The Eighth Budget of the Year in Review

As the month of September begins, it is time to share the eighth budget of the year in review, a series I started at the beginning of the year to share how I close my budget as well as document the money moves I made in the last month. August was an unusually high income month meaning the income amount I had to work with was higher then your typical month and this is due to many factors. As a budgeter, I am always excited to share with those around me how I budget my money, some of the financial goals I am working on in hopes of inspiring at least one person to start managing their money better.

One of the biggest misconceptions about budgeting is that it restricts you and you can’t have fun when you are on a budget. This is simply not true, the only time that is applicable is when you follow someone else’s budget when you don’t have the same income nor needs or obligations in life. I always say, you can copy someone’s style of budgeting but you need to tailor it to your personal life, after all, personal finance is personal. Make sure when you budget, you are budgeting for you and your personal obligations and not trying to show-up or show-off to someone.

Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor, all opinions shared in this blog are my own.

The Eighth Budget of the Year in Review

I have been budgeting for many years and every single month, I always find something new that springs up to disturb my plans (notice I said disturb not ruin). This means that even when an unexpected bill springs up, I have the money ready to cover that and I am able to achieve this level of comfort because I manage my money the best way I know how. For the eighth budget of the year in review, I did have a few surprises that came up which meant I needed to dip into my emergency fund. Whilst I am happy I have an emergency fund, I am not a fan of dipping into it, I would rather cashflow the unexpected bills that spring up.

Looking through the eighth budget of the year in review, Personal expenses was the highest category I spent in due to the personal emergency that I encountered. The savings category includes carryover money so in actuality, it’s the third most highest in expenditures. I love reviewing my budget in this way, tracking the percentage of the income that I spent and the different between what I budgeted and what I actually spent. As I mentioned, August was unusually high income money due to many factors and it is important to budget even for months when you have more income that usual.

Looking through the image above, you wouldn’t necessary know that I overspent in two categories under my variable spending and that is because I always make a conscious decision to ensure when I overspend in one, I don’t in another category so my books are always balanced. I am able to do this because I track my expenditures meticulously and know what always I am more likely to overspend in and which I will not. I try to budget a little more in those areas where I always overspend and less in those areas where I do not.

Overall, I think I managed well with my budget and did not overspend in most categories and the goal for the next month is to spend less on unnecessary items but rather save and invest more for the future. If you wish to check out a detail breakdown of my budget then check out my YouTube channel where I share where I spent every single penny in my budget. I share these budget with me videos in hopes of inspiring my person to start budgeting their money better, get out of debt and focus on investing for their future.

Other Money Posts you may have missed

For the month of August, I shared one additional money focused post and that was how to track your net worth update. Net worth update is one financial metrics you can utilise to track your financial progress especially for those of us following the F.I.R.E (Financial Independence/Retire Early) movement. I am sure we would all like to retire early and not work until we are 65yo or whatever the retirement age will be moving forward especially as we continue to live longer.

I shared the information below in my previous review posts and will continue sharing them moving forward as I think it is important for people to get into investing even with just $10/£10.

1. Investing – I recently started using Freetrade and got a free share for signing you. You can get a free share too by using my link. If you already have an account, you can use my E’toro link to sign up for an account with them at no extra cost to you and get $50.
2. Saving – I use an app called Plum which is connected to my main spending account and rounds up all my spending plus following the rules I set, it helps me save money for 52 weeks.

How do you manage your budget? Do you review your monthly expenditures and see where you could do better?