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March Budget Wrap Up

April 2nd, 2012 at 02:35 am

*I think most of the March charges have come in and have been accounted for (other than the hotel charge.*

Income: 2 paychecks, dad's gift, state income tax refund, SB AGC giftcards

Expenses:

Offering/Tithe: $170
Groceries: $230.78
Eating Out: 49.08
Phone/Internet: 129.01
Netflix: 8.65
Life Insurance (1 yr premium): 194.50
Prescriptions: $23
Miscelaneous: 42.02
Kari (cat): 40.07
Library: 369.65
Entertainment: 18.52
Gas: 71.13

Savings/Rainy Day
ROTH : 100.00 (300/1500 goal)
EF: 130.94 (1853.75/5000 goal)
Car Fund: 250 (500/5000 goal)
iPhone: 15 (75/210 goal)
Summer Travel: 190 (190/500 goal)

ROTH + EF savings is more than 10% of income this month, but definitely not where I'd like it to be. Part of the reason it's less this month is because I spent more than I'd planned on my two-day trip, and partly because I spent more than I'd planned on books at the book fair. (Otherwise I'd have an additional $258 from tax refund put into savings.)

I also am now starting to divert some of my funds into travel savings/spending categories, so my total % saved (actual savings with no spending goal in mind) is going to go down.

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Groceries/Eating Out - Ugh. Double ugh. I *must* get a handle on this. A big part of the expenses is that I didn't really budget for my two-day trip. When I decided that I was going to postpone the trip I *really* wanted to do for Spring Break, I kind of stuck my head in the sand about planning money for what I'd do instead.

*Must Not Stick Head in Sand!!*

Life Insurance: This is a $50k 20 year term policy. It will expire when I'm 56. I got it partially so that if anything happens to me my funeral expenses are covered. Now of course with Kari, it will also help cover the expenses of whoever takes her in. I figure by the time I'm 56 I'll have enough other assets to definitively cover both instances (funeral expenses and pet care.)

*I had forgotten about this coming up ... so it also came out of what would have been savings this month. I now have set up a category for it so I'll be ready next March and not have to dip into that months savings!

Miscellaneous: A humidifier, a PIF, and an app. *I realized as I was doing this that a $64 hotel charge has not been accounted for. I thought that the first $40 had already been charged, but I can't find
where I accounted for it. (The last $20 is for the pet fee. My coworker paid me for her part + the pet fee in cash.)

Kari: food, toys

Library - hawaiian leis for book fair, food for the book fair, books from book fair, etc.

Entertainment - "Hunger Games", audible.com, app

Gas - two fill ups

Overall, I'm doing okay. It still looks like I'll be able to make my savings goals for this year. I need to be careful though, and watch my spending more closely. **NO more overspending in the library category!!**

2 Responses to “March Budget Wrap Up”

  1. wowitsawonderfullife Says:
    1333333321

    Hey Laura, I think you need to stop beating yourself up. You are doing such a great job supporting the library, and supporting the church, as well as your community. I know we make plans and budgets but you need to honour yourself as well. Of course I'm saying this because I missed my targets over the last few weeks too :-)

  2. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1333335543

    Thanks Wow Smile I'd beat myself up a lot less if the food spending was on good, healthy for me food - or at least 99% of it was. However, that is not the case. Frown

    What I think I might do is purchase a $100 gift card for Wal-Mart (where I do my grocery shopping) and then use that *only* for food purchases, and then a $20 Walmart gift card for "junk" food purchases. Once it is used up, it's used up. That way I still get the 5% cash back on my credit card, but I'll also have an easy way to curb my spending. Any food from other places will have to come from my recreation funds.

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