Mike and I have been budgeting for a couple months now, and I'm pretty proud of us. The budget categories that give us the most problems are fairly consistent: groceries, eating out, medical. I give us a slight pass on medical because while it's been consistently higher than we thought it would be, the amount is inconsistent. Sometimes it's $5 over, sometimes it's $100.
(I would like to point out it's never because of me. My immune system would like a thank-you note from the other members of this family.)
There are also annoying financial things you can't predict for like the car tires that needed to be replaced, the car seat that needed to be purchased, the property taxes I DO NOT WANT TO TALK ABOUT, and the random days Kyle had to go to day care that we didn't plan for.
But, we're getting better with grocery shopping, and I think with a little more experience in the kitchen, I'll be able to shave off more and more money from those bills. I'm trying to utilize ingredients we already have and replace this cheese with that cheese that's already in the fridge and things like that. Simple for the seasoned cook, but I'm not seasoned. I'm trying, and I think I'm (and we're) doing pretty good.
But.
There's one area we struggle with and that's eating out. Chalk it up to being a rather social couple or that date nights are important to us, but we eat out too often. Not nearly as much as we used to, but too much. See, I'd rather go to a nice dinner than buy shoes. That's a new development, but does it really matter what you're unnecessarily spending money on as long as you're unnecessarily spending it?
We can do better.
When I was eating far too much fast food last year, I went without it for 30 days and while I still have it from time to time, I sort of credit that as the beginning of the end of my regular consumption of total and utter crap.
So, I suggested to Mike the other day that we not eat out the month of August. He said sure. Obviously this won't work in New York City for BlogHer and there may be a work dinner squeezed in for my five-year anniversary with my company, but for the time we're home, we won't spend our own money to dine out.
Mainly, I just want to see how much we can save, how hard the challenge really is for us, how creative we can be with dates and time with friends when not dining in restaurants, and if this makes me a slightly better planner (I don't plan lunch often enough and neither does Mike).
I went meatless for a month, I gave up alcohol for Lent, I ran 25 miles and worked out (almost!) every day of June. I can do this, I know I can, and I also know it'll be good for our family and our budget.
Money is tough for us and while we are paying all our bills and doing pretty okay and making vacations work (although Portland only happened because of a free flight and stay, which is how all vacations should work, don't you think?), I know that managing our finances is slowly becoming more and more in our control. It hasn't always been. We've been in the financial passenger seat for years, I'd say, and it has sucked quite a lot.
I don't want it to suck anymore, so we're taking control.
So, wish us luck in August. We'll see how it goes.