May Budget

This has been the "worst" month yet!  See below...

1) FOOD:  Over by $200
2) Entertainment: Under by $40
3) Fixed: Under by $185
4) Household/Extra:  Over by $900!

Total Saved??

-120

What happened??

1-  Car registration!  

We registered Victor's car in Maryland.  This cost us $360!  I had budgeted about $180 for this but it was double the expected cost.  Thankfully, we only have to do this every 2 years.  Unfortunately, we have to register my car in July (when the WI plates expire).

2- MEDICAL!

I was SO certain our health care costs would be lower this month.  We happened to catch the virus from hell though so we had 10 doctor's visits this month.  The generic form of Erik's breathing treatment (Pulmicort) is not available (manufacturing issue I think).  I tried to hold off of filling the prescription but then he caught a second virus and NEEDED it so there goes another $140.  Errr!!  Thankfully, the doctor wrote the prescription for way more than we use in a normal month so we should be okay for about 6 months on that drug.  Hopefully, the generic will be available again then!
Total health care costs this month was $385!

3- GAS:

Victor did some traveling this month.  Our gas expense was $325.  Normally, we spend about $200 a month on gas. 

4- LOWER SALARY:

This is temporary but Victor's salary was about $80 lower than normal because we adjusted the way we are putting money into his 401k.  We have to pay $15,000 into the federal pension system in order for Victor to be "credited" the 12 years of active navy duty towards a federal pension.  The taxes are different for that contribution versus the 401K contribution which altered his take home pay.  We readjusted the pension contribution so our take home should be back to what it had been before. 

5- ICE CREAM! 

I was pretty sick for about 2 weeks.  Victor was helpful and did some of the grocery shopping.  His shopping habits are a bit different then mine.  Somehow he ended up with 5, yes five, boxes of ice cream in his cart this month along with a few other nonessential items.  Ha!

How are we feeling?? 

I think it is stressful to be in charge of finances, or maybe it is stressful to be in a position where tracking our daily expenses is necessary.  That being said, even though we went over this month I feel pretty good about how we have done so far this year.  We have been able to live off of Victor's base salary (2 paychecks a month) and have completely saved/invested all the tax returns, one of the April paychecks, all Navy pay (from reserve weekends), and any money we received as gifts.  Although our income is significantly lower I think we may actually be saving more than we had in the past.

I am HOPING that maybe in June we will reach that $500 savings goal again.  We'll see. 

Next month I will do a 6 month review - totaling our food, gas, and health care costs for the year so far.