Happy Fourth of July! I spent a good part of my morning working on our budget for July.

I ended the month of June spending all of our grocery budgets for both June and July except for $50. I  seriously doubt that we will spend only $50 this month so I have chosen to include $150 for our projected grocery budget this month. I think that by the end of the year we will be back to an average of $600 a month for food but I also realize that it may take several months to get back on track so to speak. The really good news is that we are starting to get items in from the garden and with the stock pile of ground beef, I purchased both the month of July and August should be low spending months for us in terms of grocery items.

I was able to place $50 in the Emergency Fund but no extra money on any of the debt. We are hopefully and expecting that Matt has another website complete this month which will help reduce debt and increase the EF. This is in question at this moment as well  due to the starter going out on my car yesterday. I currently  have about 3/4 of the expected repair cost in our auto fund so I may need to use some of the EF to finish out the amount. I am also hopefully to pull this amount out of the gas budget and not touch the EF. But either way this unexpected expense will be covered without a major dent in our normal budget.

The worse budget news of the month is that I am looking at $200 shortage for the overall budget of the month. This amount are designated into gifts and clothing. My plan is to cover this amount first from the extra work I picked up last month at the nursing home and next with Matt’s monthly income from the websites he supports. I will keep track of these amounts during the month and report where the money comes from.