I suppose we're in. We started tracking again on August 1 (first time since 2007), and being conscious makes a big difference, it seems. Groceries were the largest expense at $294, followed by fuel as. The term started on the 17th. I don't think fuel will go up this month actually, since I was there every day in the weeks leading up, mostly trying to create, staff, and find rooms for more course sections - we've had a jump in enrollment.
So we're tracking discretionary spending via receipts on a spreadsheet (which is also set up to do MPG since we're entering fuel anyway). I can see total out of pocket at a glance for the month in online bill pay since we put everything discretionary on a credit card and pay that off as well as paying bills. But the totals don't exactly synch since the amount due on the card isn't what spend from the first to the first. I think I've decided I don't care. We're close enough.
Discretionary spending in August was $1071 and bills were $291. Add in prorated annual, biannual, and per three months bills (car insurance, home insurance, property tax, trash pickup, and vehicle tags and registration) at $212.02 per month on average, and we get $1574.02 "spent." Don't know if we can beat that in September, but I'd like to equal it. That puts us on track to keep maxing the HSA, add to the 457 every month, cash flow his tuition and books without touching savings, and do just fine on my base salary alone. Should leave us with extra savings every month to the tune of about $300.
Our discretionary even includes some home and car repair costs (parts and building supplies, which is all we need since he does it all).
We didn't give up anything we need or really want; we were just aware of our spending. We eat out when friends invite us, and if we're just too tired to cook, we get something cheap (Little Ceasars pizza is $5 and feeds us both and won't kill us once a week or less).
It's working, better than I'd thought when we decided he'd quit teaching and go back to school. I hadn't expected to be able to cash flow his school expenses, let alone to do it and save money without even considering my side gigs. So we're in, and bring on Savetember.