The Vocal Observer: Where have all the greenbacks gone?

It's that time of year again. Time for the mid-year family budget review. As Molly and I continue to plan for future events like large purchases and our big planned China vacation next year, it becomes more and more imperative that we track and review our family budget.

The most recent review of the budget, which we updated this week, found that we are spending WAY too much money on eating out. We used to be in the rut where we would rarely go out to eat. To the point that I would often hear complaints about how we "never go anywhere". It seems, though, that in the past 6 months, we have really stepped up the restaraunt trips, to the point where we are spending somewhere between $250-300 per month on eating out. When you add that to typical grocery expenses, it really adds up to a big number in the "Food" line-item.

Also, we found that we really should have more extra money at the end of the month than we currently do. It seems as though every single month, there is always a big, unexpected expenditure. Car repair, a ticket, a trip, an impulse purchase, new furniture... If we would simply stick to the budget we set-forth, we would have plenty of money to boost our savings and save enough to make our China trip amazing.

It's not all bad though. A few months ago we paid off the last of our credit card debt, and have been able to re-allocate the money that we were spending on that to things like savings and IRA. That was a big accomplishment and the result is that we are now much more careful with purchases than we had been before. Instead of just buying something with the credit card, and paying it over a few months, we are saving-up for purchases and buying with cash. It makes the finance side of me a very happy camper.

If any of you haven't done a family budget, or haven't updated yours in a while, I highly advise you to do so today. Here is a great, free little excel workbook which will give you an easy template to follow to put together your yearly budget.