Here is what I hope is a 7 month recap and not 7 months worth of excuses :)
our life
The baby finally came the end of May. My son is now 7 months old, and wonderful. We had a very rough start - my delivery did not go at all as planned and I was sick and recovering for the first couple of months. He was also a very demanding baby and I spent a lot of time sitting and holding him. So not much at all got done the first few months. Now that he is napping and playing on his own more, I am working on getting life back to normal. I have been working on cleaning out the house, starting to sew again, I am trying to get a handmade business going. I've been spending a lot of time in Florida with my mom. My sister got married in September, and that took up a lot of time and planning as well. I feel very lucky our two elderly cars didn't give us trouble this year, but we are anticipating replacing a car in the not too distant future. We need a bigger car now anyway.
work
I had a meeting with work about two months in. I was still real ill and adjusting. I asked if I could go part time or work from home. My commute and pay did not make continuing to work (for them at least) continue to make sense. Additionally, the baby wakes up and stays up frequently in the night (he still does even now - I am exhausted) They told me that wouldn't work, and severed my employment with them. A couple months later, I got an email asking if I was still interested. So, I have been working part time from home. Some weeks more than others. My accounts hadn't been touched since I left, so I have been catching them up for the year. I have mixed feelings about it. I loved my job, and having some money come in is helpful. I miss really working though. I miss going into the office and all the components of my job. I am rather jealous of the girl who replaced me. It just wouldn't work though. I'd be working for daycare, and I can't imagine daycare raising my baby. Don't get me wrong - I never in a million years believed I would be a SAHM. Until I was. I never understood why people would give up their jobs to be moms. But there are lots of reasons to do so. It also doesn't mean I don't miss the socialization and accomplishment of work, either. I just can't do it all, after all.
The money
Here I wish I had kept up the blog. I think I could have used a place to sort things through and would have appreciated the recording of it. However, after April budgeting kind of went to hell. After I had the baby, everything did for a while. It was enough just to get to and from the bathroom for a while. I kept an eye on the bills but couldn't go to the bank. So we started using debit cards, and my husband signed us up for our grocery/gas credit card. We had a bunch of money sitting in our accounts that should have been put in savings. We have been going over budget and spending more freely again.
We were very lucky in that my family really provided us with most everything we needed. However, as I spent most of my days sitting on my couch holding the baby and watching game shows I also developed quite the addiction to online shopping. What else could I do one handed and sitting? Every little baby trinket or cloth diaper that appeared on a DOTD site I was buying. I didn't use a credit card, at least, but I have spent quite a bit of money earmarked for other things. I am still spending, and really that is one thing on the list for this year - get back on track. With everything - the budget and the spending. As well as try to find ways to make money.
The medical bills were far above what we had planned. I had a horribly emergency last minute C section and a lot of tests. Between me and the baby, we had about $40,000 in hospital bills. We paid oop (after insurance) $2500 in the end ($900 to an anesthesiologist I had never even planned to have!). That's 5 times what I planned on though. But it is all paid for. We had the money.
When I was going to the bank and taking out our monthly cash, we had accumulated over $3000 in cash savings funds I was keeping in my linen closet. I started having horrible nightmares about us getting robbed and killed. We finally took most of that cash and opened another savings account for short term savings. Now I just transfer the money every month.
I paid off the loan from my father on his birthday in September. All we have left is around $4000 on my student loan. We had a large "gift" for the holidays and we additionally have about $15000 in savings. I just have to sit down and think it all through but regardless, I should be debt free this month. 9 months later than originally planned. Not working has obviously slowed us down and I just have a lot harder time not having a lot of savings now with the baby. How funny when I lived most of my life with a couple hundred in the bank and thousands in debt and never thought twice about it.
Showing posts with label spending. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spending. Show all posts
Monday, January 2, 2012
Thursday, April 14, 2011
I'm here.
Wow. I've gone AWOL. Just because I have become tardy with my updates, doesn't mean I am not still following my plan. I have been very preoccupied with the pregnancy. I am 36 weeks now, and feeling big and uncomfortable and sore. My feet are huge. All my free time has gone to preparing for the baby, and I don't even really have energy for that anymore. Overall the pregnancy has gone well.
I have been having a much harder time sticking to my budget. I am spending lots on the baby. I have had some monetary gifts that help with that, but all my discretionary money and I have a baby line item in the budget and I have even gone beyond that. I was doing so well watching my spending til it came to the baby. I am still doing monthly budgets and payoffs. April has been hard because our taxes are much more than we were expecting. May is hard because the baby could come at any time. So, there is some shuffling of money going on in and out of our savings. We should still be able to be debt free after the baby comes with a decent savings starter.
Something has happened at work causing the blocks to go away, so for now, I am able to update here. Which is somehow a lot easier than updating from home for some reason. I don't know when they will put the blocks back up, but I am going to take advantage while I can to try to catch up. :)
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Thoughts as we come to the end of the year...
Heh. The first one is, I made it! I haven't used the credit card for over a year. And, until maybe this month, I haven't even been tempted. Living on a budget works.... if you stick to it. We have come a long way. I am proud of what we have accomplished, though at the same time, I feel beaten up. It is hard, now especially, to stick to the budget, and I have been overspending lately.
We found out we are having a boy. Even though I wanted a girl, just knowing this suddenly made the pregnancy so much more real. I also started feeling him move in the last few weeks, and have started really showing in the last week or so (though I really just look really fat, I think). I am wanting to buy stuff for the baby and worrying about big ticket items. I have been going over budget and my account is suffering for it. BUT I drew the line at the credit card. I did spend some money that was sitting in my account for car repairs, though. And it isn't like I went crazy... I bought some clearance clothes at Target and some cloth diapers and I am making the nursery linens, so I bought fabric (which I still don't have enough of). But when you are on a tight budget, and when I really have myself focused on being able to pay a lot off this summer, it is hard to carve out even a little bit.
We have also gotten hit at work - Neither one of us got bonuses or raises. Although, my husband's job has "promised" retoractive raises and bonuses in June. He thinks this means layoffs are coming, though it is unlikely he will be laid off. In addition, our insurance premiums are skyrocketing. They are going up $150 in January and another $150 when the baby comes, so we are essentially taking a big paycut. I don't know what is up with my job. They refuse to admit we are hurting, but it is a huge deal that we got screwed in both raises and bonuses and we saw several large rounds of layoffs this year. I also feel I am terribly underpaid for what I do for them, and feel I deserve an additional raise to balance that out. I was surprised I didn't get it, and am debating at what point I need to ask for it. I just feel I am not in a bargaining position right now. That may change next fall. I really think I will be looking for another job by then, not just because of money but also because I spend 2-3 hours commuting everyday. I am having a hard time justifying that knowing I will have a baby this time next year. I keep playing with the stay at home scenario budget, but I just can't do it. Not only do I not really want to be a stay at home mom, we would be cut to nothing. I don't think it is worth it. It is worth it to find a better paying and/or closer to home job though, even though I ultimately love my job and am very comfortable there.
Making things worse, my laptop finally gave up the ghost this weekend. My husband keeps talking about getting me a new one, but I hate spending that money. All I can think about are all the other expenses we have coming up.
Looking back, I said there were three things, I think, that I wouldn't be able to do and still pay off debt:
1. Buy dolls: Well, I did. I am not entirely sure, but I think I bought three dolls this year, and minimal doll accessories. While this is certainly more than zero, it is a whole lot less than the several hundred dollars a month I was spending before. There have been many things I have had to pass on and watch retire, even though I really wanted it. There's always ebay? It did get easier once I got pregnant, though. It is a lot harder to justify these sorts of purchases knowing I need things like cribs and bottles.
2. Get a dog: Well, I did. Barely made it a few months on that one. He was expensive initially, and has been lately because I am taking him to training classes before the baby comes. But, overall, he has not been an overwhelming financial impact. I think after having such an old, sick, expensive dog for so long, I forget that the younger ones aren't generally as expensive. We have also built up a good savings fund for pet expenses. With everyone's shots coming due in the next few months, I am much more calm about handling that than I was this time last year.
3. No 5th anniversary in Hawaii: Yeah. We had to let this one go. There was no way. We did spend a nice week at my parent's beach house using money we saved for that purpose. I spent a lot of time on the beach, reading books, and getting pregnant. :) Maybe for our 10th we can do Hawaii?
4. No baby: Well, I did. Well.... I will. My arrangement with myself was that we would start trying once the credit cards were paid off, which is what we did. It took a few months to get pregnant, which allowed me to also pay off one of the loans. It did not take anywhere near as much time as I thought it would though. I thought we would be seeking medical treatments at this point, but I guess we were very lucky that it did not come to that. It does, however, throw off my 14 month to debt freedom plan, and I have had a hard time dealing with the realities of that. I hate stretching the money stuff out so much longer, and baby expenses, daycare, and maternity leave are all going to make it even longer.
So. I guess the lesson here is that even though you get on a budget, and by definition you have to sacrifice, you do not have to pass on the important things. I was still able to get some fun things - not as much as I wanted to or would have a year ago, but didn't have to give it up entirely. And the important things, like animals and babies, can still be worked in and worked around. You just have to be flexible and plan.
I think back to the first few months, when we were really getting by on nothing. When buying my book club book was my entire "fun money" allotment. When a month with five weeks cropped up and we ran out of gas and grocery money. When I had to pay vet bills with no pet fund cushion. When a leaking roof was the end of the world. When a hotel and plane for my cousin's wedding was a huge deal. I am griping about how low our sinking fund is now that we used it for it's purpose: Christmas gifts. But I am still entering January with around $300 in it, which is $300 more than I had last January! We have been through a lot, and we have come a long way, and we have been able to increase things, like gas and fun money, as things have been paid off or income increased (fat chance).
This has gotten long, so I suppose I will post my looking ahead thoughts separately.
We found out we are having a boy. Even though I wanted a girl, just knowing this suddenly made the pregnancy so much more real. I also started feeling him move in the last few weeks, and have started really showing in the last week or so (though I really just look really fat, I think). I am wanting to buy stuff for the baby and worrying about big ticket items. I have been going over budget and my account is suffering for it. BUT I drew the line at the credit card. I did spend some money that was sitting in my account for car repairs, though. And it isn't like I went crazy... I bought some clearance clothes at Target and some cloth diapers and I am making the nursery linens, so I bought fabric (which I still don't have enough of). But when you are on a tight budget, and when I really have myself focused on being able to pay a lot off this summer, it is hard to carve out even a little bit.
We have also gotten hit at work - Neither one of us got bonuses or raises. Although, my husband's job has "promised" retoractive raises and bonuses in June. He thinks this means layoffs are coming, though it is unlikely he will be laid off. In addition, our insurance premiums are skyrocketing. They are going up $150 in January and another $150 when the baby comes, so we are essentially taking a big paycut. I don't know what is up with my job. They refuse to admit we are hurting, but it is a huge deal that we got screwed in both raises and bonuses and we saw several large rounds of layoffs this year. I also feel I am terribly underpaid for what I do for them, and feel I deserve an additional raise to balance that out. I was surprised I didn't get it, and am debating at what point I need to ask for it. I just feel I am not in a bargaining position right now. That may change next fall. I really think I will be looking for another job by then, not just because of money but also because I spend 2-3 hours commuting everyday. I am having a hard time justifying that knowing I will have a baby this time next year. I keep playing with the stay at home scenario budget, but I just can't do it. Not only do I not really want to be a stay at home mom, we would be cut to nothing. I don't think it is worth it. It is worth it to find a better paying and/or closer to home job though, even though I ultimately love my job and am very comfortable there.
Making things worse, my laptop finally gave up the ghost this weekend. My husband keeps talking about getting me a new one, but I hate spending that money. All I can think about are all the other expenses we have coming up.
Looking back, I said there were three things, I think, that I wouldn't be able to do and still pay off debt:
1. Buy dolls: Well, I did. I am not entirely sure, but I think I bought three dolls this year, and minimal doll accessories. While this is certainly more than zero, it is a whole lot less than the several hundred dollars a month I was spending before. There have been many things I have had to pass on and watch retire, even though I really wanted it. There's always ebay? It did get easier once I got pregnant, though. It is a lot harder to justify these sorts of purchases knowing I need things like cribs and bottles.
2. Get a dog: Well, I did. Barely made it a few months on that one. He was expensive initially, and has been lately because I am taking him to training classes before the baby comes. But, overall, he has not been an overwhelming financial impact. I think after having such an old, sick, expensive dog for so long, I forget that the younger ones aren't generally as expensive. We have also built up a good savings fund for pet expenses. With everyone's shots coming due in the next few months, I am much more calm about handling that than I was this time last year.
3. No 5th anniversary in Hawaii: Yeah. We had to let this one go. There was no way. We did spend a nice week at my parent's beach house using money we saved for that purpose. I spent a lot of time on the beach, reading books, and getting pregnant. :) Maybe for our 10th we can do Hawaii?
4. No baby: Well, I did. Well.... I will. My arrangement with myself was that we would start trying once the credit cards were paid off, which is what we did. It took a few months to get pregnant, which allowed me to also pay off one of the loans. It did not take anywhere near as much time as I thought it would though. I thought we would be seeking medical treatments at this point, but I guess we were very lucky that it did not come to that. It does, however, throw off my 14 month to debt freedom plan, and I have had a hard time dealing with the realities of that. I hate stretching the money stuff out so much longer, and baby expenses, daycare, and maternity leave are all going to make it even longer.
So. I guess the lesson here is that even though you get on a budget, and by definition you have to sacrifice, you do not have to pass on the important things. I was still able to get some fun things - not as much as I wanted to or would have a year ago, but didn't have to give it up entirely. And the important things, like animals and babies, can still be worked in and worked around. You just have to be flexible and plan.
I think back to the first few months, when we were really getting by on nothing. When buying my book club book was my entire "fun money" allotment. When a month with five weeks cropped up and we ran out of gas and grocery money. When I had to pay vet bills with no pet fund cushion. When a leaking roof was the end of the world. When a hotel and plane for my cousin's wedding was a huge deal. I am griping about how low our sinking fund is now that we used it for it's purpose: Christmas gifts. But I am still entering January with around $300 in it, which is $300 more than I had last January! We have been through a lot, and we have come a long way, and we have been able to increase things, like gas and fun money, as things have been paid off or income increased (fat chance).
This has gotten long, so I suppose I will post my looking ahead thoughts separately.
Monday, July 5, 2010
May Income Statement
I really have to say, at this point, after doing this for a few months, that I really don't understand how we keep having such large net incomes. It isn't like we are gaining $2000 a month. I suppose it is from our bank balances, but even those aren't really that high. We each maintain about $350 in our accounts throughout the month. Maybe it is because we get paid at the end of the month, and haven't spent that money on bills yet when the statements are mailed? It does make sense that the end amount is $400 less than the beginning balances, because I think I got paid an extra $400 at the end of April, which we saved to pay for our hotel in May. I don't know... I just don't want to give the false impression that we are rolling in dough or that we aren't busting our budget every month, which we usually are.Extra revenue: Birthday money
Expenses:
Yay low power! We over paid cable last month, so it is a little under this month. Termite due this month. I think netflix was double paid last month, or else I just missed it on my statement.
Debt:
Standard stuff here.
Variable:
Restaurant was high because we were out of town and had a couple of unplanned lunches. Most of our meals during the trip were covered by one relative or another. Supplies were high ... I have gotten into CVS ing. Unfortunately, some trips I get out of there for under $1, some are more like $20.
Additional expenses:
I spent almost $200 making my cousin's programs for her wedding, but my aunt offered later to reimburse me for that, which was great! That will show up in July, I think. The rest of the expenses for the wedding included our hotel, parking at the airport, and some last minute outfit additions.
Fund activity:
I have been struggling with how to handle planned expenses in the budget. I keep a separate spreadsheet with the tallies for our funds. Most things I just leave off altogether, like the boy who cuts our lawn, or our cleaning people (which my mom paid for as our Christmas gift). But I feel that I need to keep a true account of our expenses, and I also want to celebrate the fact that we actually were prepared for some things. The money isn't technically coming out of our monthly income, it is coming from our savings funds for that purpose. So, I have added "fund activity" at the bottom of the IS.
This month we took from two funds: I show the balance of the fund, the amount removed, and the new balance.
From repairs, we paid for our roof repair (YAY!) and also 2 new tires for my husband's car, since one was completely flat. From pet, we paid for my dog's boarding for our trip, which somehow tripled in planned amount, because he also had a checkup and some medicine added on.
Friday, June 4, 2010
This is gonna be one of those posts...
I did something bad, and now I am panicking about it. It is gonna be ok. It isn't That bad. I am just beating myself up for it.
Several years ago, I was in an ebay bidding war for an OOAK doll. While I have seen many dolls by this artist (and later did get another one), this is the most beautiful one I have seen. Even though the artist usually sells her dolls for around $400, this one ended up going for around $90. I dropped out, but if I had upped my bid one more time, I would have won. I know this because as it turned out, I knew the woman who won her. She said she had also entered her last bid and walked away, as had I (I was going out) and hers was just a bit higher than mine. I have kicked myself over that for years, but took comfort in knowing where the doll ended up.
Over the years, this woman seems to have lost interest in dolls. I don't know what the deal is exactly, but she fell out of the American Girl community, and sold off a lot of that collection. She got big into Ellowyne (which is what these dolls are) and worked so much with this Ellowyne artist that she even helped to design a line of clothing with her for them. She has become close friends with her. But, she slowly over the years sold off her Ellowynes as well. She got heavy into BJDs for a while, and sold those off too. I don't understand the part where you invest heavily in these collections, lose interest, and sell. I have a very hard time selling my collections.
Anyway, she had three Ellowynes left, and the doll I had wanted was one of them. She posted them all for sale a couple weeks ago. I inquired, and she remembered that I had been bidding on this doll. She wanted $200!! I had hoped that since she got a deal on the doll, she wouldn't be pricing her so high! I told her I couldn't afford that, and she told me she would let me know if she didn't sell.
Tonight, she emailed me to tell me she was about to list her on Ebay for $150 and would I like her for $140 (+shipping, it turns out)? I have $60 in my personal spending account. But of course, there are several things I want to buy. Including clearance Ellowyne things from the company. I went back and forth on it. I can't believe she didn't sell (The other two did) and I feel like she is meant to be mine. I told her I would take her. I guess I have to start rooting around for things to sell now too.
It is very very hard living on so tight a budget. This is exactly why I planned to give us another "raise" next month. It's like dieting. You can't completely deprive yourself for such long periods of time. We don't go out, we can't buy fun things... and every little thing we have to do is a stress about the cost and the budget. It's been 6 months of this. I believe you need to let up on the reigns from time to time. It is just hard to do when I want so badly to achieve my big goal. And when things like this happen which are once-in-a-lifetime, it is hard to pass up. It is not the end of the world, or even the end of the money. It just isn't wise use of money, and it means putting off other things I was planning to get. Again. And so I beat myself up.
We will be paying off the last credit card in 10 days. We are really psyched about that. I spent some time today "what-if"ing a best case scenerio on a baby, and it really throws off everything. It is shocking how much a baby (specifically daycare) is going to slow us down. I don't know how poor people do it. But - all fodder for a different post. The point is, things happen, life happens, and I guess you have to roll with it. I feel like if we aren't going to be debt free by April, the credit cards are the important part to me, and does it really matter beyond that?
I guess even in the face of accomplishing my first goal, I am having a rough time right now. I need to feel some success at something. I am scared. Of every possible outcome.
Several years ago, I was in an ebay bidding war for an OOAK doll. While I have seen many dolls by this artist (and later did get another one), this is the most beautiful one I have seen. Even though the artist usually sells her dolls for around $400, this one ended up going for around $90. I dropped out, but if I had upped my bid one more time, I would have won. I know this because as it turned out, I knew the woman who won her. She said she had also entered her last bid and walked away, as had I (I was going out) and hers was just a bit higher than mine. I have kicked myself over that for years, but took comfort in knowing where the doll ended up.
Over the years, this woman seems to have lost interest in dolls. I don't know what the deal is exactly, but she fell out of the American Girl community, and sold off a lot of that collection. She got big into Ellowyne (which is what these dolls are) and worked so much with this Ellowyne artist that she even helped to design a line of clothing with her for them. She has become close friends with her. But, she slowly over the years sold off her Ellowynes as well. She got heavy into BJDs for a while, and sold those off too. I don't understand the part where you invest heavily in these collections, lose interest, and sell. I have a very hard time selling my collections.
Anyway, she had three Ellowynes left, and the doll I had wanted was one of them. She posted them all for sale a couple weeks ago. I inquired, and she remembered that I had been bidding on this doll. She wanted $200!! I had hoped that since she got a deal on the doll, she wouldn't be pricing her so high! I told her I couldn't afford that, and she told me she would let me know if she didn't sell.
Tonight, she emailed me to tell me she was about to list her on Ebay for $150 and would I like her for $140 (+shipping, it turns out)? I have $60 in my personal spending account. But of course, there are several things I want to buy. Including clearance Ellowyne things from the company. I went back and forth on it. I can't believe she didn't sell (The other two did) and I feel like she is meant to be mine. I told her I would take her. I guess I have to start rooting around for things to sell now too.
It is very very hard living on so tight a budget. This is exactly why I planned to give us another "raise" next month. It's like dieting. You can't completely deprive yourself for such long periods of time. We don't go out, we can't buy fun things... and every little thing we have to do is a stress about the cost and the budget. It's been 6 months of this. I believe you need to let up on the reigns from time to time. It is just hard to do when I want so badly to achieve my big goal. And when things like this happen which are once-in-a-lifetime, it is hard to pass up. It is not the end of the world, or even the end of the money. It just isn't wise use of money, and it means putting off other things I was planning to get. Again. And so I beat myself up.
We will be paying off the last credit card in 10 days. We are really psyched about that. I spent some time today "what-if"ing a best case scenerio on a baby, and it really throws off everything. It is shocking how much a baby (specifically daycare) is going to slow us down. I don't know how poor people do it. But - all fodder for a different post. The point is, things happen, life happens, and I guess you have to roll with it. I feel like if we aren't going to be debt free by April, the credit cards are the important part to me, and does it really matter beyond that?
I guess even in the face of accomplishing my first goal, I am having a rough time right now. I need to feel some success at something. I am scared. Of every possible outcome.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
June's Budget
HAHA! Look at that! The budget up on the first day of the month! I do want to point out that I have the budgets done ... usually two months ahead of time *blush* they get tweaked a bit as time gets closer. So, its not that I am not doing them... It is that I am not getting them posted in a timely manner. Part of it is that a lot is going on at home. I have been working out after work so I get home late, and pretty much eat dinner and go to bed. The weekends have been crazy. Work no longer allows me to access blogs of any kind. And, as we got closer to the wedding, the less time I had for blogging. I am committed both to doing and posting, so it will get done. I just wish I could still do blogs from work.Revenue
No surprises.
Fixed
My insurance installment is due again already. That surprised me. I thought I had til July. So, that took some reworking to fit that in. Power is going down, and I am really trying not to blast the AC til it gets brutally hot. Our trash may or may not be due. It normally would, so I put it in the budget, but they are saying they are going to change the trash system in our county so that it comes out of our property taxes. The bonus, though, is that there will be a ton more curbside recycling which will be amazing. So. I am hoping that is the case. But then I am not sure what, if anything, the trash bill will look like this month.
Debt
WE WILL PAY OFF THE LAST CREDIT CARD THIS MONTH!!!!!!!!!
That was my first and most important goal. I am so excited. And the first student loan should fall two months later in August, so this is really going to be an exciting few months coming up.
Variable
Expenses:
I have set aside extra money for an outing to celebrate being credit card debt free. I feel like everyone carries me a lot - We always get our dinners and stuff paid for by my family, because they know we can't/won't be able to participate in family events otherwise. It may just be a token, but I want to take them all out for dinner and drinks on me at my favorite restaurant when we pay off the credit cards. I believe we deserve a paid for in cash celebration! And it is important to me to make an effort to pay them back and a display of how responsible we are getting and turning our life around.
Funds:
Our lawn boy upped his rates this summer, and we have already burned through all the money we had saved up for him! So, I have to cash flow him. I lowered the travel and repairs funds to help cover some of the other higher expenses this month.
Don't worry too much about the notes on the side. For the most part, my fund jars were all off. I had too much in some, and not enough in others, and the bank accounts were running low because we were just paying with the debit card instead of with the cash we had set aside. So, I resorted all the money in the jars to match what should be in them, and didn't pull that money from the bank accounts in order to repay them what they were owed. Sort of. They are still going to be low, but not as.
April Income Statement
April Income Statement
Revenue:
I got an extra week's paycheck at the end of the month, which was actually brought forward to pay for the hotel in May. My inlaws paid my husband back for his expenses to travel there.
Fixed Expenses:
Power is finally going down a little bit. We couldn't find the cable bill, and even though we pay the same amount every month, my husband overpaid on purpose. Insurance is super high because we got charged 3 installments on our auto insurance and my husband and I both got life insurance. I had thought we would be charged monthly for that, but we were charged quarterly.
Debt:
We paid the planned $2000 to the last credit card, as well as the $800 for the travel expenses which were put on the card.
Variable:
We were able to include a travel fund again. The pet amount includes the $150 for the fund as well as $200 spent at the vet on the dog for his shots and grooming. We forgot to take cash. I sorted all the funds out in May. I keep a separate spreadsheet with their ins and outs and actual totals. Supplies was high this month. We did some work on our basement, which required some supplies and I needed some supplies for other projects. Bank fee was the finance charge on the credit card. My husband's discretionary was super high. He got his WOW renewed for 6 months. He also cancelled a subscription, but in the process had to pay for several issues at once. Or something.
Savings:
Not surprisingly, we had nothing for the sinking fund this month. $900 in the bank account was earmarked for repairs.
April special circumstances:
A couple of my husband's charges from his parents carried over onto the April statement. We owed $2000 to the federal taxes. We moved money out of savings to pay for that. Then we got $874 back from the state. I want to pay back the $2000 to savings, but as of yet we have not. I have really just been holding my breath to get through May, but now will look at that.
Monday, May 31, 2010
May Budget
...better late than never? I am glad this month is over, that's all I can say.Revenue: Includes my husband's raise, and my extra week paycheck for this quarter.
Fixed: Termite bill due.
Debt repay: Typical amounts all around.
Variable: I have split this section up into the categories we are actually spending each month and the categories we are funding, and may or may not actually be spending. It makes it easier for me to read, plan, and analyze.
We gave ourselves a small raise in our discretionary spending. This is financed by my husband's raise, but also well deserved after a full quarter of really having no spending money, and making good debt progress. As I have started to work out more, I had wanted to buy new sneakers, but that money ended up buying mother's day flowers :/ The rest of the expenses are the same as any month.
For the funds, my husband's raise allowed us to add a car fund category. My hope is that this will build toward a new car when needed, but may end up going to car repairs if necessary. All of my extra paycheck this month was earmarked for our wedding expenses, including our stay and parking.
Friday, May 14, 2010
My doll arrived today!
I have waited almost 6 months for this doll to arrive. He is one of the catalysts which started this whole journey. He is paid for. And he is finally here. I may as well enjoy and share him, yeah? :)
(He doesn't stand real well on his own)
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
UGH
Work has blocked blogger. This is new this week. I cannot post or read any bloggers from work anymore. How annoying.
We got our roof fixed. I don't have to worry about that anymore. It is done. I am glad. Onto the next thing.
My cousin called me up last minute and asked me to make wedding programs for her. At first I was going to say no (mostly for the time crunch), but I ended up saying yes. I have already spent maybe $75 on supplies, and I have run out of ink so I need to buy more. This is money I hadn't planned on spending. This is going to have to be her gift. Tight month gets tighter. We leave next week.
We are on track to pay off the credit cards mid June.
We got our roof fixed. I don't have to worry about that anymore. It is done. I am glad. Onto the next thing.
My cousin called me up last minute and asked me to make wedding programs for her. At first I was going to say no (mostly for the time crunch), but I ended up saying yes. I have already spent maybe $75 on supplies, and I have run out of ink so I need to buy more. This is money I hadn't planned on spending. This is going to have to be her gift. Tight month gets tighter. We leave next week.
We are on track to pay off the credit cards mid June.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
March Income Statement
March:Income: Standard.
Fixed: Power is still high. Trash bill this month. My husband says they are redoing the trash system here so that it will be included in property tax and will also pick up more recyclables, which will be fabulous. They tried this last year, and it failed, so we are hoping it passes this year. Water was high. We have some plumbing problems we haven't addressed yet, and some leaky toilets. But, it's only like $5 more than usual... Our insurance (car) was crazy low this month. With all the roof stuff, my husband also spoke with them about some discounts he thought we should be getting, and reduced our price. I guess they were crediting us back or something? I really don't know.
A note on Bally's: I have started going back. I am trying hard to lose weight (for the wedding, and pre-baby) and am working out 4 days a week now. 2 at Bally and 2 at the gym at work. I'd like to also do wii fit on the weekends, but haven't gotten to do that yet. It's been pretty busy. I have lost 4 pounds so far. So, I am keeping Bally's for now.
Debt: Paid off my credit card. I now own a lot of veterinary work and all my dollstuffs and my transmission. Only $1000 to cc5, to allow for us to save for the roof repair. Minimums all around.
Variable: My car renewal was due. Two cats got shots. The repair is for the power guy who came out when my house lost power. I spent some extra money going out with work and friends this month. Bank fees are finance charges, as usual. Our Misc. was high this month, too, and I don't remember why now. (my book is downstairs)
Saving: $59 to sinking fund. $900 for the roof.
Highly unusual expenses which get their own category this month: My husband spent money to be with and help out his parents. They paid him back for this (but not until April). I bought and mailed invitations for my cousin's rehearsal dinner, which I had budgeted money for. I also bought shoes for my dress.
And, we still made it out with $20 to spare.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Mid month update
Happy tax day!
We had to pay $2000. But we are also getting $800 back from the state. Had to dip into savings for this. I think this has something to do with our mortgage set up right now. If'n we refi soon, maybe it will straighten itself out. I have tabled the refi for now.
We have had an estimate for our roof, and another one coming next week. They think it was a bullet! I forget exactly, but it was around $850. The people coming next week can also do our siding repair (which is probably from settling), so I am waiting to see what that looks like. We have about $1000 saved for this, and I want it done already.
Counting down to my cousin's wedding. I get an extra paycheck this month, which should cover the hotel. We also have $200 in the travel fund, and the $400 in the sinking fund to cover any other expenses. I don't expect many, but we will have parking and miscellaneous spending. I still need to get a gift, too.
My husband needs new tires. Like, one if his tires is literally completely flat. I still haven't worked out how we are going to pay for this.
The good news is, my husband's boss called him last week and gave him a promotion and an 8% raise. It seems to amount to about $360 more take home a month. It was shocking how quickly I found places for that money to go. I had so many things I wanted to fund, and hadn't yet, that the whole thing is not going to debt repayment, as I might like. Starting in May, We will begin a car fund. Both our cars are old, and I am holding my breath that they will both make it another year (let alone long enough to save for another one). My husband's car is ten years old and has over 150,000 miles. I gave us each a raise in our personal money. I think we deserve it. We have had very little fun money. Now we are up to an amount we can actually use for something we want. I doubled what we are saving for our lawn boy - both because we are going to start needing him again, and because I expect his rates to increase again this year. The rest seems to be ironing out things that were getting ignored in the budget, such as the bills being charged on our cards and the quarterly bills. It doesn't last long. But it is good to have. I am just disappointed, because somehow I thought we could get our debt repayment up to 2900 a month, but I guess that was not a realistic figure. I was not accounting for things properly.
I am also struggling with the fact that I am "saving" about $500 a month into these funds. I could pay things off faster if I didn't. But I feel better knowing that we are building money towards these things, should they happen. Our travel and pet funds are about to take another hit. The repairs we have are outpacing what I am saving for them by far. I have decided to put caps on some of these things. If I manage to hit the cap, then I can cut back the saving there until I have to use the money.
We had to pay $2000. But we are also getting $800 back from the state. Had to dip into savings for this. I think this has something to do with our mortgage set up right now. If'n we refi soon, maybe it will straighten itself out. I have tabled the refi for now.
We have had an estimate for our roof, and another one coming next week. They think it was a bullet! I forget exactly, but it was around $850. The people coming next week can also do our siding repair (which is probably from settling), so I am waiting to see what that looks like. We have about $1000 saved for this, and I want it done already.
Counting down to my cousin's wedding. I get an extra paycheck this month, which should cover the hotel. We also have $200 in the travel fund, and the $400 in the sinking fund to cover any other expenses. I don't expect many, but we will have parking and miscellaneous spending. I still need to get a gift, too.
My husband needs new tires. Like, one if his tires is literally completely flat. I still haven't worked out how we are going to pay for this.
The good news is, my husband's boss called him last week and gave him a promotion and an 8% raise. It seems to amount to about $360 more take home a month. It was shocking how quickly I found places for that money to go. I had so many things I wanted to fund, and hadn't yet, that the whole thing is not going to debt repayment, as I might like. Starting in May, We will begin a car fund. Both our cars are old, and I am holding my breath that they will both make it another year (let alone long enough to save for another one). My husband's car is ten years old and has over 150,000 miles. I gave us each a raise in our personal money. I think we deserve it. We have had very little fun money. Now we are up to an amount we can actually use for something we want. I doubled what we are saving for our lawn boy - both because we are going to start needing him again, and because I expect his rates to increase again this year. The rest seems to be ironing out things that were getting ignored in the budget, such as the bills being charged on our cards and the quarterly bills. It doesn't last long. But it is good to have. I am just disappointed, because somehow I thought we could get our debt repayment up to 2900 a month, but I guess that was not a realistic figure. I was not accounting for things properly.
I am also struggling with the fact that I am "saving" about $500 a month into these funds. I could pay things off faster if I didn't. But I feel better knowing that we are building money towards these things, should they happen. Our travel and pet funds are about to take another hit. The repairs we have are outpacing what I am saving for them by far. I have decided to put caps on some of these things. If I manage to hit the cap, then I can cut back the saving there until I have to use the money.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
April Budget
April Budget
Fixed
I anticipate a drop in power this month. We have taken out life insurance, so I expected to pay about an additional $60 in the insurance category a month, starting in April.
Debt
Cards 1-4 are paid off, so we are pounding on my husband's credit card now.
Variable
I can finally start my travel fund. Continuing the repair fund. Everything else appears to be the same as any other month.
Short and sweet :)
March budget
Here is my March budget. I couldn't find the one I printed out in February, and I think I messed with the spreadsheet a lot since then, but this is still pretty close to our plan.
Fixed
I was still anticipating a high power bill. Lower cable. I added the server back in - They were offering us half what we were paying before and we were having a lot of trouble with reliable connection from home, so we were considering going back. As of this writing, we still have not, but I have it in there just in case. Our trash bill was due this month. I took out some of the other quarterly expenses because it was just confusing me. Both on the budget and the bank account. I know you are supposed to save the month's portion each month, but it is just not working for me, so I am going to try to just recognize the bill when it comes due. I also removed the bills which are charged to my husband's card, because now we are just paying on that card, and I don't really have to account for the extra to keep the balance even. I will either add those back in when his card is paid off or encourage him to have them taken from the bank account instead.
Debt
I struggled with this a lot. I had wanted to pay my credit card off in Feb and then put $2000 to my husband's card. We would have had it paid off in May then. With the various crises that arose, I felt it more prudent to hold some money back for a couple months to help pay for stuff. So, we planned to pay off my credit card in March and only $1000 to my husband's. Minimums on all else.
Variables
My car came due, so I had to pay my taxes and emissions. I was so aware of it because of the budget, I think this is the first year ever I had it done weeks ahead of time. Two of our cats were due for shots, so I upped our pet allotment to cover that. I added a new fund for repairs, with the $400 held back from debt for the month (plus the $500 from last month).
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
February income statement
February income statement
Revenue
I got an extra week's pay in one of my paychecks. My husband deposited some birthday money. I believe some of the bank balance is for our March mortgage, but I am not quite sure. It just seems high to me.
Fixed
Power was super high. Just look at that. Ugh. We had some snow and some very cold days. We are finally seeing the lowered cable price, though that does include a partial refund for the month, so future cable should be around $80. I still think that is super high for the basic stuff. We had our termite bill for the quarter.
Debt repayment
Just when I thought #2 was paid, it hit me with a $5 interest charge from the previous month. I now have that paid off again. I own my carpet (#3). We paid off most of cc#4 which is my main card. I was going to pay the whole thing, but then the fiasco with the roof, and I opted to save some money for that instead. That was a very hard decision to make. Minimums to all else.
Variable
Most of these are discussed in the cash jar post. Some highlights: Pet. Is very high, because we adopted our dog, and purchased items for him. This figure includes the money we also still set aside for the pet jar. The only thing I can say for myself, is I did that all with cash. Mostly money from my extra paycheck that month. We bought our convention tickets for this summer, so that is set. Bank fees are finance charges. Other than the dog, we really stuck to (or below) our budget for this month.
Savings
We added $120 to the sinking fund from the cash jars for the month. We saved $500 towards our roof repair, instead of paying off a credit card.
Looking back, I am not sure I calculated the bank balances properly, and we way overspent on the pet category (and power!) but we came out positive and did really well overall, I think.
Monday, March 1, 2010
February cash jars
We did not cut it as close in February as I thought we would. It seems like we want to spend a lot of money the first weekend of the month, but then can hold off the rest of the month.
Miscellaneous: I got a haircut and waxed my eyebrows. I mailed some stuff at the post office. Last weekend we did a gaming event which was $5 entry fee each.
Takeout: We got pizza once and Chinese once.
Supplies: I am shocked that the only thing we got out of supplies this month was a lamp for my office, which I have been meaning to get for months. As I haven't been feeling well the last couple weeks, it has gotten a lot of use.
Gas: I got gas 4 times, my husband didn't get any.
Grocery: 4 trips, plus a rather cheap trip to Costco. We still had leftover, even though I slashed the amount by $100 this month.
We both ran into "forgetting to take money" problems this month. I forgot gas money and my husband forgot grocery money. The way I handled this was to use the debit card for the purchase, then carry the cash over to March. So, I got $x less out of the bank for March and reused the money that was "spent" but left in the jars in February.
Jar: Amount: Left:
Misc 57 4
Supplies 50 32
Gas 125 30
Grocery 400 54
Added to sinking (roof) fund: 120 Total in fund: 330
Miscellaneous: I got a haircut and waxed my eyebrows. I mailed some stuff at the post office. Last weekend we did a gaming event which was $5 entry fee each.
Takeout: We got pizza once and Chinese once.
Supplies: I am shocked that the only thing we got out of supplies this month was a lamp for my office, which I have been meaning to get for months. As I haven't been feeling well the last couple weeks, it has gotten a lot of use.
Gas: I got gas 4 times, my husband didn't get any.
Grocery: 4 trips, plus a rather cheap trip to Costco. We still had leftover, even though I slashed the amount by $100 this month.
We both ran into "forgetting to take money" problems this month. I forgot gas money and my husband forgot grocery money. The way I handled this was to use the debit card for the purchase, then carry the cash over to March. So, I got $x less out of the bank for March and reused the money that was "spent" but left in the jars in February.
Jar: Amount: Left:
Misc 57 4
Supplies 50 32
Gas 125 30
Grocery 400 54
Added to sinking (roof) fund: 120 Total in fund: 330
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
January Income Statement
Revenue: In addition to our income from our jobs, we also discovered we had an $1800+ balance in our bank accounts. We had gift money as well.
Fixed Expenses: Power skyrocketed to $300. Comcast raised our cable bill. We hadn't canceled the server.
Debt Repayment: I now own my computer, phone and work clothes! We paid off credit cards 1 and 2 and a huge amount of the balance on 3. The rest of the cards and loans got minimal amounts.
Variable: My husband's car is the main expense here. He had to register it, and before doing that, had $700 of work done on it. We did put that on the credit card, but I am sorry that we did. I feel we are having Karmic retribution now (see previous post). Travel is our plane tickets for the wedding in May, which we paid cash for. Bank fees include finance charges and a late fee incurred while I juggled around our new payment schedules. My "doll" budget includes the money I spent from my discretionary jar, an order made this summer that was sent off backorder, and some eyes and faceups (in cash) for my BJDs. I believe the rest of these expenses, including our sinking fund, were discussed in the Jan cash jar post.
We had a net income of almost $2500. Overall, a win. While we would not have come out positive just based on our income, I increased debt repayment and some other expenses upon learning we had more money to work with (as can be seen if you look back at the original budget). So, as the income increased, so I increased the outgo. This gave us a great starting momentum.
Challenges
The January income statement is done, I just haven't gotten around to scanning it. I am still tweaking the March budget, too.
Some things have come up. This is what Dave Ramsey calls Murphy.
The good: I got a dog this weekend. Um. I know I said I wouldn't. But I knew I would know the right one when I saw him (on the internet). I had let some others pass me by, but this one I couldn't. I hate going to pet organizations ~ I always want to take them all home, so I guess it is good I stuck with just one. He is a rescue - he was surrendered to animal control. He is a silky terrier, registered with AKC with papers. Blows my mind. He is house broken (YAY!) but we are having some problems with him chasing the cat. I hope this will settle itself some soon. The cat is staying upstairs, and sometimes under the bed. We have him confined downstairs. I paid for his adoption and his things at Petsmart in cash, though. In future budgets, I will raise my pet allocation and I also will have to board him in May for a few days, so will have to account for that as well.
The rest:
My mother in law was diagnosed with lung cancer. She has to have surgery to remove part of her lung. She has never smoked and is the healthiest, most in shape person I know. My father in law is a disabled vet, who just went through an amputation. My husband has to go out there to take care of his father while his mother goes through surgery, and then possibly both of them. Luckily, his parents have since offered to pay for his flight, and he can work remotely, so that takes the financial strain off of an already stressful and emotional situation. From what I understand, her prognosis is good.
Our roof. We have a leak which really appears to be a lost flashing. The water comes in down one of those silver pipes that sticks out of the roof, then drips down and there is some water damage in the ceiling of the bedroom below. We have gotten a ton of rain in the last year, and that is how we came to notice it, though there was previous damage in that spot. We put a bucket in the attic and went on about our lives. Meanwhile, we had our gutters cleaned a couple months ago, and the guy alerted us that there is damage on the roof of our porch. There is a huge crater in the roof (we can see it from a window) and the wood underneath is rotting - all the way down to where you can see the rot on the ceiling of the porch. On the one hand, it is just the porch and I don't feel it is an emergency. On the other, it could be an indicaiton of further problems we can't see over the main house. You just never know with insurance companies, and I have never had to deal with them before so I didn't know what to do. Roofs are always the huge scary expense. It turns out that while our deductable for most things is $1000, like we thought, it is $3800 for hail or wind damage. That is how most people have been getting their roofs replaced. This is a HUGE additional amount of money. The insurance company is sending someone out to look at it. I guess what we do from there depends... If they will cover it and redo the whole roof, I have to find $3800 somewhere. If they don't cover or won't do the whole roof, we will just fix the porch, and I have no idea what that will cost at this point. I have chosen not to pay off cc4 this month ($500 extra payment) and to pull $1000 from our debt repayment the next couple months to help cover. We will pull the money out of savings and pay it back. This really throws a wrench into my payoff plan, though.
Dentist: My husband needs two crowns. Luckily, insurance is going to pay for 80%, but that still leaves around $500 for us. We will use the med card for some of it. I guess when my husband finds out when he will be out of town, he will schedule around that and we can go from there.
Some things have come up. This is what Dave Ramsey calls Murphy.
The good: I got a dog this weekend. Um. I know I said I wouldn't. But I knew I would know the right one when I saw him (on the internet). I had let some others pass me by, but this one I couldn't. I hate going to pet organizations ~ I always want to take them all home, so I guess it is good I stuck with just one. He is a rescue - he was surrendered to animal control. He is a silky terrier, registered with AKC with papers. Blows my mind. He is house broken (YAY!) but we are having some problems with him chasing the cat. I hope this will settle itself some soon. The cat is staying upstairs, and sometimes under the bed. We have him confined downstairs. I paid for his adoption and his things at Petsmart in cash, though. In future budgets, I will raise my pet allocation and I also will have to board him in May for a few days, so will have to account for that as well.
The rest:
My mother in law was diagnosed with lung cancer. She has to have surgery to remove part of her lung. She has never smoked and is the healthiest, most in shape person I know. My father in law is a disabled vet, who just went through an amputation. My husband has to go out there to take care of his father while his mother goes through surgery, and then possibly both of them. Luckily, his parents have since offered to pay for his flight, and he can work remotely, so that takes the financial strain off of an already stressful and emotional situation. From what I understand, her prognosis is good.
Our roof. We have a leak which really appears to be a lost flashing. The water comes in down one of those silver pipes that sticks out of the roof, then drips down and there is some water damage in the ceiling of the bedroom below. We have gotten a ton of rain in the last year, and that is how we came to notice it, though there was previous damage in that spot. We put a bucket in the attic and went on about our lives. Meanwhile, we had our gutters cleaned a couple months ago, and the guy alerted us that there is damage on the roof of our porch. There is a huge crater in the roof (we can see it from a window) and the wood underneath is rotting - all the way down to where you can see the rot on the ceiling of the porch. On the one hand, it is just the porch and I don't feel it is an emergency. On the other, it could be an indicaiton of further problems we can't see over the main house. You just never know with insurance companies, and I have never had to deal with them before so I didn't know what to do. Roofs are always the huge scary expense. It turns out that while our deductable for most things is $1000, like we thought, it is $3800 for hail or wind damage. That is how most people have been getting their roofs replaced. This is a HUGE additional amount of money. The insurance company is sending someone out to look at it. I guess what we do from there depends... If they will cover it and redo the whole roof, I have to find $3800 somewhere. If they don't cover or won't do the whole roof, we will just fix the porch, and I have no idea what that will cost at this point. I have chosen not to pay off cc4 this month ($500 extra payment) and to pull $1000 from our debt repayment the next couple months to help cover. We will pull the money out of savings and pay it back. This really throws a wrench into my payoff plan, though.
Dentist: My husband needs two crowns. Luckily, insurance is going to pay for 80%, but that still leaves around $500 for us. We will use the med card for some of it. I guess when my husband finds out when he will be out of town, he will schedule around that and we can go from there.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Is it really that hard to put a receipt in a jar?
We are entering the last day of January, and I am excited to say we made it through our first month. I will have a full income statement report later in the month, when the rest of the statements come, but I thought I would highlight what we can assess now. Overall, I am proud of our first month's effort.
We ended up with quite a bit of money left in the cash jars this month, I was surprised. The jar I was most concerned with was the gas jar, but in the end we still had $10 in there. I really thought I was going to run out of gas money. I haven't had a full tank all month, and gas prices went up a bit, but I have filled about $20 a week all month. My husband - who works from home most days - only had to fill once.
We only ordered in twice - pizza once and chinese once. We got the chinese on Thursday when we didn't feel like cooking, it was the end of the month, and we still had money. That cleaned out the takeout jar, which I also used to go on two lunch dates with friends this month - spending $6 on one and $5 on the other.
Supply money was spent on much needed furnace filters, lightbulbs, and some shipping supplies (as I have been selling some doll items). We were left with $6 and some change in that jar. Miscellaneous was spent on a birthday card for my cousin, post office, the work lunch (I opted out of a second work lunch) and my husband's emmission inspection. There was $10 and some change left in that jar. Our grocery total was $183 under the budget, which was excellent! I guess my husband had a point about the holidays hiking the amounts, plus we did not go to costco this month, which is $100-200 normally. He was very good about only going to the store once a week, which I also doubted, and did a very good job tracking our food purchase and use. I will also admit he spent the most on the trip that I accompanied him. This is why I have to stay out of the store.
Where I have run into trouble with him is in replacing the money with a receipt. I was missing a Kroger receipt (which I later found in the kitchen), the pizza AND Chinese receipt, and an indication of his emissions expense. It took a while to figure out where that money had gone. He is also griping about having to use cash instead of his debit. I like not using the debit - especially while we are getting out of debt - for two reasons. First, I think you spend less, and second, you have a visual indication of how much money there is left for the month. When I went to staples to get shipping supplies, I had $20 with me. I had to make that stretch. And there were several things there that I know would have found their way into my cart if I was using my debit or credit card.
I still have money in my discretion jar, and he does not. It is discretionary, so no receipts required, so I have no idea where he spent that money (he had some money in his wallet that he had added to the jar, so it ended up more than $13). I have $13 of my $25 left. I spent it on secondhand books - one being Financial Peace, and a couple of book club books. HOWEVER, I did paypal a few things to my bank account. So, I spent more than my limit, but I knew I had the money in my account to cover and I did not charge them. My husband also charged $700 in car repairs this month as well. A bit of a setback.
The extra amounts have been added to a "sinking fund" which is an envelope, because my husband recycled the jar I intended to use. But that is ok, because I wrote the amount for the month on the front of the envelope. We can use this money for our hotel in May, for Christmas, for surprise expenses. Its like an emergency fund for our emergency fund.
Cash Jars: Budgeted: left over:
Gas 125 10
Supplies 50 6
Miscellaneous 57 10
Grocery 500 183
Takeout 60 1
Sinking fund January total : 210
We ended up with quite a bit of money left in the cash jars this month, I was surprised. The jar I was most concerned with was the gas jar, but in the end we still had $10 in there. I really thought I was going to run out of gas money. I haven't had a full tank all month, and gas prices went up a bit, but I have filled about $20 a week all month. My husband - who works from home most days - only had to fill once.
We only ordered in twice - pizza once and chinese once. We got the chinese on Thursday when we didn't feel like cooking, it was the end of the month, and we still had money. That cleaned out the takeout jar, which I also used to go on two lunch dates with friends this month - spending $6 on one and $5 on the other.
Supply money was spent on much needed furnace filters, lightbulbs, and some shipping supplies (as I have been selling some doll items). We were left with $6 and some change in that jar. Miscellaneous was spent on a birthday card for my cousin, post office, the work lunch (I opted out of a second work lunch) and my husband's emmission inspection. There was $10 and some change left in that jar. Our grocery total was $183 under the budget, which was excellent! I guess my husband had a point about the holidays hiking the amounts, plus we did not go to costco this month, which is $100-200 normally. He was very good about only going to the store once a week, which I also doubted, and did a very good job tracking our food purchase and use. I will also admit he spent the most on the trip that I accompanied him. This is why I have to stay out of the store.
Where I have run into trouble with him is in replacing the money with a receipt. I was missing a Kroger receipt (which I later found in the kitchen), the pizza AND Chinese receipt, and an indication of his emissions expense. It took a while to figure out where that money had gone. He is also griping about having to use cash instead of his debit. I like not using the debit - especially while we are getting out of debt - for two reasons. First, I think you spend less, and second, you have a visual indication of how much money there is left for the month. When I went to staples to get shipping supplies, I had $20 with me. I had to make that stretch. And there were several things there that I know would have found their way into my cart if I was using my debit or credit card.
I still have money in my discretion jar, and he does not. It is discretionary, so no receipts required, so I have no idea where he spent that money (he had some money in his wallet that he had added to the jar, so it ended up more than $13). I have $13 of my $25 left. I spent it on secondhand books - one being Financial Peace, and a couple of book club books. HOWEVER, I did paypal a few things to my bank account. So, I spent more than my limit, but I knew I had the money in my account to cover and I did not charge them. My husband also charged $700 in car repairs this month as well. A bit of a setback.
The extra amounts have been added to a "sinking fund" which is an envelope, because my husband recycled the jar I intended to use. But that is ok, because I wrote the amount for the month on the front of the envelope. We can use this money for our hotel in May, for Christmas, for surprise expenses. Its like an emergency fund for our emergency fund.
Cash Jars: Budgeted: left over:
Gas 125 10
Supplies 50 6
Miscellaneous 57 10
Grocery 500 183
Takeout 60 1
Sinking fund January total : 210
Monday, January 18, 2010
December Income Statement
All the December statements finally came and I was able to make the December income statement this weekend. Some problems with my computer held up my scanning abilities.Income: Other income includes my bonus from work, which I didn't know I was going to get. I used it to pay for my doll.
Fixed Expenses: Charged for three insurance installments again this month, also renewed triple - a.
Debt Repayment: Pretty standard. Paid off cc6.
Variable Expenses: December is the month of gift - giving, and we spent nearly $400. And that was me giving bare bones. Ugh. No pet expenses for the first time in a long time. My husband had to pay $20 each way to take a bag to visit his parents *BS*. The doll expenses include my expensive custom doll I wrote about before, and also Karito Kids showed up at Tuesday Morning at 70% off, so I went wild buying those up. The clothing is my bridesmaid dress for the wedding in May. I sponsored an Angel Tree child, and that was my December charity. Med is my birth control, which I had to pay out of pocket, because I had used up my flex card. Cash was cash for my husband's taxi to his parents' and also my December lunch/vending/spending money.
Summary: If we took out the gifts and the dolls, we still don't quite balance, but its a lot closer. I was surprised it was as off as it was. Looking at October - December, I think it is safe to say we were probably overspending by approximately $1000-$1500 a month. However, we may have actually been balancing on my old salary, and just hadn't made the adjustment to less income. Can't wait to see how January looks!
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