back to school

[Sheherezade]

How do you guys deal with sudden large expenses like back to school, vacation expenses, and Christmas in your budget? I'm getting better at the day to day expenses, but these things that come up a few times a year really throw me. I just end up spending out of savings - and always too much. This is the first year we've had any cash for back to school clothes so I ordered some nice clothes for the kids from Land's End. Now the cheapskate in me is whining about the expense. How do you budget masters plan for these things? And how do you keep from overspending?

[Phoebe]

We are dealing with this same issue right now. My gymbucks didn't go as far as I thought they would and I overspent on my girl's for this fall. I still anticipated get some things from Land's End as well. I feel like I need to return a bunch of stuff, but DH is trying to talk me out of it. After our hefty vacation costs mostly due to gas prices and an unexpected flight expense for DH going to his grandmother's funeral, we are feeling broke.

We haven't historically budgeted for things like clothes, vacations or holidays, but I think we will have to start taking it into account. The stress level skyrockets in our house when our bank account falls under a certain limit!

Jennifer