July Numbers Are In

The below list is a simple summary of all our cash outflow for July minus my husband's spending (which includes his lunches and any spending strictly for himself; ie going to lunch with a friend, picking up beer for band practice, ect). Each of these categories has several things inside of them. For example home expenses includes the mortgage payment (and escrow), and equity line. Vehicle expenses includes the car payment, gasoline, and car insurance.

Home expenses $1108.95
Vehicle expenses $595.89
Utilities $379.97
Credit card payments $564.22
All spending $554.33

Average daily spending for July: $17.88

That makes August my fourth lowest spending month of the year.

January $15.66 a day
February $20.27 a day
March $17.01 a day
April $19.99 a day
May $20.55 a day
June $17.05 a day
July $17.88 a day

I'm happy to have come in under $18 a day for July. I didn't beat out June but with the pattern I'm developing I should have been pretty close to $20 a day in July. Yikes, what's that say for August? I'm not doing so well with the no spend days this year (I'm at 50 if I can squeak one out today) but maybe I can try and keep August spending down by packing in the no spends. That really does affect my spending for the better. 

Average daily spending for 2014: $18.24

I really didn't know where my daily average would end up this year. I hadn't included spending for my son in my daily average before this year. I'm starting to think that if I end 2014 under an $18 a day average I will have done really well. I was hoping for $15 a day but it's looking farther and farther off the radar. I might just revise my goal to $17 a day for the year. That sounds like a decent challenge.