Monday Musings: Week 35 & 36 and August Spending Report

Last week our family took a mini-vacation to the Metro-mess – a.k.a. DFW. After attending my Daddy’s 82^nd birthday bash with 30 family members at my sister’s home in Allen, we spent the night at a hotel where we enjoyed swimming, big comfy beds with lots of pillows, an HGTV-watching marathon, and a lovely breakfast. Then we ventured over to Main Event for a fun day of laser tag, a ropes/gravity course, miniature golf, billiards, and games. It was fun to get away and play together.

 

 We’re working out the kinks in our new routine – in anticipation of basketball practices, Josiah’s work schedule is changing. Gideon is learning about the wonders of public school and homework, plus he’s decided to play fall baseball, so we have to work that game schedule into our routine. It looks like evenings are going to be way busier than I like – twice a week basketball practice, piano lessons, weekly baseball games. We’ve always made eating dinner together a priority, but it’s going to be tough this fall. It looks like it’s time to break out the slow cooker!

Here are my spending reports for 2 weeks, plus the August analysis.

Week 35 Spending (Aug 24-31)
Groceries	$148
Entertainment	$52
Total	$200

Week 36 Spending (Sept. 1-6)
Groceries	$174
Entertainment	$138
Clothing	$35
Toiletries	$48
Total	$65

August Spending Report

Category	Spent	Budgeted	Savings
Groceries	$402	$700	$298
Miscellaneous	$70	$120	$50
School	$88	$50	($38)
Entertainment	$103	$75	($28)
Toiletries	$4	$50	$46
Piano Lessons	$0	$80	$80
Clothing	$76	$60	($16)
Gifts	$0	$75	$75
Hair Care	$0	$30	$30
Benevolence	$0	$35	$35
Discretionary Cash	$25	$25	$0
Total	$768	$1300	$532

That $532 total savings represents 41% of my monthly budget for August. This money will be most likely be added to our emergency fund. I expect our school and piano expenses will increase in the coming months.

We've determined we are going to be intentional about spending the entertainment budget each month. We need to spend time doing fun things together and building memories. We're hoping to go to the beach before the cool weather kicks in, and we're planning a trip to San Antonio in December. We usually camp at Beaver's Bend in November, but school and work schedules make that a challenge. It might just be a few of us going this year. We'll see what we can do!