Happy New Year!!!

I want to wish everyone a happy new year. We have a plan and it has been implemented already and now we can just pray it goes according to what our goals are. I'll be posting more tomorrow especially our 2012 debt total and goals for the new year...

~PBMFMM

Friday

Well yesterday was payday and I know I've not posted for a while but we had some issues, big issues that needed to be addressed and I'm sure we have spent way too much money. But we will proceed.

I have paid all the bills due this month and now nothing is due until next month. January is our start time for Dave Ramsey my DH is not looking forward to it, but we have to get rid of some of this debt asap as other issues have arisen that require our attention and I don't want debt to be in the way. I know DR does not like you to use your retirement plans to pay off debt but we are seriously thinking about it since we are younger and still have a lot of time to add money to it again. We don't plan on doing anything yet but we have talked about it.

I'm going to try to get back into posting spending so we have an idea of what we are wasting our money on. But I don't think that will happen until after Christmas.

 

~PBMFMM

Saturday Spending

 

$10.00 new remotes for TV (both were broken) they will be delivered 12/16

$23.19 for books

 

~PBMFMM

Friday Spending

Car Payment $230.00
Car Gas $51.00
Christmas Gifts $114.16 & $38.84



~PBMFMM

Today’s spending 12/8/11

Today I paid the Bi-monthly household bills that I usually pay.
Bi-Monthly savings goals $50.00
Bi-Monthly yearly goals $105.00
Debt Payments $586.00
Medical Payment $100.00
Water Bill $246.57
Cable Bill $139.62
Insurance $184.22
Phone Bill $163.62
Cash for envelopes for 2 weeks $620.00 (this is for groceries, gas, blow, allowance, entertainment)
We have our weekly lunch out which was $30.00
Bought Pet food which was $32.39
That's it for Thursday.


~PBMFMM

Spending

Monday I spent $57.00 at Hobby Store using money I had saved up & $50.00 for school lunches for the month for the kids.

Tuesday No Spend since I'm at work

Wednesday No Spend since I'm at work

Thursday I'll be paying bills will update on that day.

2012 Goals

• Pay off DFS-Balance $1552.54 by 11/30/2012
• Go on one weekend camping trip
• Go hiking twice per month
• Track spending first quarter Jan-Mar
• Buy Plane tickets for kids to go to grandparents ~$400.00
• Pay off medical bill $557.52 left by 4/30/2012
• Pay off Citi $1719.99 by 12/31/2012
• Get $1,000.00 into BEF
• $500.00 to camping fund
• $700.00 for Christmas Fund by 12/10/2012

Boy it's been awhile

Well so far here we are just barely keeping our heads above water. Work has been slow for everyone and because of this it's been a rough few months. I really really need to get settled on a 2012 budget AND we need to follow said budget, I do so have a difficult time saying no to anyone.

I'll be redoing our budget because our insurance has changed and I no longer have any idea what my paychecks will be due to this, I might have to wait until January to start figuring out a budget but I think we get paid January 5th so that will help.

We have a week off over Christmas and I'm hoping to redo my budget then and have it ready for January although I'll have to change some numbers since I no longer know what my check is "darn insurance changes."

~PBMFMM

Random Updates

Payday is Thursday so I've prepaid most of the bills, work has picked up slightly so I'm hoping for a full paycheck for awhile. I'll get some extra money next week so I have a plan to put that in savings thus increasing my BEF. I have $500 in there right now and would like $1,000 by the end of the year, which should be doable if work stays busy. Then I have to put money away for summers and slow times at work I really don't have a choice, it's slow every summer I think I'll try to have $2-3,000 in a summer slow work fund at ING. If I can get that much it will keep us going thru the summer and if work stays busy all the more!!

I'm going to try to post this weekend and get my December goals and 2012 goals lined up before the end of the year.

Sorry for not posting

It's been very busy here lately and especially this time of the year. I haven't even started Christmas shopping yet and am not even sure when I'm going to. I have already told my children it will be a slim Christmas due to being so slow at work and from what it looks like it's going to stay slim at work.
Today is overtime at work so I'm happy with that at least and I do work on the holiday which is overtime also.

I'll be doing our 2012 budget listing soon and I think I'm going to have to slim down the dollars and cents for everyone in the family, kids included due to being so slow at work.

Tomorrow my DH & I are completely redesigning our office and moving all our furniture around, dusting and cleaning. No, we aren't spending any money to do this but it's been a mess on his desk for along time and I'd really like him to clean it off completely and this way I know it will be done. Plus garbage day is Tuesday so we can put everything right into the garbage bin.

Our debt has gone up and down I swear it's time to just shred the dang things and be done with it, but we don't have our full $1,000 Dave Ramsey recommends we only have about $550 I think as soon as I can get that to $1,000 they are all going then there is nothing we can buy unless we have the cash to do so....

~PBMFMM

Nothing to report

So at this time we have nothing to report, payday is Thursday and we will pay bills and hopefully put some money in savings since we don't really have much there right now. Bills have been coming in like crazy and need to be paid so I'm saving them all for Thursday after work.

~PBMFMM

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween everyone.

With today being the end of the month we have done good and bad this month. We have some, not very much mind you, money left over. Work is still very slow and I'm not getting much of it, I have already told DH we will be cutting things off soon if it doesn't pick up fast, he agrees with me on this. I really should just start doing it now but honestly I'm lazy and don't want to yet. DR call me whiny I will agree with you right now.

I'm going to update my numbers and side bar as it's the end of the month..

~PBMFMM

Saturday

We spent pretty much all our entertainment money, but I'm glad we had a great time, doing Halloween stuff. We also went out to eat for lunch and had a good time. So needless to say we spent most of our entertainment and some of our dining out money in one day. We also rejoined the WIR boards as they are great support when you are trying to pay off your debt. Here is the link incase anyone wants to check them out. http://www.notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=redracers&action=display&thread=11185

Sunday we have house stuff to do. No money spent so far.

I did make about $50 on my side job on Friday so I'm happy with that.


~PBMFMM

Friday

We were able to put money into savings and our Storm Clouds fund is up to $611 :) I'm hoping to get it to $1,000 as per DR standards by 11/30/11 I have OT scheduled but it's never a guarantee that we will get it. If I do it will bump us up to over $1,000 easily. Then we move on to the next $1,000 I have set goals of $1,000 at a time as if I do more It becomes overwhelming for us and we give up, we'll set lower goals and move on as needed.

~PBMFMM

Payday

With today being payday I had already arranged for all the bills to be paid save one, I think we'll have some money left over, B U T now I have to go to the doctor next week I've been having some bad pains in my arm and since it is really not getting better I have to address it now. So we'll see what happens I do have insurance but I don't have the ability to take time off of work if I need surgery so I'm not sure what will happen.

I have some money available to put into savings and I'm still trying to fund the storm clouds fund and send money to debt, but again a big B U T I think I need to just put money in savings and keep paying minimums on debt right now in case I need to take time off work without pay, yes this is most likely due to my job but trying to prove it to them might be difficult as they like to be difficult most of the time.

~PBMFMM

Spending

Oh to be mad at DH!! He goes to get gas in car #1 and instead of using cash, because he would have to actually walk into the station to pay, he decides to use the debit card!! I guess I should be thankful he at least told me so I could transfer what little money we had in savings from savings to checking before the next payment for a bill comes out on Monday. I was most unhappy with him at that time. He did say well we got $.xx cents off because I went there I did tell him next time to either do inside or not go to that station we can always go there next time to fill up the cents off don't expire but they do continue to add up.

Since we only have $20 left in checking we are doing good at not spending, we have cash for groceries and gas in cars for work so we are good until payday which is Thursday. I have already arranged for bill payer to pay all our bills on Friday.

I have been very good about taking lunches to work and have pretty consistently been doing it 2 times per week, I'm hoping by not spending as much at work on expensive not to tasty food it will finally show up in my paychecks.

I also have more money in my HSA and hope to send more to the medical bill after this next paycheck.

 

~PBMFMM

Spending

We have spent a little money the past few days, we had pizza for dinner yesterday because well we were all too tired to cook. Today I have to go to the bank and remove our money for our jars for the week. One car has gas, the other will need it before too long.

We finally both will have full paychecks next week, I'd like to put more into savings as our EF is not up to $1,000 like DR wants it to be. Buuuut we also need quite a few things around our house I'm trying to determine the need vs want thing here :-)  I guess what we will be doing is waiting until next week to actually see what our paychecks are before doing much of anything.

We are down to about $50 for the next week not counting the money I will be removing for our jars. I do find it amazing that when we have no money in our accounts we seem to do just fine but when we have money we spend like there is no tomorrow coming. I guess we will have to just make sure and not have any money left in our main checking account  at all times.

So far we have spent:
$25.00 on food
$10.00 on restaurants
$5.50 on a book

~PBMFMM

What's coming up

My family gets back Tuesday and that is when we start our tracking of every cent that goes in and comes out. We have less then $100 to last us until 10/13/2011 which is when my next payday is. But on the bright side everything is paid for except a CSA order that I am waiting for, that won't be here until the end of the month.

Yesterday was a no spend, no drive day so that is out of the way for this week. I had things I could have done but decided to wait until today to do them since I wanted that day badly. I'll be grocery shopping and getting ready for them to return since there really isn't much to eat in our house right now.

~PBMFMM

October Goals

DH and I have some lofty October goals I'm going to list to make sure we work very hard on them..

1. Make an extra $700.00 in October.

2. Save $200.00 in October.

3. Finish remodeling job we have been working on for 2 months now.

4. Eat out only ONCE per week.

5. Track EVERY cent that goes in and out of our house.

6. Have one NO drive day per week and one NO spend day per week.

This might be hard with the still out of town and probably having to spend money while gone but we are going to try anyway.

~PBMFMM

Today is payday so I paid all the bills with a small amount left over. I'll wait until next week to see if I can send more to debt since the family is still out of town I will be moving some to savings though as we are trying to build that up again.

~PBMFMM

September 24

Well we have been pretty good with not spending I do need dog food so I'll be hitting up the farm store for this sometime today, don't want my babies to starve.

I hate being alone but its nice weather right now and I can do some outdoors stuff to make it go by faster, the hedges need trimmed, the branches cut back, the grass cut. So that will keep me busy for a few days at least and I have work some of those days plus I picked up an extra day next week.

I won't be paying any bills until Thursday since that is payday.

~PBMFMM

So Very Broke

So this week we are so very broke, we have less then $50 in our checking account to last us for the next week. We do have gas in the car but will need some milk for sure. I do have some cash that I can use for the next week.

DH and the kids leave tomorrow and won't be back for about 8 days so it will just be me eating and I work most of those days so that will help keep eating costs down.

I did up a new budget from a template http://www.krystalatwork.com/ sent me and hope to start that in October the goal will be keeping ALL our receipts to see where we are bleeding money from, I'll be talking to DH about this when he gets back because I want him on board for getting and keeping receipts to track our spending habits. I do think that blow money should be exempt from tracking though.

Our debt snowball sheet shows us if we keep going the way we are, we can be Debt Free by 12/31/2015 which seems like along time but I hope to cut it down sooner with some OT if I can get any OT. I'm almost to the point of looking for a second job to earn extra money.

~PBMFMM

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Today I found out my HSA paid another $600 to our medical bill and I paid an extra $25 snowball payment left over from paying off CC #1. So today we put another $625.00 to the medical bill lowering the balance to ~$757.00 which means our payoff date is alot closer then it was :-)

On to bad news well DH and kids leave in a week to see his family due to a major illness I'm sad about the whole thing but wish them all well.

~PBMFMM

Storm Clouds Ahead

So the issue we thought has come and now we have to stock pile cash into a storm clouds fund as Dave Ramsey calls it, so starting asap I'll be putting money into a savings account at ING labeled storm clouds and try to save up as much as possible. DH and the kids will be going out of town for this storm cloud event and I'm not sure how long they will be gone but we shall persevere.

~PBMFMM

September 12 Updates

We PAID OFF Credit Card #1 Today !!!!

Today I added all our debts up and we are under $49k but that is just barely, we have paid all our bills except the mortgage for this month but have major storm clouds in the horizon and will probably start saving money instead of extra to bills but atm we don't know whats happening with these storm clouds.

We do need to buy flea control for our animals so that will be done with the next paycheck, and possibly we will need dog food at that time.

~PBMFMM

September 7

UGH
Today I had to use the CC to buy some thing that broke I swear I'm going to freeze that darn thing and see if that helps. I'll have to readjust the side bars when the totals are posted.

We have stretched ourselves very very thin this payday and not having full paychecks has hurt alot. I feel the opportunity for OT is going to be coming up eventually and will try to pick up as many extra days as possible since I have very lofty goals for next year.

CC#1 will be paid off next payday for 110% sure :-)   then off to the next one on the list I know the new medical bill will be paid off before the 15 months it's scheduled to be paid off because I have money in my HSA and will try to use that to pay it down ~$600 in that account.

~PBMFMM

Tuesday

I paid all our bills up to this point and will pay more next payday and the last ones on the third payday. I'm still hoping to put some in savings but so far we haven't had full paychecks due to vacation.

~PBMFMM

Extra Money

We finally got our $200 from our rewards points I turned in, I'm going to try to leave it in the bank although I did promise one of my children a download for a game he plays I'm going to try to put that off but if not I'll do it today since September starts our new budget but I want to be as honest as I can regarding our finances so putting it off until then will force me to address this honestly.

Tomorrow is payday and I'll be paying the bills according to our budget I don't usually get money from the bank for jars until Fridays so I'll do that then.

We also have a bunch of yard waste that needs to go to the landfill so I'm hoping to do that also on Friday as to save on gasoline, this also is money that will be coming from the budget but not counted as we go so infrequently it might be a good sinking fund account to start.

Today I'll look through the grocery store sales paper and see If I can match any coupons for groceries and try to sit down and decide on a menu plan for the next week, we have been very good at making our food at home for the past week since we came back from vacation so hopefully we can continue with that on an ongoing basis.

 

~PBMFMM

Budget

Our budget is set up and ready to go starting with payday, we have money set aside for everything I think we will need, I'm sure something will rear its ugly head about a week into the month but we'll have to handle that as it comes up. I haven't allocated money to the school for lunches as I told my children they will be taking lunches to school this year, my youngest doesn't mind but the middle one hates it. If I have money extra with each paycheck I might send some to the school for middle child to eat there occasionally but it's very expensive to eat at school every day and I have told them that.


On a different note I have a medical bill that finally came and is about $1500 dollars that I will be paying on monthly I'm not going to add it to our debt since I also have money in a HSA that will help defer some of that amount and I plan to have the rest paid off within the year.


 It is coming up on extra shift time at work and I plan on working as much overtime as I possibly can, I think I have told everyone this already but I want people to be prepared, since any OT can be used for debt repayment after we get our BEF restocked, I'll also have to save for new tires for my car as they are getting thin but I'll try to use some OT for those also.


 ~PBMFMM

Back

We are back from vacation, actually we have been back about 3 days but we are getting stuff put away, we have way overspent as in all our money in savings and now we are back to baby step 1 in Dave Ramsey's baby step plans. Fortunately September is a 3 paycheck month and I'll be doing our budget on paper today after I finish with my post.

I have finally decided to freeze my credit cards I don't have the heart to take a pair of scissors to them yet, so I figured freezing was best.

Because of the issues with work, we still don't know much we are both afraid of not knowing so we will be making a budget I'm going to try to get my family to get rid of the cable, keep the internet and stream movies from Netflix's or hulu. It will be hard on me as I have no sound on my computer but we have a laptop that we can use if we want to watch.

All our bills are paid for the month and we have about$20.37 in our checking account to last until next Friday, thankfully we don't really need much between now and then as we got groceries before we came home from vacation.

 

~PBMFMM

Debt Totals

Our Debt totals have finally dropped below $49k, I'm so happy :-) Now with any luck on our side we can get it below $48k by the end of September, we are plugging away and trying very hard to get this gone asap due to the job issues we are having although it is looking more and more like our jobs are safe this time, I wonder when/If this will happen again and we won't be so lucky next time.

I'll be turning in some rewards points when we get back from our vacation, our debt card gives us reward points for use, I'm going to see if I can get gift cards or have money directly put onto our debt, I know one of them does that, not sure about the other ones. If not I figure we can use gift cards for groceries and save money that way for possibly a month.

~PBMFMM

Side Bars

I changed my side bars when I found these new ones I like them alot better but since I didn't know my original amounts I just started over I might change them when I find my original amounts but I'm not sure I will.

~PBMFMM

Today’s Spending

Today we have to buy school clothing, cat food and do some grocery shopping then we are off for vacation J here's hoping for an inexpensive trip. Not sure if there will be many posts until we get back so have a great couple of weeks..

 

~PBMFMM

Debt

I forgot to add we only have ~$170.00 left on CC#2 which we will have paid off next month, LOVE 3 paycheck months!!! Then on to CC#1 IF they job market stays the way it is so please keep us in your thoughts regarding our jobs.

 

~PBMFMM

Spending

So far all we have spent money on is necessities for school, home and vacation that starts on Friday, Yes we can't wait what can I say camping here we come! We had to buy new sheets for our beds the old ones had huge holes in them, not sure how they got there but hopefully it doesn't happen again. We are completely finished with school stuff goodbye $150 for that! And vacation starts soon and we need food for camping but we have everything else, so as you can see we'll be AWOL for awhile while we do our last camping trip of the year before school starts again and we are all busy little bees around here. Have a great end of summer everyone J

 

~PBMFMM

Spending

Today we spent $53.94 on home maintenance stuff and $83.04 on DH Hobby stuff, this should be the last of the hobby spending for awhile except for the usual monthly food bills for all our animals.

Dave Ramsey

Well today we rejoined the Dave Ramsey site, www.mytotalmoneymakeover.com because we loved being on it before so hopefully this will keep us up with bill paying.

I did make an extra $100 payment to CC #2 today bringing the total owed to $265 before this month's payment is due, I'll be paying that towards the end of the month and since next month is a 3 paycheck month I'm paying it off completely next month no matter what.

We have some school supplies left over from last year so I won't have to buy some things, and we plan on reusing the pencil box and backpacks from last year.

I'll need to update my side bars as I've paid down the debt since last time, maybe it will make me happy to see them going down faster rather than slower.

 

~PBMFMM

Spending

We have been very good about not spending money this weekend. We spent $9 at the hardware store and $14 on food, I was at work and DH got pizza for him and kids. I still have not taken any money out for jars although I do need to go to the grocery store for milk & bread; I'm going to try to keep it slim.

We still haven't heard anything about the layoffs other then they are coming soon.

We'll be sitting down and making a very strict budget due to this and it will hurt everyone in the family but it needs to be done, just in case.

 

~PBMFMM

Spending

Well so far we have spent a ton on our mini vacation last week, about $1,000 it was money we had saved but wow I could have used alot of that for major debt pay downs. Now that we know involuntary layoffs are occurring we have chose to be careful about where our money goes. So spending has been way down this past few days and we hope to keep it that way, my entire family knows that involuntary layoffs are occurring and so far there have been no over the top requests for extra money. We still have school shopping to do and tuition to pay for so I'm hoping that work is busy busy. I'll be trying to get overtime in this next month so wish me luck.

I've been saving my money from my side job for extra stuff we have been doing but now with the layoffs coming I'm going to save it for school supplies and tuition. I have about $100+ saved right now and hopefully I'll have enough to at least buy school clothing for my kids by next month.

~PBMFMM

Spending

 

This week I spent very little except for bills. Today I paid the Mortgage, Gas bill, Car Payment ½ I usually pay ½ each pp, got cash out for jars. I did spent about $60 extra dollars paid my son to mow the grass and bought a book. We also got a call about involuntary layoffs at work so I'm hoping neither myself or anyone else will be out of jobs. I have been there about 25 years so hopefully it won't be me..

 

~PBMFMM

Spending

Today I spent $54.17 at the grocery store I used Cash as we have a jar we put $100 into each week for groceries. I got boneless porkchops on clearance for about $2.50 a package with 4-5 chops in each package, killer deal in my book. I don't think we'll need to spend anymore on groceries for the week except maybe milk but we'll see..

 

~PBMFMM

Spending

I have spent $48 getting my hair done, cut and foil, $20 on books for kindle, Paid the Insurance for the month about $185 dollars, Filled our cash jars for the week and Loaned my mom $50 which she says she will pay back on Wednesday ( I used the money from my jars for this.) I still have about $75 dollars in checking and will be missing a day of work from my next times paycheck so I'll be scrimping during that 2 week period also. Our staycation of 5 days is starting this week and I know we will be spending money then but I have money in my jars for food and such and hopefully we won't kill our budget.

 

~PBMFMM

Spending

No spend day yesterday I'm very glad. Today or tomorrow I will get cash out and I have two checks and two lotto tickets I need to cash in so I will have money to put in my extra jar for our trip. I am hoping not to spend much if anything today..

 

~PBMFMM

Spending 7-10 thru 7-12

Today I have spent $43.00 on Gifts. I have a party to attend later today. And am hoping some of my side business picks up and starts selling better, I've improved my search feature so here's hoping it works.. I also spend $42.61 on hobby stuff and about $22.00 on Hobby stuff and put $100 on the debt we are working to pay off. I work the rest of the week so hopefully not too much spending during that time frame, although I will be having my car worked on sometime this week.

 

~PBMFMM

Spending

Today I have spent $219.49 on Electic Bill. and $33.14 on dinner..

~PBMFMM

Spending Today

I was lucky today and only spent $16.17 on pet food, I do have to reimburse my jar for some money my DH took out to go to the movies (without me I might add) but I'll see If I get around to that. I don't need groceries yet so maybe Monday for those..

~PBMFMM

Payday

With Today being Payday I have paid most of the bills and still have about $100 left over. I'm hoping to put another blob of money down on debt as I can see the  light at the end of the tunnel on one. But I also got a medical bill $1100 I will have to put on payment plan, but I can have that directly removed from my paycheck and that is what I'll be doing until it is paid off. I still have a few bills to pay but have already taken out an approximate amount for each of those as they are not due until next week and I have found if I don't take them out I spend the money..

Two weeks until our mini vacation friday thru monday I'm looking forward to it..

~PBMFMM

Spending

We spent $184.56 at the grocery store today and have been very good about not spending any more money then necessary. I did have to take some money from my stash to buy gas for our car to get to work for the next 4 days but I'll try to replace that if I can on payday. I have food now for lunches and dinners so there will be no revolting in my house due to lack of things to eat. Although there is stuff to eat, just not what they wanted. I have to work pretty much the rest of the week so there should not be any more spending except bills on Friday. We did get a hospital bill in the mail that is over $2,900 and I only have about $1600 in my HSA so I'll have to make payments on that until it is gone. I have not had to buy a video card yet and I'm still hoping this one will last for awhile longer.

 

~PBMFMM

Money Update

Well I guess instead of sending money to our debt I'll be sending it to savings for a new video card, mine is going south very fast, boy those things sound bad when they start to die. I have a dual video card but one is bad and the shop I took it to already removed it since it didn't work we were hoping mine would last at least another month or two but it looks like we will be having to replace it sooner rather than later. SO long story short the $50 dollars I was sending to debt will have to go to savings instead I do have about $100 in cash saved and I'm hoping we can get a video card for less than $200. I told DH it was going to have to wait until next week when we get paid since I wasn't going to use CC for this at all. I'll be happy to have a computer that doesn't lock up every time you bring up too much video stuff and having sound again will be nice. As for debt everything has been paid for this month and we are off to July with the hopes of not spending a wad of cash, we have 2 weeks until our mini vacation and I was saving the cash for that but that's how it goes. I do have money in our vacation fund I might have to take some out if our paychecks next week aren't good enough.

 

~PBMFMM

Spending

We have spent quite abit of money dining out this week and we did have the long drive, unfortunately we have another one this week that is unavoidable. I have told DH no more spending as I will have a short check this next time.

We should be good on bills although we will have to see come next payday. I did pay the last bill due and this is how it looks right now..

DEBT	Previous Balance	+/- Change	New Balance
C	$11,973.24	($270.00)	$12,399.81
De1	$659.25	($200.00)	$459.25
U	$10,101.59	($199.00)	$9,902.59
D	$5,910.28	($120.00)	$5,790.28
TOTAL DEBT	$28,644.36	($789.00)	$27,855.36

I have made a promise to myself we will pay at least another $50.00 this week to the lowest debt on here. I plan to do that either Thursday or Friday this week…



~PBMFMM

June 9th

Today is payday and I have paid all our bills due.

Rent	$1,380.10		$1,380.10
Cell Phone	$163.61	$163.46	$0.15
Electric	$0.00		$0.00
Water	$167.42		$167.42
Internet/Cable	$125.86	$127.87	($2.01)
Food	$600.00	$100.00	$500.00
Household	$340.00	$85.00	$255.00
Entertainment	$300.00	$75.00	$225.00
Natural Gas	$15.00	$0.00	$15.00
Phone	$163.46	$0.00	$163.46
Transportation	$250.00	$50.00	$200.00
Garbage	$0.00	$40.57	($40.57)
Home Insurance	$184.80	$184.40	$0.40
Miscellaneous	$10.00	$10.00	$0.00

This reflects what I have paid and what is left over in each area at this point in time. We don't want to go over our budget, but I also know my DH is buying something expensive for his hobby tomorrow which will be about $200 then I think we are done for abit. Let us pray so..

$11,973.24	($270.00)	$11,703.24
$659.25	($200.00)	$459.25
$10,101.59	($199.00)	$9,902.59
$5,910.28	$0.00	$5,910.28

This is our debt update it doesn't reflect our car payment which is separate right now and it doesn't reflect any interest due yet since I just paid them and it won't show interest until the next billing cycle.

At least we won't have to drive anywhere long distance this week, although we will have to in 2 weeks so hopefully any money we can save between now and then will help.



~PBMFMM

Back Slide

Well as the saying goes two steps forward one step backward or in our case one step forward, 20 steps backwards :-(  We have had major issues in the past few months and our debt has risen to reflect this. We have resolved to get back on the bandwagon and get our behinds out of our funk and move forward. Complicating this is our expensive hobbies (both of us have them), mine is also a side business, and his could potentially become a side business, but they aren't helping our debt situation at all. I have resolved to slow my spending down dramatically now I can only hope DH will also follow in my footsteps :-)

~PBMFMM

April 18

No Spend day :-)
~PBMFMM

April 17

We have spent the last couple of days I'm not sure the amount but I'll try to post it later on.

~PBMFMM

April 13

No Spend day :)

~PBMFMM

April 12

Yesterday I spent $5.08 on junk food, other then that no spend at all.

~PBMFMM

How?

How do I get back into my tallying when I'm not even sure how things are going to go right now? I guess I just need to sit down remake the poor budget and move on. My family will have to put up with the spending cuts I'm going to make. I have 4 new bills that need paid and need to come up with the money to pay them, then maybe I'll be happy about the budget and can move on..

~PBMFMM

AFK

Sorry we have been on vacation, yes an already planned stay at home vacation but a vacation none the less. I'll be back to posting regularly most likely next week. We really haven not spent more then we expected and we should be done with our major expense that we had come up and hopefully we can start the down slide again instead of the upwards trend we had been doing.  I'm praying for a more stable April now if only the weather would cooperate we'd all be happy :-)

~PBMFMM

March 30th

Spent alittle over $200 dollars today, well see what happens when I update I'm sure our debt has gone up I hope not by much be we have had no choice.

~PBMFMM

I'm going to revisit my goals sometime in April to see if we are on track for anything at all. The big expenses we have had are eating away at our goals but I'm glad we at least had the cash to pay for these things so far. So we have had to put some stuff on CC but paid cash for some things also. Here's to hoping we can work on achieving our goals!

~PBMFMM

March 29th

No Spend day :-)

~PBMFMM

March 28th

Spent $198 on groceries and $60 on Auto gas.
\
~PBMFMM

March 26th

Spent $40.00 on Pizza but uses cash from jars otherwise no spend day..

~PBMFMM

March 25th

No Spend day :-)

~PBMFMM

March 24th

Spent $54 on pet food and groceries. Oh and $25 for hair cuts X2 this was taken out of the entertainment jar though so I don't really count it.

~PBMFMM

March 23rd

Since I've been working we haven't really spent too much other then the expected and the issues I referred to earlier. I still have a bill to pay but haven't gotten the bill yet so I'm waiting for that. It should be no spend for a few days since we are both working and very busy and hence we don't have time to spend :-)

~PBMFMM

March 22nd

Spent about $30 today is all.

~PBMFMM

March 21st

Spendy about $400 I knew this was coming and it will only get worse for abit.

~PBMFMM

March 20th

No Spend Day :-)

~PBMFMM

March 19th

Went to the grocery store and spent about 175.00.. Paid all the bills but haven't taken money out for jars yet.

~PBMFMM

March 18th

No Spend Day :-)

~PBMFMM

March 17th

No Spend Day

~PBMFMM

March 16th

No Spend Day :-)

~PBMFMM

March 15th

No Spend Day :-)

~PBMFMM

March 14th

No Spend Day :-)

~PBMFMM

March 13th

I spent on Soapmaking stuff about $200 and the issue we had last week just got worse so I'm sure there goes all our money..

~PBMFMM

March 12

No Spend Day :-)

~PBMFMM

March 11

So we had pizza but I used money I had left from last weeks jars so technically that would be No Spend, almost all my family was here for dinner it was great we all had a good time, I did take money out for our weekly jars but other then that not a drop extra was spent.

~PBMFMM

Something came up

So something very important came up and I'm sure it's going to cost us an exorbitant amount of money, money I really don't want to spend but most likely will have to.
I can only hope this works out to the best for all, and fairly cheaply also since I really don't want to spend my savings but will if I have too. So far it's been a no spend day but I'm going to get Pizza for dinner tonight, I have stuff out for the next 3 nights and will make dinner those days.

I still have money in the checking account for the CC but at the moment I'm worried about spending it since I might need it in the next week or so..

~PBMFMM

March 10th

No Spend Day :-)

~PBMFMM

March 9th

No Spend day :-)

~PBMFMM

March 8th

No spend day :-)

~PBMFMM

March 6th

Well it wasn't too bad we spent about $110.00 my DH still has one or two more things he is going to buy but I doubt it will top $200 we'll see though. I am waiting for the CC's to clear so I can change my side bars.

My DH and I spoke at length yesterday regarding savings and I think we both agreed to tighten our belts and try to save $350 from each payday it will drastically reduce our discretionary spending but If we want to save $10k which is what we need for DH to go back to school we have to do it asap. I'm still going to put any and all OT that I can get (although this is getting slimmer and slimmer atm) onto our CC's. I think I might do a new sidebar for saving that 10k but I need to sit down with DH and show him the money and see what he says and if he is really as willing as he says he is to buckle down and do this, esp with summer coming.

~PBMFMM

Family Day

With today being family day I've allotted my DH $300 cash from our Income Tax Return to spend as he wishes, but I told him we will have to be taken out to eat for dinner as consolation, so we'll be doing some driving, some play time and then back home to relax as the work week starts again tomorrow! I haven't sent a cent to the CC yet but most likely will later this week although I might just send half the amount due and call it good. I put over $1700 in various savings accounts. ie house maint, BEF to get them up to $1,000 each. I know Dave Ramsey says only $1,000 but my security gland is larger then that so I wanted $2,000.

We have $1,000 in our vacation fund for our planned driving trip this summer so that goal is attained.

I finally got the bill for the dentist but it was $200 more then I thought so I'll be paying that off in 3 months at $200 a month it's no interest so that helps.

I have lost 10 lbs and now I'm working on the next 10 lbs and with spring and summer coming I'm hoping all the outdoor stuff will help as has my taking lunch to work most days it seems :-)

~PBMFMM

March 5th

I spent on garden stuff about $50 and worked in the yard half the day. I planted seeds and got my onion sets ready to get in the ground. Tomorrow is family day we have alot planned so I'm sure it will be a spend day!

March 4th

Spent about $40 on pet supplies and $58 on new boots for going out in the messy yard today, I'm so ready for spring to be here to get working on the garden. Tomorrow I'm buying stuff to plant onions come rain or shine they are here at the local farm store and I'm ready to stick my hands in some dirt..

~PBMFMM

March 3rd

Only spending was to pay all the bills, we received our Income Tax Return and filled up some of our Emergency Fund's as we planned I still need to finalize February spending/income/savings recap and update my goals page hopefully I'll find the time this weekend to do this...

~PBMFMM

March 2nd

No Spend Day :-)
~PBMFMM

March 1st

No Spend Day :-)

~PBMFMM

February 28th

No Spend day

~PBMFMM

February 27th

Spendy day  $393.00. Plus $10.78 for a book on my Kindle.

~PBMFMM

February 26th

We got the usual stuff, groceries, gas but other than that all we spent was $11.00 on pet stuff and I paid with cash from my pocket..

~PBMFMM

February 25th

We spent on our weekly dining out trip about $40 but that is it ;-)

~PBMFMM

February 24th

No Spend Day

~PBMFMM

February 23rd

No spend day

~pbmfmm

February 22nd

No Spend Day :-)

~PBMFMM

February 21st

It was a spendy day I don't have all the numbers but suffice to say it's close to $400 but our project is almost done and I'm so looking forward to completing it. Today should be no spend as will the rest of the week I'm pretty sure since I work the whole week.

~PBMFMM

February 20th

No Spend Day :-)

~PBMFMM

February 19th

Not to bad we had lunch out and spent the rest of the day spring cleaning so although we spent we had a very productive day. All told we spent about $75.00 but we also all go hair cuts yesterday too.

~PBMFMM

February 18th

Of course our usual spendy day since it was payday kind of thing. We got our cash for our jars, dished out the money everyone gets each week, went to breakfast as usual, I ordered some books online total about $28 dollars ( I love to read.) Had a school event that cost about $40.00 and paid every bill we had until next payday and even added $400.00 to the CC we are paying off first!!

Even though we know we are getting a bit Income tax return and plan to use it to pay off CC#2 I'm still going to put as much money onto it as I can until the ITR comes, which because it's the government you never know exactly how long it could take :-P

So as of today we have CC#2 almost paid off-will be paid off with ITR.

CC#2
$859.25-$400=$459.25 give or take

Dental bill I haven't gotten in the mail yet so although I have the money in the bank for this it hasn't been
done yet.

We will have the $1,000 for our driving trip when we get our ITR that will go directly to trip savings until
we leave.

We have been diligent in tracking our spending January and February although we Do Not track what we
spend from our personal blow money. I can see a big trend in going over with food and entertainment so with luck we can nip this in the bud.

I might put the rest of the ITR money in our house maintenance fund since I'm sure we will be having to do some maintenance on our yard this year.

So!! It seems we have been pretty good so far, we have had ups and downs but we are cognizant of what we are spending also.

~PBMFMM

February 17th

Spent about $200 on stuff I wanted to get for the family so I'm okay with that. Today I pay bills, go grocery shopping and get gas in auto's.

~PBMFMM

February 16th

Even though I was sick it was still a NO spend day :-)

~PBMFMM

Feel like Sh*t today

Today I called in sick from work I feel very badly today, hopefully I'm not getting the flu :-(

~PBMFMM

Income Tax Return

So we got our final ITR information back from the CPA, and we will have enough to pay off CC#2, save $1,000 for our vacation in the summer and still have some left over although at this point I'm sure I'll have to use some for other things that other people in my house want to get.  I'm excited even though we won't be getting this back for about 2+ weeks, hopefully nothing happens in that time frame that requires some of this money...

~PBMFMM

February 15th

This will be a No Spend day since I work :-)

To recap we have had 10 NO SPEND DAYS so far this month, we really only spend on our day off it seems, we do go out to eat at least once a week together just the two of us. The next spend day will be Thursday I'm sure since we get paid and I'll need to pay bills, get groceries and usually that is when we go out to eat, the two of us.

~PBMFMM

Februrary 14th

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

No Spend Day :-)

~PBMFMM

February 13th

No Spend except for groceries which was a planned spend with cash, we shouldn't need to buy anything for the rest of the week but you never know.

~PBMFMM

February 12th

No Spend day :-)

~PBMFMM

February 11th

Spendy day as we had to buy some new pillows since both our necks are killing us, I also made an appointment with the chiropractor early next week to see if he can help my neck. That is the only thing we have spent money on and today should be a no spend day as we have plans all day that we are required to attend. I have not looked at debt yet but I'll be doing that next week and will be updating my spreadsheets and such next weekend. We still have one debt left to pay this month but haven't gotten the bill via email yet although I have taken the money out of the checking account for this bill already, technically I could wait until next pay day but I'm going to try to pay now and next pay day some extra money to the first one we are paying off.

~PBMFMM

Februrary 10th

Should be a No Spend day since I work but we do have an after work commitment that I'm hoping if we spend its my cash money only and nothing else.

~PBMFMM

Februrary 9th

Another No Spend overtime day so I'm hoping to be able to put some extra down on the CC but now I have another expense that just popped up that I'm hoping will only cost me $100 to $200 dollars but I guess at least I know I'll be able to pay cash for it when I do have to pay it. Here's to hoping I have enough to add some to debt...

~PBMFMM

February 8th

No Spend day :) The best part is it also was an overtime day at work so I made extra money! along with not spending...

~PBMFMM

February 7th

No spend day :)

~PBMFMM

February 6th

We spent but only about $18 dollars, we did eat out but we used dining out money from our jars to pay for it.

~PBMFMM

February 5th

Only spent money was planned and that was groceries and we used cash from our jars. So really it was a no spend day.

~PBMFMM

February 4th

Spendy day due to bill paying, grocery shopping and spent about $90 on pet stuff I allotted about $200 of my OT money for this so there wouldn't be a riot at my house, we all were in agreement to this so I'm okay with it. We have groceries and spending money for the next two weeks in our jars so here's hoping for more no spend days..

~PBMFMM

February 3rd

No Spend day :)

~PBMFMM

February 2nd

No Spend and I even made money.. Turned in an old lottery ticket and made $20 what a way to start the day :)

~PBMFMM

February 1st

We spent today about $94 dollars on house stuff to paint a room, and $13 dollars for lunch.  Tomorrow should be a no spend day and since we only have $56 dollars in our account and we need auto gas we won't be spending much until Friday..

~PBMFMM

January 31st

We spent twice today both times for food! Totalled about $58 dollars. For the recap of the month I don't think we did too bad for our very first attempt at no spending and controlling where our money goes.

We had 18 NO SPEND DAYS !!!!
We achieved 1 2011 goal
I have the money saved for another goal just need the bill to pay it off.

On to February I can't wait I'm hoping it will be as great as January..

~PBMFMM

January 30

No Spend :-)

~PBMFMM

January 29

No spend day :-)

~PBMFMM

January 28

Spent 49.36 at the hardware store for house stuff we needed, got $60 cash for jars and that is all we spent yesterday. Hoping for a no spend weekend but we'll see..

~PBMFMM

OT

I was able to pick up some OT this pay period and will be putting at least half of it to CC #2 which I want to get paid off asap due it it's high interest rate. I'll be buying some other stuff with the other half I'm hoping to get it cheap so I can use as much as possible for the CC. I also have started using You Need A Budget again instead of an excel spreadsheet in the hopes we can use our money wisely. I have not signed up for OT next month since it's a short month and I want to wait to see what happens, I can always sign up for days If I want to so waiting won't really hurt me. I have approximately $100 left over in our Checking account I'm trying to decide it I want to send it to CC#2 or wait until next payday and send it then. We have made a rather large to do list of stuff that needs done around our house that we plan on tackling sometime next weekend, hopefully it won't require to much if any money to do these things.

~PBMFMM

January 27

We spent about $40 at the grocery store today but that is about it. Tomorrow we will have to spend some money I'm hoping less then $75 bucks but we'll see. I'll update most likely tomorrow night.

~PBMFMM

January 26

No Spend Day :-)

January 25

No Spend day!!

~PBMFMM

January 24th

I bought a Sunday paper today for the coupons but that is it and I used my own blow money for it so I guess it's kind of a No Spend day.. Other then that nothing else was bought...

~PBMFMM

January 23

No Spend day and since I have to work all week I'm hoping for pretty much a no spend week. I did pay a couple of bills gas and mortgage but I don't count those since they are fixed expenses that must be paid each month.

~PBMFMM

January 22

We spent big time today, I don't have the gory details but I'm sure it's about 1k and we had to put it on the CC, we had no choice. I'll tally the totals up and add it up later in the week since I work a lot next week I'll just need to find the time to do it. I'm hoping for a no spend day today since yesterday was such a bad day. Oh well two steps forward, one step back I guess and we'll have to just keep plugging along...

~PBMFMM

January 21

Today was a spendy day I paid some bills and went out to eat not once but twice!! Sad I know but we have depleted our dining out budget so no more eating out for us.

~PBMFMM

January 20th

Yesterday was a No Spend and since I also work today I'm sure it will be a No Spend day. I'm off the weekend though and we have special plans that can't be broken I'm going to try not to spend to much but we'll see what happens..

~PBMFMM

January 19

Today should be a No Spend day since I have to work and don't need anything right now from the store.
But I'll be paying bills soon and will have to spend for those.

~PBMFMM

January 18

I did spend today $4.78 on 2 bagels and a water while out doing errands I did use cash from my purse but I spent it none the less..

~PBMFMM

January 17

We spent today on household equipment that was needed
And we went out for our special us time and spent $18
So about $100 total

PBMFMm

Mid Month Update

So far we have had

9 No spend days Yea for us!!!!!

Eliminated One 2011 Goal :)

Only used our debit card 4 times all the rest of the money spent was cash or bill paying only. I have
$60 dollars left over from jars last week but haven't taken money out for jars this week yet! I might just use the money in left over jar and put the other in savings to see if we can stretch what we have to last all week.

I don't need gas in either automobile we are good for the rest of the week..

We spent so much at the grocery store we better NOT need anything for the rest of the week.

When I paid our CC bills I rounded UP on each one of them to nearest even dollar, I'm hoping it will add up.

We should get a tax refund this year and will be able to pay off CC#2 totally if it's not paid off by then and put some down on CC#1.

Here's hoping the rest of the month goes this well :-)

~PBMFMM

January 16th

No Spend day :-)

~PBMFMM

January 15

No spend day

January 14

Only money spent today was for groceries and boy was it a doozy, we went over by about $70 and I had to adjust the rest of my budget, no splurges for the next week! to accommodate the overages. Thankfully we work alot within the next week so that will help. I anticipate a no spend day tomorrow and the next day so here's praying, plus I tentatively did our taxes today but without our W2's just used the information from our works website and we should be getting some money back which I have already ear-marked for the first two things on our goals list. If there is money left over from paying those two things off I plan on putting it in savings for our $1,000 goal for our driving trip... Then we are off to the other items on our list :-)

~PBMFMM

January 13th

We did spend today about $165.00 not expected but I got some things I needed for the house and some pet items I'll be taking some money out of my pet jar to replace some of this money spent today. Oh we did get auto gas as we were aways from our home and it was 0.20 cheaper then at home, so instead of using cash we used our debit card and I'll just deduct that amount from our weekly jar monies when I get it tomorrow. Also I have a long list (not my list) of what someone else thinks we need for groceries this week, but I'm thinking they better learn to live without a bunch of stuff on that list i.e. Pop tarts since I'm only getting $100 and it better last the whole week and honestly pop tarts are not on my list of must haves from the grocery store. I guess I'll give them about $80 and tell them to go shopping and see exactly what they can get from that list with $80, bet It won't be pop tarts that's for sure. Actually that sounds like a great Idea I think I'll do that....

~PBMFMM

January 12

No spend day although I will have to spend tomorrow and I'm hoping since I work Friday It will be a no spend day also. I do have a check I need to put in the bank and I'll probably do that tomorrow also. Plus laundry and other household stuff that needs done.

~PBMFMM

January 11

No Spend Day :-) Mostly because I worked all day..

~PBMFMM

Today

I heard not very good news today, it seems my Manager is leaving, this will leave a big big hole in our department as this person is well loved and well respected, this will now give me an even bigger push to get our debts paid off faster as I'm not sure I'll stay on for the duration after they leave it will really depend on who replaces them and what kind of person they are. We had a No Spend day today!

~PBMFMM

January 9th

I did end up buying a Sunday Newspaper but used grocery money to do it so technically it's still a no spend day with using the debit or credit cards. I also bought cat food and light bulbs but used grocery money for those also. I haven't taken my debit card out of the drawer since last month and I'm very happy about that :-)

~PBMFMM

January 8th

Only thing we spent today was to pay a bill $269.73, plus we found out our insurance (we pay monthly)
has gone down $3.00 which is great news, yea for auto's getting older! Again I'm hoping Sunday will be a no spend day but honestly I'd love to get a Sunday Newspaper for the coupons so we'll see what happens...

~PBMFMM

January 7th

Today I bought the airline ticket I needed to get, it was more expensive then I thought as the prices had gone up so I spent $175.54 I had money in my FA for this so I was okay. Now I just need to get groceries and get weekly jar money from the bank and I should be okay. I have one CC left to pay but it is not due yet so I'll pay that when it pops up on my email it's due.
Well we spent about $100 on pet stuff today it wasn't planned but since I'm keeping track it will help show exactly how much we spend on our miscellaneous pets. We also had breakfast out which was a smidgen over $25, we try to go out once per month for breakfast since we work different shifts at our respective jobs it's almost the only time we see each other. We used Cash for all our groceries and debit card for the pet stuff and breakfast. I only put that we took cash out each week for our jars I don't track the jar money at this time, since we are trying to find out where our leaks are with the debit card... I'm sure you can think groceries and pet stuff and you would be right on !!

~PBMFMM

January 6th

Today is Payday I took in $2586.43 and paid bills that equaled $2388.87 this includes putting money in savings accounts X2 and having a minute amount of money left in checking, putting money in my FA and taking money out for jars for the next two weeks (although I only take money out for jars on Fridays.)  I'm hoping not to spend any of this surplus within the next two weeks. I did pay my CC's but I won't change my side bars until I find out exactly what the new amounts will be with the interest charges, I do pay a small amount over each to equal a even amount.

~PBMFMM

January 5th

Today I work so I shouldn't spend anything at all, we didn't get any bills in the mail yesterday so unless we get stuff today we are good. Tomorrow or Friday I will be paying our half monthly bills and will be taking cash out for our money jars for the week. I have the money for my dental bill sitting in my FA for when I need to go to this appt.

~PBMFMM

January 4th

Today I paid a bill and bought a gift for a birthday. It totaled $390.57. I had the money for the gift sitting in my FA and didn't have to use any CC for this :-) I don't anticipate anymore spending today since I have to work and only expect to spend tomorrow if I get a bill in the mail. We've been very good so far and hope to keep expenses down.

~PBMFMM

January 3rd

Well today we spent $21.86 on fast food, It was too cold and horrible outside to do much of anything else so we stopped and got food on the way home.

~PBMFMM

January 2nd

Another no spend day although I know one is coming up since I need to get gas very soon.

~PBMFMM

January 1st

Well we had our first no spend day and I'm happy to say we made it without any problems, now just 364 more days to go :)

~PBMFMM

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone I hope it turns out to be a great year for you all..

~PBMFMM