Every Friday I post on my weekly income and expenses in an effort to keep on track of my budget for the month. I keep every receipt that I get and enter it into a spreadsheet that I balance against what shows up in Mint. By breaking down my transactions on a weekly basis I can see where my money is going and see if I am going to be able to stay under my total budget for the month.

I ended the month with a positive cash flow, which is my third one for the year. I paid for the first set of summer tuition out of a separate account so even though the amount was a good chunk of change it did not affect my budget for the month.

3d illustration of 2013 year on white background. Soft focus

I will be taking on the month of June using only Mint and not actually using the spreadsheet that I normally use. This will be a bit of a stretch for me but I have been able to keep the two budgets matching each other so I just need to get out of the mindset that I need to manually enter all my receipts into a spreadsheet, when Mint keeps track of everything for me.

I was over the non-food budget by $40.25 and I am just looking at my last receipt for purchases of $40.01 so I probably could have remained under budget in that area.

I spent $39.65 on gas for the month and I still have above three quarters of a tank so I think I will be good for the next month. Classes start next week and the bus will be running to the apartment so I don’t have to drive to school at all. I will only need to use my car to run errands or to go out with friends so I might not even need to buy gas for the month of June.

I was under the budget for utilities by almost $24 and this amount will roll over to next month. Even though I was over in some categories I was still under the total budget for the month, which to me is really the point of maintaining a budget. If I can manage to stay under the total for the month then I will be in good shape even though I may go over certain categories every now and then. I will still keep every receipt that I have for purchases in an envelope to verify when the purchases come up in Mint just to make sure everything is under control.