Hey friends! I’m sharing our August 2018 budget.
This month I’m sharing our exact take home income expectations along with how we plan to use our money this month. As I mention in the video, it’s the most adult budget ever! I love using my happy planner for budgeting and that’s the main use for it this year since so many of my goals for the year are financial goals.
Why I’m Budgeting Online
I’ve been reluctant to share our numbers and our spending online despite the desire to share budgeting info. However, I’m over it. Sure it might be weird for our friends and family to know how much money we have every month. But my desire to live a financially responsible and frugal lifestyle and share the info overrides that.
In my life I’ve watched money problems hurt and completely destroy people I love. I’ve watched loved ones deal with huge student loans, lose houses to foreclosures, and even end their lives over debt problems. When it’s not handled well money can ruin self-esteem, it can destroy marriages, and it can even lead to worse outcomes.
There is so much secrecy and shame around money in our society that sharing basics like this are taboo. We aren’t supposed to share our income numbers, we aren’t supposed to talk about how we spend our money or how much we pay for our houses. In fact, when I first started learning and writing about personal finance online I did it anonymously because I was so embarrassed by my lack of knowledge and poor money management skills. I’m trying to fight back on this a little bit and hope by sharing our struggles and success with money we can motivate others to do the same. I’m not perfect by any means but I’ve learned a ton over the years by paying off credit card debt, car loans and student loans.
With that in mind… here’s our August budget!
August 2018 Budget
This month we are anticipating $4,900 in income. This does not count my online income which I keep in a separate bank account and use for specific savings. I’m thinking about doing a series on online income and how I’m rebuilding that after ignoring it for a few years. If that would interest anyone, please let me know!
Bills
- Mortgage – $1,200
- Daycare – $480
- Utilities – $275
- ATT (Cells) – $150
- Comcast (TV + Cable) – $124
- Auto Insurance – $150
- Gym – $84
Variable Spending
- Groceries – $450
- Eating Out – $150
- Gas – $125
- Personal Spending – $200
- Giving – $50
- Fun/Entertainment – $50
- Shopping/Misc – $200
- Medical – $100
Additional Items
- Pest Control – $200
- Professional Photos – $150
- Hot Water Heater – $450
Sinking Funds
- Car Fund – $200
- Travel – $50
- Roth IRA – $50
So that’s the plan with our money for the month! It feels totally weird to be blogging about our income and spending on my actual blog with no anonymity. I fully expect people to judge how we spend money, but I hope even more people choose to be inspired and plan to be more careful with their money.
Money is important but it’s just a tool to live the life you want. Watching is and being careful with where it goes is an important adult skill. It doesn’t come naturally to me at all but I’m working hard to be better at it!
First of all yes I would be interested to see your adventure in rebuilding your online income.
Secondly, as someone who reads budgeting blogs it gets frustrating at times to see the budget but not the income. It helps seeing the whole picture, especially when you are someone like me still trying to get this whole budgeting thing down.
Then I’m doing it!
I read/watch budgeters that share income and some who don’t and find value in both. I decided since I’m just sharing our take home income it’s not really that personal… I don’t plan to talk about what gets taken out of our checks much but just how I’m working with what I do actually bring home. Trying to balance being responsible + still having a life can be super hard! I’m definitely not an expert by any means but I think talking about money in general is helpful.
Yes, I wish we all talked about it money in productive way more often. Thanks for sharing!
Was very impressed with an older blog entry about replenishing your Emergency Fund. Good on you. Having that nest egg will lower your stress level immensely. Keep up the good wrk and clear headed advice.
Thank you! Yes having an emergency fund has already eliminated so much worry from my life it is AMAZING. I used to live so close to the edge that any financial emergency would send me into a tailspin. I didn’t realize until I had the money in the bank how much stress there is in living without a cushion.
Yes! I would definitely love to see more posts about your online income!
Thank you for sharing! First off – nobody should be judging until they’ve walked a mile in your shoes! What you do with your money is your business! I have a question….do you put money in towards your “sinking” emergency fund while paying off credit cards or do you pay off the cards first before starting these funds? I also would be interested in learning about your online income, as I am considering starting a healthy eating / healthy lifestyle blog. Thanks so much! I’ve enjoyed following you over the years and am glad you are back posting! :)
Hey Lee! I loosely follow Dave Ramsey baby steps and if you have credit card debt you pay this off first! ASAP! He recommends you save up $1,000 and then attack any consumer debt. With something like a credit card that’s super important because they always have super high interest rates. You’d lose money over anything you saved so pay those off first. Then you can focus on saving emergency funds. Sinking funds are accounts for specific purposes like you can have a sinking fund for Christmas or car maintenance because you know you will spend certain amounts on those items. They can be done while paying off debt since they are expense you know you’ll have anyway. I’ll post about sinking funds soon.
I’m happy to be posting again too! I missed interacting with people and I feel like perhaps I’ve finally found topics where I can actually be helpful to others, which is where I find joy.