May 31-June 6 Budget

David is out of town on a business trip again this week so I am spending the week at my parents house in Florida. This should be a fairly simple week since I won't need groceries, and all of David's spending is done with his work credit card. Here goes!

Groceries, Household: $5 (Will need a small bag of dog food while here in FL.)
Gas: $35
Cash:$0 (Already have some.)
Misc:$20

May 24-30 Summary

This week was a short one. Because of the Memorial Day weekend, our real week didn't start until Tuesday. The week itself was uneventful and normal, and Friday night we went out with friends to eat and then to a local Minor League baseball game. The tickets were free for Military families, so that was great. We had a wonderful time, I'd never been to a real baseball game before (just high school games) and it was SO MUCH FUN. We are planning to go back again soon. Here's how the week went:

Budgeted/Actual
Groceries-Household: $0/54*
Gas: $60/74
Cash: $60/60
Misc: $30/30

Total: $68 over budget

*I hadn't planned on buying groceries but since my sister is coming to stay with me next I went and head and bought some. Next week I should only need milk and bread and maybe a few veggies.

May 24-30 Budget

This will be a hectic week for us! We were out of town Sunday and Monday, we'll be home and have our normal schedule Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Then Friday I leave to go to my parents, and David leaves Saturday for a week long business trip to Tampa. Because of this, I don't need to buy groceries, but I do need to budget for our travel. Here's the plan:

Food: $0
Gas: $60 ($30 for weekly driving, $30 for driving to my parents on Friday.)
Cash: $60
Misc: $30

Total: $150

Memorial Weekend Summary

We stayed UNDER budget. I know! I'm so stoked and I'm excited for the next week. Having a great week is so motivating! Here's how it worked out:


Budgeted/Actual

Gas: $30/$55
Food: $20/$35
Misc: $50/$6

Total Spent: $ 96

$4 UNDER budget!!!!!!

May 17-23 Summary

Because we'll be out of town our week is pretty much over. This week was pretty simple. David was out of the country, so with it just being me there wasn't much I needed, but here's the numbers:

Food: $0/$0
Gas: $20/$20
Cash; $20/20
Misc: $20/$3

Total spent this week: $43, $17 under budget.
I had 4 No Spend Days this week.

This was a VERY good week, I wish they could all be this good!

Memorial Weekend Trip

David is coming on from his business trip early, and will have a 4 day weekend, so we're going to my parents house in Florida. Here is our budget for that trip:

$30 gas (The truck is already full, so we'll need a little more, but not much.)
$20 food (Since we stay at me parents house we'll eat here, but probably get McD's for lunch while traveling to and from.)
$50 Misc (We might go to the dirt track depending on the weather, but no other real plans. We'll probably spend some time fishing and grilling out if the weathers good.)

So my goal for this 4 day trip (Fri-Mon) is to spend less then $100! I think it's totally do-able, but I just have to remember to write it all down. I have a bad habit of not balancing my checkbook while I'm out of town. I don't ever overdraft it, but I often spend more because I don't realize how much I've already spent.

Everyone have a relaxing and safe Memorial Day!!!

My New Truck!!!

David and I bought this last week. Our truck had almost 140k miles on it and lots of small things were starting to go. We decided to just trade it in and get a new one with lower miles and a warranty. It did increase our payments from $317 to $480, but it decreased our insurance by $50 a month. And add in the peace of mind knowing it's under warranty and won't require any repairs in the next few years is priceless, especially since David spends so much time out of the country and I'm here along.

Don't Leave the House.

David is out of the country on business this week, and I had planned on visiting family. At the last minute I had to stay here because we had to have some A/C repair done. Luckily, it's government housing, so we aren't responsible. On top of that, this house is only 6 months old, so it's still under warranty. Apparently when they were nailing in the baseboards, someone nailed through the A/C line and it's been leaking slowly ever since. So I'm stuck here while they fix it and won't be going to my parents house. Without someone to cook for or clean up after, I am extremely bored. I really, really want to go shopping today. I know I can find some great deals, but I have to keep reminding myself that no matter how great the deal is (unless it's free!) that if we don't need it, it's still a waste. And frankly...WE DON'T NEED IT. I decided the best way to combat my shopping urge was to reorganize my stock pile. It worked really well because not only did it get something accomplished that need to be done, (my stockpile was looking like a stock mountain) but it made me realize all the stuff we had, and that no, I didn't need to leave the house and bring MORE stuff in. I also found some things I had laying around that my sister would love, so I'm taking them to her next week.
I have tons of stuff to keep my busy this week when I really put my mind to it. My truck needs to be washed, the grass could be cut, my garden should be weeded, and my microwave needs a good scrub down. Plenty to do and no time to shop=a No Spend Day!!!!!
What are you up to this fine spring day?

My Budget Basics

I am so unorganized and random when it comes to blogging, obviously. I have really good ideas and intentions but they never seem to pan out. I don't ever follow through, and not just with blogging, but with almost everything I do. I am a planner, but not a do-er. I love to plan, I could do it all day. I love to budget, I could do that all day too. But it doesn't help unless I FOLLOW through on that plan or budget. I've decided I need to schedule time to blog, instead of just waiting for a reason to. So I'm laying out a new plan, and this time I will follow through.

My "Budget Basics":

1. My budget is for myself, my husband, and our dog.
2. I don't work, and our only income is from my husbands full time, salaried job.
3. Our week starts on Sunday, and we budget weekly.
4. While I budget weekly, I also track spending by the month, to see from year to year where the money goes.
5. I don't really use software. I do use quicken, but for me, it works best using a notebook and pen, and an old fashion check register.

My Basic Monthly Budget:

Total Net Income: $2254 (We get an additional $1200, but because we live on Military Housing, it goes straight to them, covering housing and all utilities.)

Fixed Expenses:

$200: Automobile and Home Insurance

$140: Both Cell Phones

$477: Truck Loan

$103; Cable and Internet

Total Fixed Expenses: $920

Variable Expenses:

Groceries/Household Needs: $250

Gas: $150

Cash: $200 (We each get $20 a week "spending money". David gets $30 since he usually eats lunch at work.)

Misc: $200 (This covers dining out, entertainment, clothing, etc.)

Credit Card: $200

Total Variable Expenses: $1,000

Automotive Savings: $50 (This is a vehicle maintenance fund, we pull from it for repairs or upkeep on both the car and truck.)

This leaves about $285. At the end of the month, all leftover money is transferred to general savings.

My plan is to post on Sunday or Monday the budget for that week. I also want to track how many "No Spend Days" I have. My goal is 4 a week. Aside from the day I run my errands and the weekends, there really is no reason to spend money during the week. However this doesn't include the $20 weekly spending money, since we don't track that. Also, on the 1st of each month I want to post the totals for the previous month.

I'm excited to get started...again.

Quicken

I created an account with http://www.quicken.com/ this weekend, and so far I am really liking it. I wanted to use http://www.mint.com/ but wasn't ever able to get my bank accounts to download, so I gave up. There are a few kinks I need to work out, but I'm learning and it's been fun playing around with it. I really like that it allows me to budget by setting up limits and then alerts my phone when I'm close to my budget on things like gas, or groceries. I also like that I can sort transactions by type, rather then just by date like when I was using my checkbook register. The only problems that I have, and really they aren't problems, just quirks of mine, are that I like to budget by the week, but Quicken tracks monthly. For now I'm still budgeting weekly in my notebook, and monthly on Quicken, and that seems to work out well. Over time I think I might like it better since I'll be able to see both where I am this minute, and where I stand for the entire month. My other problem is that our bank releases David's check the day before payday, so for us it's the 14th and 31st of every month instead of the 1st and 15th. Our bugeting month starts a day early, while Quicken uses a calendar month. I think we'll try just pretending like the money doesn't deposit until the next day and see how that works. I'll update in a week or two and let you know how I feel about it once I've been using it for a while.

May 3-9 Menu

Sunday: Fish, Hushpuppies, Pasta

Monday: San Antonio Chicken Rolls, South Western Rice, Peas

Tuesday: Shrimp Dirty Rice

Wednesday: Chicken Salad Wraps

Thursday: Fish, Hushpuppies, Squash, Peas

Friday: Chicken Patties, Potatoes Au Gratin, Brussel Sprouts

Saturday: David has duty, so it's just me. I'll probably have soup and a sandwich.