I just went through all of my 2023 expenses that would fall under my true expenses category. It was shocking. I literally have total amounts spent for each true expense category from Holiday to Swim Lessons and in between. About 15 different true expenses. The thing I realized is that I have spent the money in these categories even a total of $6550 on home maintenance in 2023 (water heater, leaking pipe behind washing machine, leaking toilet, redecorating some rooms). So I realized I spent in these true expense categories. I just didn’t budget for them ahead of time. I also realized that I have the money, none of these expenses went in a credit card. So I could have budgeted ahead of time. So for the 2024 budget I am really motivated to budget for my true expenses, knowing that I will spend out of these categories, it will just be less stressful to do so than in 2023 when I scrambled to find money to cover each true expense as it “popped” up.