This has been one of those months were expenses inexplicably gang up on us. The electric bill was $100+ higher because of the stifling heat. The dog had a $200 vet visit, and it was time to pay for her next training session. That sort of stuff, we really don’t have a ton of control over. Yes, I realize we could keep the house warmer and save some dough, but neither of us was really willing to sit in a 78+ degree house much less try to sleep in one! I realize the vet bill was unavoidable, but we probably could forgo the training. Except that we really feel that it’s good for us and Riley and the long-term relationship between the three of us. The training helps. Trust me. I’d have given her back to the humane society by now if it weren’t for the training. No joke!
So, really, we can’t help some of the expenses that made for a bit of an expense heavy month.
I decided to take a closer look at what we were spending where instead of just dismissing September as a month of expensive odds and ends. After all, I didn’t feel we’d been all that extravagant, but sometimes, costs get away from you. I’ve learned that taking a few extra moments to look over what we’ve spent where can be really eye-opening and keep the following month from suffering the same fate.
After dividing everything into categories, I tallied them up. We charge EVERYTHING every month to one credit card that has a rewards program and pay that card off monthly. This keeps me from being psychotic about receipts and the bank account balance (which TRUST me…..I can be utterly insane when it comes to worrying about money). Having everything on one card makes this tallying process fairly easy as I only have to look at once source. I found that we spend far too much on groceries. While I love getting organic and higher-quality ingredients, I’m not sure I’d be happy if we spent that much every month. So, I’ll be making a conscious effort to reduce our grocery bill over the next few weeks. I’d like to think that you won’t notice anything unusual with our meals. If you do, would you let me know? I don’t intend to sacrifice quality. Instead, I simply hope to make smarter choices.
Is this something anyone else struggles with?
So, really, we can’t help some of the expenses that made for a bit of an expense heavy month.
I decided to take a closer look at what we were spending where instead of just dismissing September as a month of expensive odds and ends. After all, I didn’t feel we’d been all that extravagant, but sometimes, costs get away from you. I’ve learned that taking a few extra moments to look over what we’ve spent where can be really eye-opening and keep the following month from suffering the same fate.
After dividing everything into categories, I tallied them up. We charge EVERYTHING every month to one credit card that has a rewards program and pay that card off monthly. This keeps me from being psychotic about receipts and the bank account balance (which TRUST me…..I can be utterly insane when it comes to worrying about money). Having everything on one card makes this tallying process fairly easy as I only have to look at once source. I found that we spend far too much on groceries. While I love getting organic and higher-quality ingredients, I’m not sure I’d be happy if we spent that much every month. So, I’ll be making a conscious effort to reduce our grocery bill over the next few weeks. I’d like to think that you won’t notice anything unusual with our meals. If you do, would you let me know? I don’t intend to sacrifice quality. Instead, I simply hope to make smarter choices.
Is this something anyone else struggles with?
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