It's been 3 months since I started my budget challenge! The goal is to cut my family's eating out budget in half for the next 6 months, and cut our clothing budget to $200 per month. Today I'm sharing what we spent in March and what we're planning for April.

EATING OUT:
Budget $375
Spent: $735

Well we pretty much blew this category, and were terrible about meal planning in March. This was an insane month because many nights we were driving around after work with the kids to look at houses and we would grab fast food on the way home because it was late. We also spent over $100 on breakfast before school, which is something I think could easily be cut down on. It's kind of a way to get our twins out of the house for school, "We'll stop and get donuts if you get dressed!"

I'm not going to lie, our April eating out budget is probably going to be really bad, because we're packing and moving. I've packed up most of our kitchen, but I've left the basics out. I'm also going to a blogger conference for 3 days. Hoping once we move in to our new home, which has an amazing kitchen we will be excited to cook more!

CLOTHING:
Budget: $200
Spent $323

Items purchased included swimsuits for my kids from Hanna Andersson ($127), a few outfits for the kids and Alex for upcoming family photos ($90), swimsuit from Land's End for me ($85), and two camisole tops from Cotton On ($21). I used my H&M gift card to buy a few things for the kids and myself (suit for Turner, dress/shirt/jacket for Whitney, denim skirt/summer purse for me). I can already tell you I'm going to go over my budget in April because I want to get a few outfits for the blogger conference I'm speaking at. Lots of parties, meetings with brands and events.

Gifted Items:
Swedish Hasbeens Sandals
Krewe Sunglasses
Diff Sunglasses


I never said I was perfect with money, I'm simply want to be better with it. Even when I have a bad month, I think it's important to be aware of what is going on. I'm learning every month where we can improve, and most importantly learning about our spending habits so a year from now we don't wake up from a spending coma and not know where our money has gone. Awareness is important, and talking about money is important! It should not be a taboo topic, because every person is challenged by it every single day (unless you're a trust fund baby).