Happy Fourth of July weekend! It’s going to be a weird weekend for me, and I’m sure for a lot of you. While the beaches near me will be open this weekend (WHYYYYY), I will be staying home. I’m hoping to go for a swim in my mom’s pool, though. I could sure use some pool time!
Today, I have my monthly budget report for ya! It was a less spendy month for me, by far, and I’m glad about it! Here’s how it all shook out:
Housing (38.6% – $1,065 compared to $1,085 in May) – Pretty stable, as always. My electric bill was slightly less last month, probably because I wasn’t doing laundry!
Savings (16.3% – $450 compared to $1,300 in May) – Well, I knew I wouldn’t be able to maintain a four-figure saving rate, haha. But I’m still proud of socking away $450 this month! I added a little bit to emergency savings, my house fund, and my car fund.
Eating Out (9% – $249 compared to $329 in May) – Whew, I am glad I was able to have a more reasonable number here for eating out! I know my eating out budget will always be fairly high because I truly enjoy having takeout and truly hate cooking, but last month was kiiiinda ridiculous for one person.
Groceries (8.8% – $242 compared to $233 in May) – It’s exciting to see this category is about the same as in May! I try to spend less than $300 a month in groceries and I’m definitely meeting that goal right now. Yay!
Tech (8.1% – $222 compared to $80 in May) – I bought a new computer monitor and paid the second half of my fee for my keyboard replacement. I also had to buy a new paper shredder after my old one kicked the bucket, so I added that into this category.
Debts (3.8% – $105 compared to $87 in May) – I’m on a graduated payment plan with one of my student loan companies, which I always forget about until I log onto the website to pay my bill and see a higher payment due. Woof. At least it’s just $18 more!
Shopping (3.6% – $99 compared to $418 in May) – May was a very spendy month for me, and I’m happy to see that I kept my spending in check in June. This category is comprised of a Chatbook of my cats, two notebooks, a new mouse pad, two e-books, and five print books that I purchased from bookstores.
Phone (3% – $82 compared to $97 in May) – Listen, I don’t know why my phone bill has been so cheap lately, but I’m not going to question it.
Subscriptions (2.4% – $65 compared to $44 in May) – Spotify, Patreon, PicMonkey, Book of the Month, and my bimonthly air filter subscription.
Pets (1.9% – $51 compared to $277 in May) – A much cheaper month for the cats! They got a new bag of food, treats, and a new blanket.
Gifts (1.8% – $49 compared to $50 in May) – I bought two cards to keep on hand for birthdays and then something special for my mom’s birthday.
Auto (.7% – $18 compared to $0 in May) – Would you believe it? I had to refill my gas tank this month! 😉
Toiletries (.7% – $20 compared to $66 in May) – Four bottles of body wash, yassss.
Household supplies (.6% – $17 compared to $11 in May) – Two bottles of dish soap and toilet paper. Easy-peasy!
Fees (.3% – $8 compared to $0 in May) – I hesitated to put this on my list, but this is all about being transparent, right? I overdrafted this month for really stupid reasons and an $8 fee hit my bank account. UGH. I hate when I do that. It makes me feel like the worst person ever. I need to work toward having a buffer in my bank account to stop stuff like this from happening (and I’m trying to do that—I want to have $500 in my bank savings account, as I can quickly transfer money into my checking that way. I socked away $200 this month!)
Entertainment (.3% – $9 compared to $38 in May) – Candy Crush, my arch-nemesis and favorite time waster.
Health (.2% – $6 compared to $0 in May) – And the best $6 I’ve ever spent! This was for the Dramamine that saved my life when my vertigo last weekend was at its worst.
$0 categories in June: spa, home, travel, and beauty. I also forgot to pick a cause to donate to, so I’ll make a double donation in July!
Did you stop having to pay the monthly expense for a new phone? My phone bill went down this spring and I discovered it was because my phone was paid off! So that was a lovely surprise as my 8 is still going strong! I’m hoping I won’t need a new one for awhile because phones are sooo dang expensive. I would pay for it up front but it’s not any cheaper to do so, so I always spread it out over the period they offer – I think they spread it over 2 years but can’t remember!
We just did our quarterly financial review on Friday night. We are such a fun and exciting couple. 😉 But it’s good to do that. We focus on our investments and savings accounts and such and don’t talk about spending at all. But we are both frugal and haven’t been spending much, especially lately. But it’s always good to look over the numbers together and talk about our plans for the future.
Awesome job on cutting back on the eating out category!
WOW, your gas tank only costs $18 to fill?! I love almost everything about my Jeep, but it’s a gas guzzler and costs a lot to fill.