3 min read Expenses

September 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 September 2026 expenses compare to our September 2025 expenses and if we are sticking to our 2026 goals. Categories and differences are explained below the table.

I expected September to be a calm month since the kids are back in school and we didn't travel much but a few categories were a bit higher than last year.

Category
2026
2025
Change
Mortgage
$2,502.32
$2,139.75
+$362.57
Insurance
$575.34
$500.61
+$74.73
Household and House Maintenance
$373.03
$284.01
+$89.02
Property Taxes
$1,124.00
$1,020.00
+$104.00
Utilities
$358.34
$332.92
+$25.42
Cell Phones
$137.01
$90.40
+$46.61
Internet
$101.68
$125.40
-$23.72
Car Payment
$425.06
$425.06
-
Car Maintenance
$617.79
$126.00
+$491.79
Streaming
$53.09
$27.11
+$25.98
Food
$463.32
$637.08
-$173.76
Fuel
$637.56
$790.88
-$153.32
Kids
$1,127.47
$872.18
+$255.29
Restaurants
$566.32
$1,007.24
-$440.92
Banking Fees
$18.27
$38.11
-$19.84
Fun Money
$754.62
$621.07
+$133.55
Clothing
$545.08
$0.00
+$545.08
Personal Care
$112.49
$139.32
-$26.83
Alcohol
$308.36
$130.99
+$177.37
Parking
$4.50
$0.00
+$4.50
Gifts
$367.49
$76.10
+$291.39
TOTAL
$11,173.14
$9,384.23
+$1,788.91

Let's explore what each category includes and some reasons for changes:

  • Mortgage - we renewed for another 5 years and switched to weekly payments which made the monthly total go up. We also enrolled in automatic extra payments. Moving forward, $600 of this expense goes to principal.
  • Insurance - insurance rates went up and we added a third vehicle.
  • Households and home maintenance - Lawn stuff and some sealant replacements.
  • Property taxes - property taxes went up quite a bit this year due to new municipal programs.
  • Utilities - gas, water and electricity.
  • Cell phones - we travelled this month and did some roaming.
  • Internet - nothing new
  • Car payment - no changes
  • Car maintenance - fluids went up in price. I also bulk-bought various filters for all cars, and an impact wrench that I was tired of constantly borrowing from friends and family.
  • 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 - eating mostly in-season vegetables.
  • Fuel - despite the kids being back in school, we had a couple of long trips.
  • Kids - back-to-school stuff and extra curriculars.
  • 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.
  • Alcohol - self-explanatory
  • Parking - decided to split parking out of "fun money".
  • Gifts - had to go to a few kids birthdays and a housewarming party.

Second month this year we spent more than in 2025. The increase was due to vehicle maintenance, extra mortgage payments, kids stuff and we bought a bunch of clothes. Removing them brings us down to about the same spending as last year. I am not that worried about the extra mortgage payments since all of the extra money is going straight to principal saving us on interest in the long run.

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