My Uber Thrifty Month In Review - May

I feel like I just got done writing this post for last month and here I am writing another one already!  I'm sure I don't need to tell you that time is flying by.  My girls are about to be out of school for the summer, today is their last day!  Amazing.

Well, I can't really say this was an uber thrifty month I'm afraid.  It was actually one where there were a lot of expenses, some were unexpected.  But that is how life goes so you have to punt and make the best of it.

Thankfully, and I am always grateful about this, I was able to pay all of our monthly expenses ahead of their due dates including our mortgage.  I pay the mortgage almost a month early and it makes a huge difference in how it affects the principal balance.

One thing that has impacted us this year is our higher than normal electric bills.  Thanks to a rough winter we've been hit pretty hard in that area this year.  I never run the heat in May, but this year we did need to use the infrared heater and electric fireplace quite a bit with all the rain and colder temperatures we had.  The last week however, we haven't used any heat at all and I'm hopeful we are done with it for awhile.

I was not able to put as much toward my debt elimination goal as I had hoped, but I did make a sizeable payment.  I'm way ahead of schedule on that but I'm getting anxious to be done with it.  I also did not put anything into my regular savings account, but I did do my regular deposits into my retirement accounts.

We even squeezed in a weekend getaway

In May I put insurance on the motorhome, fortunately RVs aren't real expensive to insure like your regular vehicles are, and the truck was due for renewal on the registration as well as a new emission test.

Then my girls needed to register for the summer music program and I won't say no to that.  The youngest tried out for cheerleader and made it so we had that expense for uniforms as well.  Again, can't say no to that one either.  Along with that both girls needed new summer bus passes so they can get to all of their activities.

Free wood from the giveaway bin near where I work
Can't beat that price!

As far as the home improvement expenses on the motorhome last month I was really careful about that.  April absorbed most of those expenses with the bathroom upgrade and a new microwave.  In May I scrounged around the house and in the garage for supplies and managed to complete projects with what I already had on hand.

As I head into June thriftiness will be on my mind as I continue to work on my financial goals and accomplish a few things around the house and with the motorhome.  I already know we have a few expected expenses coming up, but we also have a back to school plan in place to keep those costs to a minimum this fall.  I'm pretty excited about that.