So...
I guess I'm a bit late and all. Nevertheless, the budgeting goes on! I think there is a certain amount of shame involved in the upcoming post, because I know I've been bad. I blame the holidays. I was looking to spend nothing, like the months leading up to December, but Naginata and I agreed that we needed to spend somthing on Budget Edamame since she is totally worth it.
The holiday rush also had us buying some meals and cutting some corners on other things as well, with one specific result. The Budget-Mobile remained our burden. We didn't get the chance to finish our payments as I had hoped. That being said, we actually rallied this month to send out that final payment. Currently we are waiting for it to clear so we can put that behind us.
So now we can start looking forward to clearing some of our debt. A school loan, an equity loan on the Budget-Stronghold we had to take out shortly after purchasing it many years ago and a small in-collections loan for our replacement AC. I'll cover these more as we get to them, but I think the AC loan should take little time and the house loan might be able to be eliminated inside of two years.
Getting back on track is the biggest thing. The holidays threw us all for a loop. Driving to relatives house cost tons in gas and sanity. Quick meals and a couple of big feasts cost more money at the grocery store than we expected and despite Budget-Naginata's amazingly wonderful crafted gifts and my banana bread, we still had to spend some money on gifts. Mind you, we tried to do it as economically as we saw fit, but out of budget spending is still out of budget spending.
Starting next month, I'll be devoting more money to savings. I'd like to have a nice pad of savings to back us up so we are less crippled by life events such as holidays or emergencies. The first of the month will still have our mortgage, which is still like 60-70% of that paycheck, so there will not be a lot of breathing room there, but with the repayment of our credit cards and our car loan, we gain so much the second half of the month. Everything I've read tells me to auto-draft savings so that I'm not even thinking about it. I'm going to set that up today to distribute a healthy amount back to us. The rest I'll use to start targeting our remaining debts.
Side-note: A great article here on automating your finances. I'll definitely be "borrowing" some of these going forward: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/01/13/how-to-automate-your-personal-finances/
Along with the other grand news of debt reduction, I can proudly announce that Budget-Naginata has a new job! I'm very proud of her and everything she's done to help all three of us out. I'm sure that Budget-Edamame would chime in her praise if she knew that her new rations of marshmallows and noodles will soon be purchased from the salary of said job.
So with new income on the way and old debt left back in '07, it looks as if 2008 has the potential to be a good fiscal year for the Budget-Clan. I promise you'll hear more from me, good or bad, to keep you all up to date.
At this point, less than 100 days left in the Mayday challenge. Even though we've fallen off the wagon, I'm going to rededicate myself on spending as little as possible between now and May 1st! Wish me luck!
I guess I'm a bit late and all. Nevertheless, the budgeting goes on! I think there is a certain amount of shame involved in the upcoming post, because I know I've been bad. I blame the holidays. I was looking to spend nothing, like the months leading up to December, but Naginata and I agreed that we needed to spend somthing on Budget Edamame since she is totally worth it.
The holiday rush also had us buying some meals and cutting some corners on other things as well, with one specific result. The Budget-Mobile remained our burden. We didn't get the chance to finish our payments as I had hoped. That being said, we actually rallied this month to send out that final payment. Currently we are waiting for it to clear so we can put that behind us.
So now we can start looking forward to clearing some of our debt. A school loan, an equity loan on the Budget-Stronghold we had to take out shortly after purchasing it many years ago and a small in-collections loan for our replacement AC. I'll cover these more as we get to them, but I think the AC loan should take little time and the house loan might be able to be eliminated inside of two years.
Getting back on track is the biggest thing. The holidays threw us all for a loop. Driving to relatives house cost tons in gas and sanity. Quick meals and a couple of big feasts cost more money at the grocery store than we expected and despite Budget-Naginata's amazingly wonderful crafted gifts and my banana bread, we still had to spend some money on gifts. Mind you, we tried to do it as economically as we saw fit, but out of budget spending is still out of budget spending.
Starting next month, I'll be devoting more money to savings. I'd like to have a nice pad of savings to back us up so we are less crippled by life events such as holidays or emergencies. The first of the month will still have our mortgage, which is still like 60-70% of that paycheck, so there will not be a lot of breathing room there, but with the repayment of our credit cards and our car loan, we gain so much the second half of the month. Everything I've read tells me to auto-draft savings so that I'm not even thinking about it. I'm going to set that up today to distribute a healthy amount back to us. The rest I'll use to start targeting our remaining debts.
Side-note: A great article here on automating your finances. I'll definitely be "borrowing" some of these going forward: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/01/13/how-to-automate-your-personal-finances/
Along with the other grand news of debt reduction, I can proudly announce that Budget-Naginata has a new job! I'm very proud of her and everything she's done to help all three of us out. I'm sure that Budget-Edamame would chime in her praise if she knew that her new rations of marshmallows and noodles will soon be purchased from the salary of said job.
So with new income on the way and old debt left back in '07, it looks as if 2008 has the potential to be a good fiscal year for the Budget-Clan. I promise you'll hear more from me, good or bad, to keep you all up to date.
At this point, less than 100 days left in the Mayday challenge. Even though we've fallen off the wagon, I'm going to rededicate myself on spending as little as possible between now and May 1st! Wish me luck!
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