This month was looking like it was going to be an even lower income month, than last month. I was afraid we wouldn't have much money left over to pay extra on debt. So I've been looking for some extra work. And, I finally got it this week. I worked over 3 days this week, and ended up picking up Saturday also. I ended up with about 16 extra hours this week.
The side effect is I am beat. I keep finding myself falling asleep watching TV. I think its nap time.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
House insurance bill is here!
We just got our House insurance bill. As you can see June/July would have usually been a tough time. With House insurance and property taxes, we would be working more trying to get money to pay them on time. But this time, I just got out the check book and wrote the check. It feels good know we have to the money for it.
This is starting to feel like financial peace. Not worrying about the big bills. Saving up for them over the course of the year. And having the money ready for when the bill comes.
This may sound weird to some people, me talking about how this feels good to save up for bills. Some of you may already be doing this, or always have. But we didn't used to save up for these bills. We would remember a month before we got the bill and would start working more and trying to watch what we spent. We really didn't have any plan. But, this year is so much better. Saving a little every month through the year is so much better.
This is starting to feel like financial peace. Not worrying about the big bills. Saving up for them over the course of the year. And having the money ready for when the bill comes.
This may sound weird to some people, me talking about how this feels good to save up for bills. Some of you may already be doing this, or always have. But we didn't used to save up for these bills. We would remember a month before we got the bill and would start working more and trying to watch what we spent. We really didn't have any plan. But, this year is so much better. Saving a little every month through the year is so much better.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Property Taxes
We just got our Property Tax Bill. The way our Property tax works, is it is split into two payments. One is due in July and the second is due in September. Usually we would scramble to gather up the money for the first payment and had two months to save up for the second payment. This bill would cause an emergency in our finances. In the past we had some years where we barely came up with the money for the taxes.
But not this year. We are on the Dave Ramsey plan! We have been saving every month since January for our property taxes. At the end of May we had $1500 saved up. When we got the tax bill this week, it totaled $1527. So with the money we budgeted this month we have enough to pay it all at once. So I did.
We had a 6 month period to save for our property taxes, but now we have a 12 month period to save for next years. So the amount we save will be cut in half and it will free up some money in our budget. That is always a good thing.
But not this year. We are on the Dave Ramsey plan! We have been saving every month since January for our property taxes. At the end of May we had $1500 saved up. When we got the tax bill this week, it totaled $1527. So with the money we budgeted this month we have enough to pay it all at once. So I did.
We had a 6 month period to save for our property taxes, but now we have a 12 month period to save for next years. So the amount we save will be cut in half and it will free up some money in our budget. That is always a good thing.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Another month completed
May is over and another months budget is complete. May was our lowest income month to date. Compared to April, which was our highest income month this year, May wasn't even half of April's income. The reason May was the lowest month is because we haven't been working extra. We saved money to work on the house in April, and in May we stayed busying working on the house.
We have been replacing the roof over the Deck and downstairs bathroom. We also tore down the old garage behind the house. This has been taking up all our extra time. Plus is it the season for summer sports and there is always ball games.
Even though we didn't work extra , we were still able to pay on our debt a total of $625 Extra.
We have been replacing the roof over the Deck and downstairs bathroom. We also tore down the old garage behind the house. This has been taking up all our extra time. Plus is it the season for summer sports and there is always ball games.
Even though we didn't work extra , we were still able to pay on our debt a total of $625 Extra.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
A smaller Envelope system
Our envelope system started out with many envelopes and has changed through the months to a lot less envelopes. I will say the envelope system works and helps with overspending. But some envelopes only get used once or twice a year. So now we keep that money in a savings account and keep track how much money is saved for each category.
Our envelope system now only consists of "Groceries and Household items", "Recreation & entertainment", "Clothing", "Gift Giving (birthdays & Christmas)", & "Home improvement". We also cash out some blow money and split it up between us, and we each have an envelope of our extra blow money that we are saving.
The Categories we save in a savings account for are "Auto Service", "Pet Care", "Home Improvement", "House Insurance" & "Property Taxes".
"Home improvement we use in both right now. We use the savings for large purchases, but use the envelope system for when go shopping for small things to keep the spending down. This envelope may go away when it is empty.
One category we should we probably save up for is "Medical". This is one category we have failed to save in. We should probably try to save up at least $200 to $500 dollars. Anything over that could considered an emergency, and then the emergency fund will kick in.
Our envelope system now only consists of "Groceries and Household items", "Recreation & entertainment", "Clothing", "Gift Giving (birthdays & Christmas)", & "Home improvement". We also cash out some blow money and split it up between us, and we each have an envelope of our extra blow money that we are saving.
The Categories we save in a savings account for are "Auto Service", "Pet Care", "Home Improvement", "House Insurance" & "Property Taxes".
"Home improvement we use in both right now. We use the savings for large purchases, but use the envelope system for when go shopping for small things to keep the spending down. This envelope may go away when it is empty.
One category we should we probably save up for is "Medical". This is one category we have failed to save in. We should probably try to save up at least $200 to $500 dollars. Anything over that could considered an emergency, and then the emergency fund will kick in.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)