August spending report

I'm ready to face our August numbers, I think. DH and I both maxed out our 403(b) plans at work (DH contributed $1,375 and I contributed about $1,400), and my employer threw in another $750. I also contributed $600 to my 457 retirement plan (also serving as an emergency fund). Now for the not-so-bright side of things:

August Income:

• $2,696 My day job (net)
• $3,936 DH's day job (net)
• $20 Fitness reward
  
• $150 Garage rental income
• $300 Transferred from savings for vacation expenses

August Expenses:

• $800 Credit card
  
• $1,500 Home Equity Line of Credit principal payment
  
• $1,190.40 Mortgage payment, taxes, insurance
• $70 Gym
  
• $16.16 Netflix
• $15.97 DH's life insurance
• $278.90 Utilities
• $500 My student loan
• $278.22 DH's student loan
• $416.66 My Roth IRA
• $416.66 DH's Roth IRA
• $20 Tree House charity
• $100 Vanguard STAR Fund
• $200 Ally Savings
  
• $53.79 HourCar
• $1,986.91 Vacation expenses
  
• $809.82 Other (clothes, theater tickets, Spanish class, plane tickets)
  
• $16.63 DH's bass
• $498.98 Groceries/toiletries
  
• $19.99 Cell phone
  
• $1,215.33 Cats
• $102.28 Restaurants
• $20 Bus pass
  
• $1,703 July spending over
  

Total Income: $7,101.96
Total Expenses: $12,230.20

Over by $5,128.24. My checkbook is about $1,000 in the negative at the moment until I get paid next week and pay off my rewards card, and DH's credit card balanced increased to $7,001. Gulp.

Our 10-day vacation cost us about $3,000 including last month's expenses. Considering we camped for most of the trip and spent two nights in a couple of the crummiest hostels I've ever been in, it hardly seems worth it. We basically did a bicycle tour between two East Cost cities, riding 350 miles or so. The biking part of it was fun, but the amount of money we spent doesn't seem to reflect the quality of the trip. But the spending includes things like camping stuff and bike gear/clothes that we'll re-use, and also bike tune-ups. And $1,000 of the spending was for a rental car, gas, tolls, and a cat sitter.

The other big expense this month was all our unexpected vet bills. I'm just hoping our two sick kitties feel better soon.

I also spent more than $620 on plane tickets for two future trips, but I know those will be worth it. DH and I have spent the last two winters saying we really need to go someplace warm, and then never pulling the trigger, so this year I sucked it up and bought tickets. One trip is in October (admittedly, not that cold yet but I already have to travel someplace nice for work) and another one is in January.