I like to post budget updates on a regular basis because they give me a reference point to look back at during the year. As I have been reviewing my updates, I realized that I had a couple of unmet goals that needed to be addressed. I hope by having everything in one place, I can also be more accountable for things.

One of the areas that I am going to start focusing on and trying to reduce significantly is dinning out!  I realized as that we are spending as much each month on eating out as we do on grocery. My initial plan for the year was to use a cash only envelope for this but so far this has not worked. So hopefully by at least mentioning in my budget updates, I can begin to reduce this expense.

This month, our budget has been significantly increased due to our tax refund. Let me state up front that I did not anticipate  it to be as large as it was but I am very thankful. I also have a significant number of deductions for federal taxes so this is not money that the government has been borrowing interest free for a year.  In fact, we are making no changes to our taxes this year.

As I have been reviewing my updates, I realized that I had a couple of unmet goals that needed to be addressed. I hope by having everything in one place, I can also be more accountable for things.

Goals that I had left from January as well as updates on them:

• Pay off the outstanding Verizon bill from where we switch names this will be completed with our state refund.
• Deposit for Beach vacation  Paid

Yearly Financial Goals that I have set and updates:

1.  Pay off lawn mower by March 2014 to avoid interest being charged.    This was also paid with our tax refund!

2. Emergency Fund to $2000.  I added $100 to this in January, my goal is to add another $100 in February.  The ultimate plan is start adding $200 a month in May to met this goal.

3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month Currently, we have remaining $17 for the month. I am pleased because this included a stock up trip to Costco, our annual Super Bowl party and a special dinner for a friend’s birthday.  In addition, we stocked up on drinks for the summer as well. I will also add that we are averaging $576 a month in groceries for the past year. In the near future, I may try to reduce this amount again… just a thought but I may move $100 over to eating out.

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs.  So far, $243 has been spent in gas. This is high for the month but includes 2 trips to Chapel Hill. I suspect that less than $100 will be spent for the remainder of the month but both March and April look to be expensive gas month due to in state traveling that is planned.

My unmet goal for last year:

Pay off all outstanding debt except the mortgage by June–   I now only have $400 left on the Home Depot card from remodeling Lily’s room in December.  This will be paid as part of our regular bills and should be completed prior to May.   We have a personal loan with $4500 on it as well. I actually would like to eliminate this debt by December but plan to focus on the Emergency Fund so we will see how it goes. I will say that by June 2015 we will have no outstanding debt other than our mortgage!