Welcome to the third installment of the monthly money recap, where we reflect, learn, and grow from tracking our monthly expenses.
Tracking your expenses is a hill many financially savvy people will die on.
Call it a spending plan or a money management system- all households should have one.
In this post, I’m spilling the tea and sharing what my family spent in March.
Interested in reading last month’s click here.
Necessary expenses
Mortgage: $1,500
Electric: $232.60
Internet: $106.99
Gas (cars): $208.81
Groceries: $661.38
Max (🐶): $102.44
Automotive: $1,004.06 – oil change & every 6 months car insurance
Total: $3,816.28
**Notes for the reader:
Let’s chat about irregular but necessary expenses. This month is a great example because we paid our car insurance and had one vehicle needing an oil change.
How do you build these types of expenses into your budget?
You have two options: Cash flow, or separate savings or sinking fund accounts.
Cash-flowing variable expenses the month they’re due is a good option if you have the cash available.
You can do this by freeing cash from other categories, bringing in extra income, or reducing your financial goal.
You also have the option to save smaller amounts every month/pay period.
Saving smaller amounts more often might be more feasible for your budget.
You can save them in something like a HYSA to ensure the money is available.
For example, if your car insurance is $945 every six months, you could save $158 monthly instead of having an almost $1,000 bill all at once.
Unnecessary expenses
Netflix: $16.73
Eating out: $186.63
Miscellaneous: $350.00 – Accountant fee
Subscriptions: $145.79
Travel: $1,782.05 (flights to Bahamas 🇧🇸& passport renewal)
Amazon: $46.14
Total: $2,527.34
March was similar to February.
Reflect 💭 :
March was another home run. We had a lot of financial responsibilities this month, but everything has been ironed out.
Feel ☺️ :
Surprised.
We have been in control (not complete control, but in control) of our lowest-income months of the year. And I say surprised because I wasn’t entirely confident we would be.
Wins 🏆 :
Um taxes. lol 😆. Taxes have been filed and every season is different. This year we are getting a return and knowing where to send the money was easy.
Loving 💕:
This month, I am loving a cosmetic update we made to our front walkway. I mentioned on IG that we were getting some work done to the house. But as you can see, it isn’t reflected in our budget. That is because we used a home sinking fund. I am not one to track every single cent in or out.
We have had a home maintenance account since Covid and decided to do some things that have been on the back burner. We had our concrete steps replaced, a new walkway paved, and a refresh of our backyard done for $3,000.
March had a lot going on. And before it started, my head was spinning 😵💫. We needed to find new health insurance, file our taxes, and buy flights. All while managing a lower-income month. All of these things got done and nothing bad happened. April will be less interesting, but I’m so pleased with how March turned out.
Here’s to the start of spring and sunshine ahead! Cheers 🍻.
Talk soon,
Coach Sam
