Money Monday!!
It's been a while since I've posted a Money Monday blog, so I thought I would share some updates.
Really, this post only needs to be one word to clearly explain April and May's financial situation.
UGLY.
April and May were some ugly months.
Coralynn had multiple doctor's appointments that required hours of driving time. And, the doctor's office hours are from 4-7 pm. Between the gas to get to the appointments, the cost of the visits, and having too many meals out, our budget took a serious hit.
Then, there was the cost of the surgery itself.
And of course, Carson had soccer games which required more gasoline. Camilla had dance which required lesson fees, and Chloe seemed to need one of everything to get through life.
At the same time, we were completely revamping our dietary guidelines even further than my last detailed explanation. This caused two financial headaches. First, running into a fast food restaurant after a doctor's appointment or a soccer game became far more difficult and costly because of their limited selections that meet our needs. Secondly, grocery shopping for our new diet had a learning curve I didn't expect, (and still haven't mastered).
In all, our grocery and dining budgets were at all-time highs during May and June. We were chatting with friends yesterday, and I realized that the money I spent on groceries for May would have lasted us 15 weeks in Georgia. 15 WEEKS. That makes me nauseous.
So, needless to say, the house-savings plan took quite a hit to help us get through the months. We are still at a good place, but, oh, what might have been!!
I'm repurposing myself to financial responsilibility. I'm going to attempt to hunker down in June, but that won't be easy. We leave for the United States on July 2, so there is great temptation to buy one of everything that we might need and have it shipped to a friend's house in the States for us to pick up when we get there. I'm normally fairly reasonable in seperating wants from needs, but these once a year trips to the States challenge my reasonableness. I've already indulged a bit, but the goal is to stop. Now. Before the spending goes too far.
So, anybody want to join me in a Summer Spending Slimdown??
Really, this post only needs to be one word to clearly explain April and May's financial situation.
UGLY.
April and May were some ugly months.
Coralynn had multiple doctor's appointments that required hours of driving time. And, the doctor's office hours are from 4-7 pm. Between the gas to get to the appointments, the cost of the visits, and having too many meals out, our budget took a serious hit.
Then, there was the cost of the surgery itself.
And of course, Carson had soccer games which required more gasoline. Camilla had dance which required lesson fees, and Chloe seemed to need one of everything to get through life.
At the same time, we were completely revamping our dietary guidelines even further than my last detailed explanation. This caused two financial headaches. First, running into a fast food restaurant after a doctor's appointment or a soccer game became far more difficult and costly because of their limited selections that meet our needs. Secondly, grocery shopping for our new diet had a learning curve I didn't expect, (and still haven't mastered).
In all, our grocery and dining budgets were at all-time highs during May and June. We were chatting with friends yesterday, and I realized that the money I spent on groceries for May would have lasted us 15 weeks in Georgia. 15 WEEKS. That makes me nauseous.
So, needless to say, the house-savings plan took quite a hit to help us get through the months. We are still at a good place, but, oh, what might have been!!
I'm repurposing myself to financial responsilibility. I'm going to attempt to hunker down in June, but that won't be easy. We leave for the United States on July 2, so there is great temptation to buy one of everything that we might need and have it shipped to a friend's house in the States for us to pick up when we get there. I'm normally fairly reasonable in seperating wants from needs, but these once a year trips to the States challenge my reasonableness. I've already indulged a bit, but the goal is to stop. Now. Before the spending goes too far.
So, anybody want to join me in a Summer Spending Slimdown??
Comments
If we were only switching from processed foods to fresh, our grocery budget would drop (and it did when that was all we were doing) because processed food here is so expensive.
The biggest issue is for the non-fresh food that needs to be purchased. The cost of living in Panama is much more than it is in LaG. Those kinds of speciality, dietarty restriction foods are expensive here.
And, I'm confident that our dietary changes will be blessed, but I definitely need to do my part to get the grocery situation under control!!!