August 2026 Expenses
I review our finances at the end of every month. This post is focused on the expenses. I am curious to see how our August 2026 expenses compare to our August 2025 expenses and if we are sticking to our 2026 goals. Categories and differences are explained below the table.
August was an expensive month with loads of kids activities, getting ready for school, hosting and just enjoying the warm weather.
Category
2026
2025
Change
Mortgage
$2,472.00
$2,139.75
+$332.25
Insurance
$575.34
$500.61
+$74.73
Household and House Maintenance
$60.03
$168.81
+$108.78
Property Taxes
$0
$0
-
Utilities
$328.38
$306.46
+$21.92
Cell Phones
$90.40
$91.30
-$0.90
Internet
$101.68
$68.90
+$32.78
Car Payment
$425.06
$425.06
-
Car Maintenance
$1,839.28
$137.35
+$1,701.93
Streaming
$53.09
$0
+$53.09
Food
$922.68
$712.43
+$210.25
Fuel
$612.55
$270.07
+$342.48
Kids
$1,970.39
$1,567.55
+$402.84
Restaurants
$679.17
$1,110.12
-$430.95
Banking Fees
$20.80
$7.20
+$13.60
Fun Money
$575.97
$792.15
-$216.18
Clothing
$30.00
$208.39
-$178.39
Personal Care
$172.34
$199.91
-$27.57
Alcohol
$171.55
$368.64
-$197.09
Parking
$5.00
$5.00
-
Gifts
$435.09
$190.07
+$245.02
TOTAL
$11,540.80
$9,269.77
+$2,271.03
Let's explore what each category includes and some reasons for changes:
- Mortgage - we renewed for another 5 years, switched to weekly payments and decided to increase the payments by $100/week.
- Insurance - insurance rates went up and we added a third vehicle.
- Households and home maintenance - Just lawn stuff this past month.
- Property taxes - no taxes due this month.
- Utilities - gas, water and electricity.
- Cell phones - nothing new.
- Internet - internet went up.
- Car payment - no changes
- Car maintenance - wear and tear items, new exhaust for the older car.
- Streaming - Netflix. Others are paid annually and Apple TV is free for the next year or so thanks to a bunch of Apple gift cards I got 2 years ago. I had a Netflix gift card in 2025 so didn't pay anything that month.
- Food - more hosting than last year. Had family stay with us for a week.
- Fuel - had a couple of long family trips.
- Kids - found a new programming summer camp one of the kids wanted to attend. Most expensive camp so far.
- Restaurants - just take out.
- Banking fees - had to borrow from a line of credit for a week or so.
- Fun money - coffee, books, games, etc. Small daily purchases and fun expenses.
- Clothing - this is only for adult clothes. Kids' clothing is covered under the "kids" category.
- Personal care - self-explanatory. Had some dental work done this month.
- Alcohol - self-explanatory
- Parking - decided to split parking out of "fun money".
- Gifts - had to go to a few kids birthdays.
First month this year we spent more than in 2025. The increase was due to the kids' more expensive summer camps and the vehicle maintenance. Removing them brings us down to about the same spending as last year.
