I made it through the month of August 2010 and came out $469.13 in the black!!!!! I almost lost my mind when I saw those figures and had to go back and double check because I knew I spent a lot and was over budget in a lot of areas and had even used some splurge fund money as well. The reason for still being in the black despite the extra spending was due to a small bonus I got for attending training and workshops over the summer, as well as some advertising on the blog.

While I overspent on some areas I also underspent on other areas and then used the ‘saved’ money to pay for those purchases. So, for example, I did not use $69.75 of my utilities budget but I ended up using that money to make a snowflake payment towards debt. The categories were up and down and all over the place but as long as I stay within my total budget for the month then I am in good shape.

I spent $87.10 on gas for the month which was $27.10 over the budgeted amount. I washed the car three weekends at a total cost of $18 which is under the $25 budgeted for the month for car washes.

I spent $5 on coupons because I bought a double pack of newspapers when there were the extra inserts that week. I redeemed $15.04 in coupons at various stores, giving me a net gain of $10.04 on my coupon use for the month. I am also showing a net gain of $59.05 on coupon use for the year, so I will continue to buy my coupons weekly and redeem them as the months go by.