The Dog Ate My Wallet

The Dog Ate My Wallet

Personal Finance in a World of Excuses

Article

Sunday Evening Post #18

Day

Amount

Place

Category

Tuesday

$40.39

PetsMart

Pets

$7.94

work cafeteria

Allowance

Wednesday

~$160

Vet

Pets

$17.81

Safeway

Groceries

$28.02

Outback

Eating Out

Friday

$30.31

Safeway

Allowance

Saturday

$47.50

Gas

Car

 

As expected, not a whole lot of spending this week- just over $330, with almost half of that coming from the vets. On Wednesday, we got Junebug’s stitches out and our vet, who is flummoxed by the fact that she’s not better yet recommended we continue all meds, so we paid for the full round again. However, they also recommended we come back in later for a consult with a specialist. We did. His answer was that the meds weren’t doing any good at this point, so why keep with them. He suspected that the answer would be surgery, as that is how you treat a swollen salivary gland in dogs. The confusion has come from the fact that June has swelling on both sides and this usually only happens on one side. So, we returned all the meds except the antibiotic (in case the swelling starts to grow again), but then had to pay the consult fee.

The specialist called us on Friday to let us know that yes, he definitely believes we should consult a veterinary surgeon, and that this is standard salivary gland swelling, it is known to occur on both sides, it’s just rare.  No idea what that will end up running us. Luckily, she doesn’t seem to be in any distress, so surgery isn’t something we need to rush into.

 

Friday I picked up bagels and cream cheese for the staff that were in the office with me. That’s why it comes out of allowance and not groceries.

 

Now, for the answer to the question I know you are all asking, how did the oil-less turkey fryer turn out?

Well, with the exception that we don’t believe the turkey turning out anything like a fried turkey would, it was perfect. Imagine the best case scenario for your oven roasted turkey- you basted, covered the breast in foil, etc…

We got that, only without any of the work. It was like an old Ron Popeil infomercial – set it and forget it. We put our 15+lb turkey in the fryer and then for the next 2.5 hours (that’s right, only 2.5 hours) we ignored it. It came out perfectly.

Here are pictures of the chicken we cooked on Monday to test it out and the turkey itself on Thursday. C can’t wait to try cooking ribs in this thing…

Monday's Chicken

Thanksgiving Turkey

Date: 27/11/2011 Author: Tags: , Category: Sunday Evening Post Bookmark: Permalink
Article

Things I Never Thought I Would Be Thankful For

I hope everyone out there is having a wonderful Thanksgiving. I myself know that I am blessed and have many, many things to be thankful for, including all of the readers of this blog and my fellow Yaezie members. But along with the standard wonderful husband, great friends, two wriggly doggies, food on the table and a roof over our heads, I wanted to take a moment to be thankful for blessings in disguise.

 

I am thankful C was laid off in May 2009. I know that seems counter-intuitive. At the time it happened, I was not thankful in the least. It meant we couldn’t move the MIL out of our house as soon as we wanted. (In fact, it took another 7 months.) It meant that suddenly I had to stress about how we were going to pay all of our bills. The decision to go with the 3 year financing for the lower interest rate on our car suddenly seemed like the worst decision we’d ever made.

And honestly, the next 9 months were probably the most stressful ever in our relationship.

So why would I be grateful for something that was so harrowing at the time?

 

First, because we both know our relationship was tested during that time. In addition to living with the MIL and being stressed about money, we lost our beloved Moree dog, an Australian Shepherd we’d had since shortly after moving in together.

If there was a time when we were going to fall apart, revert to our pre-marriage days of losing communication with each other, this was when it was going to happen. It didn’t. We came out the other side as a stronger couple than we went in.

 

Second, because it allowed us some freedom around our pets. After losing Moree, I managed to go one week before I was looking for a new dog. The only reason it was a whole two weeks after we lost him before June came home was because the shelter wouldn’t release her until she was spayed. There is no way we could have brought home June if C had been working. She was a 6 month old puppy. We couldn’t have done it.

When Smokey was diagnosed with cancer this spring, and we chose palliative care, C being home (combined with our roommate at the time, who was also not working) meant that for that last week of his life, our Smokey angel never had to be left alone. That may seem silly to others, but to me it was a blessing. Yes, I was very grateful that I had not just one, but two unemployed people in my house that week.

 

Third, and most relevant to this blog, we are actually in better shape financially than we would have been were C still working. Yes, my new position helped with that tremendously, but the truth is, I make a little less now than we used to make combined. If he were working, we’d combine for over 6 figures.

But going through those 9 months of trying to figure out how we were going to get by, of putting together a plan to get ourselves out of debt, of figuring out how we could pay all the bills on under 60k a year, it made us think about our finances in a way we never had to before.

We carried credit card debt. I paid more than the minimums each month. Occasionally, we’d pay everything off, but we had no problems charging more. I couldn’t even tell you everything we bought. Now, credit cards are a tool, and they never carry a balance. That wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

We have a financial plan. If C ever starts working again, everything he makes is extra. Will there be some lifestyle creep? Almost certainly, but we’ll have learned enough to have a plan for the money (mostly home renovations).

We have savings. If we’d had savings when C was laid off like we do now, I wouldn’t have had to stress about making the car payment. We could have paid off most, if not all, debt almost instantly.

 

Fourth, C has gotten to go back to school. C and I both love learning. It didn’t bother either of us that I had an MBA and he had an AA, but he had always wanted to be able to finish his Bachelor’s, but the time and real motivation were not there. Now, he’s able to go to school and concentrate on school. He’s finding he loves a field he never thought he’d be interested in (math), and is considering making a career out of it.

By being free from having a job, by having the financial freedom we’d earned for ourselves during those initial stressful months, we made this possible together. And we’re able to do it without taking on any more student loans.

 

It seems odd to be thankful for something that had such a difficult adjustment period, but thankful I am. Something I’ve come to realize is that I really like where my life is today, emotionally and financially. And I wouldn’t be in this place without everything that has come before. So even the difficult things I can find something to be grateful for. (Except for maybe losing Moree and Smokey, though if we hadn’t, we wouldn’t have June and Larry, so there’s the rub.)

 

I hope you have a moment to reflect and find the things in life you’re grateful for, even the counter-intuitive ones.

Date: 24/11/2011 Author: Tags: Category: Lessons Learned Bookmark: Permalink
Article

Money Mistakes I’d Make All Over Again: Purchasing a Timeshare

Back in August, I wrote a guest post for Daily Money $hot about Making Choices. In it, I talked about some of the things I choose to spend money on, even if I could be saving money by changing. In fact, one of those things has changed- we no longer have high priced cable. We found that we can get by with the most basic package and are saving ourselves $100/month.

There are other choices we have made over the years about our money. Not all of them good choices, but I regret very few, as they have led us to the point where we are today. I got to thinking about those choices the other day when Sustainable Life Blog posted about Moments in Time, times he wishes he could go back to and try and talk his younger self out of monetary mistakes.

I thought about it even more when reading about 10 Financial Myths About Timeshares over at One Cent At A Time. (This was a guest post written by Jeffrey of Saving Advice.)

You see, one of the financial “mistakes” we made was buying in to a timeshare. If I could go back in time and talk to my younger self, this is one thing I wouldn’t prevent.

There are lots of things I would try and stop myself from doing- like applying for all those extraneous credit cards right after we bought our first house and charging way, way to much. But I wouldn’t stop us from investing in the timeshare.

Now, we don’t have a traditional timeshare, which is what Jeffrey mostly talks about in his post. But he is approaching owning a timeshare as an investment. And if that’s what you’re looking for, he’s right, run away, far away, from timeshares.

Our timeshare is more like owning stock than a property. We have points that can be used anytime, any place our company owns (including Fiji and Mexico). The properties are all five star, maintained by the company, and going there is like going to a hotel with a full kitchen. We don’t have to provide toilet paper or linens or anything.

Yes, our quarterly maintenance fees are high, but not so high that we’ve ever thought about selling, not even when things were their tightest and I was getting weekly (and yes, I mean weekly) calls from timeshare resellers trying to get us to sell.

In addition, because all of our properties are 5 star, we get a premium for it on exchanges like RCI.

This isn’t meant to be an ad for timeshares. It is meant to point out some good things about them, if you go into them thinking of them as an easier way to take vacations, instead of as a monetary investment.

Our timeshare allowed us to stay in England for a full week for essentially $100 total in “hotel” fees- our membership to RCI. In addition, we had a kitchen, so we ate breakfast at “home” every morning, and made ourselves at least one other meal most days. (With the exception of our Tintagel, End of the World, Carn Euny day, which was very, very long.)

I’ve used it to host retreats for my writing group, and we’ve stayed in our Vancouver, BC location many times. I love having it as an option. Are we losing money on it? Possibly, but it has also made many, many other things possible. So I’m happy to pay for it.

You can say we got duped by the salesman, or call it a financial mistake. That’s fine. I call it an option I am thrilled to have. But don’t worry, I won’t ever call it a sound financial investment.

Date: 22/11/2011 Author: Tags: , , Category: Money Mistakes Bookmark: Permalink
Article

Sunday Evening Post #17

Day

Amount

Place

Category

Monday

$50.05

Gas

Car

Wednesday

$111.32

Safeway

Groceries

$91.08

CostCo

Groceries

$37.10

Target

Allowance

Friday

$15.00

Safeway Chinese

Eating Out

Saturday

$113.84

Home Depot

House

$33.41

Tukwila Trading

Groceries

$17.63

Amazon

House

Sunday

~$3.50

McDonalds

Allowance

~$2.50

Starbucks

Allowance

$50.33

Target

Allowance

 

Spending this week ran just under $520

On Wednesday night, C said to me, “We’re going to destroy your blogging reputation.” I explained that no, it was  the week before Thanksgiving, I’d already warned people we’d be spending money.

I am certain there will be little things we realize we need as we start cooking this week and that there will be multiple runs to the store for one or two items. It happens, every year it happens. Have I mentioned how grateful I am that the Safeway just up the street from us is open 24/7 /365? But for the most part, all of our Thanksgiving shopping has been done.

That includes buying a propane powered infra-red oil-less turkey fryer so that we can deep fry the turkey. The plan is to test it out tomorrow night with a whole chicken. If it works well, we’ll cook Christmas dinner this way too, regardless of whether we’re doing a turkey or a rib roast. And C can’t wait to try it cooking ribs this summer.

In addition to the fryer, we bought a 5 gallon bucket in order to brine the turkey.

Right now those things are listed as “House” expenses, which is how I generally classify kitchen gadgets. I might reclassify the fryer as “Allowance” (mine) and make that C’s main Christmas gift.

Other than the shopping, it’s been a weekend of cleaning, so that I don’t have to stress too much on Wednesday. There will just be the last minute things to do. It’s also been lovely weather here in theSeattlearea, cold but clear skies and sunny, so we’ve been to the dog park both days.

Junebug has had to remain on leash, but Larry has gotten some running in. We’re hoping Wednesday will also be nice so that Larry can get a dog park then, too. It would help on Thanksgiving day, when we have 9 people in the house, including an almost 3 year old, if he’s not too crazy from pent up energy.

 

EDITED TO ADD: Oh, and my bit last week about being under 200k Alexa wise, I apparently lost the ability to read numbers for a short period of time. I was just over 1 MILLION last week. This week I’m at 656k. The 200k goal is in sight, but I am so not there yet.

Date: 20/11/2011 Author: Tags: Category: Sunday Evening Post Bookmark: Permalink
Article

Key to Working from Home: Deliverables

I rarely work from home. This is not because I can’t- it’s pretty standard in our office that salaried employees work from home one day a week, but because I choose not to. As the office manager (okay, my title is a bit more complicated than that, but essentially, I’m the office manager) I feel that it’s best if I am in the office. The managers and directors I work with often like to swing by my office with a quick personnel or budget question. Could they email me these questions or call me with them? Probably, but they could have done that anyway. Instead, they are choosing to come see me in person. I like to be here for that.

However, sometimes I do work from home. My reasons vary from I have a delivery or repair man coming by to I’m too contagious to come into the office, but not too sick to work. This week I decided to work from home one day because of Junebug and her cone.

Maybe that’s more of an “excuse” than a reason. It might be. But when I told my boss that I intended to work from home on Wednesday, he said sure, not a problem, without any concern as to whether I had a valid reason or not.

Why? Because I work very hard to make sure that when I work from home, regardless of the reason I’m there, I actually work. I don’t want to mess up this perk for myself or for anyone else.

 

When I work from home, I make sure to set myself some very specific deliverables. In the first position I had where working from home was even an option, I was an analyst and the direct support person for an executive director. Working from home meant I wasn’t right outside her door to give her assistance when requested. That meant there really needed to be a reason. In those early days, the reason was almost always a major report that needed to be completed and analyzed. The nature of my position, combined with the location of my desk, meant that in the office, I had constant interruptions, and hanging a sign about needing not to be interrupted just created speculation.

So, on days when I really needed to be able to concentrate, I would arrange to work from home, but it was with the understanding that the report I was working on would be completed that day. Having that deliverable kept me honest, in the sense that even though I might still be in my pajamas, I was most definitely working.

While I can now schedule work from home days at my leisure/convenience, it hasn’t erased the lesson I learned then. I need to be accountable, even if it is only to myself.

When I decide to work from home, I look at the work I need to do that week and I pick out a few projects that will benefit from the lack of interruptions, or that don’t require a lot of interaction with other staff. Then, besides dealing with the daily work as it comes in, I have a specific goal in mind to help myself stay focused on work.

 

Maybe other people don’t need a specific goal for their work from home day to stay on task. I do.

Looking over at the bed, seeing my dogs curled up and sleeping, it was very tempting to just walk over there and curl up with them. After all, who would know? My boss doesn’t even know that I have these deliverables set for myself. My assistant will call my cell phone if she really needs to get a hold of me. I could just curl up with my dogs and only check email every couple hours.

But having set a goal for myself, I want to reach it. I don’t like making excuses, even when they come easy, or when I only have to make them to myself. So in this way, I stay accountable, even if no one other than me knows it.

 

What do you do to keep yourself on track when you work from home?

Date: 17/11/2011 Author: Tags: , Category: On the Job Bookmark: Permalink
Article

(Financial) Stress Free Surgery

I’ve written before about Managing Someone Else’s Money, namely, my mother-in-law’s. Her financial story is a key component to our financial story.

She moved in with us in late 2008 because she could no longer afford to pay her bills, her late fees and overdraft charges, and still eat. Without the late fees and overdraft charges, she had enough money for her bills, but she was no longer capable of handling her money. We took over.

One of the things we did was transfer some (not all) of her high interest date- think 20% APR –to our low interest card at 5.9% APR. The money to pay off the balance came from her, and it got paid of considerably quicker than it otherwise would have.

However, living with her was not something any of us enjoyed, and by late April 2009, we were looking to take over the debt we’d transferred to our card so that she could afford to pay rent and move out.

Then, right after Mothers’ Day weekend in 2009, C was laid off. We could no longer afford to absorb MIL’s debt. We could barely afford to continue to let her live with us rent free, but emotionally, we needed her to be able to move out of our house more than we needed extra spending money.

By January 2010, all of the MIL’s debts, besides her HELOC were paid off, and that was on a payment plan that would prevent a final major balloon payment. We moved her in to senior housing (not assisted living, but an age restricted apartment complex).

 

While managing another person’s money is stressful- I’m apparently really good at it. (It’s easier to be objective when it’s not your own wants you’re denying.) Now that she doesn’t have a couple hundred in bank fees each month, or any credit card debt, even her fixed income is considerably more than she needs. So much more that her social security is direct deposited into an account at a different institution than the rest of her money. It sits in an account even I rarely look at. MIL doesn’t even really know it’s there, so not only can’t spend it, she doesn’t know that she would want to spend it.

This has allowed us to build her up a very substantial medical fund. I’d call it an emergency fund, and it could certainly function as that if needed, but we have always had plans for that money.

First and foremost, knee surgery. At the end of October, she had total knee replacement surgery. She was in the hospital 3 days and then transferred to a skilled nursing facility to undergo physical therapy before she can be released to go back home.

Given that she had been dragging her bad leg around, not really walking on it, for over 6 months (the drama of finding a surgeon willing to do the operation, and then getting that scheduled took around 5 months), her muscles are in bad shape and it is taking longer to get her to the point where she can go home than was originally expected. (Well, expected by the medical staff. It’s playing out exactly as C and I expected.)

 

Why am I telling you this? Well, because it led to a little victory the other day. The care facility called C to find out if he wanted their help getting her signed up for Medicaid. C told them no, she wouldn’t qualify for Medicaid. (Besides her disability income, she receives rent on the condo she still owns, the one with the HELOC.) There was then apparently a pause, followed by the cautious statement that C knew she would have a co-pay for the facility, right.

The fact is, her max co-pay for the facility will be $3,500 (if she’s there for 44 days or more). I had pulled $6,000 out of her medical fund the same week she had surgery in order to pay the bills as they came in. She has more than that still sitting in the account, and every month, more is added with her SSD disbursement.

It felt really good for C to be able to tell the facility that yes, we knew there was a co-pay, and that no, there wasn’t going to be any issues paying for it.

Now, if for some reason she has to stay at the facility for more than 100 days (we’re currently at about 25 days), there might be a problem. But until then, we’ve got this covered.

And trust me, with all the stress that’s gone on around the medical aspects of this surgery, not having to stress the finances is heavenly.

 

EDITED TO ADD: Not related to this post at all, but I thought I’d show you what pitiful looks like. (She’s curled up in the crook of C’s arm while he plays Skyrim.)

Date: 15/11/2011 Author: Tags: , , , Category: Budgets, HealthCare, Other People's Money Bookmark: Permalink
Article

Monday Round-Up

I always mean to do a Round-Up on a Saturday, but then the weekend comes and I’m either too busy running around or too busy relaxing to want to do a link intensive post. It’s a failing of mine, I admit.

But today I’m stuck in front of a computer with not a whole lot going on, so Round-Up, here we come.

Convenient Couponing (and other ways to save time and money)

Beating Broke kicks us off with the idea that Couponing Doesn’t Need to be Extreme

Squirrelers reminds us that just asking can save us money with My Starbucks Customer Experience: Loopholes and Deals are Fun!

Faithful With a Few is sharing Black Friday 2011 Deals: BJs

Sustainable Life Blog wonders if it’s ethical to use Work Travel Rates when traveling on personal business

Buck$ome Boomer reminds us How to Survive Holiday Travel

Money for College Project suggests Ditch you College Meal Plan to Save Money

 

From a Different Perspective

Daily Money $hot is already sick of Christmas and demands Give me back my Thanksgiving

Money Beagle lists 5 Reasons to be Optimistic about Student Loan Debt

Invest in the Markets tells the story of The Fattened PIIGS

The Millionaire Nurse says Occupy Wall Street: If Only! Reminding us that small towns have been hit hard, too.

My Broke Coin explores Herman Cain’s Peculiar 999 Plan

Financial Samurai considers The Best Place to Meet the Right Women

 

So these are some of my favorite blog posts from this week. What posts did you love that I missed? Take a look at my blog roll. Who am I missing? Let me know.

Date: 14/11/2011 Author: Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Category: Round Ups Bookmark: Permalink
Article

Sunday Evening Post #16

Day

Amount

Place

Category

Friday

$725.69

Vet

Pets

Saturday

$18.50

PetsMart

Pets

$5.34

Safeway

Groceries

~$8.00

Chocolati

Allowance

Sunday

~$50.00

Gas

Car

 

A lot depends on how you do the math this week. We spent over $800, but the majority of that was for a biopsy for the Junebug. She’s had an infection for over a month, and the antibiotics do not seem to be working (at least not as well as they should), so on Friday, they took a biopsy of her lymph nodes, sent blood work off for a complete tic panel, and gave us more doggie drugs. We will get results of the biopsy on Tuesday.

None of that comes out of the regular budget. It all comes out of savings, because this is exactly why we have savings. However, for those who are counting, this does bring us up to over $1,300 in the last month trying to get this infection taken care of, and who knows what the final total will end up being.

So in that sense, out of our budget, we only spent a little over $80 this week (and $18.50 of that is specifically for dog treats that make giving June her pill easier).

Next weekend will be different. We will be doing all of our pre-Thanksgiving shopping, and that may or may not include buying a turkey deep fryer or a new roasting pan. (If we buy the roasting pan, that will come out of my allowance as C’s Christmas gift. If we buy the turkey fryer, half will be his Christmas gift and the other half will come out of his allowance.)

 

Other than dealing with June (and the Cone of Shame), it’s been a quiet weekend. On Saturday I took the light rail into downtown and met friends at a chocolate café, then had dinner and a movie at one of their houses. (The movie, Hobson’s Choice, deserves it’s own personal finance post.) Sunday I took Larry to the dog park so he could get some running in and then went and filled up the VW.

Not a super exciting week, but that’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.

EDITED TO ADD: Okay, there is one super exciting thing to happen this week- I broke the 200k mark in my Alexa ranking (for those who don’t know, that’s a milestone for becoming a full member of Yaekzie, vs just being a challenger). In fact, as of today, my ranking is just over 100k! Thank you to my readers, and especially to my fellow Yaezie group team members. Your support means everything!

EDITED TO ADD: I’m a total space cadet who can’t read numbers. I was just over 1 MILLION, not 100k.

 

Date: 13/11/2011 Author: Tags: Category: Sunday Evening Post Bookmark: Permalink
Article

Average Joe’s Deserve to Retire, Too

I haven’t written about Occupy Wall Street here, and honestly this post isn’t actually about Occupy Wall Street, but it is about one of the issues they are trying to talk about, and I want to give them credit. On some level, the Occupy movement has already been a great success because it’s changed the conversations we’re having.

 

This is also inspired by a post by Derek over at Buck$ome Boomer. This is not meant as diatribe against Derek. I have complete respect for what he’s saying. Conventional wisdom has become conventional for a reason. But like the folks in the Occupy movement, I think it’s time we change the conversation.

 

To be fair, the title of Derek’s post is “Get Stinkin’ Rich”, and I have no desire to become stinkin’ rich, nor, I imagine, do most folks. My goal, a goal I think that’s shared by a reasonable number of people, is to be able to retire one day, to be able to retire and not have to worry about how the bills are going to be paid, to maybe even be able to afford to travel and spend more time doing the things I love. I will admit it’s a modest goal, a common goal, but I don’t think it’s a mediocre goal. What I do think is that it’s a goal that has moved out of reach for a major part of the American population, and that’s both sad and scary.

The conventional wisdom is that in order to truly gain wealth, you need to be an entrepreneur. You need, as Derek says, to start a business that doesn’t need you. Even C agrees with this ideology. Many times, he has looked at property, specifically being able to afford rental property, and mentioned that in his mind, that’s the path to wealth. I am not denying this.

What I am saying is that the majority of us will never own rental property. Some will never own any property. Most of us are not cut out to be entrepreneurs, and honestly, if everyone stopped working for anyone else and just ran their own business, our economy would completely collapse. Our economy is built on the need for workers. I don’t believe that the only people who should get to retire are the ones that started the businesses, or even the workers at the very top of the business (because even Jack Welch was working for someone else).

I do not believe that I am doomed to a mediocre life because I work for someone else, and no one should be. With the collapse of pensions, with the idea that everyone’s retirement should be invested in the stock market (which yes, over 30 years has good returns, but what happens when it’s time for you to retire in a market like the one today?), we have endangered the retirements of the vast majority of our population. Working a job should not mean that you must work that job forever.

The purpose of Social Security was to prevent our seniors from living without heat, from going without needed medical attention. However, it wasn’t meant to support people for over 20 years, and yet, it is what so many folks are depending on.

 

Do I have the answers? Do I know what we need to do so that the average Joe has the opportunity to retire? Honestly, no. But I do know the answer shouldn’t be that only those who got lucky with their own small business (and trust me, I know more small business owners who will never be able to retire than I do worker bees) should be the ones who have the opportunity for financial freedom.

As a society, we need to be having the conversations. We need to be able to talk about finances on a macro and micro level. That’s really one of the reasons I started this blog- to talk about finances, to help remove the vacuum that seems to exist around personal finances.

And this is one of the reasons I support Occupy Wall Street, because the conventional wisdom is no longer working, at least not for most of the people in this country. It’s time to change the conversations, to say, this is not the way it should be, and let’s figure out together what the new conventions should be.

Date: 10/11/2011 Author: Tags: , , , Category: Retirement Bookmark: Permalink
Article

Year End Budget Review (part 3)

   2011 Budget   2011 Actual   2012 Budget 
Student Loans  $       685.00  $   1,087.00  $       685.00
School  $       850.00  $      781.00  $       850.00
Bills  $    2,135.00  $   2,183.00  $    2,190.00
Car  $       190.00  $      638.00  $       350.00
Groceries  $       450.00  $      401.00  $       350.00
Medical  $            –    $       25.00  $        25.00
Eating Out  $       150.00  $      159.00  $       150.00
Allowance  $       200.00  $      250.00  $       200.00
Pets  $            –    $      181.00  $       150.00
House  $            –    $      372.00  $       400.00
Travel  N/A   N/A   $            –  
MIL  $            –    $           –    $       (40.00)
Savings  $       500.00  $      180.00  $        75.00
       
Total  $    5,160.00  $   6,257.00  $    5,385.00

 

It’s always intersting, to me, to see what I thought the financial picture was going to look like at the start of the year, what it really ended up looking like, and how I’m translating that into the new year.

When looking at my numbers, the important things for me to remember are that we have unemployment income for the first half of 2011 that was NOT included in the budget. It pretty much all went into paying on student loans.

We have had 3 (or more) people living in our house since last November. And until JZ moved in a couple weeks ago, there was no rent being paid or contributions to household bills (like groceries). This is not a complaint. We were happy to be able to help/host. But having someone who will be paying rent and contributing toward the grocery budget gives us some flex room.

The 2012 budget is not perfect, though. While it is certainly in budget if you count all 26 of my paychecks a year, I prefer to only count 24 and have the other two to go toward big paydowns on student loans or in to savings.  There will almost certainly be tweaking as we move forward in the year.

In addition, I will almost certainly get a raise in April of about 3%. 1% of that will automatically go toward an icreased contribution to my 403(b), but that leaves 2% to help even things out. And there’s always a chance the C will decide to be done with school and get a job after he graduates this summer…

Date: 08/11/2011 Author: Tags: , , Category: Budgets, Tracking Bookmark: Permalink
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