This month is our last month for full on soccer practices until the spring. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me at this point. I’m glad they’ve enjoyed soccer, I’m impressed with how far they’ve come and how they’ve handled the crazy schedules, and I’m excited to see them start back up in the spring. But there comes a point where mom is just plumb worn out, and I’ve hit that point.
Income
Salary: $3,757.43
Monthly Expenses
Mortgage**: $500
Cell Phone: $47.42
Home Phone / Internet: $75.31
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, to see if we can get this bill any lower.
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. Last month’s is a little lower because we’ve paid on pending charges the last few months as well that have finally caught up. This month’s is back on track, although a little higher due to some rate increases on a few bills.
Credit Card 2**: $950
This is our current snowball, although it hasn’t felt like it. Since fall soccer was coming to a close, I was able to put a little more towards this than I have over the last few months.
Student Loans**: $160
Electric: $128.79
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 the car, house, and five 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: $570.47
Household & Personal: $29.73
This month I redeemed our Sam’s Cash Rewards to purchase toilet paper, dishwasher detergent, and tissues for free.
Fuel: $113.11
Now that soccer is done, our fuel bill will be a lot lower until spring soccer starts.
Lawn: $0
No need for fuel for the lawn mower when the grass stops growing.
Pet: $56.71
This month I got hay and pellets for our rabbit, as well as a new litter pan since she’s now inside for the rest of fall and all of winter. I also bought food for our betta.
Eating Out: $39.44
School: $10
This month was Book Fair month at Monkey’s school, and this was his budget for his trip to the fair.
Band: $20.00
This month Bookworm had a fundraiser for a band related trip later on in the year.
Soccer: $22.83
This month Monkey was responsible for halftime snack at one of his games. The fall soccer season officially ends this month, so this expense will go back to zero while we wait for the spring season to begin.
Miscellaneous/Fun: $78.40
Hair Cuts: $20
The boys get their hair cut every few weeks. While I realize that I could cut them at home, I also realize that there are somethings, that no matter how hard or often I try, that I am simply not good at. Hair cuts is one of those things. When the boys decide they want to start having buzz cuts – the ONE hair cut I know how to do – I’ll start cutting their hair at home.
Household Repair: $38.12
This expense is considered under household repairs, but wasn’t really a repair. We have a used oil tank, the small kind that you can drain your car oil or ride-on lawn mower oil into. Sometime over the summer, with our insane heat, it cracked and made a mess in our garage. This expense was for materials needed to clean up the mess.
Wood Stove Maintenance: $31.76
Our main heat source is our wood stove, in which we primarily burn wood because we get it for free from family land. I bought some CSL logs to help reduce any creosote buildup that may occur before we get to the colder weather.
Velcro: $4.75
I don’t know where to really categorize this expense. I needed to get some Velcro to help tighten up Lady Bug’s mask and belt to her Antman costume, but both packets didn’t get used up on this. I don’t have a set craft items budget for myself anymore either since I’m trying to go through what I have first before I start buying more. So, here it is, velcro in it’s own little category.
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. 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
My EOBs have finally come back in for a few of my visits last month. This is just what I owe MedExpress for their x-rays, nebulizer, and shipping me off to the nearest Emergency Room. I’m still waiting on the bill from my doctor’s office.
Dentist: $22.00
This was for Hubs’ out of pocket portion on his checkup earlier this month.
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.
Debt Savings: $0
Savings – Miscellaneous: $93
This month we were notified of changes to our insurance coverage beginning in January. I’ll have an upcoming post about what we did before, what changes are being made and how we’re going to prepare for them, but suffice it to say that our deductible will more than double, and the entire scope of how we pay will change. We will no longer go by a 20% coinsurance, which means I pay roughly $15 per sick visit, but now a $35 copay. We are also tossing around the idea of starting an FSA, which we didn’t need to have before. So, until we make the final decision of what to do in the next month, I’m throwing extra money into savings for the time being.
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**: $950
This is our current snowball. After increasing our emergency fund a bit, this is currently in repayment.
Student Loans**: $160
Well… there you have it. A complete rundown of how our budget and debt repayment went throughout the month. How did your October 2016 budget and debt repayment go?
Leave a Reply