May turned out pretty good, with total expenditures of $3,655.  For more details please see below.

Groceries – We went over by $100. Combination of stocking up and buying food in the more expensive local grocery stores.  We also are trying to eat healthier and as you probably know, healthier means more expensive.

Dining Out – We went over by $63 which actually wasn’t that bad considering how many times we ate out.  This is a stress relief category for me, and there has been lots of it this month, so I’m cool with going over.

Memberships – Our annual American Express membership fee.  Every year we talk about reevaluating this and switching to a Visa with reward points, but we just never do it.  We both like the card, we love their customer service, and to some extent: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it seems to be where we fall on this.

Personal Care – I keep forgetting to mention this but something exciting happened in this category.  The year we went on the road, I lost an earring.  It was one of a pair that Lee bought me and had tremendous sentimental value.  I have looked all over this country in stores and online to try to find a similar set and could never find it.  Last year I went to a small jewelry store in Happy Valley and it turns out they make jewelry.  Generally I shy away from local stores because you here stories about people getting ripped off, but I had a really good feel about this one. Long story short I went back this year and not only could they do it but they found an identical setting to use.  By the time I turned in my broken pieces of jewelry for credit my cost was $175.  It took me five years, but wearing those earrings again brought tears to my eyes.  Some things are just worth it!

Pets – Overage due to pet training class and grooming.  See previous post for more details.

Maintenance – My stress category is going out, Lee’s is home repair.  He purchased and installed a new Fantastic Fan. It was pricey but our has been broken for over a year and since it is the one near the stove, I kept setting off the smoke detector when I cooked anything that was smokey.  He also had to spend $50 on a new sewer hose, when he discovered a mouse had chewed a hole in one of ours.  I am shrugging as I type this…what are you going to do?

I’ve been saying that a lot lately and if it wasn’t helpful to people I would probably stop doing these posts.  It’s not that I mind the reporting, I hate the fact that I feel like I need to justify the costs.  That’s on me though.  I need to try to just report what happened factually and leave it at that.

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