Halcyon Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 (edited) Hi everyone!!! Sorry i was late getting this up! Went away all weekend to a conference by Dani Johnson (she's like a personal finance, work and motivational speaker) and then worked all day--I am beat! Here's my month so far up til the 22nd! $513.59/600 Groceries $600/$800 Savings (I am trying to save up the max to contribute to my IRA before the deadline in April. It's hard but I am trying. $131.12/$200 Gas $63/150 Restaurants/dining out $250/50 Hobbies (yes, I went crazy. ) 0/400 Autopayment--this will happen this week. $87/100 Education --texts for ds14's class. $60 Gift for my mom for her bday. So i am on track for almost everything but way over budget in Hobbies. Luckily, I was still able to contribute to my savings which is a BIG goal of mine and I am on track to pay off the remaining small amount of credit card debt by the end of March. I am working more in order to put more towards savings. How did everyone's week go?? Edited January 24, 2017 by Halcyon 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted January 24, 2017 Author Share Posted January 24, 2017 At the end of the month, if I am below budget overall, I will contribute the difference to savings. I am adding an extra shift starting Feb 11, so that will bring in more money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 :hurray: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEm Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Awesome! I will join you starting February 1st. January was so chaotic with having my son on the 2nd, being stuck in the hospital for 5 days because we both had medical issues, recovering from the csection, and adjusting to life with 5 kids. I havent even made our 2017 budget or made my financial goals list yet. I will get that all done before the 1st so I am ready to join in. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Condessa Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 (edited) Well, I'm in budget. All I spent this week was $34 on groceries, $57.50 to the American Classical League for the NME and ELE registration, and $61 on purchasing four used MCT Town level teacher's manuals (actually they were $10 more than that, but I had two Amazon gift cards from bing points that I used). I guess you can see where my priorities lie from my spending. Edited January 24, 2017 by La Condessa 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 I guess I should get back to fully tracking. Right now I am just trying to pay off the Camry by the end of the month. I should be able to, although it will be tight. Then we will be on to paying off another debt. We have two more. One is my car that we needed because our old car had too many issues to be reliable and was more cost than it was worth to get it fixed. And we have our home improvement/HELOC. I am HOPING to have both paid off before DS starts college in 2018. DS says he wants to go to school last least 2 years locally. My oldest is doing that. That would save us a LOT. I also need to save for our trip out to see my parents (West Coast) this summer. Thankfully I am working now, and most of my paycheck is going towards paying off all the loans. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Was on vacation until today splurged a little but not much got some deals on lodging All and all it was good money wise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 To OP: If you don't eat out for the rest of the month, you can almost recoup your hobby spending spree. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted January 25, 2017 Author Share Posted January 25, 2017 To OP: If you don't eat out for the rest of the month, you can almost recoup your hobby spending spree. :) i like the way you think!!!! There are actually a few ways I can scrimp in various departments. The kids won't mind noodles and butter til february, right?? JK JK!! I am really trying to build our emergency fund b4 paying off my car, but each time i build it up we....HAVE AN EMERGENCY :( So then I need to build it back up again, and the car doesn't get paid off. Any advice? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEm Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 i like the way you think!!!! There are actually a few ways I can scrimp in various departments. The kids won't mind noodles and butter til february, right?? JK JK!! I am really trying to build our emergency fund b4 paying off my car, but each time i build it up we....HAVE AN EMERGENCY :( So then I need to build it back up again, and the car doesn't get paid off. Any advice? How much do you have left on the car and what is the total you are trying to reach for the emergency fund? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 i like the way you think!!!! There are actually a few ways I can scrimp in various departments. The kids won't mind noodles and butter til february, right?? JK JK!! I am really trying to build our emergency fund b4 paying off my car, but each time i build it up we....HAVE AN EMERGENCY :( So then I need to build it back up again, and the car doesn't get paid off. Any advice? Ugh. Life right? Hmm Do you work? Could you add more shifts? Really cut the budget down to save up fast. No kids activities, eating out, entertainment Can you sell stuff from the house? stuff you don't use or need Can you do more to bring in more income? A second job if you have one? Can your dh? Are the kids old enough to do some work? Have you tried to get your bills lower? Insurance, net, cable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 (edited) Today wasn't so good 😕 I bought back to school supplies which added up quickly over three kids, even though I didn't buy heaps new. I did get file folders so I can photocopy a whole terms work and have it ready to go. Maybe that was overboard bit still way cheaper than sonlight right. I also bought an outfit for wedding, bras, dog food, bulk laundry powder, gumboots for ds4 and kitty litter. Other than the wedding outfit and maybe a couple of small stationary related things it was all essential but it added up so fast. I'll just have to hope that it's my big shop for the next few months and I won't need to do it again till next school holidays. And while the wedding outfit isn't strictly strictly essential I don't have anything nice to wear that still fits. Gaining and losing weight costs so much. Edited January 25, 2017 by Ausmumof3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted January 25, 2017 Author Share Posted January 25, 2017 How much do you have left on the car and what is the total you are trying to reach for the emergency fund? 9800 on car and want my emergency fund to be 6000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted January 25, 2017 Author Share Posted January 25, 2017 Ugh. Life right? Hmm Do you work? Could you add more shifts? Really cut the budget down to save up fast. No kids activities, eating out, entertainment Can you sell stuff from the house? stuff you don't use or need Can you do more to bring in more income? A second job if you have one? Can your dh? Are the kids old enough to do some work? Have you tried to get your bills lower? Insurance, net, cable I work, and am adding a shift in Feb. I am keeping a much stricter budget, so hopefully that will add some funds. Yes, going to sell stuff. Feb and March I am diong a big clean. So that's something. DH works all the time at his business, and I run my own business, so I can work more to a degree (homeschooling! Arg! LOL) Older kid is getting a job but he wants to put money towards first car and college savings, which is his right, i think. We will look into cheaper car and health insurance. MIght join medical sharing plan as our insurance is 1000 a month for AWFUL coverage. THANK YOU!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frugalmamatx Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 So far so good for this week. Worked on dealing with late bills. Sold a fair amount of stuff. Trying to up the amount of work I'm doing online until it's covering all the basics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I work, and am adding a shift in Feb. I am keeping a much stricter budget, so hopefully that will add some funds. Yes, going to sell stuff. Feb and March I am diong a big clean. So that's something. DH works all the time at his business, and I run my own business, so I can work more to a degree (homeschooling! Arg! LOL) Older kid is getting a job but he wants to put money towards first car and college savings, which is his right, i think. We will look into cheaper car and health insurance. MIght join medical sharing plan as our insurance is 1000 a month for AWFUL coverage. THANK YOU!!! Good luck It seems like you are doing things that will help. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 (edited) So far so good for this week. Worked on dealing with late bills. Sold a fair amount of stuff. Trying to up the amount of work I'm doing online until it's covering all the basics. Good job selling stuff. i need to post more stuff and see if I can sell it. What work do you do online? Great goal of making that cover the basics. Is this the thread for this week? Edited January 27, 2017 by mommyoffive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 (edited) I am really trying to build our emergency fund b4 paying off my car, but each time i build it up we....HAVE AN EMERGENCY :( So then I need to build it back up again, and the car doesn't get paid off. Any advice? Have you defined exactly what the emergency fund is intended to cover? We had the same problem - we'd accumulate cash and then things would come up and the fund would be depleted. So I started tracking what the emergency fund was being used for and found at least half the time it was used for things I should have anticipated and should have had sinking funds for- glasses for all four of us, car repairs under $500, expected medical expenses (such as annual visits for prescription renewal), vet bills, household repairs, Christmas... So I changed how we did it- tracking all of our spending and then putting it into categories and figuring out how much things were REALLY costing us and then establishing sinking funds. All of this to say...is your emergency fund being used for emergencies? If so, I'm so sorry...that SUCKS. If it's being used for things that can be served with sinking funds, is that something that would help? Edited January 27, 2017 by Annie G 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 (edited) Quick check-in--- Just updated budget stuff and it appears we are on track to where we wanted to be. We could have been tighter this month but it seems we have kept with our big goal so that is fantastic. We filed our taxes yesterday so we know how much we are getting back, most of which will be allocated to savings. Dh's parents are hiring him to help them with a job, which is $500(half of the cost to have it done), he tried to refuse the money but they were insistent so that will certainly be a boost. Dh also gets a bonus in Feb which varies, last bonus in August was nearly 2x as much as previous ones and this one is rumored to be even bigger(they got in a new manager who seems to be much better with money). Lastly dh is scheduled to start a side job which is to pay $2400 by the time it is done, part will be in Feb and part in March. Needless to say we're hoping next month gets us well on our way to meeting our savings goals for the year with income tax, pay from his parents, the side job and his bonus. On the bills side of the equation I have to pay for: - yoga training- $1050- plus lodging - 6 nights total- am investigating how to do this cheaply now - homeschool stuff- I went over this month but it was all stuff I would be buying at some point anyway- I still have lots I need to sell which will hopefully recoup some if not all of this -small family vacation- I'm hoping to keep this to $200 or so maybe- tent camping a few hrs away- enjoying nature and bringing our own food(so would be about the same as our normal food budget) -Scout camp- $260 for one, another $160 if he does 2 (summer) -newer(used) bikes for dh & I, I would like to take some money from our returns to upgrade our bikes- we bought very cheap used ones that don't work the best as I wanted to make sure we used them, we do - maybe $300-$400 total And the big one---- -European Vacation for dh and I, which I haven't told him about. I've got enough points on a CC to get 1 ticket for free pretty much, which is the big expense. I don't believe I'll be able to get enough points for both tickets by this fall but I'm hoping maybe I will have enough for some lodging, I need to be researching more on how to do this cheaply :) So, I'm not putting a number to this yet. I think we can do it, even if we can't quite make all of our savings goal for the year I think we should do it anyway, life is too short. My goal is to surprise dh w/ plane tickets either on his b-day in May or our anniversary in July :) Edited January 27, 2017 by soror 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Quick check-in--- Just updated budget stuff and it appears we are on track to where we wanted to be. We could have been tighter this month but it seems we have kept with our big goal so that is fantastic. We filed our taxes yesterday so we know how much we are getting back, most of which will be allocated to savings. Dh's parents are hiring him to help them with a job, which is $500(half of the cost to have it done), he tried to refuse the money but they were insistent so that will certainly be a boost. Dh also gets a bonus in Feb which varies, last bonus in August was nearly 2x as much as previous ones and this one is rumored to be even bigger(they got in a new manager who seems to be much better with money). Lastly dh is scheduled to start a side job which is to pay $2400 by the time it is done, part will be in Feb and part in March. Needless to say we're hoping next month gets us well on our way to meeting our savings goals for the year with income tax, pay from his parents, the side job and his bonus. On the bills side of the equation I have to pay for: - yoga training- $1050- plus lodging - 6 nights total- am investigating how to do this cheaply now - homeschool stuff- I went over this month but it was all stuff I would be buying at some point anyway- I still have lots I need to sell which will hopefully recoup some if not all of this -small family vacation- I'm hoping to keep this to $200 or so maybe- tent camping a few hrs away- enjoying nature and bringing our own food(so would be about the same as our normal food budget) -Scout camp- $260 for one, another $160 if he does 2 (summer) -newer(used) bikes for dh & I, I would like to take some money from our returns to upgrade our bikes- we bought very cheap used ones that don't work the best as I wanted to make sure we used them, we do - maybe $300-$400 total And the big one---- -European Vacation for dh and I, which I haven't told him about. I've got enough points on a CC to get 1 ticket for free pretty much, which is the big expense. I don't believe I'll be able to get enough points for both tickets by this fall but I'm hoping maybe I will have enough for some lodging, I need to be researching more on how to do this cheaply :) So, I'm not putting a number to this yet. I think we can do it, even if we can't quite make all of our savings goal for the year I think we should do it anyway, life is too short. My goal is to surprise dh w/ plane tickets either on his b-day in May or our anniversary in July :) Awesome on getting your taxes done already and all the extra money coming in. Smart on having those side jobs. I hope the bonus pans out well. Smart to be adding up the bills that are coming around in summer. So happy for you about Europe. That is so nice. I hope you get to surprise dh with it. What CC do you have with points on it? Can you open another credit card to gain more points? Life is too short, enjoy it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Awesome on getting your taxes done already and all the extra money coming in. Smart on having those side jobs. I hope the bonus pans out well. Smart to be adding up the bills that are coming around in summer. So happy for you about Europe. That is so nice. I hope you get to surprise dh with it. What CC do you have with points on it? Can you open another credit card to gain more points? Life is too short, enjoy it. The card is a Chase Sapphire, you get a 50k(equivalent to $625) bonus point for signing up and spending $4k in 3mo. I've thought about seeing about getting another rewards card but I wondered if it would be a good idea to try to get plane tickets through more than 1 card and then I thought perhaps I'd be better off to put all the spending to 1 card, I don't know, I probably need to see if there are any others with big sign on bonuses for the lodging if not for plane travel. Thanks for the well wishes. The side job just fell in our lap, it may be a one-time thing or he might get to do it multiple times, it is a teahing gig. $100 per hr for 24hrs/6wk session. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 The card is a Chase Sapphire, you get a 50k(equivalent to $625) bonus point for signing up and spending $4k in 3mo. I've thought about seeing about getting another rewards card but I wondered if it would be a good idea to try to get plane tickets through more than 1 card and then I thought perhaps I'd be better off to put all the spending to 1 card, I don't know, I probably need to see if there are any others with big sign on bonuses for the lodging if not for plane travel. Thanks for the well wishes. The side job just fell in our lap, it may be a one-time thing or he might get to do it multiple times, it is a teahing gig. $100 per hr for 24hrs/6wk session. There are lots of reward cards out there. Most every airline has one and then the big banks too. You could do an airline card or get a hotel card too. We have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. You can only get in branch right now as they took the big bonus off line because they are losing so much money on it. It has a $450 Annual fee But you get a $300 annual travel credit. Get i think 100 towards pre check or global entry priority pass and lots of other benefits. It is worth the $450 You get 100k in points with the 4k of spend. I think chase has 2 smaller rewards cards that get you 15k points or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted January 30, 2017 Author Share Posted January 30, 2017 hey all i am travelling but hope to get the new thread up asap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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