February was a better month that January. We didn't have any major changes to our Budget. We were able to pay off our third debt, which was a 401K loan. This loan normal payment was $130 every two weeks from my paycheck. It will be nice to see the extra money back in my paycheck.
We were able to save for all our future expenses that we save for, and still pay an extra 966.42 on our debt. Only Two more Debts to go. 1 more 401K loan, and our Travel Trailer.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
January's Budget was hard to keep balanced!
We worked all of January trying to get all the drywall hanged in the new part of the house. We worked everyday after work, and the weekends we didn't have our kids, cause they were with their other parents. We didn't work any overtime in January, so we had more time for work on our house. This made January our second lowest income month since we started our total money Makeover.
We thought we might have to dip into our emergency fund for the first time, but we just got by. We had Car repairs and not enough money saved for them, so we cash flowed the rest of the repairs out of January's budget. We also had higher costs for automobile fuel. I believe this was due to the fact of Hauling Drywall for our project.
Now that we have been on the total money makeover for over a year. I can start comparing our monthly budgets to the Prior year's monthly budgets. Here are some of the Big differences in this January as compared to January last year.
1. Automobile Fuel was $100 higher in 2011
2. Automobile Insurance was $50 Less in 2011
3. Our Income was $750 Lower in 2011
4. We don't have a Car Payment ($356) in 2011
5. Clothing we spent $80 Less in 2011.
6. Automobile Service was $155 higher in 2011
Things that were the about the same as last year.
Utilities (within $5)
Vacation Fund
House Insurance
Dish Network
At the end of the month we cut clothing out of our budget, since we got some new clothes around Christmas. And we had enough extra in our budget to Pay 171.97 extra on our debt. This month wasn't a great month. But we are happy to have paid extra on our debt, saved for future expenses, and did not use our emergency fund
We thought we might have to dip into our emergency fund for the first time, but we just got by. We had Car repairs and not enough money saved for them, so we cash flowed the rest of the repairs out of January's budget. We also had higher costs for automobile fuel. I believe this was due to the fact of Hauling Drywall for our project.
Now that we have been on the total money makeover for over a year. I can start comparing our monthly budgets to the Prior year's monthly budgets. Here are some of the Big differences in this January as compared to January last year.
1. Automobile Fuel was $100 higher in 2011
2. Automobile Insurance was $50 Less in 2011
3. Our Income was $750 Lower in 2011
4. We don't have a Car Payment ($356) in 2011
5. Clothing we spent $80 Less in 2011.
6. Automobile Service was $155 higher in 2011
Things that were the about the same as last year.
Utilities (within $5)
Vacation Fund
House Insurance
Dish Network
At the end of the month we cut clothing out of our budget, since we got some new clothes around Christmas. And we had enough extra in our budget to Pay 171.97 extra on our debt. This month wasn't a great month. But we are happy to have paid extra on our debt, saved for future expenses, and did not use our emergency fund
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Snow, Ice, and more Snow!
The last week has been crazy. We Live in the midwest, and was hit by a large ice storm where we live. Then it was followed by snow, and we got more snow yesterday.
As we are proactive in our finances we also were proactive for this storm. We heard the news about the storm and went and got food, candles, and water two days before it struck. I was working the evening of the storm, and night shift came in and said the stores were empty, and most supplies and food were sold out. Good thing we were proactive.
Some people I worked with ended up loosing power for 3 days, and had to stay at relatives houses. We only lost power for around 24 hours, and we stayed at our house. If the power didn't come on when it did we were thinking about going to stay with family.
We like to camp, so luckly we had camping stuff we could use when the power was out. We had a propane stove and a propane lantern setup in the garage to cook on, so we could still have hot meals. But, we didn't have anyway to heat the house. The house had gotten down to the lower 50's by the time the power came back on.
Looking at the bright side, I was able to pick up some extra hours at work because of the weather.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Car Problems
We have had a few car problems so far this month. My wifes SUV started running bad so we took it a local shop to have it looked at. Luckly we had an extra vehicle, its a 92' old but it runs. So I took the old truck and the wife drove my car. Then more bad luck happened when my car refused to even attempt to start when the wife went to leave work one morning. Now we were down to 1 vehicle. I wasn't sure what we were going to do?
Thank goodness the garage got to my wifes car earily and called us two days before they were scheduled to be looked at it. So we got the vehical back just in time.
We didn't have enough saved for Auto repairs so we will have to make it up in this budget or have to dip into the emergency money.
Thank goodness the garage got to my wifes car earily and called us two days before they were scheduled to be looked at it. So we got the vehical back just in time.
We didn't have enough saved for Auto repairs so we will have to make it up in this budget or have to dip into the emergency money.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Happy with our progress
Our first year on the Total Money Makeover is complete. We have had a written budget every month this last year. We have paid extra on our debt, and also saved money each month for future expenses, each month. In December we paid an extra 1849.95 on our debt, which brought out total paid off to over $28,000. Overall it has been a huge success. We hoped to complete baby step 2 in two years, and we seem to be ahead of schedule. I hope we can this pace up.
We still haven't got a WILL written. Also we still need to buy some extra life insurance on me. We will hopefully have these goals taken care of soon.
We still haven't got a WILL written. Also we still need to buy some extra life insurance on me. We will hopefully have these goals taken care of soon.
Friday, December 31, 2010
The Busy Month of December
This was a very busy month. I haven't had anytime to write on this blog. I thought the overtime was over, but it wasn't. I had to work 50 hour weeks all this month. Plus with family Christmas dinners and Christmas shopping, I have stayed very busy.
As for Christmas. We had a budget and stuck to it. We had saved the money for Christmas over the coarse of the year. To cut back costs on gifts, my wife and I didn't get each other anything. Also we didn't exchange gifts with my sister and her husband, we just got presents for each others kids.
We also used online purchases to stay away for large crowds after thanksgiving. Most stores offered free shipping on orders over a $100, the weekend after thanksgiving. We also got a lot of gift cards this year. Some stores offered to send you the gift card, inside of a personalised Christmas card for free.
Our Christmas was paid for in cash, and that makes it a success. Last Christmas we weren't on the Dave Ramsey plan, we weren't saving, and we weren't living on a budget. We had a lot of stress last year. This holiday there may have been a little stress, but none of it was about money.
As for Christmas. We had a budget and stuck to it. We had saved the money for Christmas over the coarse of the year. To cut back costs on gifts, my wife and I didn't get each other anything. Also we didn't exchange gifts with my sister and her husband, we just got presents for each others kids.
We also used online purchases to stay away for large crowds after thanksgiving. Most stores offered free shipping on orders over a $100, the weekend after thanksgiving. We also got a lot of gift cards this year. Some stores offered to send you the gift card, inside of a personalised Christmas card for free.
Our Christmas was paid for in cash, and that makes it a success. Last Christmas we weren't on the Dave Ramsey plan, we weren't saving, and we weren't living on a budget. We had a lot of stress last year. This holiday there may have been a little stress, but none of it was about money.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
11 months on the Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover
November is over. It seems that all the overtime I was getting has come to an end. It was nice to get extra money, but its nice working a 40 hour week also. With all the extra hours at work, we still haven't got our addition insulated all the way yet. Now we are working less, we will have to get it finished up.
No big events or changes in the budget for November. So when the month was over we paid $2750 extra on our debt. And I just realized with have crossed the half was point. We have paid off over half our debt. I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel.
No big events or changes in the budget for November. So when the month was over we paid $2750 extra on our debt. And I just realized with have crossed the half was point. We have paid off over half our debt. I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel.
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