The year is more than halfway over, and I find this is a great time of year to look at my spending so far and see if I’m on track with where I had hoped to be. Maybe you set some goals at the beginning of the year–now is a great time to see if you’re meeting them or if something needs to change.

Follow along so you can do your own budget evaluation so you can finish off the second half of the year. Here are 5 questions to ask yourself about your budget and spending

If you are new to budgeting, check out my post on the 6 Best Budgeting Apps & Expense Tracking Programs.

5 Mid-Year Budget Evaluation Questions

1. How is your grocery spending going this year?

Many of us have a lot of fixed expenses every month that don’t change that much. Even some more variable expenses, like gas, can’t really be tweaked–you have to drive to work, right? I find that our grocery budget is the area of our budget that can fluctuate the most from month to month.

If you’re not tracking your spending, then that might be where you need to start! Make a commitment to track your grocery spending for the next few months, then come back to this post.

Assuming you have tracked your grocery spending, average how much you’ve spent on groceries per month over the past 6 months. If you have consistently spent more than you had planned, consider taking the next month to examine your spending more carefully and see if you can reduce it.

You may realize that the price of groceries has simply gone up! (it has, for many people.) If so, do you need to reallocate money from another part of your budget? Or perhaps you have an income problem and need to figure out how to increase your income.

2. Are you budgeting enough for increased utility costs?

The summer and the winter are both times when utility costs tend to go up. I live in the South, so our AC bill is always highest once the warm weather hits. We also end up with a higher water bill due to watering the garden.

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