Club Thrifty August Budget Breakdown

Club Thrifty August Budget Breakdown - close up picture of man's hands on calculator with pen and notebook

This article may contain references to some of our advertising partners. Should you click on these links, we may be compensated. For more about our advertising policies, read our full disclosure statement here.

Good morning, peeps!  Yesterday I wrote about how proud I am to have a kindergartener, and today I’m happy to report that she had a great first day.  In fact, she says that she can’t wait to go back tomorrow.

As a momma bear, I was completely relieved to hear nothing but good news.  I can only hope that her outlook on education stays this bright until she graduates from college.  #doubtful

We’ve had a great summer so far, and I’m sad to see it come to an end.  It’s been so nice spending so much time outdoors and taking leisurely walks through the neighborhood with the kiddos.  The garden is doing okay too.  I actually have five pumpkins a-brewin’ in there now.  Can you believe that?  FIVE PUMPKINS?!?!?  I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with all of them, but we’ll see.

July turned out to be an average month for us in terms of spending, but August is making me want to scream!  I spend a lot of time planning our vacations and strategizing with credit cards, but it still pains me a little to  realize I’m actually going to have to part with some of my hard-earned cash.  I hate spending money!

With all that being said, here is out budget breakdown for August.  Brace yourself in….3….2…….1

  • House: $1,500
  • Groceries: $600
  • Daycare: $510
  • College L: $25
  • College V: $25
  • Life Ins.: $86.25
  • Gas/Misc.: $200
  • Cell Phone: $0
  • Health Ins: $394
  • Electric: $50
  • Gas: $25
  • Sewer: $35
  • Water: $40
  • SEP IRA: $500
  • Roth IRA: $1,000
  • Cruise: $450
  • Mexico: $350
  • School Supplies: $100
  • Yard Treatment: $52

$Total: 5942.25

August Budget Details

Greg worked a bunch of overtime last month and, because of that, we brought in around $800 extra dollars.  It turned out that it was a little more than enough to cover our four round-trip flights to Orlando for our cruise, so I didn’t bother putting those in this month’s budget.  Instead, we simply bankrolled our flights with last month’s surplus.  It seemed like the easiest thing to do.  The amount I have budgeted for our cruise this month includes our rental car, gratuities on the cruise, and $200 for whatever pops up.

We are switching our mobile service from Page Plus Cellular to Ting this month.  Because of a promotion, we end up not having to pay Greg’s first bill until next month.  Winning!

I budgeted $100 for Lydia’s school supplies, but it didn’t end up costing that much.  Instead, we spent approximately $20 on her school supply list, about $10 on a lunch box, and another $30 on a new outfit that I let her pick out.

Looking Ahead

I expect that our expenses will be slightly high in September as well, mainly due to a financial bloggers conference I’m attending in New Orleans.  On the other hand, I now have one less child in full-time daycare which leads to savings of around $200 per month.  It’s not much, but I’ll take it!

In addition to bracing myself for next month’s expenses, I’m also slightly worried how my earnings will pan out this month.  One of my long-term jobs came to an abrupt end in August which translates into a pay cut of around $1,000.  I didn’t do anything wrong, which makes me feel better, but it is still stressful to lose such a huge part of my income.  If anyone is looking for a content producer or staff writer, make sure to send them to my Hire Me page.  I promise to reply in lightening-fast speed.  Don’t believe it?  Try me!

How does your August budget look?  Any big expenses this month?

Similar Posts

Disclaimer: Comments, responses, and other user-generated content is not provided or commissioned by this site or our advertisers. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by this website or our advertisers. It is not the responsibility of our advertisers or this website to ensure that all comments and/or questions are answered. Club Thrifty has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Club Thrifty and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

54 Comments

  1. Glad to hear the first day of school went well! I think it’s an awesome sign that she can’t wait to go back. She’s probably already made some great friends!

  2. Looks pretty tight. I’m still amazed that you pay less than I do for health insurance though. I have a high deductible plan through my company and my household income is less than yours…

    1. Sensitive subject~ My plan was actually cancelled due to the ACA, then they decided to reinstate it for another year. It has an $11,000 deductible- that’s why it is so cheap. Still, when my plan expires (again this December), the cheapest plan for 2014 was almost $800 per month with a $12,000 family deductible. Rates are supposed to go up in my state for 2015 so I can’t imagine what it will cost next year.

      So no, I am not lucky or living the healthcare dream in any way, shape, or form!

  3. Ben Luthi says:

    Sorry to hear about your long-term job coming to an end. Hope you can find something else quickly!

    1. I’m sure it will. He has a separate work phone for work so this will mainly just be for talking to friends and family. I don’t see how we can go wrong!

  4. Losing a long-term job is really heartbreaking especially when you gave your best. This time that the schooling has just started is somewhat a pressure because of school requirements and kids’ expenses. Hope you would find a job or other source of income that pays you as much as the one you previously have. Goodluck

    1. Thanks Jayson! I’m sure I will….not worried about it!

  5. Man, when you said brace yourself, I was expecting the worst! That’s not so bad – and it’s awesome that Greg was able to work overtime to cover some of the extra. I’m sure you’re both really busy right now, but it will be so worth it when you get to take those vacations! Nice!

    1. Yeah, it was pretty sweet that he earned some extra cash! His overtime is really random so we can’t count on it, but it is still nice when it happens.

  6. Hey Holly,

    I hope you find a replacement income for the staff writing job soon! I was about to say good luck, but hard work isn’t really luck, right? On the plus side things seem to be going well at home and daycare is an expense I am NOT looking forward to.

    1. Yeah, paying for daycare sucks!

      I’m not really saving that much because I had a two-child discount. So having one child in daycare is really only $50 per week cheaper. And I won’t even see the savings until next month because this month had 5 Fridays (I pay for daycare based on the number of Fridays each month).

  7. Sure hope it wasn’t GRS that went. I would have to stop checking it entirely. Can’t understand why GRS keeps posting so many Honey stories with her rationalizing the bad choices that she and her husband make. Two in one week is far too many, and I’m certainly not clicking on today’s because it’s just going to produce impolite behavior on my part. (Please feel free not to respond to that snide comment about one of your coworkers as professionally I know you shouldn’t!)

    1. It was definitely was not GRS!!! =) It was this little education site I wrote daily news stories for on Thursday and Friday. They decided to “pause them” for the time being because they were apparently not cost-effective. I feel relieved that it is a budget issue and not my fault BUT I’m still sad =( They said they might start them back up once they reevaluate. If not, I will look for something else.

  8. Glad to hear the first day of school went well! We expect a little back to school expenses this month as our three kids will start back in earlier September.

  9. Damn sorry for the $1,000 paycut. That hurts to lose a client that big – However, you are super talented so I have no doubt you’ll be replacing that income very very soon. 🙂

    1. Yeah, I know! I didn’t lose the client- just that specific job for the client. This month it actually works out well because I have so many trips planned for the second half. After that, I’ll start looking for something to replace it =)

  10. Yay for lower daycare costs! I don’t want to rush time away, but sometimes I dream about the day when my oldest goes to school and our daycare cost drops in half.

    1. Yep! I won’t save much yet but at least it is something!

  11. I’m so glad your daughter loved kindergarten. My kiddo loves school, so here’s to hoping it continues. Overtime sucks during the process, but the extra money usually makes up for it.

    1. Yep, I agree. I love it when he works overtime (after the fact)!

  12. That free month of Ting is awesome! Glad to hear your little scholar had a great first day. I think our August will be pretty uneventful budget-wise since we aren’t taking any vacation (boo).

  13. Sorry to hear about that writing job. When one door closes, a new one will open. Best of luck, Holly.

  14. Great to hear your daughter liked school. 🙂 You guys start so early! Is school from August to May instead of September to June like it is here? Or do they still go to June?

    Sorry to hear about the loss of a specific project. We all know you hustle hard, so I’m sure you’ll find something relatively quickly.

    As for the pumpkins… grow it gigantic, and paddle it like a boat (nope, not joking).. google “pumpkin regatta”.

    1. We have year-round school so they get 8 weeks off at summer, 2 weeks at fall break, 2 weeks at Christmas, then 2 weeks at spring break.

  15. I switched to Ting last winter (2013) and it has been wonderful! I actually haven’t paid a bill since the first one because of the referral link on my blog 🙂

    I know you use credit card rewards to allow you to take more vacations you couldn’t otherwise, but I use them for trips I would take anyway to reduce net expenses. So I still count the cost of the trip in spending and then also as income and I save the amount I would have spent, either to investments or to pay down the mortgage. I don’t want to misdiagnose my spending habits with the assumption that getting credit card bonuses could continue!

    1. I sure hope they continue! We also use rewards for trips we would have gone on otherwise. Our hobby is going on vacation!

  16. I hear ya on the job thing. Always tough. One of our main client’s (a huge company) is being bid on so their marketing budget has come to a complete stop until I don’t know when. They have been our bread and butter so it’s pretty scary. Have fun on all your trips, and glad the little one had a great first day of school!

  17. Being new to the world of PF, how did the writing gig start in the first place aka what did you do to win their hearts?

  18. Ouufff $1K loss is a stinger but I know you’ll find something else to replace that income, and knowing your temperament, you’ll find a way to make even more. At least you’ll be saving $200/month daycare fees now. Enjoy your trip with the family on the cruise Holly!

  19. Since I am on vacation (summer break), my expenses are slightly lower. In a way , it prepares me for retirement.

  20. Full time day care is $200? I’ve been searching for and most are over $1000 here. Glad to hear your daughter had a good first day…still surprised school starts so early in Indy. I always think of Labor Day as around the time school starts.

    1. No, $200 is just what it costs for the second child. The first child costs a lot more and you get a discount on the second! =)

  21. Thanks for sharing this great article. This is the most effective way to know and learn how to budget. These lists will be very helpful and useful for those who don’t know how to budget. I had fun reading this and many great insights here. I will share this information with my friends and they will certainly love to read this. Very informative, I’ll definitely give these 5 stars.

  22. I don’t budget so I couldn’t tell you how my August budget looks 🙁 haha, but I do track my expenses and they are almost always completely flat except for things like quarterly utility payments, car insurance, etc., which varies but is still predictable when you look at year-over-year data.

    Sorry to hear about the $1,000 (a month?) client you lost. As someone who has hired out work the past 12-16 months, I can see how writing gigs could go away abruptly due to funding, revenue, etc. I’m sure you will find some work to fill the hole, though.

    1. Yes, they come and go all the time! It is annoying but budgets and website change all the time.

  23. Looks good as usual Holly. Our expenses are going to be all out of whack this month with us traveling to San Diego. We budgeted for it but still hate to spend that money. It also looks like we’re going to be getting our house painted, so that’s going to hurt as well – I think I hate spending money as much as you do. 🙂 Glad to hear that your daughter had a great first day at kindergarten! It’s nutty that it’s that time of the year already though.

  24. I don’t think you can disregard $200 a month as “not much!” The power of compound interest will tell you that it is a lot at the end of the day!

    Jay

  25. Aw, so cute your daughter is enjoying kindergarten! I can imagine that’s quite a relief =). You never know, your daughter may continue to enjoy it. I never had a problem with school and, for the most part, looked forward to learning (I was weird). Losing $1,000 sucks, but who wouldn’t hire you? I love your confidence! August is going to be expensive for us as well, but hopefully the rest of the year will be fine.

  26. Glad to see that you still were able to fit in a vacation in the middle of a hectic lifestyle. It is good to know what you are working so hard for! Congrats on your daughters first day.

  27. Wow, school already? Feels like summer just started. I had a friend when I was in grade school who grew massively huge pumpkins (hundreds of pounds) and entered competitions for them. I remember him saying they “fed” them milk to make them big. We were in 2nd grade so that could be total bull, but to this day I believe him and I remember those insanely large pumpkins.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.