Becoming mindful with your money JULY!

[mamaofthree]

I know July is already going strong, but I need support and I am thinking others might too.

So if anyone is interested we can post our budgets (or not if that is too uncomfortable for people) and track our spend and help each other over the rough spots.

Here is my budget:

mortgage: $743.00 (we missed a payment recently and are making it up over 4 months so for 4 months it will be $933.00)
van: 365.00 (to be paid off in feb 2007)
auto insurance: 107.00 (for van and motorcycle)
electric: 90.00 (it is on a monthly average at 85.00, but I added an extra 5 a month)
gas: 50.00 (again monthly average thing at 45.00 with an extra 5 added)
phone: 50.00 (home and long distance)
water/waste: 110.00 (with the summer watering)
life insurance: 20.00
internet: 11.00
MMI: 393.00 (credit counseling starting this month! for 4 years!)
allowance: 40.00 (two kids getting it)
Kung Fu lessons: 83.00 (two kids going)
MIL: 175.00
Food: 600.00 (with 168.00 for that to our CSA)
braces: 162.00 (19 more payments!)
gas (for cars): 100.00
class I am taking: 157.00 (for two more months)
charity: 50.00
others: (like van care, haircuts, home maintenance, co-pays): 100.00 (to go into savings to use as needed)
out to eat: 40.00
holiday savings(hoping to start this month): 100.00
savings: 137.00

TOTAL: $3938.00 Income 3938.00

My goals: once my class is paid off to add that money to my MMI payment. Once the late mortgage payment is caught up, to move that $190.00 to savings. once van is paid off to move 1/2 the money to MMI and the other 1/2 to savings. Bringing the total to MMI to $732.00 by March of 2007, so hopefully have the credit debt paid off in 2 1/2 years instead of 4! I want to go cash only over the holidays this year.

OK who is with me??

H

[mamaofthree]

I guess I am on my own. I can talk to myself right?
Dh gets paid friday. It seems the money is gone before we even get it. It is so maddening.
We got two medicial bills in the mail on Saturday. Old stuff. I thought we had paid them off. I just don't get the reason to have insurance if you gotta pay medicial bills on top of insurance! :

The kids and I are going to drop off some clothes at the Goodwill today and some food at the food bank and then go to the library. I have a list of books to get from another thread!

H

[HydeParkB]

I'm here! I don't know if I'll post my budget, but I like the idea of 'mindful.' I just can't win with 'no spend.'

We too have a car payment, and I hate it. Every paycheck I see that $96 go to the car loan, and think, "Boy, it would be nice to put that in retirement/college savings."

Our grocery budget is $300/month, and we've already spent $100. I was going to count the $200 for our CSA in the grocery budget this month, but that might really put us over. However, we are rolling in the produce right now - squash, zuchini, and I think the peppers aren't far behind. Our freezer is STOCKED with meat; I MUST go through that so nothing spoils. I also spent this weekend making some potato dishes for the freezer - I hope they thaw well.

This month one of our car insurance payments is due, too. That really stings.

My goals:
- Just stay within budget.
- Keep paying off the credit cards in full.
- Any savings (ha!) goes to the college fund.
- Actually get to the bank to start the college fund and deposit our change (about $100 by my guess).
- Get organized about selling some items on TP/ebay.
- Learn to make my own yogurt.

(I did sell another book on half.com this weekend. Not much, but enough to pay for my garage saling on Saturday.)

[kathirynne]

My budget

Here is my budget:

Tithing: $172
Savings:$100 (non-existant since the reduction in my child support )
Rent: $750
Childcare: $325
Auto Insurance: $65
Electricity: $29
Telephone: $35
Food: $200
Petrol: $60
Student Loans: $100
Miscellaneous (haircuts, et cetera): $50


TOTAL: $1,886 (Total Income:$1,720)

As you can see, even with mindful spending, I am still playing the "what bill can I postpone paying this month?" game. I have posted a wishlist on the Autumn RAOK list, but the thought of getting my children ready for school in the fall is giving me palpatations.


HydeParkB: there is a really easy home-made yogurt recipe in one of the Naked Chef cookbooks I borrowed from the library. I'll look it up tonight and post it tomorrow. (I do so adore the Naked Chef. He's English, he's sexy, and he can cook...that's the trifecta for me - especially the 'English' bit. )

[HydeParkB]

Here's some of our budget, from memory:
Mortgage - 700
Gasoline - 75 (ALWAYS going over this)
Savings:0
Charity: 0
Auto Insurance: 120
Life insurance: 80
Car payment: 192
Telephone/DSL: 70
Food: 300
Eating out: 30
Utilities (Nat Gas & Elec): 300
Water: 40
CSA: 16

Our full budget adds up to about $2000, right at our take home income.

I'm finding that gifts really create a problem for the budget. There seems to be a wedding present or birthday every month. Last night I spent $50 with Crate & Barrel for a wedding gift that I had procrastinated about. SIGH!

[mamaofthree]

So do you guys track your daily spending? I have not done this yet, but I need to. As my budget suggests I should have more than enough money to pay for everything, yet I missed a mortgage payment. UGH!

H

[HydeParkB]

We track every expense. I update a spreadsheet once a week, usually. It's a way of keeping myself honest.

[greenegirl]

At times I have kept track of daily spending, but recently have been quite sloppy about it. I need to get back to it.

I don't know all of the exact numbers, but here is a breakdown of where most of our money goes:

Tithe 10% of gross pay
Additional giving to church 5% of gross pay
DH's 401k maxed out ($15,500 this year). Currently contributing 20% of his gross pay in order to make up for lower deductions earlier in the year
DH's Employee Stock Purchase Plan -- 10% of gross pay
Mortgage (PITI) -- $1330
Additional Principle payment -- $400
Groceries -- way too much probably $500 for two people
Eating Out -- Way too much, not even sure
Electricity -- Currently $300/month (during the winter with no heat or a/c it is about $100/month)
Water -- $40/month
Car Insurance -- $430/6 months (paid in a lump sum, not monthly, but that works out to approximately $75/month)
Cats -- $120/month (this includes food, flea and heartworm medicine and the prorated cost of their annual vet visits)
Cable/Internet -- $125/month
Grandparents -- $100/month (several family members pitch in some money to supplement my Grandparents Social Security and investment income)
Gas for the cars -- $125/month ?

No car payments (although we will have to buy a car by the end of the year and will take on payments at that time), no credit card payments

I could tell you a ballpark of our net pay monthly, but I don't think I could tell you our monthly outgo each month. Which is why I'm subbing to this thread...

We just bought our first house last year. We very aggressively paid off the second mortgage (last payment this month) and as a result were allowing ourselves to run a little in the red and using some of the money we had in savings. At this point, we are planning to get aggresive about building up our savings account as our major goal.

As you probably guessed from what I have posted, we have excellent income right now. However, we have gone through times when DH has been unemployed and we have lived out of savings, at least in part, for a couple of years. Between that fairly recent experience and our purchase of a house, we are much lower in savings than we are comfortable with due to the unpredictablity of DH's job market. In addition, we are ttc and I intend to be a SAHM. This would take out 1/3 of our current income. So we really need to build ourselves back up to a place where we can survive for some time with no income.