Struggling with Budgeting: What I am Trying

It’s been a while since I have talked about budgeting mostly because I have done a terrible job of it and saving. While more income is a good problem to have, with it comes more responsibility. Good habits formed during lean months should continue when you are blessed with a little cushion. Whether that is increasing your savings, tackling home projects, keeping to a food budget, those are not habits to discard. What I realized these past couple of months was that 2026 was very spendy with some needed projects (creating a living space for my parents and redoing a bathroom) and some fun projects such as creating an upstairs media haven which included furniture, a large TV and sound system and adding a few things to my outdoor space.

But while those things were taken into account, the day to day spending got out of hand. Yes, prices of groceries are higher, all 4 kids are home this summer, the oldest came home to eat every weekend last semester, but that doesn’t mean that I can go to the grocery stores and just buy whatever. I can still budget the occasional more expensive meal (think chicken wings, salmon, steak), but it really should be occasional if I want to save money on food. Making snacks more often (which I am doing this summer) really does cut on the grocery bill.

The other area I have been indulging is the miscellaneous spending and the “OUT” spending: think Chick-fil-A, pizza… Thrifting is really not too bad as I had thought, but adding things to the Amazon cart and using the credit card to pay it instead of the debit card creates some surprising credit card bills.

So here are some specific things I started this month and hope to continue through the end of the year and beyond:

• get back to listing all bills and planned expenses before the 1st of the month to get a good idea of how much money is coming in and out.
• planning more budget friendly menus and limiting snack buying
• not going back to the grocery store in the middle of the week and make do with what is in the freezer and pantry
• I did make a call to Direct TV last month and will be saving $80 this month in addition to $55 per month for the next 12 months (that is pretty incredible for a 30 min phone call)
• I need to make some calls about our car insurance: that is a really big monthly expense
• keep a daily tracker of what is being spent in addition to the regular monthly bills
• plan nearly free activities (apart from my trip to Arizona and a few days in Greenville with the kids)

So I will check back and tell you if I found that I was able to make a difference this month and the coming ones. There is school coming up in August, and a wedding couple shower I am hosting, so I need to take into account each month of the special events.

Here are some older posts about budgeting:

• lean month budget planning
• Come Grocery Shopping with me

I did notice that all of my budgeting posts are about 5 years old: I have lost my focus, it appears! And yes, I do realize that my children are older so the expenses associated with them have increased whether it is food, school activities or their needs at the beginning of each semester. However, that is not an excuse for me to be give up!

A bientôt!

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