January Numbers
Home (PITI & Utilities): $2,277/$2,200 $77 over. Had some home maintenance expenses that were higher than expected.
Auto (Gas, Ins, Maint): $1,252/$500 $752 over. My car had a blowout and when I took it in, the tread on all the other tires was <2. New tires are expensive.
Subscriptions (Internet, Phone, Streaming, Gaming): $209/$200 $9 over. Used a little more data than we should have.
Food (Groceries, Restuarants, Vitamin A): $561/$500 $61 over. Stocked up on some meat for the freezer.
Pets (Sitter, Vet, Food): $315/$200 $115 over. Curly girly needed her quarter annual hot spot shot and we had already bought some treats and toys for the month.
Shopping (Furniture, Home Décor, Toys, Clothes): $1,108/$200 $908 over. :< Explained below.
Travel: $0/$400. No travel this month.
Giving: $500/$500
Total: $6,222/$4,700 $1,522 over.
I really didn't want to post this but since it is about holding myself accountable, I gritted my teeth and did it. I don't regret any of the spending we did but it is clear to see we went a little hog wild on our shopping. The other categories we went significantly over on were auto and pet which both were unexpected costs that couldn't really be avoided. The biggest impact on our shopping was that I bought an espresso machine. A $600 espresso machine. It was a refurb off ebay that was about 50% off the cost of new but still. I love it very much and use it every day, sometimes multiple times a day, but that doesn't change the fact that it was a completely extravagant/unbudgeted purchase. The rest of the overage in shopping was due to fridge water filter and a couple things that made our house more livable but weren't really home improvement including a outdoor wood rack + cover, a fancy baby gate to keep the dogs out of the kitchen (RIP half chewed/swallowed steak that was stolen from the counter on 1/13), and a mirror for our master bathroom which we had never replaced after we flooded.
I'm embarrassed by how far over budget we are but I don't regret anything we purchased except for some bad chinese takeout from a new place we tried. All in all though, an ugly month as far as budget numbers.