Under this category falls: internet, phones (cell and home), power, and water and trash. Each is a monthly bill except for the water and trash bill, which falls on the odd months of the year. We try to keep things simple, so you won't see cable or satellite. With four kids, I don't have time to watch TV anyway, so I don't miss it. We get movies from the library when we want to watch something, or our kids will occasionally watch pbskids.com.
Our phone bill is fairly low too, we got a no-frills service that I've been happy with. My husband is the only one with a cell phone for now, and he gets reimbursed for 80% of the bill each month from his company, since he uses it for work, though it is his personal phone. When he has to replace his phone, whatever is left from what his company pays for, and whatever accessories he needs also comes from the cell phone budget line.
We used to be on the averaged bill plan from our power company until I realized I could do that myself and be earning interest from our savings account in the spring and fall from the surplus money that would be needed during the winter and summer.
Our water bill includes water, sewer, and trash service. It is really high. I think that's why I chose saving water as our goal this month. We do use cloth diapers, which probably contributes some to the steep bill, but saves us money overall. We just do a lot of laundry in general, with four little ones who love to play outside! I've tried thinking I could reuse their clothes a time or two before having to wash them, but they really do get dirty.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Monday, September 28, 2015
Great article!
This article from Rosemarie at the Busy Budgeter is too good not to share! I often feel like I am "cheap" for not going out with friends, but she gives some great alternatives and ways to deal with the social ramifications of trying to save money.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Where we went over budget
New things we went over budget on this week:
-Cell phone- my husband used his GPS a lot this month, so we had some data overage.
-Car repair- this was expected, we put new tires on our buick.
-Work expenses- my husband still needs to submit his expense reports- thank goodness I added the buffer to that account!
-We were able to put some extra towards my husband's student loan- yay!
-Cell phone- my husband used his GPS a lot this month, so we had some data overage.
-Car repair- this was expected, we put new tires on our buick.
-Work expenses- my husband still needs to submit his expense reports- thank goodness I added the buffer to that account!
-We were able to put some extra towards my husband's student loan- yay!
Budget update
| TOTAL INCOME | $ 43,992.00 | $ 3,666.00 | $ 1,692.00 | $ 4,240.53 | $ (574.53) |
| Yearly total | Monthly | Average biweekly | Actual | Difference | |
| INCOME TAX | |||||
| taxes, work | $ 2,710.24 | $ 225.85 | $ 104.24 | $ 259.84 | $ (33.99) |
| NET INCOME | $ 41,281.76 | $ 3,440.15 | $ 1,587.76 | $ 3,980.69 | $ (540.54) |
| CHARITY 10-15% | |||||
| fast offering | $ 719.94 | $ 60.00 | $ 27.69 | $ 60.00 | $ (0.00) |
| tithing | $ 4,399.20 | $ 366.60 | $ 169.20 | $ 424.05 | $ (57.45) |
| SAVINGS 5-10% | |||||
| emergency fund | $ - | $ - | $ - | $ - | $ - |
| kids savings | $ 54.60 | $ 4.55 | $ 2.10 | $ 4.20 | $ 0.35 |
| retirement | $ 1,319.76 | $ 109.98 | $ 50.76 | $ 121.67 | $ (11.69) |
| HOUSING 25-35% | |||||
| dream home | $ - | $ - | $ - | $ 1.84 | $ (1.84) |
| homeowner's insurance (Jan) | $ 503.00 | $ 41.92 | $ 19.35 | $ - | $ 41.92 |
| Household improvement/ repair | $ 131.56 | $ 10.96 | $ 5.06 | $ - | $ 10.96 |
| real estate tax, county (Jun and Dec) | $ 1,210.40 | $ 100.87 | $ 46.55 | $ - | $ 100.87 |
| real estate tax, town (Dec) | $ 180.70 | $ 15.06 | $ 6.95 | $ - | $ 15.06 |
| UTILITIES 5-10% | |||||
| internet | $ 251.40 | $ 20.95 | $ 9.67 | $ 20.95 | $ - |
| phone- cell | $ 251.68 | $ 20.97 | $ 9.68 | $ 27.31 | $ (6.34) |
| phone- home | $ 189.12 | $ 15.76 | $ 7.27 | $ 15.76 | $ - |
| power | $ 2,174.90 | $ 181.24 | $ 83.65 | $ 131.60 | $ 49.64 |
| water& trash (odd months) | $ 1,288.56 | $ 107.38 | $ 49.56 | $ 214.60 | $ (107.22) |
| FOOD 5-15% | |||||
| groceries | $ 4,212.00 | $ 351.00 | $ 162.00 | $ 322.08 | $ 28.92 |
| TRANSPORTATION 10-15% | |||||
| car insurance (Jan and Jul) | $ 451.66 | $ 37.64 | $ 17.37 | $ - | $ 37.64 |
| gasoline- buick | $ 810.94 | $ 67.58 | $ 31.19 | $ 60.39 | $ 7.19 |
| gasoline- van | $ 1,028.74 | $ 85.73 | $ 39.57 | $ 71.51 | $ 14.22 |
| registration, buick | $ 39.42 | $ 3.28 | $ 1.52 | $ - | $ 3.28 |
| registration, van | $ 44.42 | $ 3.70 | $ 1.71 | $ - | $ 3.70 |
| repair, maintain, and replace | $ 205.66 | $ 17.14 | $ 7.91 | $ 191.77 | $ (174.63) |
| taxes, property- county (Dec) | $ 107.26 | $ 8.94 | $ 4.13 | $ - | $ 8.94 |
| taxes, property-town (Dec) | $ 84.86 | $ 7.07 | $ 3.26 | $ - | $ 7.07 |
| CLOTHING 2-7% | |||||
| me | $ 13.52 | $ 1.13 | $ 0.52 | $ - | $ 1.13 |
| kids | $ 31.98 | $ 2.67 | $ 1.23 | $ - | $ 2.67 |
| husband | $ 21.84 | $ 1.82 | $ 0.84 | $ 26.45 | $ (24.63) |
| MEDICAL 5-10% | |||||
| health care | $ 2,600.00 | $ 216.67 | $ 100.00 | $ 196.39 | $ 20.28 |
| health insurance | $ 5,994.30 | $ 499.53 | $230.55 | $ 461.10 | $ 38.42 |
| PERSONAL 5-10% | |||||
| Christmas | $ 15.08 | $ 1.26 | $ 0.58 | $ - | $ 1.26 |
| gifts | $ 7.80 | $ 0.65 | $ 0.30 | $ - | $ 0.65 |
| personal, me | $ 14.30 | $ 1.19 | $ 0.55 | $ - | $ 1.19 |
| personal, kids | $ 140.66 | $ 11.72 | $ 5.41 | $ 23.39 | $ (11.67) |
| personal, husband | $ 163.54 | $ 13.63 | $ 6.29 | $ 12.97 | $ 0.66 |
| pets | $ 676.00 | $ 56.33 | $ 26.00 | $ 35.47 | $ 20.86 |
| work | $ 0.78 | $ 0.07 | $ 0.03 | $ 397.28 | $ (397.22) |
| RECREATION 5-10% | |||||
| entertainment | $ 14.30 | $ 1.19 | $ 0.55 | $ - | $ 1.19 |
| vacation | $ 81.64 | $ 6.80 | $ 3.14 | $ - | $ 6.80 |
| disney | $ 1,300.00 | $ 108.33 | $ 50.00 | $ 100.00 | $ 8.33 |
| DEBT 5-10% | |||||
| my student loans | $ 573.24 | $ 47.77 | $ 22.05 | $ 47.77 | $ - |
| husband's student loans | $ 896.04 | $ 74.67 | $ 34.46 | $ 74.67 | $ - |
| husband's student loans extra | $ 9,076.86 | $ 756.41 | $ 349.11 | $ 864.72 | $ (108.32) |
| NET SPENDING | $ 41,281.65 | $ 3,440.14 | $ 1,587.76 | $ 3,907.94 | $ (467.80) |
| DIFFERENCE | $ 0.11 | $ 0.01 | $ 0.00 | $ 72.75 |
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Budget category explanation: Housing
As I mentioned before, we paid off our mortgage in February, so our housing expenses are much lower as a result. I put bits of money here and there into our "dream home" fund which we will use for part of the down payment for our next house, as well as costs associated with selling and moving from the one we currently own. Our home needs a lot of work to get it to the point where we can sell it. With the housing market the way it is, I don't want to have to depend on selling it right away in order to move, so the dream home fund is sort of our safety net as well, so if the right property comes along, we can go ahead and make an offer on it.
As I mentioned in the previous post about our savings accounts, our homeowner's insurance as well as county and town real estate taxes only get paid once a year (twice a year for county taxes), so I put money in savings every paycheck to ensure we have enough when that rolls around. They are such large bills, it also has become sort of our short- term emergency savings too. That's part of the reason I've never drawn out of our real emergency fund. If I know I'll be able to replenish it before the bill rolls around, I'll just take it out of our real estate tax fund.
Household improvement and repair also fall under the housing category. We use this for anything from new picture frames, to light fixtures, to drywall, to a new dryer. Basically, if I consider it "consumable", like light bulbs or paper, it falls under groceries, but if it is more permanent, it goes under household improvement and repair.
As I mentioned in the previous post about our savings accounts, our homeowner's insurance as well as county and town real estate taxes only get paid once a year (twice a year for county taxes), so I put money in savings every paycheck to ensure we have enough when that rolls around. They are such large bills, it also has become sort of our short- term emergency savings too. That's part of the reason I've never drawn out of our real emergency fund. If I know I'll be able to replenish it before the bill rolls around, I'll just take it out of our real estate tax fund.
Household improvement and repair also fall under the housing category. We use this for anything from new picture frames, to light fixtures, to drywall, to a new dryer. Basically, if I consider it "consumable", like light bulbs or paper, it falls under groceries, but if it is more permanent, it goes under household improvement and repair.
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Where we went over budget
My husband worked overtime, so it's a good thing to see a "negative" amount in the income difference column- that means he earned that much over our budget. Of course, that also means we had to give more for taxes. On the plus side, that's more money donated to charity and our retirement account too.
The one thing we really did go over budget on this week was clothing- my husband really needed some new pants, and we didn't have enough in savings, so that came from the paycheck overage instead. Ideally, I would like to never have to take from the paycheck overage, because I'd like that overage to be distributed across all of our "discretionary funds", but sometimes it happens. At least we didn't pay for it with money we didn't have.
The paycheck overage also helped us "catch up" where we had gone over budget previously for our dog (we had him neutered). And we should have enough to put new tires on our car, which it has needed for awhile. Yay!
The one thing we really did go over budget on this week was clothing- my husband really needed some new pants, and we didn't have enough in savings, so that came from the paycheck overage instead. Ideally, I would like to never have to take from the paycheck overage, because I'd like that overage to be distributed across all of our "discretionary funds", but sometimes it happens. At least we didn't pay for it with money we didn't have.
The paycheck overage also helped us "catch up" where we had gone over budget previously for our dog (we had him neutered). And we should have enough to put new tires on our car, which it has needed for awhile. Yay!
Budget update
| TOTAL INCOME | $ 43,992.00 | $ 3,666.00 | $ 1,692.00 | $ 4,240.53 | $ (574.53) |
| Yearly total | Monthly | Average biweekly | Actual | Difference | |
| INCOME TAX | |||||
| taxes, work | $ 2,710.24 | $ 225.85 | $ 104.24 | $ 259.84 | $ (33.99) |
| NET INCOME | $ 41,281.76 | $ 3,440.15 | $ 1,587.76 | $ 3,980.69 | $ (540.54) |
| CHARITY 10-15% | |||||
| fast offering | $ 719.94 | $ 60.00 | $ 27.69 | $ 60.00 | $ (0.00) |
| tithing | $ 4,399.20 | $ 366.60 | $ 169.20 | $ 424.05 | $ (57.45) |
| SAVINGS 5-10% | |||||
| emergency fund | $ - | $ - | $ - | $ - | $ - |
| kids savings | $ 54.60 | $ 4.55 | $ 2.10 | $ 3.15 | $ 1.40 |
| retirement | $ 1,319.76 | $ 109.98 | $ 50.76 | $ 121.67 | $ (11.69) |
| HOUSING 25-35% | |||||
| dream home | $ - | $ - | $ - | $ 1.66 | $ (1.66) |
| homeowner's insurance (Jan) | $ 503.00 | $ 41.92 | $ 19.35 | $ - | $ 41.92 |
| Household improvement/ repair | $ 131.56 | $ 10.96 | $ 5.06 | $ - | $ 10.96 |
| real estate tax, county (Jun and Dec) | $ 1,210.40 | $ 100.87 | $ 46.55 | $ - | $ 100.87 |
| real estate tax, town (Dec) | $ 180.70 | $ 15.06 | $ 6.95 | $ - | $ 15.06 |
| UTILITIES 5-10% | |||||
| internet | $ 251.40 | $ 20.95 | $ 9.67 | $ 20.95 | $ - |
| phone- cell | $ 251.68 | $ 20.97 | $ 9.68 | $ 11.28 | $ 9.69 |
| phone- home | $ 189.12 | $ 15.76 | $ 7.27 | $ - | $ 15.76 |
| power | $ 2,174.90 | $ 181.24 | $ 83.65 | $ 131.60 | $ 49.64 |
| water& trash (odd months) | $ 1,288.56 | $ 107.38 | $ 49.56 | $ 214.60 | $ (107.22) |
| FOOD 5-15% | |||||
| groceries | $ 4,212.00 | $ 351.00 | $ 162.00 | $ 207.22 | $ 143.78 |
| TRANSPORTATION 10-15% | |||||
| car insurance (Jan and Jul) | $ 451.66 | $ 37.64 | $ 17.37 | $ - | $ 37.64 |
| gasoline- buick | $ 810.94 | $ 67.58 | $ 31.19 | $ 23.72 | $ 43.86 |
| gasoline- van | $ 1,028.74 | $ 85.73 | $ 39.57 | $ 34.08 | $ 51.65 |
| registration, buick | $ 39.42 | $ 3.28 | $ 1.52 | $ - | $ 3.28 |
| registration, van | $ 44.42 | $ 3.70 | $ 1.71 | $ - | $ 3.70 |
| repair, maintain, and replace | $ 205.66 | $ 17.14 | $ 7.91 | $ - | $ 17.14 |
| taxes, property- county (Dec) | $ 107.26 | $ 8.94 | $ 4.13 | $ - | $ 8.94 |
| taxes, property-town (Dec) | $ 84.86 | $ 7.07 | $ 3.26 | $ - | $ 7.07 |
| CLOTHING 2-7% | |||||
| me | $ 13.52 | $ 1.13 | $ 0.52 | $ - | $ 1.13 |
| kids | $ 31.98 | $ 2.67 | $ 1.23 | $ - | $ 2.67 |
| husband | $ 21.84 | $ 1.82 | $ 0.84 | $ 26.45 | $ (24.63) |
| MEDICAL 5-10% | |||||
| health care | $ 2,600.00 | $ 216.67 | $ 100.00 | $ 114.81 | $ 101.86 |
| health insurance | $ 5,994.30 | $ 499.53 | $230.55 | $ 461.10 | $ 38.42 |
| PERSONAL 5-10% | |||||
| Christmas | $ 15.08 | $ 1.26 | $ 0.58 | $ - | $ 1.26 |
| gifts | $ 7.80 | $ 0.65 | $ 0.30 | $ - | $ 0.65 |
| personal, me | $ 14.30 | $ 1.19 | $ 0.55 | $ - | $ 1.19 |
| personal, kids | $ 140.66 | $ 11.72 | $ 5.41 | $ 23.09 | $ (11.37) |
| personal, husband | $ 163.54 | $ 13.63 | $ 6.29 | $ 3.57 | $ 10.06 |
| pets | $ 676.00 | $ 56.33 | $ 26.00 | $ 35.47 | $ 20.86 |
| work | $ 0.78 | $ 0.07 | $ 0.03 | $ 304.03 | $ (303.97) |
| RECREATION 5-10% | |||||
| entertainment | $ 14.30 | $ 1.19 | $ 0.55 | $ - | $ 1.19 |
| vacation | $ 81.64 | $ 6.80 | $ 3.14 | $ - | $ 6.80 |
| disney | $ 1,300.00 | $ 108.33 | $ 50.00 | $ 50.00 | $ 58.33 |
| DEBT 5-10% | |||||
| my student loans | $ 573.24 | $ 47.77 | $ 22.05 | $ 47.77 | $ - |
| husband's student loans | $ 896.04 | $ 74.67 | $ 34.46 | $ 74.67 | $ - |
| husband's student loans extra | $ 9,076.86 | $ 756.41 | $ 349.11 | $ 403.11 | $ 353.30 |
| NET SPENDING | $ 41,281.65 | $ 3,440.14 | $ 1,587.76 | $ 2,798.05 | $ 642.09 |
| DIFFERENCE | $ 0.11 | $ 0.01 | $ 0.00 | $ 1,182.64 |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)