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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
Payday is today! Actually, payday was Friday the 1 Payday is today! Actually, payday was Friday the 12th because we completely forgot today is a bank holiday in the US. The feeling of being paid and not needing it is a nice one.⁠
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Here's what our paycheck needs to get us through for bills until March 14th. For a full look at our budget over the next month, head over to my budget with me on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rb8uyi1-rNc⁠
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#monthlyincome #monthlybudget #monthlybudget #zerobasedbudget #payday #budgetwithme #budgeting #budgettips #budgetcalendar #frugalliving #savingmoney #paycheck #makingcentsmatter #debtfreejourney #debtfreeprogress
This weekend was focused on a pantry shop and meal This weekend was focused on a pantry shop and meal plan creation! This meal plan to get us to our February payday. We also picked fast meals, because it's a busy two weeks between doctor's appointments,. Academic Decathalon, dance, and drama. I'm unsure we'll be able to shop on payday, hence the extras.⁠
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Total spent: $112.39 for items to get us through this and lunches.⁠
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Keep in mind, just over $112 for 12 meals isn't sustainable for our family, just in times when we need to stretch the last bits of our monthly income. I really wish $112 was enough to feed two teenaged boys in our household.⁠
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The point being... do what works for you, and your situation based on your location. Don't try to fit yourself into someone else's situation!⁠
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#mealplan #mealplanning #frugalliving #frugalmom #makingcentsmatter #savingmoney #monthlyincome #budgeting #budgetmom #groceryshop
January's real numbers:⁠ .⁠ House: $511.13⁠ January's real numbers:⁠
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House: $511.13⁠
Citi: $720⁠
D NelNet: $100⁠
K NelNet: $100⁠
K Chase: $150⁠
Explorer: $343⁠
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Extra Payment to Citi: $500⁠
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Noteworthy... our car payment had a late fee assessed because the mail was SLOWED down over Christmas. Three headaches later, and we potentially have online banking finally set up with them. It is still a headache. And we are never taking another car loan out with this bank!⁠
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How was January?⁠
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#makingcentsmatter #debt #debtfreejouney #debtfreeprogress #debtfreecommunity #realbudget #savingmoney #savings #frugalliving #frugalblogging #budgeting #monthlyincome #zerobasedbudget #financialgoals #personalfinance #personalfinancetips #financialfreedom
Sometimes in order to see progress, you need to ta Sometimes in order to see progress, you need to take a step back.
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I'll be honest, I didn't think that we got this far in 2020. With everything going on - and more importantly, everything NOT going on - we didn't keep up with this every month. We just threw what we could at our goal. I'm simply amazed at how far we came.
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Things are still hectic, and I'm simply mentally exhausted between remote learning, extended remote learning, offset quarantining children... it goes on and on.
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But I also cannot wait to see what strides we will make in 2021.
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#makingcentsmatter #debtfreejouney #debtfreeprogress #savingmoney #savings #frugalliving #frugalblogging #budgeting #monthlyincome #zerobasedbudget #financialgoals #personalfinance
This is what school looks like when it's a hybrid This is what school looks like when it's a hybrid model, and your house does not have unlimited space. I was standing in our kitchen when I took this picture, the kids behind me making lunch.
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Our district is carefully monitoring our local infection rates, and we are currently in a hybrid form. That means they divided the district into two groups; half are in school on Monday and Tuesday, the other half on Thursday and Friday. They are offering an all remote option, but Verizon for some reason supplies our house with speeds so slow that it would shock a tortoise. Remote was a no-go.
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This set-up has taken some trial and error to get to where we currently are. Because no matter how prepared you are and how much you've planned, once you're in the weeds, actually doing it, there is no telling how your best-laid plans will work.
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Our home is a 1800sqft one-story, open living area, 4 bedroom, 1 bathroom, ranch-style house in a very rural area. It has no home offices. No guest bedrooms. Yes, that is a desk in the corner of our dining room. 🤣
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Each kid gets their own color bin for their school work. This includes school-issued Chromebooks and other standard items they need to get work done - headphones, pencils, and so on. When we are done for the day, we clean up everything, place them neatly in these bins, and place them in cubbies (on my current left) at night while the Chromebooks charge.
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I do NOT bother to clean up at lunchtime. It would take us more time to clean up and reset everything than it takes us to eat lunch. So we only pack it all up for the day and call it done.
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During the day, I sit between my younger two and field any questions they may have, troubleshoot technical issues we all have, and be the overall bouncer when things get off-topic. My high schooler will occasionally emerge from his bedroom, which opens to the kitchen. So he is close by when he has questions.
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Please remember that with all things in life, you need to work with what's available to you. And there is no shame in that. Don't ever feel like you're not doing good enough because it's not picture perfect. Work with what you have available to you, and you'll do amazing things.
School is in session, the garden is slowing, and I School is in session, the garden is slowing, and I’ve finally realized I haven’t shared our payoff numbers for July or August. Yeah……
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Please keep in mind, we are paid monthly on the 15th, but we don’t go by a “monthly” budget. So I have to go back and look at these numbers based off their due dates in the calendar. Because our pay falls in the middle of the month, I can’t tell you what portion of our income went to debt. It’s going to vary paycheck to paycheck anyways because our priorities vary with each check. Nothing is ever the same month to month, and pay to pay.
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That said, inJuly we paid off $2,694.43.
In August we paid off $1,673.40.
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The difference here is that our priorities shifted between the two months.
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During August, we were doing more prep for whatever school would look like this year, and we had some savings goals make their way to the top of the list as well.
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Of those goals, in August we made progress!
EF Reimbursement: $146 / $1,200
Checking Buffer Reimbursement: $227 / $500
Vet Sinking Fund: $40 / $200
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Remember this is a journey, not a race. There is no point wearing yourself ragged and still making no progress. Make progress where you can, and celebrate it. Even if it’s $5.
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It’s progress, and that’s what matters!
While I wait for the canner to finish the last rou While I wait for the canner to finish the last round... I rearranged our recipe binder. It's only taken me 8 or so years. 🤣😶😭
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I miss the days when zucchini was my problem. Now it's tomatoes. I can only find so many ways to use up spaghetti sauce! So the next 50lbs or so will be chili base and unseasoned sauce.
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On top of this school is starting with a hybrid in building & online system. And I'm seriously slacking on some things I need to do. I'm not good at juggling multiple things and the balls are falling. But I keep reminding myself... be patient. This too shall pass. This is only a phase. So I pick and choose what's the most important, focus on that and go from there.
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So if you feel overwhelmed with your current phase, remember, this too shall pass. It's okay to rearrange priorities. It's okay to take a breather.
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This too shall pass.
If you didn't start finding interesting ways to ge If you didn't start finding interesting ways to get rid of the squash, can you say you even planted any?
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Good news, I'm almost caught up! Bad news, the garden has more.
Super busy here... but I wanted to share that wins Super busy here... but I wanted to share that wins can come in super small packages. I thought I'd spend $380 to clean the band instruments in this house. I ended up spending $234. So the remaining $146 can go to reimbursing what I pulled from our EF.
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No matter the win, celebrate it!
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What are some wins you have had lately?
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