Everything I Spent in May

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.

This month’s income was back to normal, as opposed to the March and April in which we had an annual bonus and a three paycheck month, respectively.

Pivot Expenses & Surprises (the unexpected…)

More health expenses. My husband’s chiropractic treatment is going well, and we renewed the treatment plan for another six months. It was pricy to pay in a lump sum, but it saved us about $300 to pay up front.

Planned Expenses

Home: Mortgage + Utilities + Services + Supplies + Subscriptions = 24%

This includes everything to keep our home functioning.

Insurance = 2%

This includes our auto and term life insurance policies.

Food = 16%

We went over budget on dining out and groceries this month, so we had to get creative the last week of May. Fortunately we’re both pretty scrappy and stubborn and we made it work without dipping too far into next month’s budget.

Auto: Gas + Repairs = 3%

We were under budget for gas this month, offsetting our overage in other categories. No surprise repairs.

Family: Kids + Health = 13%

We had planned to pay final balances on summer camps for the kids, so the budget was a bit higher than usual. And May is just always more expensive for school aged kids — end of year gifts for teachers, field trips, paying up lunch and library balances.

The health portion does not include the chiro plan renewal. It was a pivot, and we paid with some cash from one of our HYSAs.

Giving = 5%

We always give a portion of our income to an organization we believe in, and this year we’re choosing a different organization each month. This month we gave to our home church.

Fun Money = 8% 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 splurged for a DNA kit for my dog. He was a rescued street puppy, and for the last 12 years I’ve wondered what breeds he’s made up of. Since his birthday was this month, and the kit that’s been sitting in my Amazon cart for 2 years finally went on sale, I nabbed it!

Turns out he’s a Pitbull-Chihuahua-Chow Chow mix! So cool to learn! To me this was money well spent!

Savings & Investments

Short term Savings:

$415 for Vacation Fund

We’re saving for our 10th anniversary trip in September.

$200 for Repair Fund

We put aside a little each month for unexpected home or auto repairs.

$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.

$400 Goal Savings

All these funds are all kept in HYSAs, so that saved money earns interest!

Long Term Investments = 20%

$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 leftover post-tax dollars went toward our kids’ 529 investments for post-high school education.

That’s it. May is in the books!

The end of the month was tight; I’m not gonna lie. This budgeting stuff isn’t always sunshine and roses. But going over budget — or getting right to the line — can be enormously helpful in encouraging us to flex our creative muscles. And I’m really proud of us for doing so!

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 (we have to pivot somewhere just about every 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 May spending go? Let’s all learn from the mistakes or surprises and celebrate the wins!