. For the first time ever, my employer is offering two $1,000 scholarships to staff members who are furthering their education. I have no idea how many people applied, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll score one of those thousand dollar awards. That money would cover most of the tuition bill I still have outstanding for this semester. Please send me some good scholarship vibes!
How are all of you doing? I hope you’re not as over budget as me.
August was our killer month for getting things straight! Hang in there– the fact that you are tracking things so closely ensures that you are going to continue to make progress!