Giving myself permission to shop in June was the start of a slippery slope of spending that carried all the way through July.
We paid cash for everything we splurged on in July – a new bed for our son, a set of four new tires, a new phone, new shoes, and (my most difficult habit to break) lots of eating out.
When I tallied up the months expenditures, I actually gasped. We put a significant dent in our savings!
I suspected we were on a bad path about a week ago. Now that I have looked at our budget, it’s official. While I don’t regret any of the purchases we made last month, I know that it’s time to get our act together.
The timing for change is good for us. August brings a flurry of activity for us as my husband gets ready to go back to school (he’s a college instructor). We’ll also be working on potty training our twin boys, which will probably mean we’ll be home more than usual (at least at the beginning of the process), which means less eating out and temptations for spending our money. I can’t wait to get those boys out of diapers… and not just for the cost savings!
We’ll also be getting some family portraits done in August, which will cost us some money, but will be well worth the cost. The plan is to get our Christmas card photos done really early so that we can scope out good photo printing deals far in advance of the busy holiday season.
I am going to focus on planning meals more than 15 minutes before I start cooking. I’m going to work on getting the boys out of diapers. And I’m going to be much more careful about my spending.
How did July go for you? What are your financial goals for August?
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