It's been a BUSY BUSY couple of weeks for me. Petsitting has been booming and I haven't had any energy to even breathe, much less blog. Hopefully I can get these posts out before and after the payperiod begins so it'll be more consistent, instead of in the middle like it is now.
Here's a quick recap of the 20 August payperiod:
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The motorcycle permit renewal was budgeted, but I was misinformed when I called and it cost me an extra $12.
5 September payperiod:
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EXPENSES
I would've been screwed had I not cut a few breaks (YAY) on my utilities and phone bills.
Food/household I went over just a LITTLE bit with my grocery shopping. Damn it. It could've been much, much worse. I had priced out a trash can and pillows (necessities) for around $46. Walmart is about 12 miles away, so I went to the local Bi-Mart to check if they had the same for equal or cheaper prices. There was a trashcan I wanted that was the exact same I had found at Walmart and SCORE: it was 46 cents CHEAPER and came with a smaller trash can I can use for my guest room when it gets established. But when I went to the register, it was $10 more...they had forgotten to take the sign off. I did get the sale price, though. Always check your receipts folks!
I FINALLY had some money to play around with. Hooray! I got two of these awesome bike lights because I keep almost getting hit at this one intersection on my route home from work. No way will they not see me with these bad boys.
I also got some knives for my kitchen, because cutting a tomato with a butter knife is messy and NOT FUN.
One way to save money on your method of transportation (for me, it's my scooter and bicycle, for others, it may be a car) is to maintain it...so when I looked at my mileage today and realized I haven't changed the oil on my scooter since it was 1500 miles (now sitting at about 4500....), I need to change the oil this week. So $4.66 went to a pan at Ace Hardware.
Another savings tip: learn to change your own oil. It takes just as long (if not shorter) than taking it in. And it's way cheaper. Have a handy friend show you.
INCOME
The fun part. Getting paid! Only -- as you can see -- my paycheck was a little smaller than expected. Not to worry, I had plenty of petsitting jobs I knew I'd break even, if not have some profit. With tips and an extra, surprise job, I raked in an extra $35. SWEET.
SAVINGS
Since all my bills haven't posted just yet, I can't determine exactly how much I'll be putting into savings, BUT it will be a significant amount, which is GOOD because I need $500 in the E-Fund before I can start the debt snowball.
My Mattress Fund got started, so progress is slowly being made there.
DEBT
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I haven't been able to call Dentist 2 to get a final total after the insurance drop, but it's estimated around $1200. Way better than the $3000 I thought I was facing just for that bill!!
I did start making minimum payments this month, with the exception of Simba, who is patiently waiting for October because he rocks (thanks, Sim).
Even though it's only $25 a month for each, it's exciting to see it go down even by that much! My debt free (aside from loans) projected date just by minimum payments is 1 July, 2014. But since it's a "snowball", you throw all your extra income at the debt you're working on at the time. So I'll be free around February, which isn't all that bad.
(P.S. Yes, the budget is color coded. Makes it more fun to look at, don't you think?)
1 comment:
Oh my goodness - I am absolutely in awe of your organization and the way you stay on top of your finances. Amazing job!
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