Jan '15 Non-Budget Expenses

          I have such mixed feelings about 2015. I am 90% positive we won't pay off everything except the mortgage by the end of this year. We would have been fine but my husband is now making about half of what he was making. He is only 2 months into his job and has already gotten a raise. I hope to get a raise at both my jobs this year, one in Feb and the other is usual some time in the summer. In January I did get a nice bonus, plus my husband can get overtime at his job.

For January here is what was not part of our budget:

-went over a nickel in the pet category buying hay for the guinea pigs
- $4.77 in water softener which I didn't budget for so I need to add this in
-$13.00 I bought a white cross for our lawn to display during lent
-$36.65 for light bulbs and fuses for my Jetta, then $80 for the mechanic to fix the headlines which turned out to be a fuse which burned out the bulb (but my husband's job gave a discount)
-$100 or more on eating out/vending foods (we spend some cash which I didn't track carefully)
-$40 in gifts for my niece B-day BIL 40th B-day
-$75 in gas for travel to see family

Update:
-$43.18 for a race (I did only one race in 2014 and this will might my only one in 2015)
- $10 in medicine for cough and rash creme
-$50 in daycare registration

          We did get money for Christmas so that helped plus my husband has gotten some gift cards at work. Currently we have $35700 in debt for our siding and two cars. To pay off by Dec we need to pay off almost $3000/month, which also is the amount of monthly expenses. I definitely will have the siding paid off by Sept before the zero % interest expires. With an approximate yearly after tax and benefits income of $48,000, $3,000 in debt payments is not happening right now. I would really like to pay at least $2,000/month (minimum of $1500). The minimum payments are $603 for January, so that would be $1397 extra. We could be really close to paying off our debt this year but it has been really hard to stay focused and not want to relax after all we have been through. I hope tax season is not a big disappointment.

Also see 2014 unexpected expenses: Expect the Unexpected