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The Monthly Budget

by Erika Torres
9 comments

The Good

  • Instead of making monthly payments to my mom for car insurance, we decided to pay it in full! One less monthly bill! (as an aside—how many of you are still on your parents’ car insurance? Eric and I both are! It’s so much cheaper!)
  • We spent less than $100 on entertainment!
  • It looks like my dream of actually going on a honeymoon this year may happen after all…we shall see if we keep saving as much as we have!

The Bad

  • Because we paid my car insurance in full, and because we also paid for a professional photography session in advance, we ended up taking $750 out of savings, meaning we only contributed $636.78 this month. Considering we contributed over $2,000 in April, I’m not that upset about it.

The Ugly

  • We spent almost $600 on groceries this month. $600!!! I am attributing this to a new diet Eric and I started. More on this to come.
  • We still spent more money this month than we brought in, by about $200. There was one day Eric needed to call in sick for work and it brought our income down a good chunk since he works 24-hour shifts, not just regular 8-hours like us normal folk.

JUNE GOALS

  1. Reduce our grocery spending back down to $350 or less.
  2. Spend less money than what we bring in.
  3. Find an extra $200 in the budget so I can buy some new clothes. Haven’t bought anything for myself in such a long time, and I seriously need some clothes.
  4. Get to over 90% of our $8,000 Aug. 15 savings goal! SO CLOSE!

How are your budgets doing lately? Expecting any curveballs with summer around the corner? Any expensive vacations?

9 comments

Meagan June 8, 2011 - 8:26 pm

Oh dear lord. We spent over $600 on groceries this month too. How does that happen with only 2 people to feed??? This is our largest expense (other than rent). I’ve seriously got to get that under control.

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Shannon June 7, 2011 - 4:45 pm

As your friend, I love you, but then as the insurance agent I almost fell off my chair. I have the conversation at least once a week why it is illegal to be sitting on the parents insurance when you are not in their household. But paying it in full! Great idea! They often offer quite a discount for that!
I want honeymoon details! How exciting!

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City Girl July 10, 2011 - 6:30 pm

Cosigning honeymoon details!!! xoxo PS Happy you’re on track to meet your goal!

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Teacher Girl June 7, 2011 - 1:33 pm

Sounds like you guys are doing great despite the little set backs!

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Kim June 7, 2011 - 10:42 am

I want to hear about this new diet!

Hubby has a big truck which guzzles gas, so we started taking money out of the grocery budget to cover the rise in gas prices. Which makes me pay attention to the grocery budget, something I don’t usually do! I mean I menu plan, we rarely eat out, but because we do those things I imagine that we’re fine I just don’t pay attention to see if we are overspending (likely!).

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Britt June 7, 2011 - 6:33 am

Hi! I just stumbled upon your blog. I, too, am a semi-newlywed (May 09) and my husband and I are really trying to budget and save now. I NEVER seem to find anything on this topic so I’m happy to have found your blog. I often wonder how other young couples are doing with finances, and and what tips and tricks others use to save. Really enjoyed your blog, and nice to (virtually) meet you!

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Daisy June 7, 2011 - 6:08 am

I’m still on my dad’s insurance. Soo much cheaper – hundreds of dollars a month for me. I couldn’t insure my car if I wasn’t on his insurance!

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Mysti June 7, 2011 - 4:32 am

Dumb question….what do you need a professional photography session for???? No judgement. Just curious. But if you wanted to have some couple pics done, there are way cheaper ways to do it!

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jobo June 6, 2011 - 6:18 pm

Budgeting is fast becoming my middle name…as M and I start looking for apartments, the money upfront is relatively scary, but knowing we have time to plan ahead makes it a little more palatable! And knowing we will be comibining so many expenses too. I don’t bat an eye at the grocery bill…because when you eat almost all (or all) of your meals at home, that’s what happens, you spend more. I think it offsets that way a bit. Looking forward to hearing more about this diet you two are doing??

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