Planning Ahead for Seasonal Expenses

August 7, 2026

Today we are officially in our third month of Project Money! Overall, we feel that we are doing pretty good. We have cut spending, and with Jake’s help we came up with a plan for how to approach tackling our debt (which we have implemented and have already paid off two small loans). We’ve also added to our savings.

Although we feel confident, we know there is more that we can do, so now we are trying to find other ways to save. One thing that we like to do as of recently is gardening and working on our yard (which is a work in progress). Plants can be very expensive, so with one of our hydrangeas, we are trying to propagate the cuttings into six new bushes. At $60 a hydrangea this would normally cost us $360. Cutting spending doesn’t mean you always have to stop doing the things you enjoy doing, sometimes you just need to get a little creative!

As summer comes to an end, we need to start thinking about the upcoming school year. In the past we would have spent a lot of money on our annual back-to-school shopping. This year, we are going to go thrift shopping and try to minimize the damage. Last year we spent well over $300 just on clothes. Our goal is to cut that at least in half.

Back-to-school shopping is one of those unaccounted spending events you normally don’t have in your month-to-month budget. Some other examples are license plate renewals, oil changes, car maintenance and Christmas shopping. One tip we got from Jake was to get a $10 to $25 gift card to hide in a drawer every month. Then come Christmas the money is already there and there’s no change in our monthly routine – easy!