We got our letter from our mortgage company today informing us that our mortgage rate has changed from 5.125% to 3.375% for the next year. Woo-hoo! This will take effect on our payment due 10-1-10. This means that next year it can only reset to a maximum of 5.375% with the +/-2% clause of our mortgage contract. We're looking at two years of low interest rates! Yay! I sure hope our value rises enough and our principal low enough that we are able to refinance within that time frame.
This interest rate change reduces our mortgage bill by $236.57 a month according to the letter. We've decided to apply this extra to our emergency fund and I've been thinking of how to make sure that actually happens. I don't want that money to disappear into the spent pile. It is a 2010 goal that at least $100 goes to the emergency fund every month. Starting with October's budget, that line item is going to be increased to a minimum of $336.57 and I'll make sure every penny of that is transferred. I'm so excited to see our emergency fund make some big gains every month!
401k Match Stuck at 50%
Last summer, if you’ll remember, my company lowered our 401k company match from 100% up to 8% down to 50% up to 8%. Yes, I know that's a good match. I contribute 8% to my 401k to take advantage of the “free” company money. When they lowered the match, I kept my contribution the same. This lowering was a victim of the economy of course and was communicated at the time to be “temporary.” I was wary if that temporary would become permanent. Last Friday we had a company all-employee meeting and someone asked about the match. What a brave soul!
Our CEO answered that it’s going to be probably another year at the current 50% before he’ll be willing to increase it back to 100% even though our company has weathered the recession fairly well and actually had great Q2 numbers. Honestly my company’s benefit package is middle of the road. The 401k match was one area where it shined.
I sure hope the reduction doesn’t become permanent. I’d really like that free money again to help build my retirement savings!
Our CEO answered that it’s going to be probably another year at the current 50% before he’ll be willing to increase it back to 100% even though our company has weathered the recession fairly well and actually had great Q2 numbers. Honestly my company’s benefit package is middle of the road. The 401k match was one area where it shined.
I sure hope the reduction doesn’t become permanent. I’d really like that free money again to help build my retirement savings!
House Projects
During the final weeks of my maternity leave Chuck and I got a bit ambitious and started a few home improvement projects. One item on our want list was landscaping. Due to some issues with our professional landscaping company (paid for with our association dues) I escalated the priority on this one and started ripping up grass around our house in early July. They had damaged our siding, repaired it and I didn’t want there to be future damage, especially since our siding has been discontinued and we didn’t have any spare siding any longer! We spent about $85 on supplies and have enough now to finish an interim landscape design. We purchased black landscape edging, two shrubs and two bags of mulch. In August we’ll have to purchase one more shrub as a shrub that we transplanted during the project didn’t survive. I transferred $50 from our short term savings (which had just been added this month from the regular budget) to offset this cost. The rest went in our discretionary budget. There is more landscaping to do but that will be tackled next summer when there is more money and time.
Our other project was a last-minute, impulse project. We had white cloth covered chairs in our dining area. White cloth covered chairs and children are not a good mix. Those chairs had become an embarrassment to us, they were so stained. And I just could not get them clean. Plus, two of the chairs needed new padding. One had been squished to death! As I was cleaning the house one Saturday I remarked to Chuck that I would like to recover the chairs and he agreed. I said maybe we could try to have it done before the baby’s baptism on September 5th. Chuck said he wanted to do it much sooner than that. So the very next day we found fabric that matched our current color scheme and will hide the dirt a bit better at a local fabric store and purchased it along with some new foam padding for the two chairs. And Chuck spent one Sunday afternoon and early evening recovering our chairs. We already had a staple gun and enough staples for the job so the only cost incurred was the fabric and padding. It was about a $40 project and I absorbed that into our discretionary budget. It made a big impact! I’m no longer embarrassed to have people over!
Our other project was a last-minute, impulse project. We had white cloth covered chairs in our dining area. White cloth covered chairs and children are not a good mix. Those chairs had become an embarrassment to us, they were so stained. And I just could not get them clean. Plus, two of the chairs needed new padding. One had been squished to death! As I was cleaning the house one Saturday I remarked to Chuck that I would like to recover the chairs and he agreed. I said maybe we could try to have it done before the baby’s baptism on September 5th. Chuck said he wanted to do it much sooner than that. So the very next day we found fabric that matched our current color scheme and will hide the dirt a bit better at a local fabric store and purchased it along with some new foam padding for the two chairs. And Chuck spent one Sunday afternoon and early evening recovering our chairs. We already had a staple gun and enough staples for the job so the only cost incurred was the fabric and padding. It was about a $40 project and I absorbed that into our discretionary budget. It made a big impact! I’m no longer embarrassed to have people over!
Unexpected Paycheck
Last week Tuesday I went to the bank and deposited our garage sale proceeds into our checking account. As I took the receipt from the machine I noticed that our balance was abnormally high. While, yes, this is a good problem to have, it’s still concerning. I went home and checked our account details and saw that on the 16th a full, normal paycheck was deposited into our account. Um, whoops? That was the paycheck that was supposed to be $0 for two of the four weeks I was taking off unpaid. Last Wednesday when I returned to work, one of the first things I did was call our payroll department. It turns out that I was made an active employee so they could give me two weeks of vacation pay after my short term disability ran out but then I was never inactivated again for the four weeks unpaid.
Monday I was able to get the issue resolved and today they’ll be removing that extra money from our checking account and this Friday my paycheck will be for three days of regular pay from last week as it should be.
While some jokingly (or maybe not so jokingly) told me to keep quiet about it, I just couldn’t in good conscience keep that money. Not only would I worry about someone figuring it out sometime and demanding the money back but I’d worry about just the karma of it all. I didn’t want that theft, and that’s what it would have been, hanging over my head.
Monday I was able to get the issue resolved and today they’ll be removing that extra money from our checking account and this Friday my paycheck will be for three days of regular pay from last week as it should be.
While some jokingly (or maybe not so jokingly) told me to keep quiet about it, I just couldn’t in good conscience keep that money. Not only would I worry about someone figuring it out sometime and demanding the money back but I’d worry about just the karma of it all. I didn’t want that theft, and that’s what it would have been, hanging over my head.
Monthly Allowance for Kids
I’ve started a monthly allowance for the kids. I think it’s about time we start teaching them about money. Anya is five and Jamison is three. At first I was going to only start it with Anya but those two are practically joined at the hip and you don’t do much with one without involving the other. And that’s OK. He can start at three and a half. For now their “allowance” is a dollar per month for each year of age so Jamison gets three dollars and Anya gets five. And when they have a birthday month (Anya turns six in September and Jamison four in February) then they’ll get another dollar. I think that’s about right for their age. They don’t need a lot of money or even money each week. Monthly and a fairly low amount is good for now.
I’m trying to use this as a teaching tool though so last week we did a little project. I got out three glass jars with lids and labeled one “spending”, one “saving” and one “giving.” Each month they have to put one dollar in each jar. Since Jamison only gets three, that’s where all his money goes currently. With their “extra” dollars they can choose which jar they want to put those dollars in. Basically it’s about balance. They have to save (and we’ll make some “goals” for their saving like maybe a “big” toy they want or something) and they have to give (we’ll figure out where their giving money goes when it has more than just a couple dollars in the jar). And you have to spend. When we go to Target or something they can bring their spend money with them and we can have them practice picking out things to buy and purchasing them with the cashier.
We started this in July and Jamison put his three dollars, one in each jar. Anya put three of her dollars, one in each jar and then I told her she could decide where she wanted her other two to go. She immediately put one in the spending jar and then she contemplated for a few minutes between spending and saving but ended up putting it in the spending jar. So, she has three dollars to spend and Jamison has one. She also has an additional five dollars from my father and his fiancé. They bought her a new cute little purse and put five dollars in it so she could buy things to put in it. Aren’t they sweet? Maybe after their August allowance is added to the jar we can do a special shopping trip so they can have a little fun picking out something to buy. Target has those nifty $1 bins at the entrances now. I think we’ll go their first.
Their first purchasing experience can also be their first exposure to sales tax. How exciting for them! Ha!
I’m trying to use this as a teaching tool though so last week we did a little project. I got out three glass jars with lids and labeled one “spending”, one “saving” and one “giving.” Each month they have to put one dollar in each jar. Since Jamison only gets three, that’s where all his money goes currently. With their “extra” dollars they can choose which jar they want to put those dollars in. Basically it’s about balance. They have to save (and we’ll make some “goals” for their saving like maybe a “big” toy they want or something) and they have to give (we’ll figure out where their giving money goes when it has more than just a couple dollars in the jar). And you have to spend. When we go to Target or something they can bring their spend money with them and we can have them practice picking out things to buy and purchasing them with the cashier.
We started this in July and Jamison put his three dollars, one in each jar. Anya put three of her dollars, one in each jar and then I told her she could decide where she wanted her other two to go. She immediately put one in the spending jar and then she contemplated for a few minutes between spending and saving but ended up putting it in the spending jar. So, she has three dollars to spend and Jamison has one. She also has an additional five dollars from my father and his fiancé. They bought her a new cute little purse and put five dollars in it so she could buy things to put in it. Aren’t they sweet? Maybe after their August allowance is added to the jar we can do a special shopping trip so they can have a little fun picking out something to buy. Target has those nifty $1 bins at the entrances now. I think we’ll go their first.
Their first purchasing experience can also be their first exposure to sales tax. How exciting for them! Ha!
Car Expenses
Last week we had to take our car to the mechanic. I start back to work on Wednesday (don't get me started on that, I might just go straight to the ugly cry if you do) and there were a few issues we needed to get checked out before I start making the long commute again.
First, the air conditioning wasn't working. We were hoping this wouldn't be a $500 problem to fix like it was going to be on our truck last summer. We may have tried to tough it out but since I carpool 4-5 days a week with a coworker, I figured I should get it fixed for his comfort, if not my own.
Second, the check engine light came on the week before last. Chuck noticed the car was misfiring and thought we should really get that looked at.
Third, the oil light would sometimes come on when the car was idling. A check of the owner's manual said the oil light is only of concern if the car is moving, not idling so we put this off until there were other reasons to bring the car in, like the first and second reasons above.
All together, it cost us $233.15 to take care of all three problems and we had the car in and out of the shop in the same day. That's a pretty good deal if you ask me! I love our mechanic. So, what were the problems?
The air conditioning systems had a mouse nest in it! That would explain all the mouse debris we found in the garage this spring when we cleaned the garage out but never saw any mice! They cleaned out the system, added dye to make sure there were no leaks and refilled the freon. Total cost: $97.95
For problem number 2 we had a spark plug go bad. Since it's a four cylinder car you really notice when one cylinder isn't working correctly! There goes 25% of your power! Our mechanic replaced all four spark plugs and wires. This was the first time we'd done that and the car has almost 147,000 miles on it! Total cost: $108.46
The third problem was a faulty oil pressure switch. That was a quick, easy and inexpensive repair. Total cost: $21.52.
Add in $5.22 in tax and that's the total bill. Hopefully this maintenance will last us for a while! We need this car to last years for us still. Next up in the maintenance queue though is probably tires, maybe even this winter already. Time to take a look around, save up and get a great deal!
First, the air conditioning wasn't working. We were hoping this wouldn't be a $500 problem to fix like it was going to be on our truck last summer. We may have tried to tough it out but since I carpool 4-5 days a week with a coworker, I figured I should get it fixed for his comfort, if not my own.
Second, the check engine light came on the week before last. Chuck noticed the car was misfiring and thought we should really get that looked at.
Third, the oil light would sometimes come on when the car was idling. A check of the owner's manual said the oil light is only of concern if the car is moving, not idling so we put this off until there were other reasons to bring the car in, like the first and second reasons above.
All together, it cost us $233.15 to take care of all three problems and we had the car in and out of the shop in the same day. That's a pretty good deal if you ask me! I love our mechanic. So, what were the problems?
The air conditioning systems had a mouse nest in it! That would explain all the mouse debris we found in the garage this spring when we cleaned the garage out but never saw any mice! They cleaned out the system, added dye to make sure there were no leaks and refilled the freon. Total cost: $97.95
For problem number 2 we had a spark plug go bad. Since it's a four cylinder car you really notice when one cylinder isn't working correctly! There goes 25% of your power! Our mechanic replaced all four spark plugs and wires. This was the first time we'd done that and the car has almost 147,000 miles on it! Total cost: $108.46
The third problem was a faulty oil pressure switch. That was a quick, easy and inexpensive repair. Total cost: $21.52.
Add in $5.22 in tax and that's the total bill. Hopefully this maintenance will last us for a while! We need this car to last years for us still. Next up in the maintenance queue though is probably tires, maybe even this winter already. Time to take a look around, save up and get a great deal!
This Is It
We are officially 44 days away from September 1st, 2010. I know this is not a big deal to most of you but to us? A huge deal! 45 days away from September 1st is when our ARM resets. If you recall from my initial post about this, the LIBOR rate 45 days out from our "change date" is what sets our new interest rate for the next year. I've been checking this LIBOR rate every month but this is the one that counts. Since 45 days out from September 1st was technically July 18th, yesterday and also a Sunday, I checked the Friday 7/16 and Monday 7/19 LIBOR rates just in case.
Friday's LIBOR rate was 1.12688. Adding that to 2.25 and then rounding to the nearest 1/8th gives us an interest rate of 3.375%.
Today's LIBOR rate was 1.11656. Adding that to 2.25 and then rounding to the nearest 1/8th gives us an interest rate of 3.375%.
So, either way, our interest rate for the next year should be 3.375%!!! I'll be checking our statement in August very closely to make sure the rate has adjusted correctly. Yay!
Friday's LIBOR rate was 1.12688. Adding that to 2.25 and then rounding to the nearest 1/8th gives us an interest rate of 3.375%.
Today's LIBOR rate was 1.11656. Adding that to 2.25 and then rounding to the nearest 1/8th gives us an interest rate of 3.375%.
So, either way, our interest rate for the next year should be 3.375%!!! I'll be checking our statement in August very closely to make sure the rate has adjusted correctly. Yay!
Garage Sale = Bill Paid
Earlier this week I received another medical bill in the mail. This one was for $106.00 and is due July 31st. I didn't have this in the budget this month, the month I'm on unpaid maternity leave. So, my goal for the garage sale we had yesterday and today was to just make enough to pay that bill so I didn't have to take even more money out of savings to cover it.
And we made $159.25 at the sale! Yahoo! I made enough to pay the bill plus a little extra! That little extra would normally go to the emergency fund. It still will, kind of. Instead of taking even more out of savings to cover expenses this month, I'll just take out a little less. Yay!
And we made $159.25 at the sale! Yahoo! I made enough to pay the bill plus a little extra! That little extra would normally go to the emergency fund. It still will, kind of. Instead of taking even more out of savings to cover expenses this month, I'll just take out a little less. Yay!
One More Thing
I thought of one more item I want to add to our updated Want List: a chest freezer. It would be nice to buy in bulk a bit more to save money on groceries but right now we only have the freezer attached to our refrigerator to store extra perishables. Chuck and I have talked about getting one for a long time but never found the best deal or had the extra cash. So, it's going on the list.
- Landscaping (bigger garden, shrubs, rocks, etc. around house)
- TT Bike (for Chuck - estimating around $1200)
- DSLR camera with community ed photography classes (for Cynthia)
- HD video camera and/or new point and shoot digital camera
- Bedroom redecorate (with cedar chest for Cynthia)
- 40 or 42" HD TV for bedroom
- Gas Grill
- Kitchen backsplash tile
- Garage shelving
- Chest freezer
Too Much
I've decided that sometimes it's all just too much. Family that is. Family? I know. But listen. I have 21 aunts and uncles. That's blood-related aunts and uncles (Dad has 13 siblings and Mom has nine.) so with spouses I have 41 aunts and uncles. And first cousins? 51. No, I'm not kidding. I actually sat down and counted the other day. And of course a lot of cousins have families now so you should see our Christmas parties. They're at rented community center halls or church basements and have been for as long as I can remember. My family is enormous.
And all that family is just too much on my finances. In May there was a bridal shower. In June there was a graduation party. Just one graduation party this year which in and of itself is a rarity. This month there are two weddings, one bridal shower and one baby shower. In August there is nothing that I know of...yet and in September there is another wedding. This is all just for my first cousins. Add on top of that birthdays, showers and other parties for brothers and sisters of Chuck and I and well, it's really all just too much. So this year, for the first time, I said no.
In June I did not go to that graduation party nor give the $20 graduation gift. In July I said no to the baby shower for a cousin that I haven't spoke to for years and I said no to the bridal shower for another cousin that I also haven't spoke to for years. I am going to one of the family weddings this month. The other one decided to have an ultra small wedding and reception and I wasn't invited (said with grateful relief). When you're on a tight budget, as we are, you just can't give the $20, $30, $40 graduation, shower or wedding gift for every single family member.
So this year I'm saying no to some family parties. I'll be at all the weddings I can attend and the showers for the family members that I'm closest with and the rest I'll have to respectfully decline. I just can't do it all anymore.
And all that family is just too much on my finances. In May there was a bridal shower. In June there was a graduation party. Just one graduation party this year which in and of itself is a rarity. This month there are two weddings, one bridal shower and one baby shower. In August there is nothing that I know of...yet and in September there is another wedding. This is all just for my first cousins. Add on top of that birthdays, showers and other parties for brothers and sisters of Chuck and I and well, it's really all just too much. So this year, for the first time, I said no.
In June I did not go to that graduation party nor give the $20 graduation gift. In July I said no to the baby shower for a cousin that I haven't spoke to for years and I said no to the bridal shower for another cousin that I also haven't spoke to for years. I am going to one of the family weddings this month. The other one decided to have an ultra small wedding and reception and I wasn't invited (said with grateful relief). When you're on a tight budget, as we are, you just can't give the $20, $30, $40 graduation, shower or wedding gift for every single family member.
So this year I'm saying no to some family parties. I'll be at all the weddings I can attend and the showers for the family members that I'm closest with and the rest I'll have to respectfully decline. I just can't do it all anymore.
Snowflakes in July
Today I received two snowflakes. In Minnesota it's not uncommon to see snowflakes in June or September but July? OK, these weren't the wet, outdoor type of snowflakes. It was money. Yay for money! The first was a $13.01 payment for a Half.com sale I made in June. Good-bye Veronica Mars Season 1! I loved that show but do I need to have the DVDs when I never watch them? Nope.
The second snowflake was a $50 reward check from Chase. Using our credit cards has already netted us $100 in rewards this year. Sweet! Our Chase credit card bill was over $3700 in June! Yes, it's already been paid in full. No, that was not all regular expenses. I put all our medical bills from Liam's birth on the credit cards, got my 1% cash back on them, submitted the bills to my tax-advantaged HSA, was reimbursed and paid the credit card. Not a bad system, huh?
Normally, these snowflakes would go straight to the emergency fund. This month though with me missing a full paycheck due to my unpaid maternity leave, I'm going to leave this money in our checking account. I'll account for it in the budget though and then I'll take out less from the emergency fund that I would have otherwise. It's one less transaction (put it in, take it out!) but will be fully accounted for.
And we're having a second garage sale next week Thursday and Friday. Any proceeds from that sale will also go directly to the checking account and that total will also be deducted from our emergency fund withdrawal amount. It feels great to have to take less money out of savings. Maybe this will motivate me to find even more clutter around the house to sell at the garage sale. Hmm, maybe another look through the closets and basement is in order...
The second snowflake was a $50 reward check from Chase. Using our credit cards has already netted us $100 in rewards this year. Sweet! Our Chase credit card bill was over $3700 in June! Yes, it's already been paid in full. No, that was not all regular expenses. I put all our medical bills from Liam's birth on the credit cards, got my 1% cash back on them, submitted the bills to my tax-advantaged HSA, was reimbursed and paid the credit card. Not a bad system, huh?
Normally, these snowflakes would go straight to the emergency fund. This month though with me missing a full paycheck due to my unpaid maternity leave, I'm going to leave this money in our checking account. I'll account for it in the budget though and then I'll take out less from the emergency fund that I would have otherwise. It's one less transaction (put it in, take it out!) but will be fully accounted for.
And we're having a second garage sale next week Thursday and Friday. Any proceeds from that sale will also go directly to the checking account and that total will also be deducted from our emergency fund withdrawal amount. It feels great to have to take less money out of savings. Maybe this will motivate me to find even more clutter around the house to sell at the garage sale. Hmm, maybe another look through the closets and basement is in order...
Want List - Updated
We've purchased or were given a number of things on our original want list. And some of the items on the list we no longer really want (iPod Touch)! So, it's time to update our list. Chuck and I have brainstormed some items that we've wanted to purchase, replace or upgrade for a while now plus a few new items. We haven't decided on a prioritization of the list because, well, we have no money right now in the short term account to use for any of this! But, here is our list that we have. As money starts accumulating, we'll decide what gets first billing.
There's our new list. Now it's time to start saving!
- Landscaping (bigger garden, shrubs, rocks, etc. around house)
- TT Bike (for Chuck - estimating around $1200)
- DSLR camera with community ed photography classes (for Cynthia)
- HD video camera and/or new point and shoot digital camera
- Bedroom redecorate (with cedar chest for Cynthia)
- 40 or 42" HD TV for bedroom
- Gas Grill
- Kitchen backsplash tile
- Garage shelving
There's our new list. Now it's time to start saving!
2010 Goals Review - June Edition
It's time to take a look at those goals again!
- Keep emergency fund above $6000. Over $8000 now! I hope to keep it above $6000 even with having to take some out this month during my unpaid maternity leave.
- Stay under budget each month this year. We were technically under budget this month but that's only because we brought home a bit more income this month. Our discretionary spending was over and we have to watch that!
- Save all Chuck's unemployment benefits for tuition money. Done! That account is growing very quickly!
- Always have at least $250 in short term savings. Yep. I drained it this month for the TV purchase but made sure to keep the $250 in there.
- Save at least $100 each month into our emergency fund. Done! A little over $100 came from the budget and the rest was snowflakes.
- All extra money (snowflakes) goes to the emergency fund. Fail! While the emergency fund grew a bunch this month with snowflakes I did use the garage sale money ($92) to restock some clothing for Chuck and Anya.
- Money going to other savings accounts must be done only after the $100 goes into the emergency fund each month. Done! I did put money into other accounts but ended up taking some back out again to pay for the TV.
- Post at least 15 times here. I did! Yay!
June 2010 Budget Report
Here is our budget for June:
You'll notice we came in $130 under budget for the month which is directly because of the extra income we brought home (see the very top of the budget). If it wasn't for that we would have been about $30 over budget. I'm leaving this extra money in the checking account since we were over in March and April by quite a bit and I didn't move money over from savings to cover that. Plus we'll have limited income this month and this extra should help our cash flow.
As for the rest of the budget:
Church: We missed a couple Sundays at church this month so we didn't get them what we had planned. In the future I'm going to either automate this through our church or give them the full amount the first Sunday of the month. It's important to me to contribute to our church and I have a pledge to them of $500 for this year that I intend to keep.
Gas: Was only slightly over. I'm OK with that. I'm upping this budget slightly in July since I'll be going back to work on the 21st.
Groceries: Here we were under but that's because I put off going to the grocery store the last week of June because I knew we were over in the eating out category but a lot. I'll have to keep an eye on this budget in July to make up for that.
Household: This one is under and that's OK. We didn't have anything we didn't need this month and put off purchasing.
Restaurants: Whoa! This one is way over budget. We spent $70 on a dinner out with Chuck's parents that was unplanned as well as two dinners out for my birthday this month plus a bunch of random quick meals out as we were out and about (like lunch and dinner last weekend when we were out visiting Chuck's grandfather). We will have to do better in the coming months at this.
Overall our budget was OK. A little more discipline is required in the eating our area though. That one always seems to get us. I'll think about upping that budget in the future.
You'll notice we came in $130 under budget for the month which is directly because of the extra income we brought home (see the very top of the budget). If it wasn't for that we would have been about $30 over budget. I'm leaving this extra money in the checking account since we were over in March and April by quite a bit and I didn't move money over from savings to cover that. Plus we'll have limited income this month and this extra should help our cash flow.
As for the rest of the budget:
Church: We missed a couple Sundays at church this month so we didn't get them what we had planned. In the future I'm going to either automate this through our church or give them the full amount the first Sunday of the month. It's important to me to contribute to our church and I have a pledge to them of $500 for this year that I intend to keep.
Gas: Was only slightly over. I'm OK with that. I'm upping this budget slightly in July since I'll be going back to work on the 21st.
Groceries: Here we were under but that's because I put off going to the grocery store the last week of June because I knew we were over in the eating out category but a lot. I'll have to keep an eye on this budget in July to make up for that.
Household: This one is under and that's OK. We didn't have anything we didn't need this month and put off purchasing.
Restaurants: Whoa! This one is way over budget. We spent $70 on a dinner out with Chuck's parents that was unplanned as well as two dinners out for my birthday this month plus a bunch of random quick meals out as we were out and about (like lunch and dinner last weekend when we were out visiting Chuck's grandfather). We will have to do better in the coming months at this.
Overall our budget was OK. A little more discipline is required in the eating our area though. That one always seems to get us. I'll think about upping that budget in the future.
June 2010 Month End
Summer is one third over. Boo! But it's been a great summer so far. We haven't done any big things like travel but with an infant that would be hard to do. Instead we're staying near home and enjoying the parks, zoos and other nearby fun. And here is how our debts and savings stand as of July 1st:
Debts:
Truck Loan: $27,723.15 (-$440.05) - Regular payment made. Not much else to say about this one.
Savings:
Emergency Fund: $8,278.33 (+348.59) - I was able to add a little over $100 from the regular budget and the rest was snowflakes! $177 was from the HSA reimbursement of past expenses. $18 was from survey payments. And $16 was in blog ad revenue. Nice! This could have been higher if we hadn't spent our garage sale money on clothes for the family. I'm still pleased with this increase though. We're above $8k! I'll have to take some out this month for expenses during my unpaid maternity leave but then August can start building it back up again.
Short Term Savings: $250.02 (-393.01) - We actually added $250 to this account this month before we took it back out again with our TV purchase. I kept the $250 minimum in the account though and took money out of other accounts to pay for the TV in full. Now it's time to build this back up again for our next want!
Travel Fund: $134.17 (-166.38) - I took money out of this account this month to pay for our zoo membership and for the TV. I'm bummed about taking the money out but not for the expenses. I'll just add to this account as I can again starting in August. I have to remind myself that it's hard to travel with an infant anyway.
Christmas Savings: $434.72 (+50.37) - I was able to add a little bit to this account again this month. We're getting closer to our savings goal for Christmas but we have a ways to go yet. Starting in August I'll have to be diligent about putting money in this account so we have the Christmas we want paid in cash.
Basement Finishing Fund: $78.99 (-374.60) - This account took a big hit this month when I took money out to pay for the new TV. Ugh. Starting next month, I'll work to rebuild it.
Tuition Fund: $6,307.41 (+850.09) - I'm very happy to see this account keep growing. When Chuck goes back to school next year we should have a very nice chunk of money set aside for tuition and books.
And that was June. Yes, we spent some of our savings but we didn't touch the emergency fund. We used some of our other "fun" savings for something fun. Time to rebuild them. Unfortunately, the rebuild will have to start in August as July will be a time for holding steady. Limited income this month means no extra money for savings!
Debts:
Truck Loan: $27,723.15 (-$440.05) - Regular payment made. Not much else to say about this one.
Savings:
Emergency Fund: $8,278.33 (+348.59) - I was able to add a little over $100 from the regular budget and the rest was snowflakes! $177 was from the HSA reimbursement of past expenses. $18 was from survey payments. And $16 was in blog ad revenue. Nice! This could have been higher if we hadn't spent our garage sale money on clothes for the family. I'm still pleased with this increase though. We're above $8k! I'll have to take some out this month for expenses during my unpaid maternity leave but then August can start building it back up again.
Short Term Savings: $250.02 (-393.01) - We actually added $250 to this account this month before we took it back out again with our TV purchase. I kept the $250 minimum in the account though and took money out of other accounts to pay for the TV in full. Now it's time to build this back up again for our next want!
Travel Fund: $134.17 (-166.38) - I took money out of this account this month to pay for our zoo membership and for the TV. I'm bummed about taking the money out but not for the expenses. I'll just add to this account as I can again starting in August. I have to remind myself that it's hard to travel with an infant anyway.
Christmas Savings: $434.72 (+50.37) - I was able to add a little bit to this account again this month. We're getting closer to our savings goal for Christmas but we have a ways to go yet. Starting in August I'll have to be diligent about putting money in this account so we have the Christmas we want paid in cash.
Basement Finishing Fund: $78.99 (-374.60) - This account took a big hit this month when I took money out to pay for the new TV. Ugh. Starting next month, I'll work to rebuild it.
Tuition Fund: $6,307.41 (+850.09) - I'm very happy to see this account keep growing. When Chuck goes back to school next year we should have a very nice chunk of money set aside for tuition and books.
And that was June. Yes, we spent some of our savings but we didn't touch the emergency fund. We used some of our other "fun" savings for something fun. Time to rebuild them. Unfortunately, the rebuild will have to start in August as July will be a time for holding steady. Limited income this month means no extra money for savings!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
