Let’s cut right to the chase, people. The month of May (and into June) has not been easy. Things could always be worse, but I’ve had a lot on my plate. Which has made it very difficult for me to find the time to sit down to write this post. I don’t want to throw a pity party by detailing everything. Long story short – Emma had a seizure, we bought a house (WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOME!!!!), the house has had some unexpected repairs, and everyone (me and the twins) currently have hand, foot, and mouth disease. I’m hoping things will have calmed down by next week so I can get back to having some semblance of a blogging schedule, but, for now, please forgive the super sporadic posts!

Towards the end of May, we had to add some new budget categories to support some new, ongoing expenses. They’re called Home Improvement and Home Services. Although I feel that using the term “improvement” don’t quite articulate that this category is going to include all of our maintenance expenses. And, boy, are there a lot of home maintenance expenses. While buying a home is a lifestyle choice, we’ve now made it essential that we take care of that home. So for this month and moving forward all home improvement and home services will be included as Essentials. Any expenses that are literal improvement items like decor or upgrades will be Lifestyle.

With these new additions to the expense categories, we’ve also ended up shifting our budget ratio. Savings is still a priority, but it’s not above getting this home into working condition so Goals will be taking a back seat through the end of the summer. To reflect this change in priorities, I’m removing the projected budgeted percentage from each category.

Now on to the review!

May 2016 Budget Review

Essentials (65% of income)

I went on a pretty big healthy food kick this month and the grocery bill noticed. $1200, yikes! We had guests for 2 weekends in a row so it wasn’t all healthy, but the toddlers are eating the equivalent of grown man portions so that’s where some of the higher costs are coming from. I was thinking about buying them those cute, divided trays for meals, but they’re like itty bitty. Those trays are for babies, when I’m trying to feed grown men in size 18M Carter’s shorts, don’t they know?!?! I might as well break out the giant appetizer trays. If anyone has suggests for calorie-dense, toddler-appropriate foods, I’m all ears. Other expenses this month included $247 to renew the auto tags and $419 in auto repairs for the Jeep and the truck.

Lifestyle (27% of income)

The lifestyle allowance Ryan and I were practicing has basically been tossed out the window. We had our highest dining out expenses this month at $347 total. And between skincare/beauty purchases from Sephora, Leahlani Skincare, and Beautycounter, I spent an additional $539. Eek! Although not too big of an eek because my skin has been LOVING the simplified routine I created with the Beautycounter products. To round out this category, another $589 was spent on clothing, books, and hobbies. I can’t be too mad about all these lifestyle expenses though because, honestly, we really needed them. For the good of our souls and well-being sometimes you just need to be able to spend money on yourselves. Part of our dining out expenses were for a dinner date. It was the first date Ryan and I had gone on since July 2014 aka before the babies were born. This was LITERALLY the first time we had eaten a meal out together by ourselves in almost two years. It needed to happen.

Goals (8% of income)

I feel like this number is a bit deceiving because we also ended up taking A LOT out of savings to cover the home costs. To give you an idea of the expenses associated with our home buying experience, we spent $550 on home inspections prior to closing. We paid $6989 towards the downpayment and closing costs. Part of our home purchase offer was for the seller’s to pay up to $5000 in closing costs. So we saved a huge chunk of money right there. But between a visit from Roto Rooter to install a new septic line, changing the locks, and all the lawn & garden items needed when you go from zero yard to 23,000 sq ft of yard, we spent $4463 additional in May. I’m at least comforted by the fact that we owe $12,000 less than the home is valued at so our net worth hasn’t changed during this whole debacle.

June 2016 Budget Projections

For the rest of the summer, we will only be saving towards our long term goals. And we won’t be putting anything additional towards the mortgage just yet. We have a long list of projects that need to be taken care of, so each month we will be completing 1-2 of those. For June, we will be replacing the tires on the Jeep and creating a storage/work space in the garage. July will be replacing the garage door and garage door opener, the first stage of landscaping in the front yard, and tons of grass seed.

I feel like that was a lot of stuff to go through, so thanks for making it all the way through this post. Honestly, I think it was more for me than it was for my readers. So if you were  able to get something from this monthly review, some bit of advice or knowledge you can save and apply later, please share it because it’s late and I’m tired and I’m having trouble finding it. And thanks, again, for reading!