Money Madness

My budget would be in great shape IF it were the middle, or even better the last week of May! There is blame to be shared and the #1 culprit is SPRING!! 
I have a fever.....spring fever!!
Over the past week I have made several trips to Home Depot for these...

3 geraniums for the patio

My sister found this stand while thrifting and I have filled it with flowers!

I have always had a thing for yellow begonias!

I needed to replace a spruce tree that died over the winter. This
one looks good and healthy!

I didn't have to buy these - but they are in bloom so
just had to share.

Just love pansies so got a planter full for my
iron "garden chair".

There were other things I needed - instead of buying a new crappy hose every year I invested in a good one.  And I thought a couple of outside pillows would spruce up my love seat. And they were on sale :) at Jysk.

So I have somewhat overspent (let's not forget all the wine and extra wine and food we needed as Kazi's boyfriend was visiting from Detroit)!!
Mother's Day was lovely - I got to relax and enjoy the...

Thanks Kazi and John!

while the kids cooked me up some...

...pancakes with dark chocolate bits and blueberries and strawberries...and MIMOSAS!!

It was a really nice, sunny day so I had a nice wander in the woods and then I LAID on the couch and read my book before having a nice dinner of greek salad and chicken and pumpernickel bread and spinach dip!!

Then we all needed to...

zzzzzzzzzzzz!!

Bye Bye July Budget!

New month = new budget.

Surprisingly I came in under budget for July. I'm sure you're just as stunned as I am with that news!! (Stunned in the nicest of ways of course!) I reined in my expenses big time because I knew it was going to be a "spendy" kind of month. With a long weekend devoted to partying with my old and I mean OLD, high school friends (40th anniversary of our high school graduation - EEK!!); and constantly stuffing my face at expensive restaurants I tried to keep other expenses at a minimum.

And I did!! I am excited to report that the month ended before the money ran out! My frugality resulted in having $135.00 left to add to August's budget! And yet, I feel like I really "lived it up" in July! I ate out multiple times, bought 2 yoga tops, went to the beach 4 or 5 times and had Kazi's boyfriend stay with us for several days.

So where did I save money?? Low utility bills (thank you summer!) - my natural gas bill was only $32 and my electric bill was only $44. (My next electric bill will be higher due to putting on the A/C during a hot and humid spell of weather) Also I came in under budget somehow in the gas and food lines. I guess all of the eating out saved money on my grocery bill! Who knew?? And I've been doing almost all of my errands either by walking or riding my bike. Friends who went to the beach with me chipped in for gas and I cut back on yoga classes going only once weekly (for now).

Another $40 was saved by changing my internet plan with Rogers though that's only for 3 months - but it helps. I used my Misc budget line to cover my eating out and entertainment for the month (beer and wine :) and other than the 2 clearance priced yoga tops I bought ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

IT CAN BE DONE!

But not forever...I have a list of things I need to purchase though none is urgent. Yesterday I transferred money from savings to pay for the rest of my September trip to England and I also used savings to purchase some new patio furniture. My old furniture was just that - OLD! (and ratty and uncomfortable and ugly!!) Since I love to be outside I decided sprucing up my patio was a necessary expenditure. And I'm really pleased with how it has come together - I found a "conversation" set of furniture on sale at the local Jysk store and it was delivered for free! 

One end of the patio is for "conversation" (reading, drinking...) and the other end...

is for lounging (reading, drinking...).  BBQ is to the right behind the geraniums.

How did your budget do in July? Is summer more expensive than other times of the year?