The Family Budget
Although this post is extremely late, I have finally finished calculating the results of our July (2008) monthly budget. We came in under budget once again, but are inching closer to the break-even point, which I am starting to become concerned about. Unfortunately, we are having an issue controlling our Grocery & Entertainment spending and it is not really improving, but instead it is getting worse. We saw about an 8% increase over the previous month in this category. Below are some highlights and concerns for the month and the details of the budget.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Medical Expenses – We did not incur any medical expenses during the month of July which allowed us to increase our future expense fund by $175.00. The current expense fund for our Medical Expenses is currently over $200.00 which is a nice cushion for any unexpected expenses that we may see in the rest of 2008.
- Utilities – Once again, our utility bills (gas, electric, water) came in well under budget. We did see a 64% increase in our energy bill due to running the A/C more, because of the warmer weather. We also saw this increase because of our house guests we had during the month of July. The Natural Gas bill dropped by 21% and the Water/Sewer bill dropped by 20% compared to the previous month. Unfortunately, I think these 3 expense categories will see increases in the upcoming month because of the weather and because of our new roommate.
CONCERNS
- Gas – As we saw a peak in oil prices during the month of July, so did our gas budget. We spent $13.32 over our budgeted amount and had to dip into our expense fund. Below you will see that I have taken out $200 in expenses for the month and the extra $13.32 has come out of our expense fund. As I mentioned above, I think we saw a peak in our gas expenditures for some time so I don’t see any issues in this category for the next several months.
- Groceries & Entertainment – We saw an 8% increase in the past month in our grocery & entertainment expenses. Some of this increase was a direct result of our house guests we had in July and some of it was due to our new roommate. In fact, we actually spent more than the amount shown in the expense column. This number was adjusted based on money our houseguests gave us for spending several weeks with us. I have adjusted the totals accordingly.
- August – I think we will see August come very close to break-even at this point. I can say that all of our utility bills will be higher than July. I am not sure yet on the grocery & entertainment category, but I don’t believe it will decrease. Our gas budget will decrease which will help the bottom line. After August, I am predicting that we will begin to push our budget in the right direction in an ongoing effort to increase our monthly cash flow.
July 2008 – Budget Review
| Expense | Budgeted | Actual | Balance | Expense Fund |
| Principal & Interest | $1,290.58 | ($1,290.58) | — | — |
| Home Owner’s Insurance | $52.75 | ($52.75) | — | — |
| Tax Escrow | $263.89 | ($263.89) | — | — |
| HOA | $53.34 | ($53.34) | — | — |
| Car #1 | $258.10 | ($258.10) | — | — |
| Car #2 | $0.00 | $0.00 | — | — |
| Car Insurance | $86.68 | ($86.68) | — | — |
| Gas | $200.00 | ($200.00) | — | $52.50 |
| Car Maintenance | $40.00 | ($40.00) | $0.00 | $66.27 |
| Car – Registration, Plates, Taxes | $25.00 | ($25.00) | $0.00 | ($41.00) |
| Cell Phones | $52.93 | ($52.93) | — | — |
| Phone, Cable, Internet | $95.37 | ($86.92) | $8.45 | — |
| Electric Bill | $150.00 | ($66.38) | $83.62 | — |
| Gas Bill | $150.00 | ($18.43) | $131.57 | — |
| Water/Sewer | $60.00 | ($31.99) | $28.01 | — |
| 529 Plan – Child #1 | $50.00 | ($50.00) | — | — |
| 529 Plan – Child #2 | $50.00 | ($50.00) | — | — |
| Pre-School Tuition | $120.00 | ($120.00) | $0.00 | $240.00 |
| Medical Expenses | $175.00 | ($175.00) | $0.00 | $220.36 |
| Groceries & Entertainment | $650.00 | ($810.93) | ($160.93) | — |
| Investments & Savings | $166.81 | ($166.81) | — | — |
| Newspaper | $10.00 | ($4.81) | $5.19 | — |
| Prosper Loan | $30.41 | ($30.41) | — | — |
| TOTAL | $4,030.86 | ($3,948.27) | $82.59 | $620.13 |
Final Thoughts
Once again, I will be focusing on the grocery and entertainment budget. Our houseguests are now gone, as well as our new roommate (future post to come on this one). Because of this, our bills are going to get back to normal. In addition, I believe that we will start to see some positive results in regards to my posts on making money by shopping at pharmacy’s and an increase in coupon usage.
How do you keep track of your weekly/monthly finances? Do you have a budget setup to track your cash flow?
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Hey I went WAY over my gas budget as well…we could not predict how much gas would continue to go up every month while our salaries stayed the same.
Gas is going down now so hopefully you will do better next month.
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