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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

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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#budget #budgeting #savingmoney #savings #cashbudget #cash #cashisking #frugalblogger #frugalmom #frugalliving #financialgoals #personalfinancetips #personalfinance #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogress #makingcentsmatter #financialfreedom #debtfree
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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#mealplanning #mealplan #budget #budgeting #monthlyincome #savingmoney #savings #cashbudget #cash #cashisking #frugalblogger #frugalmom #frugalliving #financialgoals #personalfinancetips #personalfinance #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogress #makingcentsmatter #financialfreedom #debtfree
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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