a. Who you are:
I am Desiree. I am a homeschooling mom of 4. My dh is a professor and our spending has been way out of control for awhile. I keep making goals but never stick to them, so I need to really move on it with the holidays coming.
b. Where you are going (your financial goals):
I have been working on paying off debt a la Dave Ramsey, but not doing too well. We have substantial credit card debt from several large moves and student loan debt. With a new mortgage, Christmas and 7 family birthdays coming up, and newly high credit card debt (we dealt with fraud and so we were 1 day late paying our credit card because our bank account was frozen. Because of this, our interest went up and our payment doubled even though in 9 years, it was our first late payment!).
Our paychecks are biweekly, so I am kinda starting as of 10/30 as that was when we got paid and I did our grocery shopping.
c. How you plan to get there
1. I finally started getting child support from my ex for the first time in 8 years. It's about $800 a month, but it looks like he may have just quit. I plan on using this as our Christmas and birthday money and all extra goes to savings.
2. I desperately need to stop spending money on unnecessary things and cut our food budget substantially.
3. Learn to live within our new budget
4. Start an envelope system
5. Not eat out! (Tombstone pizzas were dirt cheap at the store, so I stocked up so we won't have to run out for lack of time)
6. $500 food and household budget
7. Next month is our last car payment and we are paid off. That frees up $188 a month to put toward debt.
My Key:
No Spending
Necessary Spending
Unnecessary spending
1- Spent $268.49 on groceries already for the month including one out of town eating out (unavoidable)
2- $605.72 mortgage, $197.12 car payment, $17.03 Walmart (food)
3- $5.84 IGA, $6.33 Walmart (taking this back tonight-wrong broth and kid undies!), $5.03 CVS (milk) MADE $196.69 in child support-saving for Christmas
4- $14.35 Girl scout leader expenses. I'm supposed to be reimbursed.
5- Returned $29.08 worth of stuff to walmart and got: 4.50 Halloween clearance for next year's costumes, 13.00 nursing bra (much needed!), 10 weatherstripping for door, 39.90 vitamins. They overcharged me $4.50, though, so I need to deal with that next time I'm there.
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Grocery budget: $285.72/500
Household budget: 84.40/100
I am Desiree. I am a homeschooling mom of 4. My dh is a professor and our spending has been way out of control for awhile. I keep making goals but never stick to them, so I need to really move on it with the holidays coming.
b. Where you are going (your financial goals):
I have been working on paying off debt a la Dave Ramsey, but not doing too well. We have substantial credit card debt from several large moves and student loan debt. With a new mortgage, Christmas and 7 family birthdays coming up, and newly high credit card debt (we dealt with fraud and so we were 1 day late paying our credit card because our bank account was frozen. Because of this, our interest went up and our payment doubled even though in 9 years, it was our first late payment!).
Our paychecks are biweekly, so I am kinda starting as of 10/30 as that was when we got paid and I did our grocery shopping.
c. How you plan to get there
1. I finally started getting child support from my ex for the first time in 8 years. It's about $800 a month, but it looks like he may have just quit. I plan on using this as our Christmas and birthday money and all extra goes to savings.
2. I desperately need to stop spending money on unnecessary things and cut our food budget substantially.
3. Learn to live within our new budget
4. Start an envelope system
5. Not eat out! (Tombstone pizzas were dirt cheap at the store, so I stocked up so we won't have to run out for lack of time)
6. $500 food and household budget
7. Next month is our last car payment and we are paid off. That frees up $188 a month to put toward debt.
My Key:
No Spending Necessary Spending Unnecessary spending1-
Spent $268.49 on groceries already for the month including one out of town eating out (unavoidable)2-
$605.72 mortgage, $197.12 car payment, $17.03 Walmart (food)3-
$5.84 IGA, $6.33 Walmart (taking this back tonight-wrong broth and kid undies!), $5.03 CVS (milk) MADE $196.69 in child support-saving for Christmas4-
$14.35 Girl scout leader expenses. I'm supposed to be reimbursed.5-
Returned $29.08 worth of stuff to walmart and got: 4.50 Halloween clearance for next year's costumes, 13.00 nursing bra (much needed!), 10 weatherstripping for door, 39.90 vitamins. They overcharged me $4.50, though, so I need to deal with that next time I'm there.6-
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Grocery budget: $285.72/500
Household budget: 84.40/100
=Within Written Budget Spending
=Not budgeted but Needed
=No Drive Day
Made $75 at yard sale
unplanned spending
No spend
Necessary Spending
+ 
