Issue 9 · May 2026
Posted June 5, 2026. Covers the calendar month, not our pay periods — see the method for why those are not the same thing.
The first month published here, and easily the worst. Eight envelopes over, $236 through the buffer, and the buffer finishing the month at $34. We are leaving the whole thing up rather than starting the archive at a flattering month.
| Envelope | Planned | Spent | Left |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | 1,485 | 1,485 | 0 |
| Utilities | 210 | 246 | −36 |
| Groceries | 620 | 712 | −92 |
| Household | 75 | 126 | −51 |
| Car | 195 | 204 | −9 |
| Phone and internet | 132 | 144 | −12 |
| Dog | 85 | 91 | −6 |
| Health | 95 | 112 | −17 |
| Sinking funds | 458 | 458 | 0 |
| Eating out and fun | 145 | 198 | −53 |
| Gifts and giving | 110 | 70 | +40 |
| Personal, two at $80 | 160 | 160 | 0 |
| Twelve envelopes | 3,770 | 4,006 | −236 |
Notes on the month
Groceries, $92 over. The March re‑set had set this envelope from a trailing twelve months that included two months of us barely cooking, and $620 was simply too low for how we actually eat. It has held since, which suggests the problem was May rather than the number, but it took until July to be confident of that.
Eating out and fun, $53 over. Directly downstream of the groceries envelope emptying on the 24th.
Household, $51 over. Restocking after a move‑in‑grade clear‑out: shelf liner, a new mop, two smoke detectors, and the kind of purchases you make once and then not again for three years.
Utilities, $36 over. A cold snap in the second week with the furnace already turned down for spring.
Phone and internet, $12 over. A data overage. We changed plans in June and it has been exactly $132 every month since.
What we changed. Nothing, structurally. The temptation after a month like this is to re‑cut every envelope, and the rule says March. What we did change was the shared note on the phones: before May it was updated weekly and we were reconstructing the week from receipts, badly. It is now updated the same day.