We are now seven months in our challenge for a family of four to live off of a single teacher's income. To this point we have done a fairly good job, but we still stand $244.19 in the hole since the beginning of the challenge. In September, we were able to spend about $7.88 less than we made. Even though we would like the spread to be closer to $140 dollars at the end of the month, we will still consider this a win. This month we again struggled keeping our two most difficult variable expenses, dining out and miscellaneous expenses, in budget. Dining out continues to be the most difficult expense to keep in check. It is so easy and convenient to stop and grab some dinner after a game. Along with the difficulties staying in budget on the variable expenses we also had a fifth week of childcare to pay. So when looking at the whole picture we are pretty satisfied that we were able to come away with $7 in our pocket for the month. Here is what the budget looked like for September:
