In conjunction with the Living on Less Than $28,000 A Year series, I will be sharing periodic Financial Updates. I won’t always give specific numbers, but I thought it might be helpful for those of you in a similar situation to have a little window into how things go at our house.
Wow! July was a big spending month for us. Thankfully our income was several hundred dollars more than normal, but I had hoped to spend less this month.
This month’s spending:
(amounts in parenthesis were taken from our second account– read more here )
Rent $1050
Utilities (including cell phone, internet, power, water) $394
Life Insurance (quarterly pmt. paid from our second account) ($153)
Clothing and Shoes $209 ($50 budgeted–overspent $159)
Toiletries $37 ($50 budgeted–under $13)
Household (batteries, planter, shower curtain rod, etc.) $77 ($50 budgeted–overspent $27)
Eating Out (take out pizza, 1 family dinner at a fast food restaurant, several fast food lunches for individuals) $74 ($20 budgeted–overspent $54)
Groceries: $383 (see my shopping for this month here) ($400 budgeted–under $17)
Gas: $250 ($320 budgeted–under $70)
[Thankfully gas prices went down in our area and we didn't drive as much as we had planned.]
Thanks to some areas where we spent less than we had budgeted, we only overspent our overall budget by $140 total. This money unfortunately came from our emergency fund because the categories in the second account were under-funded. Ideally we would have more money in the clothing category and we would not have eaten out as much, because we did not budget for that.
We also had a $399 car repair. Thank goodness for the emergency fund because there was nothing in the car repair category.
It wasn’t a terrible month, but I think we can do a lot better so I plan to be more careful in August. We need to get the emergency fund rebuilt as quickly as possible.
How did you do last month? Were you able to stick to your budget? Leave a comment so we can encourage each other. 
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you so much for being honest and showing real life! Also, that savings can really pay off during the months that are hit hard.
I love having a savings account. More importantly, I love my budget because when the over $2500 summer tax bill comes, I can just write a check and not have to panic!
I too spent over in some categories and have to take from others. Summer seems harder to me because I do not work for June- August.
You are welcome Em. It’s challenging sometimes to be transparent, but I think it can help some readers, so I continue on.
We’ve had a hard time sticking to our budget so we over hauled the whole thing. It’s going to take a few extra months to get things paid off (medical bills and credit cards), but I think we’ll be able to stick to the budget better. No more robbing Peter to pay Paul.
It is difficult, but way to go for making your money work for you Cassie!
Oh man, I kind of feel better now. Granted, our overbudget makes yours look like fish food, but at least I know that everyone else makes mistakes, too. I for sure thought that we were the worst types of people because of our overspending for family all this month. We took two weekend trips and have been eating out with family pretty much all month long which busted our budget a ton, too. I’ve been trying to see exactly where we can cut back in August to accommodate the overspending in July. Any suggestions?
I am personally going to try very hard not to eat out at all unless we have specifically planned it. It seems like food and entertainment are the easiest areas to cut back on, but the most difficult emotionally–haha!
Thanks for giving a real budget. Ive always wondered the gas, and toiletries and such.
I loved reading your “living on 28K” series. It cause us to complete revamp the way we do our budget. We set up categories and a weekly contribution amount, track what we spend on a daily basis. It has helped greatly…although the hubby still struggles with staying on budget but that is an ongoing battle!
I think staying on a budget is an ongoing battle for lots of people (including me).
Thank you for posting this. I just discovered your site after a friend pinned one of your blogs on Pinterest today. I just added up my potential income if I get a new job and move to a new state. I will be making about the same amount of money and trying to just support myself. I thought that was going to be hard, until I see you guys are dealing with the same amount of money and a whole lot more people! I’m not saying that it won’t be tight for me, especially at first, having to buy a car, rent a new apartment, set up house, etc. But it is very doable. Thanks for the encouragement.
Hi Charity–welcome! I am glad that you are encouraged. It is more difficult being single, but if you buy a good used car instead of new and rent a more modest apartment you can really help yourself out in the long run. Thrift stores are great for household items too (although I would never buy upholstered furniture or mattresses there
).
Thanks. I’m moving to a more expensive area, so the best deal for rent on a 1 bedroom apt is $750. A little higher than I was hoping, but seeing your numbers was encouraging.
We had to replace our A/C unit in July. $5,725.00! So, I have put us on an austerity budget to pay ourselves back as quickly as possible. Like one of your readers commented recently that made me laugh….I make the budget. My husband has the pleasure of sticking to it! We didn’t do so well last month but I failed to realize that it was a longer pay period that also had 3 weekends in it. I have notated that for the future.
Wow–that’s a huge hit to the budget. Hopefully you can recoup that quickly.
Ouch….that hurts!!
You made me feel so much better! I overspent on food/entertainment this month like crazy and kept beating myself up. Even though my overspending was much more – it’s nice to hear that I’m not alone. I plan on updating my budget spreadsheet daily and being honest myself when I know I’m spending outside of the budget. I seem to struggle with take out food and starbucks. One idea I had for the starbucks addiction I have is to put the price of one drink on a giftcard and that’s what I use (and I get it once a month) and I will constantly refill the card but just in that small amount.
Thanks again for sharing!
I am so glad you feel better.
I think the gift card for Starbucks is a brilliant idea!
We had both our desktop and laptop crash and can’t be repaired in the same week. It will just have to wait for another couple of months before we are able to get a replacement. How in the heck are your utilities only $394???? My power bill alone was $334……YIKES!!! It must have just been the month of July to be way over budget.
Sorry about your computer issues.
We can keep our power bill down because we have a smaller house, keep the thermostat on 79 to 80 and we don’t really use the dryer.
Hopefully things will balance out in the end so that maybe clothing won’t be much in future months. That is what I always hope for.
I love having a separate “car repair fund” set up and try to maintain at least $1,000 in there. except, lately I have been feeling the need to get it to $2k. It will likely take a long time though! I love having the peace of mind knowing I can cover a repair bill.
I do too, we have had a couple of car repairs lately so it was low.