[Ashley]

It was so bad that Chase blocked my card twice this week for unusual spending patterns.

I *think* I just finished paying for everything and looking forward to a couple of weeks of spending NOTHING!

[Jodi]

The more I got into budgeting I found I was becoming a grumpy giver- not at all because I didn’t care about the individual(s), but I just don’t do well with anything unexpected or changes to my plans.

A gift giving fund that rolls over month to month really helped me better anticipate expenses and reduced the stress. Planned annual events and random unexpected kid birthday parties and coworker retirement gifts, etc are factored in.

We sketch out a total for January through December and divide by 12 for the monthly budget. The amount we are spending for each person is set which helps and Christmas comes and goes without anyone turning into the Grinch.

[Kris]

This month was rough for us too: 3 birthdays and Father’s Day.

[Beth]

I just tallied our expenses last night – we bombed out hard in May, it was pretty bad! June will be our make-up month.

[Author]

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