Let's start with the numbers:
Clothing: $9.00 not budgeted (-$9.00 Over)
Entertainment: $181.71 of $300.00 budgeted ($118.29 Under)
Fees: $137.10 not budgeted (-$137.10 Over)
Food - Eating Out: $324.39 of $300.00 budgeted ($24.39 Over)
Food - Groceries: $85.78 of $200.00 budgeted ($114.26 Under)
Household: $560.52 of $752.32 budgeted ($191.80 Under)
Mortgage: $2,053.21 of $2,053.21 budgeted ($0 Over)
Miscellaneous: $1,043.40 not budgeted (-$1,043.40 Over)
Projects: $344.79 of $50.00 budgeted ($294.79 Over)
Vehicle $696.57 of $480.00 budgeted ($216.57 Over)
Total Spent: $4,992.89 of $4,142.00 ($850.89 over)
The biggest areas of concern are the "Miscellaneous" and "Project" categories. I hadn't added anything for the miscellaneous section at all, which was a mistake. Though a lot of this could probably be better accounted for and put in other categories if I tracked all my recepts. The "project" section was just way out of control. I have a lot of project materials, and need to just use what I have rather than continually finding new projects and needing new materials.
Eating out was also above what was budgeted, and that was with a trip to Las Vegas planned. This will probably go down in June, as the babies are due and I have a harder time getting out. But it's still a huge expense.
Vehicles were also above and beyond what was budgeted. Most of the difference was parts D ordered for his car. Maybe more needs to be budgeted into this area, as I know there are a couple concerns we need to address over the next couple months before D leaves.
So, the goals for June:
Clothing: $50
Entertainment: $100.00
Fees: $75
Eating out: $200.00
Groceries: $200.00
Household: $600.00
Mortgage: $2,053.21
Miscellaneous: $500.00
Projects: $50.00
Vehicle Fuel: $200.00
Vehicle Other: $200.00
Total Spending Goal: $4,228.21 or less
This is more than I budgeted last month, but I think the miscellaneous catergory is going to need to be budgeted, which is probably the biggest difference. Income should still be right around $4,735.53 leaving a little over $500.00 to pay down the equity line.
Let's see how we can do for June!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Disappointment
I finally got around to updating our spending report and I was disappointed, though not suprised. I'll start with the numbers.
Clothing: $9.00 not budgeted (-$9.00 over)
Entertainment: $134.96 of $300.00 budgeted ($165.04 remaining)
Fees: $42.50 not budgeted(-42.50 over)
Eating Out: $141.74 of $300.00 budgeted ($158.26 remaining)
Groceries: $85.74 of $200.00 budgeted ($114.26 remaining)
Household: $469.36 of $752.32 budgeted ($282.96 remaining)
Mortgage: $2,053.21 if $2,053.21 budgeted ($0 remaining)
Miscellaneous: $1,063.60 not budgeted (-$1,063.60 over)
Projects: $222.86 of $50.00 budgeted (-$172.86 over)
Vehicle: $626.54 of $480.00 budgeted (-$146.54 over)
TOTAL: $4,849.55 of $4,142.00
That makes us $707.55 over our budgeted amount at 2/3 of the way through the month.
I need to figure out where all the money is going in the "Miscellaneous" category. About $650 is split between a new gun purchase and defensive driving as Dallas got a speeding ticket. That still leaves about $400 that should be better accounted for.
Also, "Projects" got a bit out of control. I thought I had the stuff for most of the projects I wanted to do this month, but I ended up buying a lot more supplies. Most of it is for the girls, making their blessing dresses, and hairbows and stuff.
Dallas bought some additional parts for his Stealth, which is where the main difference is coming in on the "vehicles" category.
The two other areas where I was hoping not to spend were clothing (more baby stuff) and fees (overdraft charges).
So, I guess the question now is: "How little can we spend over the next 10 or 11 days?"
Clothing: $9.00 not budgeted (-$9.00 over)
Entertainment: $134.96 of $300.00 budgeted ($165.04 remaining)
Fees: $42.50 not budgeted(-42.50 over)
Eating Out: $141.74 of $300.00 budgeted ($158.26 remaining)
Groceries: $85.74 of $200.00 budgeted ($114.26 remaining)
Household: $469.36 of $752.32 budgeted ($282.96 remaining)
Mortgage: $2,053.21 if $2,053.21 budgeted ($0 remaining)
Miscellaneous: $1,063.60 not budgeted (-$1,063.60 over)
Projects: $222.86 of $50.00 budgeted (-$172.86 over)
Vehicle: $626.54 of $480.00 budgeted (-$146.54 over)
TOTAL: $4,849.55 of $4,142.00
That makes us $707.55 over our budgeted amount at 2/3 of the way through the month.
I need to figure out where all the money is going in the "Miscellaneous" category. About $650 is split between a new gun purchase and defensive driving as Dallas got a speeding ticket. That still leaves about $400 that should be better accounted for.
Also, "Projects" got a bit out of control. I thought I had the stuff for most of the projects I wanted to do this month, but I ended up buying a lot more supplies. Most of it is for the girls, making their blessing dresses, and hairbows and stuff.
Dallas bought some additional parts for his Stealth, which is where the main difference is coming in on the "vehicles" category.
The two other areas where I was hoping not to spend were clothing (more baby stuff) and fees (overdraft charges).
So, I guess the question now is: "How little can we spend over the next 10 or 11 days?"
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
New totals as of 5/10/2010
So far this month we have spent $2,882.25.
This is the break-down:
Entertainment: $24.85 of $300.00 budgeted ($275.15 remaining).
Eating out: $96.57 of $300.00 budgeted ($203.43 remaining).
Groceries: $32.06 of $200.00 budgeted ($167.94 remaining).
Household: $321.70 of $752.32 budgeted ($430.62 remaining).
Motgages: $2,053.21 of $2,053.21 budgeted ($0 remaining).
Miscellaneous: $99.74 which wasn't budgeted (-$99.74).
Projects: $122.40 of $50.00 budgeted (-$72.40).
Vehicles: $131.72 of $480.00 budgeted ($348.28 remaining).
Total Spent: $2,882.25 of $4,142.00 ($1,259.75 remaining)
So, a third of the way through the month and there are some expected changes. Since we're not going to Vegas, the entertainment and eating out sections should be lower, though groceries may be a little higher to compensate. We've spent almost a third of the fuel budget (D was tuning his car, which spent a bit extra.) In planning, this did include the fuel for a trip to Vegas, so should have been lowered accordingly. Mortgages are paid, but we've spent more on miscellaneous and projects than I had budgeted.
So far, not too bad. I have about $175.00 to make up for that wasn't budgeted. I over budgeted in a couple areas, so it should be okay. It would have been nice to have had the over budgeted money as extra at the end of the month to put towards our credit line or mortgage payments. Or just have a little in savings for a cushion.
This is the break-down:
Entertainment: $24.85 of $300.00 budgeted ($275.15 remaining).
Eating out: $96.57 of $300.00 budgeted ($203.43 remaining).
Groceries: $32.06 of $200.00 budgeted ($167.94 remaining).
Household: $321.70 of $752.32 budgeted ($430.62 remaining).
Motgages: $2,053.21 of $2,053.21 budgeted ($0 remaining).
Miscellaneous: $99.74 which wasn't budgeted (-$99.74).
Projects: $122.40 of $50.00 budgeted (-$72.40).
Vehicles: $131.72 of $480.00 budgeted ($348.28 remaining).
Total Spent: $2,882.25 of $4,142.00 ($1,259.75 remaining)
So, a third of the way through the month and there are some expected changes. Since we're not going to Vegas, the entertainment and eating out sections should be lower, though groceries may be a little higher to compensate. We've spent almost a third of the fuel budget (D was tuning his car, which spent a bit extra.) In planning, this did include the fuel for a trip to Vegas, so should have been lowered accordingly. Mortgages are paid, but we've spent more on miscellaneous and projects than I had budgeted.
So far, not too bad. I have about $175.00 to make up for that wasn't budgeted. I over budgeted in a couple areas, so it should be okay. It would have been nice to have had the over budgeted money as extra at the end of the month to put towards our credit line or mortgage payments. Or just have a little in savings for a cushion.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Forgetting and Extra Fees
So I just remembered that I didn't pay our HOA fees for May. They just went from quarterly to monthly. I think they did it to make more money off of late fees, like the one I will have to pay. I need to get it set up on automatic draft, but they always seem to make that as difficult as possible, and then take months to implement it. How frusterating.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
May 4th, 2010
An update from the weekend.
Since May 1st, we have spent $1,250.16 of our bugeted $4,142.00. This leaves $2,891.84 for the next 27 days.
This is how it breaks down:
$982.84 on mortgage payments
$ 50.34 on eating out
$ 9.73 on entertainment
$ 50.00 on household bills
$ 71.07 on utilities
$ 29.54 on projects
$ 56.64 on fuel
The amount that we've spent seems really high, considering it's only the 4th but I have to remind myself that a big chunk of that is the mortgage payment.
The "projects" should be all I need for the blessing dresses and it's less than I had budgeted at $50.00.
Also, the trip to Vegas might have been canceled, which will save on fuel, entertainment and eating out. Plus I hadn't budgeted for the need for rooms (Big Oops there!)
Can we make it??
Since May 1st, we have spent $1,250.16 of our bugeted $4,142.00. This leaves $2,891.84 for the next 27 days.
This is how it breaks down:
$982.84 on mortgage payments
$ 50.34 on eating out
$ 9.73 on entertainment
$ 50.00 on household bills
$ 71.07 on utilities
$ 29.54 on projects
$ 56.64 on fuel
The amount that we've spent seems really high, considering it's only the 4th but I have to remind myself that a big chunk of that is the mortgage payment.
The "projects" should be all I need for the blessing dresses and it's less than I had budgeted at $50.00.
Also, the trip to Vegas might have been canceled, which will save on fuel, entertainment and eating out. Plus I hadn't budgeted for the need for rooms (Big Oops there!)
Can we make it??
Monday, May 3, 2010
Improvement for May
After I posted our sad, sad month of April, I got to thinking: "Where can we improve for May?"
The Biggest drop should be in our vehicle expenses, but only because most of them were non-recurring. Still, I'm hoping that can spend less than $300 on fuel (we have a trip to Vegas planned for this month) and about $180 for insurance.
For entertainment, I think about $300 (Again, Vegas!!)
If we can avoid overdraft fees, we could save almost $50.00
We spent around $1300 for food, between groceries and eating out last month. I'd like to drop that A LOT, to about $500 total. We shouldn't need much from the store this month, and if we can limit eating out (except in VEGAS!) that should make a big difference. So around $200 for groceries and $300 for eating out.
The whole projects section should be almost gone for May. I will have to buy some trim for one of the blessing dresses I'm making. Other than that, I think we have everything that we need for most of my projects. So maybe $50 for the trim.
When I add these to the items that won't change (like mortgage payments and insurance) I come up with a total of $4,142.00. Since our income shouldn't change, it should be $4,735.53. That leaves us just under $600 remaining after expenses. That would be much better, but in the following months, I'd like to see how much better than this we can do.
Let's see how we do this month!!
The Biggest drop should be in our vehicle expenses, but only because most of them were non-recurring. Still, I'm hoping that can spend less than $300 on fuel (we have a trip to Vegas planned for this month) and about $180 for insurance.
For entertainment, I think about $300 (Again, Vegas!!)
If we can avoid overdraft fees, we could save almost $50.00
We spent around $1300 for food, between groceries and eating out last month. I'd like to drop that A LOT, to about $500 total. We shouldn't need much from the store this month, and if we can limit eating out (except in VEGAS!) that should make a big difference. So around $200 for groceries and $300 for eating out.
The whole projects section should be almost gone for May. I will have to buy some trim for one of the blessing dresses I'm making. Other than that, I think we have everything that we need for most of my projects. So maybe $50 for the trim.
When I add these to the items that won't change (like mortgage payments and insurance) I come up with a total of $4,142.00. Since our income shouldn't change, it should be $4,735.53. That leaves us just under $600 remaining after expenses. That would be much better, but in the following months, I'd like to see how much better than this we can do.
Let's see how we do this month!!
April Spending Report
This is a spending report for April. It isn't completely accurate as I'm still waiting on some additional information. Also, since I wasn't tracking it through out the month, some things are not divided as they should be (like the groceries in the Wal-mart purchases). But the in-flow and the out-flow numbers are pretty accurate... and SCARY!!
Total income for April: $4,735.58
Total expenditures for April: $8,781.09
So we spent more than $4,000 MORE than we earned last month. Some of it was one time expenditures. But not enough! Here is a breakdown of where most of the mony went:
Entertainment: $296.74 ($55 was a yearly Zoo membership)
Fees: $45.19
Eating Out: $438.30
Groceries: $559.07 ($473.03 was at Sam's Club, stocking up for the Twins birth. This however, does not include the food purchased at Wal-Mart this month, which is where most of it was purchased)
Chiropractic Care: $115
Household (including Nanny): $445.00
Mortgage Payments (on both properites): $2,053.21
Miscellaneous: $943.95 (including $322.31 for a new laptop)
Wal-Mart: $609.66
Projects: $241.41
Survival Supplies: $398.12
Vehicles: $2,265.14 (Most of which was getting the Excursion set up, including the windows, the alarm and exhaust work done. Also we had to register the Jetta this month. These together cost $1,895.83)
So about $2,491.18 was major but non-recurring. That still leaves expenses at $6,259.91, which is $1,554.33 more than we earned last month.
YIKES!!
Total income for April: $4,735.58
Total expenditures for April: $8,781.09
So we spent more than $4,000 MORE than we earned last month. Some of it was one time expenditures. But not enough! Here is a breakdown of where most of the mony went:
Entertainment: $296.74 ($55 was a yearly Zoo membership)
Fees: $45.19
Eating Out: $438.30
Groceries: $559.07 ($473.03 was at Sam's Club, stocking up for the Twins birth. This however, does not include the food purchased at Wal-Mart this month, which is where most of it was purchased)
Chiropractic Care: $115
Household (including Nanny): $445.00
Mortgage Payments (on both properites): $2,053.21
Miscellaneous: $943.95 (including $322.31 for a new laptop)
Wal-Mart: $609.66
Projects: $241.41
Survival Supplies: $398.12
Vehicles: $2,265.14 (Most of which was getting the Excursion set up, including the windows, the alarm and exhaust work done. Also we had to register the Jetta this month. These together cost $1,895.83)
So about $2,491.18 was major but non-recurring. That still leaves expenses at $6,259.91, which is $1,554.33 more than we earned last month.
YIKES!!
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