Everything I Spent in August
This year I’m sharing what we spend in our household each month and why.
Reasons for sharing this with you all are two-fold.
1) It holds me accountable. Accountability is a very important pillar of healthy money habits.
2) It fosters a community of openness and transparency here on my site, which is my goal. If we talk about money, we all grow more comfortable with it. So I’m putting my money where my mouth is... 😏
We are 40 year old dual income family with 3 kids ages 14, 11, and 9.
Some expenses will be shown as percentages while others in U.S. dollars.
Pivot Expenses & Surprises (the unexpected…)
Welp. We bought a saxophone! We should have budgeted for this better, but it’s quite complicated and personal, as finances always are. We were able to qualify for an excellent financing plan with 12 months same as cash, so we’re all set with a newly adjusted plan to cash flow those payments.
Planned Expenses
Home: Mortgage + Utilities = 17% of take-home pay
Our mortgage payment went up. Heavy sigh…
I’ll likely write up some info about changing mortgage payments in the future, but for now here’s a bit about why.
Part of our mortgage payment each month goes to a separate account called Escrow that our mortgage company maintains. From this account, our lender pays our property taxes and home owners insurance for us. Every year, they run an analysis to make sure they’re setting aside enough to pay those expenses. At the time of their most recent analysis, our home owners insurance policy was scheduled to increase by about $1000. So even though we changed our policy and saved a bunch, the lender still increased our escrow account goal, resulting in a higher mortgage payment. 😕 Not to worry, while our Escrow account will be a little overfunded for a bit, the payments should decrease after their next adjustment.
Home: Repairs & Services = 8%
One of our vehicles had to have spark plugs replaced, which cost a hefty sum. We were able to float the cost from this budget and didn’t have to dip into the repair fund.
Home: Supplies = 3%
We were right on par here, with the usual expected costs.
Home: Subscriptions = <1%
We dropped one streaming service this month. I swear if I get one more email about increased subscription costs, I will flip tables! It is a small line item on our budget, but a penny saved is a penny earned!
Insurance = <1%
Car insurance is paid in full through the year! Hooray! So this is just our life insurance policy.
Food = 14%
We landed right on par this month — a seemingly rare feat these days! We’ll take the win!
Auto: Gas = 4%
We were slightly over budget for fuel this month with two big road trips.
Family: Kids = 14%
All the back to school expenses hit this month! Supply fees, lab fees, last minute gear, PTO fees, and lunch account payments. Shoo. We always expect it (and are glad to pay it to support our kids’ schools), but oh man, it all adds up fast.
Braces, pay days, and the monthly saxophone payments are now budgeted here, too, so this budget line is a hefty one now!
Family: Health = 3%
Counseling and the usual expenses were covered here, and we were on budget.
Giving = <1%
We gave a smaller portion than usual this month. This month we gave to a friend’s kid’s sports fundraiser and to our kids’ first school fundraisers.
Fun Money = 12% of spending
My husband and I each have our own guilt-free budgets for stuff we want. Each one (his & mine) is tight enough that we do have to keep an eye on them but also loose enough that we’re not stressing over every single dollar or discussing every expense. It’s a good balance for us.
My Fun Spend - Specifics:
I took a solo trip to Colorado to visit my best friend. We took a road trip to view all the beautiful scenery and ate out for every meal. It was a delightful trip!
Savings & Investments
Short term Savings:
$415 for Vacation Fund
$200 for Repair Fund
$170 for Christmas 2024
We set aside a bit each month for the most expensive time of the year. This fund has saved us loads of holiday headaches through the years.
We saved a bit extra in our Big Dream fund to catch up where we’ve spent some this year.
All these funds are all kept in HYSAs, so that saved money earns interest!
Long Term Investments = 25%
$1,166 for 2024 ROTH IRAs (mine + my husband’s).
{For those who qualify, the 2024 max ROTH IRA contribution is $7,000, which is $583 each month. My husband and I each have a ROTH account, so $1,166 per month is our plan.}
Our 401k (traditional IRA) and HSA investments are taken out of our paychecks before tax.
The rest of those investment dollars went toward our kids’ 529 investments for post-high school education.
That’s it. August is final!
Please remember — It has taken us a decade of ups and downs to get on the same page with our budget, and while we’re nowhere near perfect (as you’ve likely observed, we have to pivot somewhere every single month), we are making steady progress.
Budgeting is a marathon not a sprint, so take it easy on yourself if your numbers didn’t add up the way you’d expected. Allow for grace. Reflect, learn, and adjust.
How did your August spending go? Let’s all learn from the surprises and celebrate the wins!