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December 5, 2016 · Leave a Comment

November 2016 Budget & Debt Update

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Budget· Debt Free· Our Journey· Our Monthly Budget

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November 2016 Budget & Debt Update
November brought some normalcy to our lives again.  While we weren’t running around for soccer, we were at the doctor’s multiple times this month for a majority of or family.  Some appointments were simply annual specialist checkups, while others were illness visits.  Here’s a complete rundown of our November 2016 budget & debt repayment update.

 

Salary: $3,935.51

Monthly Expenses

Mortgage**:  $500

Cell Phone:   $47.42

Home Phone / Internet:  $75.26
The majority of our bill is for internet service.  One of my goals for for remainder of the year is to look into other internet providers for us since we have speeds that are not much faster than dial up.  I really wanted to see if we could get this bill any lower.  After some research and calling around, based on our location there are no other service providers for our area.  I could pay for dish internet, and while the speeds would increase, the connectivity is 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**:   $1,378.07
This month we were able to pay a lot more on this credit card than we had been throughout the summer and it felt really good!

Student Loans**:  $160

Electric:  $99.37
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:   $246.77
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

Donation: $100
At the end of October, our area experienced a lot of damage from flash flooding.  While we weren’t directly effected since we’re up on a mountain, Hubs knew quite a few of the families who were since he grew up in this area.  This monetary donation went to a family Hubs has known most of his life, and are the parents to his childhood best friend.

Groceries:  $597.24

Fuel:  $125.25
I hoped our fuel bill would go down this month, but between doctor’s appointments and having to take the long way to town to washed out bridges, that didn’t happen.

Lawn/Heat: $10.01
With winter on the way, there’s no more need for fuel for our lawn mower.  But since Hubs has been going over to cut and split wood for next winter, he’s needed some fuel and supplies for that.  I do know that we purchase fuel for these two categories so infrequently, but I don’t know how much we spend on either over the course of the year yet.

Pet: $16.94

Date Night: $28.80
At the beginning of the month, Hubs and I had gone out for dinner and a movie.  We went to see Dr. Strange {HUGE Marvel Cinema fan here!} and ate out at Moe’s since I had $10 in rewards I could use.

School: $30
This month was Book Fair month at Monkey’s school, and he had a $10 budget just like Monkey last month.  The boys also requested $10 each to for their lunch accounts.  Bookworm went through all his, while Monkey still has a balance above $5.

 

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:  $240
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: $149.45
In the beginning of the month, I needed to fill some prescriptions for Bookworm and myself.  In the middle of the month, I had to take Monkey to the pediatrician, and by the end of the month, I was back at the doctors for laryngitis and another viral induced asthma attack.  I swear we’re not at the doctor’s this often!

I went out for my first ever #blackfriday today!! Did everything I needed to at two stops, and in return I cannot talk for the next 3 weeks, need to do salt water rinses and take those #inhalers every 4 hours. Something tells me I did it wrong 😉 . #laryngitis #asthma #momlife #momgetsallthecolds #frugal #frugalliving #whywebudget

A photo posted by @makingcentsmatter on Nov 25, 2016 at 4:10pm PST

Prescription: $225.17
This is the cost of one inhaler, the pink one, after our insurance pitched in their portion.  o_O  After my last asthmatic episode in September, my doctor said that if I were to go through a similar situation again, to not wait until the same point I had.  Loud and clear.  With the laryngitis came, as the doctor called it, a moderate asthmatic reaction, with a peak flow at 310 {500 is the norm, and 220 is where I let it get to in September}.  Per her advice, and with a lot of kicking and screaming on my part, I was prescribed an inhaled steroid.  While I do not want to be on the medication at all, at this juncture in my life it seems like I need to be.  And it’s better than going back on another 3 week bend of prednisone.  Until I find a safe and effective alternative, or my lungs decide they’re done reacting to viruses, I’ll continue to budget for this one inhaler.  Besides, it’s cheaper than what I paid for September’s nightmare.

Gifting Savings:   $160
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.

Christmas: $71.63
This month we continued to get some presents for the kids and our family.

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.  We have come a long way since we started two years ago, but we still have a long way to go.

Mortgage**:  $500

Credit Card 2**:   $1,378.07
This is our current snowball.  After increasing our emergency fund a bit, this is currently in repayment.

Student Loans**:  $160
Next month Hub’s student loans are scheduled to adjust the balance to his updated Income Based Repayment amount.  But since his due date has been advanced so far ahead, I’m not sure if he’ll be required to pay for at the new amount next month or not.

November 2016 Debt Paid

Well… there you have it.  A complete rundown of how our budget and debt repayment went throughout the month.  How did your November 2016 budget & debt repayment go?

November 2016 Budget & Debt Update

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makingcentsmatter

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?
In total we have 15lbs green beans, 10lbs cucumber In total we have 15lbs green beans, 10lbs cucumbers, 5lbs blueberries, and countless zucchini and squash with more on the way! My weekend is spoken for... and this isn't all of it. 😳
Rather than looking back through all our non-month Rather than looking back through all our non-monthly bills for the year and try to remember what I paid and when I paid it, I make a note of how much it was on our bill pay tracker. That way I can easily tally it up at the end of the year, set our sinking funds next year accordingly, and not spend more time than is necessary on this... because kids and all.⁣
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Anyone else do this? Do you have a different method of tracking these expenses?⁣
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This particular printable is in my Etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MakingCentsMatter⁣
It's also part of my budgeting workbook, also in my Etsy shop.⁣
Good news though... there's a very similar free version in my resource library as well. Links are in my profile.⁣
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#budget #budgeting #sinkingfund #savingmoney #savings  #cashbudget #cash #cashisking #frugalblogger #frugalmom #frugalliving #financialgoals #budgetprintable #personalfinancetips  #personalfinance #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogress #bs1 #bs2 #bs3  #makingcentsmatter #financialfreedom #debtfree
Probably an unpopular opinion here... but these tw Probably an unpopular opinion here... but these two things are NOT the same to me.⁣
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𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 paycheck to paycheck means that you're using all of your money for expenses with none left over for savings. This usually happens when you're not aware of where you are spending your money, and how much you are spending. For us, this happened in the form of those tiny expenses that can add up to even larger expenses, and then an unexpected bill comes and you have nothing left to cover it.⁣
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𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 paycheck to paycheck means that you are giving every single cent you earn a job to do that aligns with your priorities - like in sinking funds, savings, expenses, debt payments, etc - until the next paycheck. You have the money on hand to cover some unexpected expenses, and you are mindful of your spending so that you're not leaking money through small purchases.⁣
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This doesn't mean that there still aren't bad months. Murphy's Law does happen. But you are aware of the spending, aware of the priorities, and where your money needs to be allocated.⁣
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So... just because you're budgeting paycheck to paycheck doesn't mean you're living paycheck to paycheck.⁣
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June's paycheck was a doozy! I haven't looked forw June's paycheck was a doozy! I haven't looked forward to a paycheck since we first made the switch to monthly pays. It was so bad we've got a new order to things.⁣
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Good news is that if our state keeps closing things down, we should hammer this out in no time!⁣
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To see the full breakdown of how bad June's paycheck was, check out the June 15th Budget Review on our YouTube channel here https://youtu.be/gXoEo33hIYQ. Link is also in the bio.⁣
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