July Budget Roundup

flowers from front of house beds

July's Grocery Budget $400 less YTD overage of $269.40=$130.60


Actual $466.26. Over by $335.66 YTD

Coupons Used $23.86


No haircuts this month so Annual Hair Budget $400
= $142.20 for rest of 2012



This is the month that I try and reduce the YTD grocery overage which occured all from the last three months due in part to restocking the pantry and the move which can throw budgets out of whack. Now that my pantry is mostly full I am only buying when there is a great deal. We are eating at home a lot more than we used to before the move and that is making an impact in the budget, but I fully intend to stay within the $400 budget this month and chip away a bit at the overage.

I made scones for the first time using this recipe from allrecipes.com and added some cinnamin, cloves, raisins and milk as found it too dry without adding more moisture. They were yummy but a little more like a cookie than scones. Rather than cut them I just dropped them biscuit style.

I also made tzatziki from scratch using some Greek yogurt obtained for free with a coupon - it was amazing and I will definitely make it again. No pictures of that as it was long gone before I thought about taking a picture. The recipe can be found here at Kalyn's Kitchen. I highly recommend using proper Greek yogurt and fresh dill.

Miniature rose in container pot on my patio

There are two small tomatoes growing with several blossoms on the two tomato plants we keep in containers on the back patio. As they were not purchased until the last week of June they are later than normal for this time of year. Luckily September here is normally georgous and sunny so they have some time yet to grow. Each plant was $1.14 on sale so if we get a couple of tomatoes out of it they will have paid for themselves.

What I haven't shown you is the bug eaten petunias in pots at the front of the house. I have been battling with earwigs for two weeks and they were winning but this week I started getting the upper hand. Next year I will research annual plants they don't like eating or hang the pots rather than put them on the ground. They don't seem to like tomatoes, roses, or hot peppers.

Hubby made dinner and brought in some flowers the other night for me. I had the same colour hydrangea in my bouquet when we got married and now enjoy them in the front flowerbed. There were orange lilies that bloomed a few weeks ago and now these pink ones are in bloom. The black cat was a souvenir brought back from Egypt fifteen years ago. The vases are actually pillar candle holders that I bought at a garage sale about five years ago, hubbys idea to put the flowers in them.

Have a great day!