Each month, Chris and I budget $100 each to spend as "personal allowance." This includes eating out/coffee/activities we do separately (we have a joint family allowance budget of $150 as well) and purchases that are that wants and not needs. To keep ourselves accountable, we use Mint to monitor our spending. As an extra layer of accountability, I am sharing what I spent my personal allowance on each month and whether I stayed within budget. Check out previous months here.

My spending in July was awesome. Although I think this is partly because in July we had a 10 day trip to Austin and when we travel we lump everything into "travel" expenses. But of course that was only 10 days out of 31 days in the month so I can give myself a little bit of credit. We went out to eat a lot in Austin so when we came back home I was happy to be back to eating healthy and just about always at home. 

After seven months of diligently tracking my spending I am noticing a difference in how I approach spending. I am much more aware and intentional. I am very aware of where I am in my personal allowance spending during the month, instead of assuming that I probably have more to spend. 

What I spent in July:

$4.91 - tall soy vanilla latte at Starbucks. As always, I'm horrified at the price. After ordering this I remembered that what I should have ordered is a tall misto (Starbucks lingo for a café au lait). Latte-like for much less.

$11 - cocktail at book club

$40 - dress pattern + fabric at The Cloth Pocket in Austin

$2.15 - red nail polish (Revlon GoGo Girl)

$2.92 - cup of coffee

$1.39 - We Are the Dinosaurs song for the boys

$3.01 - The Lorax on Audible which I regret. So far all our Audible purchases have been great but in this recording the music is so loud it distracts from the story. Sadly can't "return" it; a reminder to always listen to the sample.

$7.00 - Seche Clear base coat. Although I meant to buy top coat, dang!

$2.01 - In The Night Kitchen on Audible. One of the boys' favorite books and the audio version is great.

Total spent in July: $74.39 out of $100 budgeted.

In June $92.32 out of $100 budgeted.

In May $92.21 out of $100 budgeted.

In April $117.18 out of $100 budgeted.

In March $101.35 out of $100 budgeted

In February 2017: $78.57 of $100 budgeted

In January 2017: $126.25 of $150 budgeted