Blowing the Budget: Month 1

February was our FIRST ever budget....and it is only fitting that February celebrates the conclusion of our 5th year as a married couple.

We blew the budget.

Actually, we did okay on the overall spending, but we were not as good at the categories and guessing each one.

We did learn that the beauty of the electronic budget, is you can adjust as needed as you blow on category you take from another. We used "Ever Dollar' as a way to do a free online budget, which synced with our homes.

Like how I forgot I would have a hair appointment, we bought 2 sets of show tickets...spent more on groceries than we realized...and went out to eat more than expected.

But we adjusted.

Like the $40-$45 of clothing budget I allotted for each person in our family. Kevin chose to go out to eat more with Lorelai (coffee shops mostly...one of their favorite things to do together) so that took up more of his clothing budget. I chose to buy a few more home things, which I took from my clothing budget.

Overall, we did an okay job estimating our spending. Since February was a short month, I thought we would have done better than we did, but it wasn't terrible. I will say our biggest take-away is groceries...I'm learning the importance of shopping grocery sales! I'm also realizing I really need a large Misc. category because of how much we pick up last minute flights/tickets to shows.

So what now? We try all over again this month to see if we can more accurately predict our spending.

Comments

Traveling with Kids: Setting them up for successful flight

Each flight we take with our kids, we are often overwhelmed by fellow passengers commenting on how great our children travel. I won't even pretend that it has anything to do with my parenting or my children's innate ability to be good travelers. By no means does that come without a lot of behind the scenes work, thought and preparation. Our children are not naturally good travelers...rather we do everything possible to set them up for a successful (i.e. enjoyable, quiet, and somewhat relaxing) flight.

Do you want a toddler that doesn't make a peep when you travel? How about a baby who doesn't fuss too much? Here are a few of our secrets to setting your children up for a successful flight
It starts before you even book your trip.
Schedule your flight at a time that works well with your child's sleep schedule. That means no getting in at midnight, no leaving at 5 a.m...and for us we often try to avoid nap time as much as possible (once are kids are down to 1 nap a day…

Things You Learn About The Newborn Phase The Second Time Around

Look, we've all been there. As a first time mom you are totally crazy. You need every little thing imaginable to be able to raise your baby. Your baby has more places to be set down than you have chairs for everyone else in your house...crib, saucer, bumbo, highchair, rock-n-play, play mat, swing...you get my point.
Now second time around, you might just do things a little differently! Here are a few things I learned my second time around:

My biggest secret? Your baby wakes up less at night the lower you turn down the monitor volume.
Think on that a minute...does that make me a bad mom? No! It means that I'm not waking up at every little thing! And allows Pepper learn to put herself back to sleep on her own after playing/talking a bit.

Don't even bother buying a baby book or it will be filled with "Date baby laughed 3 months?" Yep..the question mark is actually written in the baby book, because I'm not 100% sure when she laughed.

You will forget everything tha…

Omaha Performing Arts: WeBop

If you're anything like me, you want to find all kinds of activities for your kids to get involved in as a way to educate, entertain and cultivate their physical and mental growth. For little ones, sometimes that is difficult to find. We've explored swim classes, sports, gymnastics...all great things, but we really wanted to look at something else for Lorelai to experience.

Music is such an important part of a child's life. Personally I believe that my involvement in music at a young age made me more successful and well-rounded! Due to involvement in choir, musicals and band I was able to gain confidence at a young age for public speaking, since I was familiar with standing in front of an audience. I also feel that reading music is such a great skill for children to learn as they grow older, along with familiarity with instruments, and to appreciate the arts. Not only that, music can help a child learn and retain information (example...do you still sing your ABC's in y…

Kitty & Kevin

Search This Blog