Oh yeah. DERP. Iām going to the northeast! DC/ Pennsylvania/Philadelphia/NY/New Haven/Boston on a roadtrip!
The trip is actually planned around is a 6-day sugar-blowing class Iāve already paid for ($2251) and is a part of my hobbies spend instead.
In all the other cities weāre seeing friends or family and enjoying the Northeast fall foliage + fall activities, which Iāve been wanting to see for years but kept getting delayed due to various pregnancies!
Iām in. I think it will just be regular groceries? My problem with doing this is that October is typically when I make my bulk buys for winter: 50# potatoes and at least 25# onions mostly. So, it may be to only do the regular groceries because if I include the bulk buys Iāll obviously blow it?
Itās beautiful up here in Oct. Something I will miss when we leave New England!
You can budget for your bulk buys in a separate category too!
Add a gas budget to the rental car budget if you havenāt already.
If youāre thinking of Texas parking prices, I feel like I would at least double those for places like DC.
Ohhhhhh yeaaaaahhhhhhh good point. Thatās +$200-$300 at least!
Agree! Fortunately weāre actually going carless in DC and not picking up our car until weāre ready to leave DC precisely because thereās nowhere to park. I think the only times we need to pay to park are in Philly or Boston so hopefully $200 covers a couple of days 
I just got told I am getting a $3K bonus (unprecedented in our 100+ year org history) - usually we get nothing or a few hundred. I am not really planning on spending this in a non budgeted way but I might shore up some categories. I just had my skating costs increase by about $300 a month so it is almost perfect
Iām in! I will watch my Ā« eating out Ā» category. I have a roomate now and he spends TONS of money on eating out and I am being influenced 
I am going to review our familyās reoccurring giving and set a monthly budget for miscellaneous giving
Commenting so I donāt lose this againā¦have a couple fairly big purchases coming up, plus need to look at travel next year, and then recurring stuff also needs a reviewā¦some of that should probably happen sooner than next month, but the way Iām going it might end up fitting into a budget challenge anyway.
The timing this month is amazing because my income is finally going up in October at my job and Iām taking back several expenses that my partner has been covering since I quit my fancy job back in July of 2025.
I need to wait to see what my income will actually be for October before I set my specific category amounts, but I know Iāll be tracking:
Gas
Groceries
Eating Out
Fun Spending
Savings
Utilities
Ok Iāve decided Iām going track all spending for the month - havenāt done that in ages. Weāre looking at increasing non retirement savings/investments so I want to see where our money currently goes.
Bonus goal, my yoga studio is doing a āgo to 21 classes in the month of Octoberā challenge so Iām gonna aim for that - getting the most out of my membership this month!
Thatās my goal every month, and itās nice to feel like Iām making the most of it. My gym also went up $10 this month so now I really gotta max it.
Reusing my concept from last year with a tougher target and stricter rules:
I have decided to stick to a budget of $75 for the month for my junk food eating. Thatās an average of about $2.50 a day.
This encompasses treats I buy to eat when Iām by myself. It includes any dessert-y drinks (even when consumed with others). It doesnāt include treats or dessert bought to be eaten with my family or friends as part of special occasions or socializing (reasonable quantities) or on a business trip (again, reasonable quantities). I can eat down my existing stockpile, I can accept freebies (reasonable quantities), I can bake my own treats if I get desperate enough. I canāt behave in any way to massively circumvent the intentions of this goal, which is to eat less junk food and spend less money on it. No stocking up in September because the challenge starts in October.
Iām in. My primary goal is to reduce the inventory in my house of food and other things and I just saw a YouTuber suggest the way to make yourself have less food inventory is to cut your food budget. Yes - I know. Duh. But I hadnāt thought of it as a budget challenge, just ābuy less stuff.ā
My goal is going to be $50/wk for groceries. I just changed my Amazon subscribe and save delivery (I am rural and Amazon is the best option at this time). I cut my TVP order in half, am skipping Daisyās antler for the month, and only getting things I really need (TVP, steel cut oats, garbanzo beans).
Itās interesting to budget when the purpose is to use up the food you have. Zero deprivation feelings.
I am also in, I. will budget for my āEating Outā category, which includes also convenience products as rotisserie chicken (which is a luxury item here with 7-9ā¬ for half of one), prepared meats and bakery items besides bread and bread rolls. I gave in to the lure of having a nice coffee after personal training far too often.
Budget goal is 150ā¬ for October. I have two planned outings, one an alumni meeting, the other a lunch meeting with a friend.
I will stay at a hotel, starting tomorrow until October 3rd, with full board but without drinks. That will be excluded from the budget.
In in in! I was thinking it was going to be my snack spending (I think I end up tracking snack spending every single time we do one of these). But now that two tiny furballs have unexpectedly joined the family, I need to do a wholesale budget redo.
So the goals will be:
You canāt just say this and not include pictures!!!
Well theyāre perfect
