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January 18, 2017 · Leave a Comment

December 2016 Budget & Debt Update

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Budget· Debt Free· Our Journey· Our Monthly Budget

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December was a crazy busy month for us, and honestly, the craziness has extended well into January.  Between preparing for the holidays, office parties, school holiday concerts, college graduations, doctor’s appointments, visiting family, and family visiting us… the month sure kept us busy.  All in all, we were able to stash a little more aside as savings to use as a buffer for the changes that are occurring to our finances.  More details about that on Friday.  Until then, here’s how our December 2016 budget & debt repayment went.

December 2016 budget debt update

Salary: $3,757.43
Bonus:  $2,058.35

Total:  $5,818.75

Monthly Expenses

Mortgage**:  $500

Cell Phone:   $47.42

Home Phone / Internet:  $75.30
The majority of our bill is for internet service, and I would love to reduce it.  However, after some research and calling around to other local providers, based on our location there are no other service providers for our area.  I could pay for dish internet, and while the speeds would theoretically increase, the connectivity is much more unreliable than what we currently have.

Credit Card 1:   $106.93
The payments on this are reoccurring bills whose payments are made online that we don’t feel safe enough leaving our bank information in their account records.

Credit Card 2**:   $850
Because of when due dates and paychecks lined up this month, I split this payment into two.  One payment to reach the minimum by the due date, and the remainder after the remaining paychecks for the month were deposited and we zeroed out the budget.  This is the sole reason one of my goals for 2017 is to save up a month of income before we start paying on our student loans.  The due date on the student loan is at the beginning of the month, sometimes on the day of our first paycheck of the month.

Student Loans**:  $165

Electric:  $102.98
Cooler weather has arrived, and it’s showing in our electric bill!  It’s on the decline, and it’ll continue to do so as we fire up the wood stove for the winter.

Insurance: $236.35
Our insurance payment includes our car, house, and life insurance policies.

Piano Lessons:  $0
Bookworm’s piano lessons are a generous gift from my mother-in-law.

Newspaper Subscription:  $13.45
Our monthly, weekend only subscription.

Additional Expenses

Groceries:  $571.45
You can read more about what we ate over the course of the month here.

Household:  $156.01
This month we got a few items that were necessary for the house, but wound up costing us a lot of money.  Batteries and light bulbs are the bane of my existence.  Hubs and I have thought about how we could reduce our expenses on light bulbs since every time we buy bulbs to replace the lights in our kitchen, it ends up costing us at least $15 for a pack of 3 bulbs, and are leading towards a retrofit.

Fuel:  $137.53
Between school holiday concerts, travelling to see my sister’s graduation, as well as some travel for the holidays, our fuel bill was a little higher than normal.

Parking:  $2
When we attended the Christmas party hosted by Hubs’ company, we were limited on where we could park based on the building location.  We ended up paying for parking until the city ended their designated parking hours.

Lawn/Heat: $2.60
Hubs bought some fuel for his chainsaw so he could cut and stack more firewood for us for next winter.

Pet: $13.55

School: $18.98
Bookworm wanted to buy lunch this month ($10), while Monkey contributed some items to the gingerbread build and to an SPCA donation ($8.98).

Fun: $65.77

Eat Out: $73.05

Planner: $30.79
Since one of my goals for the upcoming year was to stay on top of things, I bought two planners for me this month.  One for personal use, and the other to use as a blog and social media planner.

Home Repair/Upgrades: $1.58
This month we started a redo on the lights in the master bedroom.  When we moved in, we had an office style of rectangle fluorescent light.  It was something that was going to be on our repair list anyways, but when the bulbs blew earlier in the month we quickly realized it was cheaper for us to go through and replace the light than buy new bulbs.  This cost is to replace the crossbeam so we could inlay the extra tiles that were in the ceiling.

Office Party: $42.94
Hubs’ office had two potluck style holiday office parties this month.  One a more informal “fish fry” for office employees only, and the other was a mix of catered and potluck open to all employees.

Savings

Each month I put an allotted amount of money into our savings accounts to pay for expenses that vary throughout the year.  Here, you’ll find a break down of what we put away in the account throughout the month, as well as any expenses through the month that came from that account.

Annual Savings Account:  $1,500
Every week I put money aside into this account, and on months with an extra paycheck, I put even more into this account.  Some months we don’t use anything that I put aside, other months we use a lot.  To read more on how much we try to put aside and what we use it for, you can check out this post.

Medical: $137.63
Bookworm had his annual allergist checkup in November.  This is our portion of the bill, after insurance payment.

Trash: $36
Our trash is picked up every other week, and billed quarterly on how many bags we had out during that time period.  This was our September – November bill.

Clothing: $226.23
Our clothing purchases this month included some new jeans and flannel shirts for Hubs, some concert attire for Bookworm, and business casual attire for me.

Prescription: $28.01
Prescriptions necessary for Bookworm’s strep, as well as some OTC medicine me.

Gifting Savings:   $1,100
I also add money to our gifting account each week.  It helps us to stay on budget each month and still have funds available for when birthdays and holidays come up.  This month we added a little more than normal to help offset any holiday shopping and birthday shopping we would incur between December and February.

Christmas: $418.24
This month this was spent on Christmas Ornaments, gifts for family members, as well as presents each of my kids got their siblings.

Debt Repayment

After paying off some debts earlier in the year, we are down to our mortgage, two student loans, and one credit card.  Since we started getting serious about our repayment at the beginning of 2014, we have paid off 3 credit cards, a small student loan, and our car.  We have also ended our payment plan on Bookworm’s orthodontic work, as well as our lease on his trumpet.  While we have come a long way since we started two years ago, we still have a long way to go.

Mortgage**:  $500

Credit Card 2**:   $850
This is our current snowball.  After increasing our emergency fund a bit, this is currently in repayment.

Student Loans**:  $165
Hub’s student loans were suppose to adjust to the new IBR repayment amount, but since his due date has been advanced so far ahead, his amount due still says $0.  I do keep paying on it each month though because I want to keep the interest that capitalizes down.

December 2016 Budget Debt Paid

How did your December 2016 budget & debt repayment go?  How did you do on your debt repayment for 2016?

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makingcentsmatter

makingcentsmatter
Only you can determine what your financial goals a Only you can determine what your financial goals are. If that means you're adding money to your savings account, or contributing to your retirement, while you are paying off debt, then so be it!⁠
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Do what looks right for you and your personal finances.⁠
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The trick to meal planning is to make it predictab The trick to meal planning is to make it predictable. But predictable doesn't mean the same thing week to week. You could have a chicken meal, a soup meal, a pasta meal, a leftovers meal, a family favorite meal, and so on.⁠
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We always try to go with themed days, but some weeks are so hectic the theme is literally "fast". Thankfully that hasn't been the case lately.⁠
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I can only hear about my extended warranty I never I can only hear about my extended warranty I never purchased so many times. 😣⁠
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#makingcentsmatter #budgets #monthlyincome #debtfreecommunity #realbudget #savingmoney #payingoffdebt #savings #frugalliving #frugalblogging #budgeting #monthlyincome #zerobasedbudget #financialgoals #personalfinance #personalfinancetips #financialfreedom
March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠ .⁠ House: $51 March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠
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House: $511.13⁠
Citi: $0 – this has a residual $3 in interest charges since payoff, due in April⁠
D NelNet: $100⁠
K NelNet: $100⁠
K Chase: $600⁠
Explorer: $336.27⁠
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Total Paid in 2021: $8,258.84⁠
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Extra Payment: There isn’t one this month since we were $25 away from zeroing out the budget for our February 15th monthly paycheck. That $25, and monies left from our January 15th paycheck, covered our OOP costs for Hubs’ filling. We also have some savings goals coming up that need to be met, making our debt payments a little lower for the time begin.⁠
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#makingcentsmatter #debt #debtfreejourney #debtfreeprogress #debtfreecommunity #realbudget #savingmoney #payingoffdebt #savings #frugalliving #frugalblogging #budgeting #monthlyincome #zerobasedbudget #financialgoals #personalfinance #personalfinancetips #financialfreedom⁠
The battle for who can charge what tonight is abou The battle for who can charge what tonight is about to begin. 😬⁠
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My kids run off with my charger, plug it into one outlet 5 feet from where they found it like that particular outlet is the only one in this house, and then proceed to fight over who can charge their device first at night.⁠
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Then they get grumpy when it's their turn and it's not the proper input cable. #itwasmychargerfirst #dontlikeitgofindyourown⁠
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#parentingteens #parentingtweens #momlife #realife #budget #budgeting #savingmoney #cash #frugalblogger #frugalmom #financialgoals #personalfinancetips #personalfinance #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogress #makingcentsmatter
A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a bit in our February Budget Check-In about how much of this I think we'll owe, and you can check that out on my YouTube channel if you're interested, but I wanted to say here...⁠
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To the mother with little kids struggling to get your finances in order, it will get better. I wish I could have heard those words years ago.⁠
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Nearly 10 years ago we were facing a $1,400 out-of-pocket portion for A's Phase 1 orthodontic work (I looked it up after I uploaded the video... we had a $1,400 portion).⁠
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It was a lot of money for us at the time. Our kids were 6, 2, and 3 months old. I don't think we even had $500 in savings, and I just left a part-time teaching job because it wasn't paying the part-time daycare bill, so paying our portion in full was just a dream I didn't think was achievable.⁠
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I was even stressing about the monthly $100 payments. We were so strapped. It was our breaking moment to start cutting costs and budgeting more effectively. We've learned a lot in that time period.⁠
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What we've learned is that it does no good to stress about it all the time. Life happens. All you can do is try to plan ahead, and if it's something that's unplanned, readjust. It won't always be easy, especially at first, but it will be worth it.⁠
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Nearly 10 years later, we are still paying off our debts. Student loans suck. But I see this bill as a reminder of how far we have come. Seeing a bill like this doesn't stress me out like it used to, and I know we can easily create a plan that can get it done and out of the way.⁠
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Will it delay our debt-free date more? Yes. But it's not worth stressing over. Life happens, readjust, and continue on down the path. It's called a journey for a reason.⁠
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#wisdomteeth #personalfiannce #personalfinancetips #financialgoals #budgeting #budgets #savingsgoals #savings #cashbudget #zerobasedbudget #debtfreejourney #debtfreeprogress #adulting #lifehappens #realife #realbudget #makingcentsmatter
It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budget It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budgeting categories are working out for the pay month.⁠
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Food is looking good this far into our paycheck, probably because miscellaneous - which includes eating out - took a hit with unexpected purchases. Pet is low for this time of the month, and Household is spot on.⁠
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Fuel looks like it'll be lower than last month (yay for weeks of snow days & delayed school starts), and Therapy had one more appointment than initially planned.⁠
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Garden, Dental, Medical & Propane are not included in these estimates so far because those expenses are coming from sinking funds. Once we're done with the month and review the budget, I'll move over the total amount spent from those sinking funds.⁠
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How's your paycheck budget coming along?⁠
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#realbudget #monthlyincome #monthlybudget #budget #budgetupdate #budgeting #savingmoney #variablecategories #savingmoney #savings #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #cash #financialgoals #personalfinancetips #personalfinance #frugalliving #frugalblogger #budgetblogger #makingcentsmatter
Automating your finances makes saving money and bu Automating your finances makes saving money and budgeting more convenient, and therefore easier on you. Out of sight, out of mind, right?⁠
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What's one thing you can automate this week to make your finances easier?⁠
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Me? I'm going to set up our sinking fund transfers to automate every payday (the 15th of every month). Our bank set up a feature on their app where we can schedule savings transfers now, and I'm going to take advantage of it!⁠
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#personalfinance #personalfinancetips #budgeting #budgettips #personalfinancemadeeasy #savingmoney #savings #sinkingfunds #cash #frugalblogger #frugalmom #frugalliving #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogess #financialfreedom #makingcentsmatter
Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone a smidgen overboard this month!⁠
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I foresee a goal for March's paycheck to at out less than twice. That's where this category went awry. $99.16 of it went to eating out. 😑 Some of it was avoidable, but not all of it. Having to drive to multiple appointments in one day during snow squalls and rearranging our whole day was one of those unavoidable instances.⁠
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Tracking our expenses - much like a budget review - is vital to sticking to your budget!⁠
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#makingcentsmatter #debt #debtfreejourney #debtfreeprogress #debtfreecommunity #realbudget #budgetcategories #monthlyincome #savingmoney #savings #frugalliving #frugalblogging #budgeting #zerobasedbudget #financialgoals #personalfinance #personalfinancetips #financialfreedom #expensetracking #budgetfail
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