Just over halfway through the month

And we're doing pretty well on our budget. Just got on to Dear Hubby this afternoon because I found out he spent TWICE on his mom's birthday present than we agreed. But in all fairness, I only spent about 30% of what we had budgeted for my mom's present, so the damage wasn't as bad as I first thought.

I did pretty good at recording spending for the first few days, then the guilt set in. I just felt soooo bad keeping track! Dear Hubby reminded me yesterday that that's part of the point.

Dear Hubby gets paid twice a month, so we break apart the month into two sections. We did pretty good during the first half! I even paid cash for my $284 dentist appointment last week, and we still didn't come up short. Our insurance reimbursement paid for all but $2, and that check is going into savings tomorrow, not checking. That will take care of some of our savings plan for the month!

The second half of the month has already taken a few hits I didn't expect, like a sick doctor's visit for Little Man. Even though our copay is only $25, it still adds up. It still counts. We also ended up spending more on Dear Hubby's mom's birthday lunch due to extenuating circumstances, and I certainly hadn't budgeted for that.

And the great budget blaster of all is just around the corner - CHRISTMAS!! My goal is to actually make some presents this year, especially for the kiddos. As if my kids or my nieces need yet another plastic toy. This is one of the things I'm considering making for E Belle:

http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/2009/02/fort-table-cover.html

I guess I really should be entering the spending instead of blogging!