The Spending Archives @SpendingArchive

spendingarchives.com/2026/06/03/18-…

Our grocery bill went from $308/month in 2007 to $1,230/month in 2025. Inflation? Yes. Two kids who eat constantly? Also yes. Deciding we wanted the good steak? Honestly, also yes. 18 years of real data, no estimates. New post ↓

spendingarchives.com/2026/06/03/18-…

spendingarchives.com/2026/05/27/tri…

308,000 Hyatt points. $10,200 in hotel. $5,786 net out of pocket. Worth it. Every dollar of it. 🌺 Full breakdown on the blog → spendingarchives.com

spendingarchives.com/2026/05/20/fro…

We spent $33 on snacks in 2006. Last year: $1,011. Never once looked at this number until today. Turns out "budget noise" still adds up — and there's a surprisingly good coffee story buried in it. spendingarchives.com #PersonalFinance #BudgetData #Quicken #RealNumbers

April actuals are up. Hawaii ✅ Stranded in Chicago ✅ Bought a puppy ✅ Painted the house ✅ Medical bills ✅ Four categories over budget. Zero regrets. Every dollar, no rounding → spendingarchives.com/2026/05/13/apr…

The story isn't gas prices. It's gallons. We're buying a third fewer than we used to.

New post: spendingarchives.com/2026/05/06/20-… Paid $75 to fill my tank last week. Most I've ever spent on a single fill-up. So I pulled 19 years of our actual fuel spending from Quicken. 2007: $2,861/year 2025: $2,332/year Down — in nominal dollars. Down 47% adjusted for inflation...

spendingarchives.com/2026/05/03/mar…

Full breakdown → spendingarchives.com #PersonalFinance #BudgetActuals

March budget actuals: $9,657 in household spending, most categories under budget, and a $145 vacation month because apparently we've already paid for the next two years of trips. Also my husband now owns an ice bath bucket. Our $85 Personal Care budget did not survive.

👉 New post: January Budget Actuals — What Went Over & Why spendingarchives.com/2026/02/11/jan…

A car battery, too many shoes (yes, really), a birthday espresso machine, and even a couple fraudulent charges all tell a bigger story about how real budgets actually work. Not perfect. But explainable.

January is done, so I dug into our budget actuals — and honestly, nothing was shocking once I looked closer.

5/ Posting cadence: Mon = comparisons Wed = deep dives Fri = breakdown tables Follow if you like finance as data, not advice.

4/ What you’ll see here: • category breakdowns • comparisons & tradeoffs • seasonality and patterns No courses. No hacks. Just numbers.

1/ This is The Spending Archives. It’s a public log of real household spending—shared as data, not advice.