Our Family’s Financial Update July 2013
Do you ever wonder how other family’s finances work? Take a peek at how things go at our house, and be encouraged that no matter what your financial circumstances are, you can always improve them. 🙂
Spending
I usually try to spend as little as possible, but I really let things slip during July, and we spent more than I had planned.
I was a little disorganized with my new schedule of driving two teens and my husband to work with one car, and it translated into spending money. I overspent on groceries by almost $100 ($500 budget for the month) and I spent about $40 on eating out that we had not planned on spending. I also spent $88 on some clothing items for the girls and shoes for my husband and son, when there was actually no money budgeted for clothing this month, and I overspent on toiletries and household items by $30 ($50 budget per month).
We also had some additional expenses with friends staying with us and some minor medical expenses.
Saving
Our goal for July was to save money for our upcoming move.
Thankfully our utilities remained relatively low at $368 for the month, and our income increased by several hundred dollars thanks to commissions at my husband’s job, some items we were able to sell and money we made from the blog. This enabled us to save enough for the deposit on our new home (read more here). We will hopefully receive our entire deposit back for our current house, so that will go into our savings.
August Goals
Our goals for August will be to pay for the move in cash and save any extra money we can into our emergency fund. I really hope to be able to get things back on track once we are unpacked and settled into our school schedule. It seems that the busier I am, the more money I spend. Gotta get control again!
Were you able to meet any financial goals in July? Leave a comment so we can encourage each other! 🙂
(Email readers will need to click through to the blog to leave a comment.)
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Oh, I forgot to mention that it was also time to renew all my son’s asthma medications and copayments alone were over $400. Given all the additional expenses this summer, I am proud of not accumulating more debt. I also wanted to thank you for sharing. It helps keep me motivated. I love all the frugal blogs because I honestly don’t know anyone else who shares my financial goals outside of blogs. Thank you.
You are very welcome!
I know exactly how you feel. July was that month for me. My daughter and her husband visited with us, and we loved every minute, but we were not watching our spending during those days. Now the piper is expecting to be paid.
I give thanks for hard work my husband did over the past few months that has netted us enough to cover July and pay off a very old, really ugly credit card bill. I hated using that money because of carelessness, but I am so very thankful for a husband who never complains and stays on task to help us get through our present crisis.
Thanks for you willingness to share your daily truths with the rest of us. You are so beautifully in control most of the time that I despair of ever being that good at money management. I learn something from you every week. This week I learned that I am not alone when things get out of control. I believe that you and I and your other followers will all keep our ducks in a row most of the time, and we can just be thankful to the Lord God when things get a bit frantic and we need help. He always comes through for us.
Thanks for your encouragement Katherine, but it is just one step at a time and trying to improve every day. I am so happy that you were able to pay off your credit card! I am sure you are quite relieved. Yay for having a husband who is on the same page with you on your finances. 🙂
I just told my friend that I hate July and August…We spend more in those months that any other I think. We seem to always take our vacation and drive around more as well. I am not working and I seem to spend more than during the school year. Maybe it’s the routine or lack of.
I think you are right Em. The lack of routine naturally leads to more spending.
This summer has been so expensive. I had weekly OB appointments, extra ultrasounds, birthdays for my sons and husband, an entire school uniform wardrobe to purchase for my oldest son who started kindergarten, school supplies, a new lawn mower, and I just had the baby. Cha ching! The good news is that we cut expenses, I was under on our weekly grocery budget and put that money toward school expenses, I worked hard on points programs and paid for a breast pump, bottles, diapers, a thermos for my son, and $150 toward the new lawn mower with gift cards, I couponed a lot to save money, and got back to cooking from scratch. The bad news is that despite saving for the baby, I will have no income for 2 months and fall about $1000 short on my estimated bills and that doesn’t include all the medical expenses. I am not exactly sure how to manage this. We will have to pay what we can until I am back at work. I am trying to remain upbeat about it and tackle it as a challenge. My goal is to not revert to credit cards which was my ‘solution’ back in my fiscally irresponsible days.
Wow Amie–it sounds like you did an amazing job with all that you had going on. Good for you for making the commitment to take care of those extra expenses without using your credit cards! You will be glad you did.
August is always my overspend month, with back to school items and fees. I have leaned on your meal planning some weeks so I can keep my food shopping costs down. Thank you for your blog.
You are very welcome Beth! Glad to help. 🙂
Thank you for your site and the info. It truly keeps me on track. We just moved ourselves 8 weeks ago and are finally getting back on track. Money is tight, but you help inspire me. Thanks:)
Glad that I can inspire you Pamela! Thanks for taking the time to let me know. 🙂
July must be the month for spending as that happened to us as well. However, we are celebrating August because we paid off the balance at the orthodontist, a credit card, and a loan! Celebrating at home, of course!
Good luck with your move, Kimberlee!
Woohoo Janina! That must feel terrific!
your updates inspire me. i’m sure it’s hard to put it out there for the world to see. but be encouraged, you do so so well with your family’s finances and i hope that the crazy will calm down for you and that the move will be so worth it for you and your family. keep your chin up, you’re amazing!
Thanks so much for your encouragement Bethany! It really means a lot.
WHEW, yeah June and part of July we were as we put it, hemmoraging money. Soo many unplanned expenses. June was really bad, which just lead to July being SUUPER tight.
We are finally pulling ahead and sticking to our budget muuch better this month. We also got a nice bonus from my husband’s job last week.
Heading into the end of the week so far under budget and mostly caught up for the month.
We have the same issue, the busier and less organized we are, the harder time we seem to have keeping our money in check.
Sorry that you had a rough month, but that is great that your husband received a bonus!