Budgeting: June and July

Budgeting is all out of whack right now.  We were gone from June 19-July 23.  The Magician paid ahead our bills, but took some unpaid vacation, plus obviously we used less electricity and gas not being here (we unplugged everything we could before we left), etc.  So the numbers don't provide much in the way of useful information.  Other than the fact that interest rates on savings accounts are beyond lousy, but we all knew that already, didn't we?

Two highlights, though:

• Thanks to whoever bought items through our Amazon link in July.   We had NINE purchases, our highest yet!  (We don't get names or details, so we don't know who you are to thank you personally, but we appreciate it!)
• The escrow on our mortgage went up last year even though our property taxes didn't.  Multiple patient phone calls did nothing.  But this month we got a check for $350.52... It's going to get applied to the mortgage again, but this time it will be taking an extra bite out of the principle.