July budget wrap

We came under budget in July by $440. Given our budget & all of the moving parts plus vacations this month, I'm impressed. ;-) Actually, I shouldn't give myself too much credit, because vacations come from our yearly budget, not the monthly one. But, I digress. Here's how July played out.

Categories where we were under our monthly budget:

• Childcare. I paid for camp well in advance (winter/spring), we were under by $1200.
• I also cleaned the house twice, for a savings of $120 (vs having the cleaning lady come). This is a much more palatable options when the boys are out of town. ;-)
• We were $30 under in entertainment, spent $0 on toiletries for a savings of $10

Categories where we were over our monthly budget:

• Dining out. The kids were out of town a bit here & there, so M & I took full advantage & had date nights. Fun, but expensive. Over by $157
• Gas. Rather than flying to LA to pick the kids up from Disneyland (they were with my parents), M opted to drive. Our gas budget was $101 over as a result, but we saved vs the cost of flying
• Groceries. Over by $132, as a result of hosting a party on the 4th of July. Worth it. :-) 
• Liquor. Over by $107. See above. We also left a bunch of wine at our vacation house, which we will definitely drink.

Our income was up this month as well, with a $70 stock dividend I found lingering in a non-interest bearing account with my broker, $960 in stock overage from tax withholdings from my company's equity grant (yeah, I don't particularly understand why it's so large either ;-)), and my penny slot jackpot. The "jackpot" went to pay for my trip, I covered the cost of my sister & BFF as well, and tucked the rest away for our anniversary trip to Hawaii.

That's pretty much it. I need to evaluate our yearly spending as well, as the year is almost 60% over!!!! How did your July go? Are you on track, or under/over budget?