It's Bonus Time, But Murphy wants his share.

The company I work for just paid us our bonus, based on how the company did on goals it had for profit, safety, reliability, quality, etc. We got about 2/3 of the maximum possible payout. It was a good bonus. But, it seems like every time we get extra money, Something happens. Murphy's law trying to discourage us. But its not going to work. We are sticking with it. I really thought we might get the car paid off this month, but Murphy dropped by for a visit.

We have two large expenses we will have to pay this month. The first expense is the SUV. The exhaust is leaking around the exhaust manifold, and it is sounding more like a diesel truck. Not sure how much it will cost to fix it, but we budgeted back $400. The Second expense is going to be dental work for my son. He has an under bite, and has to have braces to fix it. The good thing is, that the dental insurance actually covers %50 of the cost. We are going to pay our portion up front now, since we have the money, instead of doing a payment plan.

We've had to redo the budget a few times now. The money we were going to pay on debt is being slowly redistributed to other expenses. So I guess we'll wait and see how it all turns out. As for Paying off the car, it might have to wait for next month.

Our First Vacation on a Budget

We started saving money for Vacations back in January. We talked with the kids and decided on two small family trips. We made out a budget for each trip early in the year. We should have enough saved by July, for these two small family trips, and still have some left over. We may take a small trip in our camper with whatever money is left over. We were able to make the reservation for the first trip a month ago.

We finally took our first small vacation a week ago. We took with us the amount of cash we budgeted to spend on eating out, games, and entertainment. Our destination was a indoor water park for two nights. There was enough to do, that we kept busy the entire time.

The hotel room had a microwave and a fridge. We put cans of soda and bottles of water in the fridge to save on drinks. We also ordered a pizza one day and were able to heat up the left over pizza later. We could have saved more money by eating cheaper and using the microwave more. But we had budgeted a certain amount for eating, and it was a vacation. So we spent what we had budgeted and ate at the buffet in the hotel a few times.

It was only a three day/ two night vacation, but we enjoyed the weekend. Since we paid for this we money we saved, it didn't impact this months budget and we won't get a large credit card bill after wards. This mini vacation won't come back to haunt us later.

March's budget summary

March was our highest income month so far. We got some extra income last month that really helped. We also picked up some extra hours at work, which added more. With extra income came extra spending. We redid our budget a few times during the month. We were able to get a few auto expenses out of the way. Camper axles were straightened, vehicles got there oil changed, and new windshield wiper blades were put on. We also budgeted $300 for home improvement to finish the entryway. We also saved back more money than previous months toward our vacation fund.

We also put more money back for recreation and dining, so we could do a little more with our kids. But a side effect was, our auto fuel expenses went over budget. By spending more, we ended up spending even more. This is an effect we will have to remember in the future.

After all the extra expenses, we still had $1200 extra. We applied that to our smallest debt, our car loan.

So far, we started in January with a car loan, a camper loan, and 3 - 401k loans. Our total debt (not including mortgage) was 49,705.46.

Today, April 1st 2010, we have 43,446.32. That is 6893.20 paid off in 3 months.

Our total money makeover thus far.

We've been doing a written budget and using an envelope system for two and half months now. I was really worried at the beginning, that my wife would end up hating the system. The fact that there were limits on everything to do with money. We had never really had limits before. We paid all our bills, and what money we had left we just bought what we wanted to. We ate out frequently, took kids to movies, and was in the middle of a large addition on our house that we were paying for as we went.

Now we only eat out a couple times a month, and not the same places that we went before. Good places to eat, but cost less. I think we have gone to one movie since we started our money makeover. And the renovation on the house has slowed down considerably. There are some weeks were we can't work on the house, because we have to wait for next months budget.

On the flip side, we have paid extra on our debts. Our bank accounts are 3 times larger due to money saved for vacation, house insurance, property taxes, gift giving, clothes, and future Pet Medicine. Expenses we might have had to scramble to get the money for if we weren't saving. Our Total Debt (that includes the house) has changed $4500 in the first two months.

We each have our own Blow money, so we can purchase items gilt free, and not have to convince the other to buy something. I personally take my lunch to work, and try not spend my blow money on sodas, candy, and chips at work. I have been saving back over half my blow money every month so that the child inside me can buy a toy some day. Not sure what my wife does with hers, but that's not my concern.

I asked my wife the other day what she thought of the budget and our new money system. She said that she doesn't mind it a bit. She said it hasn't been that big of a change for her. After talking with her, I feel like she is happy with the process, and realizes the benefits we are reaping from it. For example: She said she went clothes shopping for the first time since we started our budget the other day. She used our envelope on clothes that had been building up money. She spent $180 on clothes and it was the first time she didn't feel guilty for spending money on clothes for herself. She said it felt good to clothes shop without guilt or worry.

So the process is working good for us, and we are going to stick to it.

The Camper is Fixed

We have a travel trailer that we spend a lot of weekends in when its not winter. But we found out last year that the camper had a bent axle, when we had a tire blow out on vacation. We had to buy two new tires on our trip back from Florida. We knew we had to get it fixed this year or we'd be buying more tires. Luckily this month we had some extra income so we budgeted for the camper to be fixed. Plus the weather is getting nicer and I can't wait to go RVing.

I dropped the camper off on Sunday. I knew that one axle was bent and thought we had one bad wheel bearing. Monday the garage mechanics found that a brake drum had fallen apart on the inside, and that both axles were bent. Monday they bent both axles back, and today they fixed the brake drum. The total cost was still less than 50% of what we had budgeted.

I had been dreading this day for a while, and it ended up a lot easier and cheaper than I expected.

The best part was, when my wife went to pay the bill, my father in law drove her and pulled the camper back to our house. And it was sitting in our yard when I got off work....It don't get any easier than that.

Kid's Commission

We added a category called "Kid's commission" in the budget last month. We also opened a savings account for each of the kids last month. At the beginning of the year, we let the kids know if they want money all they have to do is ask for a job, and we'll give them one. We were paying out so much money out of our blow money we decided to make a category. We pay the kids by the hour. The only catch is, They have to put half of what they earn into their savings account. And the other half they get to have to spend. If its been a while since they asked for a job we'll give them one anyway. Also if we need help with something we'll make them help and pay them for it also. But they are learning that if they want money they have to work for it. So now after the first couple months, if there is something they really want to buy and want the money fast, they will ask for a job everyday until they have enough money for it.

The eleven year old, has also been searching out alternative means to make money, so he has been trying to sell some old toys to his friends. He was able sell a few of the toys and took that money to buy a toy he's been wanting from another friend. He is learning how to make deals at an early age.

Our kids may not know it, but they are on their way to Financial Peace also.

End of the Second month on a budget!

Well February is over, and overall it was a successful month. My wife and I are still working more, by picking up extra hours at jobs. We also got our federal tax return at the end of the month. So at the end of the month we brought home an extra $1060.

But we did go over budget on a few categories. Auto service, Medical expenses, and Entertainment/recreation. We have gone over on Medical and Auto service for the last two months. We have decided we are underfunding these two categories and we need to raise them in next months budget. As for entertainment, we had an event coming up in march we had planned to buy tickets for, but forgot to add them in the budget.

After the month was over we had an extra money to pay on our car.
Extra Paid on Debt this month = $650