I was really striving to stay within our $400 shopping budget in August. Despite my efforts we came in at about $401. I’m really not worried about a dollar, just frustrated we chose to not be successful. The purpose of sticking to this budget was to force ourselves to dedicate more funds each month towards paying off our houses quicker. While we still made an extra payment last month, we weren’t able to do as much as I hoped.
Our downfall was shopping at Lowe’s. Home repairs are not included in our budget because they are necessary, especially to avoid potentially huge repair costs later. Home improvements are included in our budget because they’re optional. We had some repairs to make this month but chose to go with a product that looked nicer and was twice as expensive, yet didn’t offer any longer warranty. The total difference was about $115. I know we’ll enjoy our improvements but in the end we’re just delaying our enjoyment in the future by carrying the debt of our mortgages longer.
The bottom line is we didn’t find it easy to change our spending habits. We’ve always had an average budget. There are months we’ve spent more than our average budget due to great sale finds followed by months when we spent well under the average budget. When averaged over a year’s time we’ve always been right at our budget. With just a few days left in August and less than $26 remaining in our shopping budget, my husband had some great sale finds on food – more than 50% off our normal buy price! He spent $24 of the budget and I was crushed that we “couldn’t” buy the remaining things on my list from the sale ad. Then I made the choice to still shop at CVS for some free after rewards items pushing us over the $400 budget. In both cases we’ll save a lot over the next few months but still need to make a change in our spending.
Even though we were ever so slightly over budget in August, all we can do is go forward. The past can’t be changed – we can only improve our future. So here’s to beginning a new month and striving to keep our unnecessary spending and sale shopping under check – with no regrets about August 
How about you – what type of budget system do you use? Average, strict, or none at all?
If you want to learn more about how we do things – Here are the steps we’ve taken to create a budget and get out of debt.
Getting Out of Debt Step 1: Know how much debt you have and the associated interest rates.
Getting Out of Debt Step 2: Build an Emergency Fund
Getting Out of Debt Step 3 (Budgeting Step 1): Know how much money you have to spend and make sure your tax withholdings are correct.
Getting Out of Debt Step 4: Create a Budget
Budgeting Step 2: Track your current expenses– preferably 1 year’s worth – to see where you’re spending money.
Budgeting Step 3: Make a plan for all your money, taking into account one time expenses.
Budgeting Step 4: Check up weekly
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