Our Budget - Month Four

Another month of budgets done! This month we went way over budget due to an emergency room visit that did not have anything to do with Reuben (so don't worry). These things happen.

For the month of April 17th-May 16th we spent 3,400! It was a survival month and a lot of things happened health wise. If the emergency room bills hadn't happened, we would have hit our budget!

Bills  ($308)

• Netflix: We still have our $7.99 netflix account
• Internet: We pay 50.00 for internet a month. It's expensive, but they only offer one service in our area.
• YMCA: 75.00 for our gym membership--we have a family memebership now that includs Brian, me and Reuben
• Phones: 25.00 a month for two phones with unlimited text and talk, no data.
• Electric bill: $150 this month.
• Water (every two months so we paid it last month)

No new bills to report. Same old same old.

Baby Expenses ($372)

1/3 of this was Reuben's new cloth diapers. He went up in size (we previously had the small size prefolds and they lasted until he turned 9ish months) and we bought new diapers (these fitteds) from green mountain diapers. They are 11ish dollars each and I bought 14 so as to wash every other day. We reused the same covers for the diapers. I love cloth diapers, so it was a win/win buy for me, even through they do cost a lot. (And speaking in the present, we haven't used a single disposable diaper since!) The other 2/3 was spent on a new carseat for Reuben since he outgrew his infant one when he hit 30 inches.

Food ($760)

• Eating Out: 223
• Brian's Lunch at Work: 114
• Grocery Shopping: 423

I was shocked when I tallied the numbers from our food budget this month. I actually did it THREE TIMES just to make sure. Remember last month when husband and I decided to buy that farm share? Looks like it really is helping our budget! Our grochery shopping was the smallest it has ever been this month. I am thrilled. I hope we can keep it up! We ate out a little more than normal, but considering this was a stressful month, I'll take it! I also made things like ketchup and mayo to help our budget stay low. Making from scratch was fun, but I decided to keep buying some condiments when I can after how time consuming it was.
 
Gas ($77)

Brian spent $50 in gas and I spent $27. Yay, driving!

Personal Money (Brian $321, Carolynn $209)

My husband went fishing with my dad this month, so he picked up a fishing license. We also bought a subscription to audible again (I tried it out earlier but canceled it, and this time husband tried it and we kept it!) Husband also bought a blood pressure monitor, a blood sugar testing finger-poking thing, and a oxygen blood level monitor that I included in his personal money (although perhaps that should go in medical? I am not sure). I bought two wool diaper covers for Reuben. He didn't need any more, so these were total spurge buys, but they were used and I love them. I got two for only $20! I also purchased a few things from amazon myself: a totoro backpack for my niece and some totoro sticky notes for annotating my cookbooks, among other things.

Other ($1300)

As I said, we had an emergency room visit that was $993! Everyone is fine, but it was stressful--and another bill related to that as well. These things happen. I am glad we were able to take it in stride. 

The 2016 budget series:

January 17th - February 16th
Feb 17th - March 16 
March 17-April 16th
April 17th-May 16th 
May 17th-June16th