Category Archives: Budgeting

Random Tuesday Thoughts 5/6

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Life is going at its usual hectic pace around here so this is the prefect way to update with things going on.

  • The highlight of the last week and most like of the entire month if not the entire year was the Christian music concert that Matt, myself and the little kids attended on Sunday. It was outside at our fairgrounds. We were able to see several bands including The Newsboys. It was awesome, we all enjoy!  One of the surprising things is that we were all able to wear matching shirts that we purchased for our last trip to Disney, 3 years ago!  I am going to try to post some of the picture tomorrow. We had awesome seats that left me with ringing ears.
  • This weekend, I am planning on a yard sale at my BFF house. The goal of any yard sale is to make $100 and I hope to exceed this goal. All proceeds will go toward cheerleading for the next year as both girls plan to be involved. I have a good idea of the money that will be needed in the next six months and it will be a huge stretch but as always God will provide!
  • Our square foot garden is growing. I was able to plant with the help of the kids the sweet potatoes last week. I hope that by the end of May we will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor! One thing that the kids are really enjoying is each planted their own square of green beans. So far Kendall and Lily are tied for most plants growing.
  • Both Amanda and Haley will be starting or have started new jobs this month. I praying that they both enjoy working and can begin to save and get on a good financial track.
  • Last Saturday, I spent most of the morning weeding the flower beds around the house I am excited that the new flower bed we created in front of the house is growing.
  • The end of the school year is fast approaching with it comes lots of year-end events. Unfortunately, at work we getting  a new computer system the last week of the school year. I am being faced with some very tough decision about which activities to attend.
  • May is going to be a super expensive month but Matt has another new website on the horizon so I hope this will help offset the cost.

 

April in Review

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This has been a very expensive and busy month. But I am really pleased with the continued progress we are making toward our goals.

 

1.  Pay off credit card debit by June.  Goal MET!

2. Emergency Fund to $2000.  none added this month- FAIL

. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month-  $553.47 for the month. But no meat trip so I expect for the next couple of month to remain around this number. Goal Met

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs. Goal met!.

 

Blogging:  Goal: 15 per month  Wordless Wednesday will be 15! Goal met!

Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 150 by December 2014. Back on track with some extra help from my doctor. Currently down 16 pounds for the year!! Goad met

May is one of the busiest and most expensive month this year so hopefully I can stay on track!

Budget Update for April

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I will be posting an overall update for my goals tomorrow but this is a much nicer way for me to keep up with these goals.

Monthly Goals:
1.  Pay off credit card debit by June.  Reduced amount paid toward this debt this month but still planning to met the goal.

2. Emergency Fund to $2000.  No progress this month due to other necessary spending.

. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month-  I am glad I did not reduce this amount because we have spent $553.00 which did include all the plants for our square foot garden and lots of fresh veggies and fruits!

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs. Matt will need to fill up the van so that will leave around $40 for the month. Next month will include inspection and tags so I am going to roll this $40 forward for the moment.

Short term goals:
These need to be met in April.  New Goals for May in Italics
 1. Pay the additional $300 for my crown. Currently I have $100 saved and will use my Medflex to cover the remaining after my $400.  The dentist has been paid and my mouth is complete for the time being.
2.  $220 to cover a business expense for Matt.
3.  $100 in our Emergency Fund to stay on track for the year.  Now this will include May savings as well for a total of $200
4. $100 for ten bags of rubber mulch for the playground. 

I am so glad to see result to these goals!  4/5 met!!!!! I know that next month is looking to be even more expensive than this one but Matt has a new website so that should help balance out some of the expenses.

1. $400 pool dues- moved from long term to needed this month.
2. $200 for music/piano lessons for the girls this summer  These will not start till mid June so if can be moved to June if needed.
3. $46 Kids dentist bill
4. $200 for the remainder of our car insurance for 6 months.
5. $ 50 initial registration fee for both girls in Cheerleading.

Long Term Goals: These are for the next 6 months

1.  $2000 to repair our septic system- I have no clue of the cost for this but this is a save range. I will be counting our Emergency Fund in this amount for the time being because if it cost less than anything left will stay in this fund. No progress
2.  $1000  to replace the floor in our Living room. No progress

Budget Update with New Goals! 4/3/2014

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I am excited to review our budget numbers over the past few months. We are making steady progress. I hope to continue this progress by becoming even more accountable for financial stuff in the next few weeks. I am always afraid to use real numbers but at this point, I have come to a conclusion that unless you are going to contribute to our financial situation then you can’t have an opinion. I also hope that real numbers will encourage someone else.  In the same line, I am going to share my current short-term and long-term goals. These are specific items that I will need to pay over in addition to our regular budget. I will be using any savings in our budget to help cover our additional expenses. At work we are in the process of switching to a new computer system. Our latest memo mentioned mandatory overtime, so currently I am working around 5 extra hours a week to help with these expenses.

Looking back over the last 3 months, I have reduced our Grocery budget to $505 a month. I have been playing with the idea of changing this amount to $500 a month and this is a strong encouragement to do so. We have been spending  exactly $400 a month between gas and the small auto repairs that have been popping up. I am comfortable with this number because in the next several month we have tags, taxes and inspections due on all three vehicles so even if gas prices drop a bit this money will still be needed.   Another success it that we have reduced dining out from over $450 in January to $180 in March. This continues to be an area we need to reduce but so far so good. Finally a big failure is in the purchasing of clothing, we have spent over $1000 on clothes in the past three months, this averages to $365 a month. I currently budget $100 a month.  My goal is to shrink this average during April, May, June and July because we have already purchased all the needed clothing for the summer.  I may need to purchase a couple of new items for school in August but hopefully the next 3 or 4 months will have little to no clothing purchases.

Goal time… This is in additional to our regular budget.

Short term goals:  These need to be met in April. This is also the order I will place money.                            1. Pay the additional $300 for my crown. Currently I have $100 saved and will use my Medflex to cover the remaining after my $400.
2.  $220 to cover a business expense for Matt.
3.  $100 in our Emergency Fund to stay on track for the year.
4. $100 for ten bags of rubber mulch for the playground.  This goal can actually be pushed to May if need be.

Long Term Goals: These are for the next 6 months
1. $400 pool dues
2.  $2000 to repair our septic system- I have no clue of the cost for this but this is a save range. I will be counting our Emergency Fund in this amount for the time being because if it cost less than anything left will stay in this fund.
3.  $1000  to replace the floor in our Living room.

Budget Update

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I have not been posting a lot this week due to the fact that I ended up with a root canal on Thursday evening. Prior to that I have spent a lot of time in bed because I was taking pain medication.  What does this have to do with my budget update? Good question; first I was able to afford this procedure due to having a Medflex spending account through my work. I did decide however that we need to increase our contribution to this account to the max because I still have to pay for a crown to be placed and that will wipe us out for the year.  Now on to the rest of the update:

I have one financial goal left from January- Pay off the outstanding Verizon bill from where we switch names. This is now met! At this point, we have no outstanding bills to pay only except  mortgage, our credit card debt and one personal loan!

In February, I also had one outstanding financial goal- Add $100 to Emergency fund.  Matt has been able to develop a couple of new contracts so I was able to go back and catch up on this goal. Our Emergency fund currently sit at $300. This does not sound like a lot however, it is on track with my plans for the year!

My month goals are as follows with an update:

1.  Pay off all credit card debit by July- I did pay off the JCPenny’s card already which leaves only one more card to go, Home Depot.

2. Emergency Fund to $2000. Goal Met!  See note above

. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month-   The goal for March will be $400 or less. I currently have spent $304 this month, if when I am able to stay under budget for the month. The additional will be use to pay on my Home Depot card as I used it to purchase additional dirt for the garden.

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs.  Currently, we have spent $204 for gas this month including the purchase of several items for small repairs on both vehicles.  I did budget an additional $120 in gas this month due to our planned travel so I hope to definitely stay on budget for the month.

Overall, I am very excited about the progress we have been able to make this month with not only paying off some debt but we have a long weekend trip planned. All of this is being accomplished with cash!!!  I am focused on getting us on a solid financial path so that  we can enjoy even the small unplanned adventures that come our way.

Random Thoughts Thursday

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  • It is sleeting outside again.  I am seriously really really tired of cold and nasty.  Matt even joked today about how cold and long this winter has been. I keep trying to remember  that Spring is in 2 weeks. It really can not come fast enough for me!
  • We had a significant bump up in income this month, Matt has gotten two additional web sites. This is awesome news but it also put some things in perspective as decided to list out all the “unbudgeted” expenses I can think off till the end of June. Not a happy picture but at least one that we can work on making better.
  • Our septic system is going to have to be repaired this year. With the expense in addition to the ruining of the entire yard in the process, I am not looking forward to this at all.
  • I am focusing on making ahead some breakfasts any chance I get. Today I was able to make 3 breakfast meal prior to my dentist appointment. This helps keep some thing from going to waste and makes my morning so much easier.
  • My dentist appointment was not cheerful. I had a “significant” cavity  filled and given a list of instruction to try and prevent the need for a root canal. I almost cried.

 

Where Did My Money Go?

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I often asked this question and one of items that I have been focusing on this year is knowing where I am spending money. My idea is that  is where you spend money is what you see as important.  I often wonder how I am doing in comparison to others but even with research it is hard sometime to find some real numbers. I did find this neat graph.

I also did some further research that I am going to share as we go along as well. I am going to do an honest comparison between the numbers I found and our spending during the month of February. I will say that our spending is up for February simply because of the extra income from tax refunds we received.  Please leave a comment if you think this numbers are correct or if you see something totally off.

15% of our spending this month was on Debt Reduction  including Credit Cards. I know this is a high number for us. We pay off our lawn mower so that we did not have to pay any interest on this transaction.

14% was Utilities. This is a high number for us, the reason is that it included an additional cell phone bill we received when switching names on our account. Normally I would estimate that utilities are about 6% of our spending.

Our mortgage $594.80 represents 8.8% of our spending, combine with utilities approximately 25% of our spending which is significant less than the 33% above for housing.

9.69% of our spending is on groceries which includes cleaning products. I did overspend our budget by $55 last month but in comparison to the 13% above I am still way below.  In research, I did discover that a “thirty family of four” spends an average of $632 a month of groceries. Dining is an area that I am really trying to monitor this year. In January, we spent over $450 on eating out, by becoming aware of this, in February we reduced this to $200 or 2.97% of our budget.   This will definitely be an area I continue to monitor as the average for dining out is $223 a month but I am unsure how many people this amount represents.

$383 or 5.68% of our spending was for Auto/ Transportation cost in February. I typically budget $400 a month.  I was surprise to find out that the average fuel cost is $243 a month.  We definitely always exceed this amount but due to the fact that all of our vehicles are paid for we still are way below the 17% average noted above.

Charitable cash donations represented 5.48% of our spending. The averages I found ranged between 3 and 4%.  This is a significant decreased from the 10% I expected to find.

12.38% of $836 represented our spending on clothing in February. I do know that this included a new wardrobe for Zach and at least half a new winter wardrobe for Lily. In addition, I purchased clothing for our trip to Michigan in January in this same category. Both the kids have sudden grown significantly in the past couple of months. The reason this amount is so high for February is that I intentionally used our tax refund to pay off credit card debit for these clothing items. The only averages I could find were based one adult which was $121 a month on clothing.

Household or as call above other spending represented 7.34% of our spending. I use this category for things such as our YMCA membership or expenses that I don’t know where else to place them. I am pleased to find out that this is probably close to the national average of 7% .

Random Thoughts Tuesday

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  • We have all been sick. The crud as I like to call it.  I was able to sleep it off this weekend with 12 hours of sleep, Friday night, 2 long naps on Saturday and another long nap on Sunday
  • We have received both our tax refunds back. I am trying to get all the numbers in order before sharing!
  • I planted broccoli seed this weekend. It is only 8 weeks till our last frost date.
  • I am going to try to start several different items from the seeds I already have but if they don’t work I have no shame in throw out all the remaining seeds and buying plants from now on.
  • I ordered another 16 bags of “Mel Mix” to complete  the filling of the garden with dirt!
  • This is the last week at work that I have a student, which means next week I get back to my regular schedule and have to start working a little harder again. I really have enjoyed the extra time to read/research and complete several other task over the past couple of weeks
  • I am really disappointed that in addition to taking a week to ship the items I just ordered from Threds Up! They are also taking 6 weeks to process a bag of clothing I sent them. I seriously doubt I will be using this again!

Mid February Budget Update

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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!

 

Brand Loyalty and Coupons

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One of the first things you will read when beginning to coupon or trying to learn more about coupons is that you can’t be brand loyal.  I disagree with this statement. I have discovered over the years, that I am more brand loyal than I would have ever imagined. The things that come to mind are deodorant, laundry detergent, toilet paper and of course Diet Coke. In addition, Matt has used the same razor brand since we got married almost 10 years ago.  This weekend almost all of the above have been needed and on sale so I have spent $93 of my $300 grocery budget on these items.  But most of these should last the rest of the month if not several months

. First of all, let talk about Matt’s razors, I have learned that is it usually cheaper to buy him a whole new “Proglide razor” than purchase the replacement cartilages.  When we travel, he will use disposable ones just to save time. So I usually purchase disposable razors when I find a really good deal( less than $1.00) on them.  I know his preference for razors so if a good deal is running I will buy at least one and stick back, however this morning, he let me know that he was completely out of razors.  I checked my bag and found a rain check so this afternoon he was back in business. I love CVS because their rain checks never run out. I ended up spending $2.00 for his razor of choice!

Next is laundry detergent, I have tried several brands including the Kirkland one but return to Tide because it cleans and does not bother the sensitive skins of Lily or Zach. Tide usually goes on sale once every 3 months or so. I try to stock up but also know that I can grab an ok deal at Costco on Tide if I need to. I feel like the money I spend on Tide is made up with keeping the resale value of the kids clothes in addition to prolonging the life of most of the other clothes.  CVS also had a good deal on Tide so I purchased 4 20 load bottles. This should last until the next sale cycle.  The one exception I make in this area is a general exception across the board, if an item is free and I am shopping that store anyway, then I grab it. One of the black Friday deals at CVS was their brand laundry detergent, I grab both my free bottles. I will use these on our beach trip because I watch swim suits and towels every day or for towel at home. These are nice to have in a pinch as well. if it is free then it is worth one load of laundry.

Following close behind the laundry detergent is toilet paper. We have a really bad septic systems that we have spent several thousand dollars on in the past 4 years.  So I have to be careful what we put in it. I have found that Scott Extra Bath Tissue, first is soft enough to use and then is one of the safest for our system. Luckily, between coupons and sales, I can always find it for $0.45 cent a roll or less. Today, I grabbed it $0.40 cent a roll. In comparison when purchasing from Costco, I end up paying $0.63 a roll for the house brand, I purchased 54 rolls today so I am positive that we will be using them for several months!

Finally deodorant, I have always like Mitchum, luckily I am usually able to purchase for $1.00 or less a bottle I always grab as many as I have coupons for anytime I see them for this price. Matt on the other hand is adventurous in the area. But last year, he discovered “Right Guard” cooling effect. I have been able to stock pile about a 2 year supply so currently unless it is free, we don’t purchase any men’s deodorant!