This category is fairly simple, and I'm sure we spend far less than the average American. It is less than I would like to spend, but things are tight. We do try to have a little fun to keep life interesting- most of it is low- cost or free, though.
Entertainment covers everything from going out to eat, to seeing a movie, to paying for a campsite or a parking fee when we're having an adventure.
Vacation is primarily for our summer vacation, though we do stay overnight every once in a while outside of that, so that is also drawn from this fund.
We are saving up (slowly but surely) for a big vacation to Disney in a few years. I promised my husband we would go when we paid off the house, but we do have to save for it first, so it wasn't exactly instant gratification.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Where we went over budget
Food- yipes! Normally, I spend $80 a week on groceries, this week, $124.56. So, pretty much next week I'll just be buying milk and produce.
Budget update
| TOTAL INCOME | $ 43,992.00 | $ 3,666.00 | $ 1,692.00 | $ 30.00 | $ 3,636.00 |
| Yearly total | Monthly | Average biweekly | Actual | Difference | |
| INCOME TAX | |||||
| taxes, work | $ 2,710.24 | $ 225.85 | $ 104.24 | $ - | $ 225.85 |
| NET INCOME | $ 41,281.76 | $ 3,440.15 | $ 1,587.76 | $ 30.00 | $ 3,410.15 |
| CHARITY 10-15% | |||||
| fast offering | $ 719.94 | $ 60.00 | $ 27.69 | $ 60.00 | $ (0.00) |
| tithing | $ 4,399.20 | $ 366.60 | $ 169.20 | $ 3.00 | $ 363.60 |
| SAVINGS 5-10% | |||||
| emergency fund | $ - | $ - | $ - | $ - | $ - |
| kids savings | $ 59.80 | $ 4.98 | $ 2.30 | $ - | $ 4.98 |
| retirement | $ 1,319.76 | $ 109.98 | $ 50.76 | $ - | $ 109.98 |
| HOUSING 25-35% | |||||
| dream home | $ 26.00 | $ 2.17 | $ 1.00 | $ - | $ 2.17 |
| homeowner's insurance (Jan) | $ 503.00 | $ 41.92 | $ 19.35 | $ - | $ 41.92 |
| Household improvement/ repair | $ 244.92 | $ 20.41 | $ 9.42 | $ - | $ 20.41 |
| 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 | $ 242.32 | $ 20.19 | $ 9.32 | $ - | $ 20.19 |
| phone- home | $ 189.12 | $ 15.76 | $ 7.27 | $ - | $ 15.76 |
| power | $ 2,089.62 | $ 174.14 | $ 80.37 | $ - | $ 174.14 |
| water& trash (odd months) | $ 1,298.96 | $ 108.25 | $ 49.96 | $ - | $ 108.25 |
| FOOD 5-15% | |||||
| groceries | $ 4,212.00 | $ 351.00 | $ 162.00 | $ 124.56 | $ 226.44 |
| TRANSPORTATION 10-15% | |||||
| car insurance (Jan and Jul) | $ 451.66 | $ 37.64 | $ 17.37 | $ - | $ 37.64 |
| gasoline- buick | $ 719.55 | $ 59.96 | $ 27.67 | $ - | $ 59.96 |
| gasoline- van | $ 969.97 | $ 80.83 | $ 37.31 | $ - | $ 80.83 |
| registration, buick | $ 39.42 | $ 3.28 | $ 1.52 | $ - | $ 3.28 |
| registration, van | $ 44.42 | $ 3.70 | $ 1.71 | $ - | $ 3.70 |
| repair, maintain, and replace | $ 316.68 | $ 26.39 | $ 12.18 | $ - | $ 26.39 |
| taxes, property- county (Dec) | $ 89.55 | $ 7.46 | $ 3.44 | $ - | $ 7.46 |
| taxes, property-town (Dec) | $ 84.86 | $ 7.07 | $ 3.26 | $ - | $ 7.07 |
| CLOTHING 2-7% | |||||
| me | $ 22.36 | $ 1.86 | $ 0.86 | $ - | $ 1.86 |
| kids | $ 56.68 | $ 4.72 | $ 2.18 | $ - | $ 4.72 |
| husband | $ 30.68 | $ 2.56 | $ 1.18 | $ - | $ 2.56 |
| MEDICAL 5-10% | |||||
| health care | $ 2,600.00 | $ 216.67 | $ 100.00 | $ - | $ 216.67 |
| health insurance | $ 5,994.30 | $ 499.53 | $230.55 | $ - | $ 499.53 |
| PERSONAL 5-10% | |||||
| Christmas | $ 21.58 | $ 1.80 | $ 0.83 | $ - | $ 1.80 |
| gifts | $ 14.56 | $ 1.21 | $ 0.56 | $ - | $ 1.21 |
| personal, me | $ 21.58 | $ 1.80 | $ 0.83 | $ - | $ 1.80 |
| personal, kids | $ 174.20 | $ 14.52 | $ 6.70 | $ - | $ 14.52 |
| personal, husband | $ 18.46 | $ 1.54 | $ 0.71 | $ - | $ 1.54 |
| pets | $ 676.00 | $ 56.33 | $ 26.00 | $ - | $ 56.33 |
| work | $ 11.70 | $ 0.98 | $ 0.45 | $ - | $ 0.98 |
| RECREATION 5-10% | |||||
| entertainment | $ 24.44 | $ 2.04 | $ 0.94 | $ - | $ 2.04 |
| vacation | $ 105.82 | $ 8.82 | $ 4.07 | $ - | $ 8.82 |
| disney | $ 1,300.00 | $ 108.33 | $ 50.00 | $ - | $ 108.33 |
| 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 | $ 27.00 | $ 729.41 |
| NET SPENDING | $ 41,281.74 | $ 3,440.14 | $ 1,587.76 | $ 214.56 | $ 3,225.58 |
| DIFFERENCE | $ 0.02 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $(184.56) |
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Budget category explanation: personal
This category is very much a catch- all sort of category. Each line has specific uses, though, and I will cover each.
Christmas: Everything Christmas related goes under here. Gifts, wrapping paper, shipping costs, Christmas cards, the tree, stocking stuffers, the list goes on. About the only thing I don't include is food, which falls under groceries. I do lay aside about a dollar every other paycheck throughout the year to cover the larger food expenses around every food- centric holiday, and I draw from it as necessary, but when I spend it, it always gets recorded under the grocery category.
Gifts: This covers family birthday gifts, shower gifts, etc. We tend to spend more on the kids than we do on ourselves, for sure.
Personal: anything that is just for one person in the family goes here- for me, it includes such things as a night out with friends, a haircut, etc. The kids fund mostly goes towards whatever sport or activity they are involved in, or lessons, or any school expenses like field trips. My husband tends to spend his on convenience store stops, though he is saving right now so we can see the new Star Wars movie when it comes out.
Pets: this is mostly for our dog (food, vet, supplies), but a little goes towards our fish too.
Work: anything my husband spends in relation to work goes here. He does get reimbursed for most of his expenses, but some things fall through the cracks (as in, he loses the receipt). As he spends the money, I move the money from this fund to checking, and as he gets reimbursed, it goes back in, so you'll see some pretty wild swings from month to month, especially if he's been traveling a lot.
Christmas: Everything Christmas related goes under here. Gifts, wrapping paper, shipping costs, Christmas cards, the tree, stocking stuffers, the list goes on. About the only thing I don't include is food, which falls under groceries. I do lay aside about a dollar every other paycheck throughout the year to cover the larger food expenses around every food- centric holiday, and I draw from it as necessary, but when I spend it, it always gets recorded under the grocery category.
Gifts: This covers family birthday gifts, shower gifts, etc. We tend to spend more on the kids than we do on ourselves, for sure.
Personal: anything that is just for one person in the family goes here- for me, it includes such things as a night out with friends, a haircut, etc. The kids fund mostly goes towards whatever sport or activity they are involved in, or lessons, or any school expenses like field trips. My husband tends to spend his on convenience store stops, though he is saving right now so we can see the new Star Wars movie when it comes out.
Pets: this is mostly for our dog (food, vet, supplies), but a little goes towards our fish too.
Work: anything my husband spends in relation to work goes here. He does get reimbursed for most of his expenses, but some things fall through the cracks (as in, he loses the receipt). As he spends the money, I move the money from this fund to checking, and as he gets reimbursed, it goes back in, so you'll see some pretty wild swings from month to month, especially if he's been traveling a lot.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
November's challenge!
November's challenge is to save money on gas! Some ways we plan on saving money here are walking when we can, consolidating errands, making sure our vehicles are in good efficient order, and not making unnecessary trips. We'll see how much money we can save, considering we're traveling for Thanksgiving, but I am up for the challenge, are you?
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Where we went over budget
Overall, during the month, we went over budget (besides savings, which I don't count, because more money is good!) in the following areas:
Household improvement and repair: I used money that was supposed to be for the shed we've had money laid aside for. Now we'll have to save up again.
Cell phone: my husband finally cancelled the phone insurance that I think is a waste of money this month, so that number should be better next time.
Groceries: this number looks high, but my weekly allotment is $80, and we had 5 Fridays (grocery day) this month, so I actually came in under budget.
Gas: we made a family trip up to Maryland last weekend, so our gas spending is higher than normal. This should even out over the year. We still have extra in our gas fund.
Car repair: we blew this one way out of the water- our van needed new tires and brakes this month. I should be more careful about laying more money aside for car repair- we did not have enough in our car fund to cover the repairs. We have enough to "borrow" from our other savings funds, but I'll have to "pay" them back later, or we'll end up in the same boat as now, only under a different category.
Clothing, me: I needed some new pants- I had money in my fund for it.
Medical: we had more than the usual trips to the doctor this month, from a mutant wart that needed surgery, to a nursemaid's elbow with accompanying x-rays. Hopefully the kids will be less crazy next month!
Health insurance: extra paycheck= extra health insurance payment- we didn't really go over here.
Personal, me: again- I had the money in my fund.
Work: still waiting on my husband to submit his expense report...
Entertainment: we had money in our fund.
Vacation: we took the trip to Maryland, so the hotel came out of this- we had money in our fund, though I will have to get creative when we're planning our vacation this summer- KOA anyone?
From this point forward, I am just going to state that we went over budget if the money is not there in its associated category fund and we have to "borrow" from our other funds, or from the overage when my husband works overtime. My goal is to only ever spend money that we have dedicated and saved in each category. I am exceptionally undisciplined in this, thinking it will all even out eventually, and usually it does, but sometimes it doesn't and we have to make more than the usual sacrifices to keep from having to carry a balance on our credit card, or I sit and worry while we are racing checks, hoping nothing bounces.
The thing that bothers me the most is that the money that is borrowed from other funds sometimes never gets paid back, and it's usually out of our more personal funds, like entertainment, or money I got for Christmas, clothing, or vacation, and I hate to cheat these funds, considering how little money we have in them anyway.
Household improvement and repair: I used money that was supposed to be for the shed we've had money laid aside for. Now we'll have to save up again.
Cell phone: my husband finally cancelled the phone insurance that I think is a waste of money this month, so that number should be better next time.
Groceries: this number looks high, but my weekly allotment is $80, and we had 5 Fridays (grocery day) this month, so I actually came in under budget.
Gas: we made a family trip up to Maryland last weekend, so our gas spending is higher than normal. This should even out over the year. We still have extra in our gas fund.
Car repair: we blew this one way out of the water- our van needed new tires and brakes this month. I should be more careful about laying more money aside for car repair- we did not have enough in our car fund to cover the repairs. We have enough to "borrow" from our other savings funds, but I'll have to "pay" them back later, or we'll end up in the same boat as now, only under a different category.
Clothing, me: I needed some new pants- I had money in my fund for it.
Medical: we had more than the usual trips to the doctor this month, from a mutant wart that needed surgery, to a nursemaid's elbow with accompanying x-rays. Hopefully the kids will be less crazy next month!
Health insurance: extra paycheck= extra health insurance payment- we didn't really go over here.
Personal, me: again- I had the money in my fund.
Work: still waiting on my husband to submit his expense report...
Entertainment: we had money in our fund.
Vacation: we took the trip to Maryland, so the hotel came out of this- we had money in our fund, though I will have to get creative when we're planning our vacation this summer- KOA anyone?
From this point forward, I am just going to state that we went over budget if the money is not there in its associated category fund and we have to "borrow" from our other funds, or from the overage when my husband works overtime. My goal is to only ever spend money that we have dedicated and saved in each category. I am exceptionally undisciplined in this, thinking it will all even out eventually, and usually it does, but sometimes it doesn't and we have to make more than the usual sacrifices to keep from having to carry a balance on our credit card, or I sit and worry while we are racing checks, hoping nothing bounces.
The thing that bothers me the most is that the money that is borrowed from other funds sometimes never gets paid back, and it's usually out of our more personal funds, like entertainment, or money I got for Christmas, clothing, or vacation, and I hate to cheat these funds, considering how little money we have in them anyway.
Budget update- final numbers for October!
| TOTAL INCOME | $ 43,992.00 | $ 3,666.00 | $ 1,692.00 | $ 5,710.91 | $(2,044.91) |
| Yearly total | Monthly | Average biweekly | Actual | Difference | |
| INCOME TAX | |||||
| taxes, work | $ 2,710.24 | $ 225.85 | $ 104.24 | $ 354.77 | $ (128.92) |
| NET INCOME | $ 41,281.76 | $ 3,440.15 | $ 1,587.76 | $ 5,356.14 | $(1,915.99) |
| CHARITY 10-15% | |||||
| fast offering | $ 719.94 | $ 60.00 | $ 27.69 | $ 60.00 | $ (0.00) |
| tithing | $ 4,399.20 | $ 366.60 | $ 169.20 | $ 361.18 | $ 5.42 |
| SAVINGS 5-10% | |||||
| emergency fund | $ - | $ - | $ - | $ - | $ - |
| kids savings | $ 57.20 | $ 4.77 | $ 2.20 | $ 4.40 | $ 0.37 |
| retirement | $ 1,319.76 | $ 109.98 | $ 50.76 | $ 168.77 | $ (58.79) |
| HOUSING 25-35% | |||||
| dream home | $ - | $ - | $ - | $ 27.32 | $ (27.32) |
| homeowner's insurance (Jan) | $ 503.00 | $ 41.92 | $ 19.35 | $ - | $ 41.92 |
| Household improvement/ repair | $ 139.88 | $ 11.66 | $ 5.38 | $ 195.05 | $ (183.39) |
| 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 | $ 30.75 | $ (9.78) |
| phone- home | $ 189.12 | $ 15.76 | $ 7.27 | $ 15.76 | $ - |
| power | $ 2,174.90 | $ 181.24 | $ 83.65 | $ 116.37 | $ 64.87 |
| water& trash (odd months) | $ 1,288.56 | $ 107.38 | $ 49.56 | $ - | $ 107.38 |
| FOOD 5-15% | |||||
| groceries | $ 4,212.00 | $ 351.00 | $ 162.00 | $ 369.15 | $ (18.15) |
| TRANSPORTATION 10-15% | |||||
| car insurance (Jan and Jul) | $ 451.66 | $ 37.64 | $ 17.37 | $ - | $ 37.64 |
| gasoline- buick | $ 767.42 | $ 63.95 | $ 29.52 | $ 46.74 | $ 17.21 |
| gasoline- van | $ 973.54 | $ 81.13 | $ 37.44 | $ 129.68 | $ (48.55) |
| registration, buick | $ 39.42 | $ 3.28 | $ 1.52 | $ - | $ 3.28 |
| registration, van | $ 44.42 | $ 3.70 | $ 1.71 | $ - | $ 3.70 |
| repair, maintain, and replace | $ 218.92 | $ 18.24 | $ 8.42 | $ 705.86 | $ (687.62) |
| 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 | $ 14.30 | $ 1.19 | $ 0.55 | $ 11.85 | $ (10.66) |
| kids | $ 34.06 | $ 2.84 | $ 1.31 | $ 2.63 | $ 0.21 |
| husband | $ 23.40 | $ 1.95 | $ 0.90 | $ - | $ 1.95 |
| MEDICAL 5-10% | |||||
| health care | $ 2,600.00 | $ 216.67 | $ 100.00 | $ 435.60 | $ (218.93) |
| health insurance | $ 5,994.30 | $ 499.53 | $230.55 | $ 691.65 | $ (192.13) |
| PERSONAL 5-10% | |||||
| Christmas | $ 16.12 | $ 1.34 | $ 0.62 | $ - | $ 1.34 |
| gifts | $ 8.06 | $ 0.67 | $ 0.31 | $ - | $ 0.67 |
| personal, me | $ 15.34 | $ 1.28 | $ 0.59 | $ 9.48 | $ (8.20) |
| personal, kids | $ 149.76 | $ 12.48 | $ 5.76 | $ 11.27 | $ 1.21 |
| personal, husband | $ 173.68 | $ 14.47 | $ 6.68 | $ 2.46 | $ 12.01 |
| pets | $ 676.00 | $ 56.33 | $ 26.00 | $ 44.33 | $ 12.00 |
| work | $ 0.78 | $ 0.07 | $ 0.03 | $ 1,005.34 | $(1,005.28) |
| RECREATION 5-10% | |||||
| entertainment | $ 15.34 | $ 1.28 | $ 0.59 | $ 5.20 | $ (3.92) |
| vacation | $ 87.10 | $ 7.26 | $ 3.35 | $ 65.00 | $ (57.74) |
| 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 | $ 1,123.83 | $ (367.43) |
| NET SPENDING | $ 41,239.61 | $ 3,436.63 | $ 1,586.14 | $ 5,883.06 | $(2,446.43) |
| DIFFERENCE | $ 42.15 | $ 3.51 | $ 1.62 | $ (526.92) |
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