With the right mix of breath and negligence, all those little budget campfires can blow into a forest fire.

I want to say that extra paycheck was earmarked for financial growth and moving the needle more on our mortgage debt, but maybe the best I can say is we didn’t have to dip into savings to pay the bills this month. And some months, just putting out all those little fires is the best you can do.

How’d we do this month?

Three Paychecks!

So, due to the way I’m paid, I received three paychecks this month, but you’d never know it from looking at the checking account balance.

Obviously, paying the mortgage biweekly took a healthy $525 off the top.

Then we paid out the $450 ($50 discount for paying in full) out-of-district tuition due for Sterling to go to kindergarten. Yeah, it’s a lot, but it’s cheaper than the $200 a month for ten months than we paid last year for his pre-K tuition. That alone nets us $1,550 saved over the course of this school year versus last year.

Aaaand, don’t forget that water bill for $200.00 to re-fill the swimming pool. We budget $60 per month, so the other $140 sadly came from this extra paycheck.

So, how did we manage to blow another $600 this month?

Fifteen Grocery Trips!

Fifteen different times we purchased groceries in June. This is called lack of planning. This is called failure to commit to a grocery budget. This is called spending $483.73 on groceries instead of $400. Truthfully, it might be a little more than that–I might not have all the grocery receipts (still).

Note to self: create a “home” for receipts that husband and self will actually use.

3 paycheck month money remaining $515. It could have been much worse, but …

We were too busy filling prescriptions to worry about food.

With Clint’s ER trip and my bonus trip to the doc-in-the-box, we spent $258.95 on medical expenses in June. How much had we budgeted? Zero dollars. I should have had $125.00, but somehow overlooked this critical line item. Budget amended stat. 3 paycheck month money remaining: $255.

Other budgets of note:

• General Shopping, $100 budgeted. Spent $200 on clothes, pool supplies, Father’s Day gift, stamps and haircuts. 3 paycheck month money remaining: $155.
• Dining out, $15 budgeted. Spent $39.07. I’m not complaining here. Really. Checked myself before I wrecked myself. One day, when the children are out of daycare, Clint and I will have blow money each month…and you wouldn’t have found out about my one $20 lunch at Connors. 3 paycheck month money remaining: $115.
• Water Bill, $60. Remember how we had to re-fill the pool? The bill showed up this month for $200.00. Worth every penny. Never have to wait in line, deal with crowds, worry about theft, pay $3 for a drink, drive to and from the pool, and I can swim alone while the boys nap. Worth every penny. 3 paycheck month money remaining: -$35.
• Farm Expenses, $200 budgeted. Spent $87.92. Don’t worry about that unspent money, honey. Article for review: the rest of your budget. 3 paycheck month money remaining: $75.
• Fuel Expenses, $300 budgeted. Spent $303. Close enough.

So, we had about $72 dollars leftover from our third paycheck this month that I cannot locate. If you have seen it, please tell it to call home.

Here’s the chart for the month:

What’s the plan for next month?

Keep trying. It reminds me of that ducks quote.

1. Get control of that grocery budget. It’s $400. Here’s how: Make dinner plans, and therefore grocery lists, and therefore have fewer trips to the store for random crap (and all the other random crap we purchase with said random crap).
2. Bring in more income from GSD. I’m itching to round out the emergency fund and start putting money away for a new A/C or start taking chunks out of this mortgage. We’re so close!
3. Knock things off our summer bucket list: camp in the yard, see fireworks, see a movie on the ballfield, look at the stars, try a new fruit, go fishing at the beach…

Have a great rest of your summer, y’all. See you when school starts. (Have you started getting qualified for the mortgage loan we’ll have to take out for those back-to-school expenses?)

Erica

Debt Payoff Progress 6302018 (1)