March '15 UnExpected Expenses

So March has been a busy month year after year for us. It is my son's and nephew's birthday early in month, which is always the same weekend as the school carnival. Plus now with cub scouts we also have the Pinewood Derby, Blue and Gold Banquet and two den meetings. Spring Break happens in there and we volunteer to help with making packs of food for those who cannot afford food.

Here is where we over spent this month:
Groceries - $164.04
Clothing - $9.03
Electricity - $68.12

Auto Insurance $.25
Medicine - $64.90
Pets - $6.36
Household - $60.19
Kids activity -$149
Gifts - $41.57
Fast Food - $114.79
Convenience Food - $9.47
Entertainment - $21.59
Birthday Party - $148.54
Tax Payment - $89

So the overage in groceries was due to shopping too much at Costco and supplying the birthday part and weekend with food. Clothing was over due to buying items for the baseball season. Electricity was up this month because they balanced out the Budget Billing. This will be down a lot more next month. Auto Insurance has gone up due to no reason. For medicine my husband's insurance has changed and he has to pay a deductible before they will pay anything. With the two guinea pigs eating, well like pigs, our pet budget needs to be increased. Household was over since I bought some supplies at Costco to stock up, salt for the water softener, and I had to fix a hole in the boot of the washer. Gift was over due to a co-worker leaving and my son's birthday. I never budget in fast food or convenience food. I would really like this to be zero or we would take away grocery money to cover these extra expenses. We ate out one night due to back to back conferences. I didn't think we would have time but in reality we would have time to go home for mac and cheese. I also bought pizza for my son's birthday. We also ate McDonald's during spring break. Convenience food is down a lot from other months, and I hope to keep this up. For entertainment we went out for drinks due to my co-worker leaving and had one Red Box rental. We did have to pay into some taxes but received a decent refund considering I didn't clam zero on my second job (lesson learned to claim one or zero if you have a second job). I also paid $149 for my daughter, which she wanted to go to this camp for a week for her birthday.

The wins this month were that for the second month water bill was low, my husband got a raise, and we have a tax refund. We also paid off the credit card which was a balance transfer from the house siding, and paid a good portion of the car loans. The bad part was, it was paid off due to my husband taking money out of his retirement account. It wasn't something that I agreed with and it is a fail/easy out on our Dave Ramsey debt free journey. I'm not going to dwell on it. I'm just going to move forward and believe that we can save, save, save to get this all back in time. Looking at quitting my second job makes me nervous. We won't have a lot of extra after paying 15% toward retirement, but I know we need to kick it into high gear. My husband will get more raises this year and hopefully next year I will get a significant raise/promotion. All in due time.

If we stay on track we should be debt free except the house in 3-4 months.

10 Months

 

   We are now 10 months into what I hope is a two year journey of being debt free (except for the house). I often feel like giving up, but at this point I feel like there is no going back. I can't feel the same way I did in the past, putting things on credit cards and not worrying about the future.


     This journey started late last year when we were discussing me going back to school. I wanted to quit my job and start dental hygiene school in the fall of 2014. My husband felt we just couldn't do it since he was always fearing losing his job. At the end of Aug, my husband felt the pressure that there were on their way to forcing him out so he put in two weeks. They only let him work one, before he was told he was no longer needed. Funny how that day he got two post cards in the mail congratulating him for making sales and how he was such a great asset to the team. This cut our income by $50-60,000/ year. He was thinking ahead but it will be a long road to be making that salary again. Currently I am paying all the bills and praying for no emergencies. He is bringing in money, but starting a small business and putting money aside for that, at least through December.

This is very stressful. I want so bad to be out of debt, but I also don't want to sell my car. Today was picture day for my son and my daughter's was a few weeks ago. We couldn't see how this would fit into the budget or that it was important, but I still cried thinking that this isn't how I want it to be.

With my daughter being in sixth grade, and we are paying for a cellphone for her, I would like for her not to go to daycare. She starts school at 9, and I work at 8 but she could just read for that hour at school. This would save us $216 a month. The only thing is, my husband can't commit to picking her up, and there have been a lot of report too close to home of "stranger danger".

My husband did apply for some part time work, but with me working two jobs, not sure if this will work. I also worry that at my full time job, I feel overwhelmed. I am planned to be a lead on projects, that will hopefully give me a raise. I know this raise won't be life changing, but it is hard to balance with a part time job and a family.

On top of all this I can feel how high my blood pressure is at most times. I also found out today my cholesterol is higher than it should. It is hard to focus on my health and my finances at the same time.

If I can plow through this next year I know we can do it, but that is still 15 months away.

April Unexpected Expenses

I have been enjoying going to the bank when my first big paycheck is direct deposited for the month. I get to go in and take out a big fistful of cash to fill all my envelopes. In April I decided I would combine my gas and my fun money. This did not work! I had the gas light come on the day before I got paid, and had no money left. I ended up filling up my tank and took out less cash for this May. I then made sure to put that money in an envelope in the safe until my gas gauge gets lower. Some other fails in April for us:
* My husband's cell phone stopped charging, so he spend $200 on a new iphone 5s and OtterBox cover ( This did not make me happy, I though $100 should have covered this, plus every time he gets a new phone Sprint seems to have a new fee to add to the plan)
*We did go out to eat, just us two at a restaurant
*I bought Dave's book for less than $14 off of Amazon.com. I paid cash but I was over my mad money at this point.

I was so hungry this month! Stress of so many things always going on at once, crazy hours and two jobs makes me want to eat all the time, but I don't feel like cooking. I'm glad my husband has really been stepping up to cook most night.

I also keep tweaking our sinking funds, and some months we add in items. In May we budgeted $20 for each of our Mothers. In June we will only need $20 for my dad, since my husband's father passed away before he was born. I have a friend's daughters birthday party which I plan on paying for gift out of my mad money. 

I am still fighting at times with my husband, esp after the cell phone. He keeps saying he should be able to spend "his money". We still have separate bank account, but I do have the information for his account and I will look at it at times. He has a variable income each week, but we only budget for a low amount for him to pay towards debt. For the most part before we started this Dave Ramsey plan he would keep a lot of extra money in his account, even if he had a balance on a credit card. I think he is having a really problem with how low his bank account gets at times. I just try and remind him, that he should know how much he needs if he is sticking to the plan and not pulling out money or using the ATM card off budget. This month I had a balance of $.64 in my account before payday! I wasn't worried because I don't use my ATM card much and I know what money is coming and going.

We also paid for baseball picture. I thought they would only be $15, but they were $25. We also got a lot of money back since we switched insurance companies. My husband paid his car tags. I find it weird that his car is one year older but the tags cost more, but it must be a heavy car or something.

May/June we have a lot going on again: baseball games will continue and I would love to buy more training supplies, but have been resisting. I have a run at the end of May: I have bought a shirt ($10) to decorate and socks ($14) to wear, plus splitting  a hotel with my sisters ($20/each). I also want to buy t-shirts to benefit a charity (3 x$15) in May. June we will go out of town for a graduation party, and stay in a hotel, which was $114 for two nights. Baseball and going out of town is also costing my pay from my second job. The debt snowball is still going strong though, and we are ahead of my projections so far.

found on pinterest.com (link wasn't good)

March 2014 Unexpected Expenses

My son's birthday was in March. We didn't budget for a gift. I had a Groupon that was to expire for a local science center. My husband didn't really want to go so I invited one of my son's friends. The best part was we got there half an hour before it opened, and meter parking is free on the weekend and we found one right outside, so I didn't have to pay for parking in a garage. He also just wanted chips and juice instead of a cake, which saved some money. We did have a family party and I bought the cake from Costco for less than $20. We budget for automobile gas and mad money, which we blend. The total of this budget is $170. I also allowed $100 to be put aside from my second job to go towards all these extra expenses this month. So here is what I spent in March:

I had $18 cash, which over half went to the church I attend.
Vending machines at work: $24.40
Field Trip: $15
School Play t-shirt, after party and group picture: $15
School play costume: $40.43
Gas: 64.55
Fast food: 33.72
Bean bag beans: 13.77
Violin Solo Competition: $5
Headphones: $13.77
Work pot luck: 13.68
Printer Ink, aluminum foil: $45.85
school year book: $15 
Total: $318.17
We also had to buy salt for the water softener but took this out of our vacation fund since my husband didn't use any of it during spring break.

So as you can see even though I extended my budget I still went over by $48.17. I could have not participated in the potluck, waited on the headphone (although can't really say I regret it took much since I use they every day at work), and not bought bean bag beans. The field trip was a "suggested" donation, but I still felt I had to contribute. The sheet also noted you could add more money to pay for another child, but I think $15 is a lot for a field trip in the first place, especial since parents are driving. I did a lot better last month and was able to put extra money towards the debt from groceries and gas. I'm going to try a lot harder in April. Having two jobs is really exhausting. I haven't had a day off since January. I am working 60-70 hours a week and so is my husband. I just keep telling myself: It is only two years, and I'm making money. We are slated to have our first debt paid off in April and that is really exciting. We should have our second debt paid by August if we stay on track. My husband's work is to pick up in the summer which is nice, since we will also have more daycare expenses.

In April we also have to bring snacks for 25 students for 5 days, but I plan on taking this out of the grocery fund. Other than that I also hope to buy Rachel and Dave's book during pre-sale, but I plan on waiting to see how much money I have by April 15 before I buy.

I feel like a kid on a debt reducing road trip: "Are we debt free yet?"

Expect the Unexpected

January's budget went OK. I always thought I was doing OK, but a written zero based budget is working so much better. On Dave Ramsey's blog he has post on things you might forget to budget for the month which is helpful. Here is what we missed in our budget in January:
Drivers license renewal 21.50 for a 5 yr (paid less on debt)

Groupon use cost $6 for tip $13 food ( paid from mad money and gas fund)

Boy scout go see it wrestling $8 (used change jar)

School play skate party fundraiser $13 (my husband paid with his mad money and daughter paid from her money)

Birthday at school ( I used my birthday money):

Cake $27.98

Plates $1.99

Juice $7.49

Field trip $5.25 ( this was an optional donation so we didn't because we didn't have the money)
Total: $79.96
I received $50 for my birthday. I thought about putting it all towards debt but my husband said to spend it on myself. I ended up spending most of it on snacks and my daughters half birthday to bring treats to school. I have a hard time telling my kids no and I already promised her that about a month ago, before we started budgeting.

February Extras:
Car tags $177.50

Baseball $90

Girl scout world food day: ~$5
Tax Pro: ~$200
Donation to Jump for Heart- $5 ( already paid from mad money)
Total: $477.50
I have picked up a second job which I hope to fund all the above and to use my mad money. My husband and I each get some mad money each month. Last month I went over so I took out that much less this month. When I went to the bank I took out $10 less than that for just in case, which is how I paid for the Donation already. The grocery and extra money in my gas fund we are putting towards debt. We were planning to use extra grocery money towards some more expensive food, but I reasoned that we did eat out when we went out of town so we did have that treat.