This last weekend my wife stopped me from dropping off my shirts at the dry cleaners. She asked me how much I've been spending. I told her $1.25 per shirt and she said that she could do them for me - I could pay her instead !
(But she's so busy though, I'm going to start ironing my own shirts and save her the stress of additional housework on top of her already stressful job and home life.)
$1.25 times 30 days/month and that's a savings of $37.50 per month or $450/year.
I love making revisions to our budget that result in more savings!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Self car repairs
Our minivan was repeatedly blowing a fuse so I Google'd the problem and found a solution. Cost me $24 for a Brake Pressure Switch that was covered in brake fluid. Took me about 20-30 minutes to install after removing the air filter. I'm sure the dealer would have charged at least a couple $100 bucks just to diagnose the "electrical" problem.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Paid off some more Credit Cards
I paid off my Orchard Bank CC and my Paypal GE credit account. I'm also going to be paying off my wife's Kohls CC right after I logoff from here.
I finally have an emergency fund of $3K. It's going to grow to $5K by the end of the week and then hopefully I can add another $500 at the end of the month.
I also just increased my 401K contribution to 3%. My employer matches up to 5% but I'm not ready to cut that much out of my take home pay yet.
I've been able to cash flow a lot of things lately: $320 for a notebook computer for my daughter to use at college, $220 to fix our washer and dryer and $280 for a set of rear tires for my car.
And I sold some things on eBay to help out. Also, my wife and I sold some of her jewelry and all of my coin collection recently for a grand total of $220. That was nice. I'll be looking to sell more things on eBay soon.
And my part-time job I have blogging about a subject I know a lot about is bringing in $360 gross each month. That helps.
I finally have an emergency fund of $3K. It's going to grow to $5K by the end of the week and then hopefully I can add another $500 at the end of the month.
I also just increased my 401K contribution to 3%. My employer matches up to 5% but I'm not ready to cut that much out of my take home pay yet.
I've been able to cash flow a lot of things lately: $320 for a notebook computer for my daughter to use at college, $220 to fix our washer and dryer and $280 for a set of rear tires for my car.
And I sold some things on eBay to help out. Also, my wife and I sold some of her jewelry and all of my coin collection recently for a grand total of $220. That was nice. I'll be looking to sell more things on eBay soon.
And my part-time job I have blogging about a subject I know a lot about is bringing in $360 gross each month. That helps.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Paid off CashCall
I paid CashCall !
That'll reduce my monthly expenses another $216/mo ! Yes!
Luckily I received a commission this month which helped me catch up on a lot of bills. It also helped me to pay for my daughter's books - $486 - this semester. Ouch! And I helped my son with his books. I gave him $150 to help him with his college expenses. He's pretty focused on moving out of the house and wants to pay for most of his own expenses so paid for his own school registration and I know he's saving money from his part-time jobs. He even has a spreadsheet of his expected monthly expenses for when he moves out.
But I still have other future expenses on the horizon: we need our washer fixed soon - it's leaking, and the sofa in the family room is patched with duct tape so that's not too appealing. And I'm going to be needing a set of rear tires and brakes for my car soon. All expenses that I'm putting off until one of them breaks or is in serious need of repair.
And our company just announced some layoffs last week so now I have to get intense on saving money for a longer time period emergency fund. And I dont think my son is eligible for medical, dental and vision benefits so I have to investigate a medical plan now which will cost me more money per month. And I still have to do our taxes for last year - not looking forward to that. I'll probably owe money for that. At least we are all healthy, working and my kids are still in school. Thank God we are all okay.
That'll reduce my monthly expenses another $216/mo ! Yes!
Luckily I received a commission this month which helped me catch up on a lot of bills. It also helped me to pay for my daughter's books - $486 - this semester. Ouch! And I helped my son with his books. I gave him $150 to help him with his college expenses. He's pretty focused on moving out of the house and wants to pay for most of his own expenses so paid for his own school registration and I know he's saving money from his part-time jobs. He even has a spreadsheet of his expected monthly expenses for when he moves out.
But I still have other future expenses on the horizon: we need our washer fixed soon - it's leaking, and the sofa in the family room is patched with duct tape so that's not too appealing. And I'm going to be needing a set of rear tires and brakes for my car soon. All expenses that I'm putting off until one of them breaks or is in serious need of repair.
And our company just announced some layoffs last week so now I have to get intense on saving money for a longer time period emergency fund. And I dont think my son is eligible for medical, dental and vision benefits so I have to investigate a medical plan now which will cost me more money per month. And I still have to do our taxes for last year - not looking forward to that. I'll probably owe money for that. At least we are all healthy, working and my kids are still in school. Thank God we are all okay.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
New Family Budget cuts
I made some more changes this month.
- Reduced Family cell plan from 1400 to 700 min - saved $20/mo
- Cancelled Data plan (VCast) on cell phone - saved $15/mo
- Cancelled web site on Verizon - saved $5/mo
- Cancelled Credit Card Managers (3) - saved $52/mo
Net reduction in expenses = $92/mo
- Reduced Family cell plan from 1400 to 700 min - saved $20/mo
- Cancelled Data plan (VCast) on cell phone - saved $15/mo
- Cancelled web site on Verizon - saved $5/mo
- Cancelled Credit Card Managers (3) - saved $52/mo
Net reduction in expenses = $92/mo
Friday, January 16, 2009
Paid off Christmas
Well, my January 15th paycheck came yesterday. I went straight over to Kohls and paid off the remaining $190 on my wife's credit card that we used for Christmas '08. We actually spent $340 at Kohls at Christmas time and my wife wanted to get the discounts by using the Kohls credit card. I paid off $150 of it right after New Years. So at least we did better at Christmas spending in '08 than we did in '07. What I mean is that although we spent more we were able to quickly pay it off.
And I also paid off one of my $250 PayDay loans. The other $250 Payday loan is due at end of the month when I expect - pretty sure about it - my year end commission for 2008. Should be able to put a significant amount of money into our emergency fund and at the same time also be able to pay off some more debt.
Oh, I also paid $116 in car registration fees for one of our cars. And I paid $200 as partial payment for my life insurance. That's not the entire budget of course but just explaining where the money goes.
I've been debt free two times in my life. I'm hoping third time's the charm - expect to be CC debt free in about two and a half years.
I've still got another $98,600.00 to go. Oh well, making progress. Two steps forward, one step back.
And I also paid off one of my $250 PayDay loans. The other $250 Payday loan is due at end of the month when I expect - pretty sure about it - my year end commission for 2008. Should be able to put a significant amount of money into our emergency fund and at the same time also be able to pay off some more debt.
Oh, I also paid $116 in car registration fees for one of our cars. And I paid $200 as partial payment for my life insurance. That's not the entire budget of course but just explaining where the money goes.
I've been debt free two times in my life. I'm hoping third time's the charm - expect to be CC debt free in about two and a half years.
I've still got another $98,600.00 to go. Oh well, making progress. Two steps forward, one step back.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
December 2008 expenses
I also had to spend $400 on new tires for my car and $200 for a combination of new battery, oil change, rear differential change, and just plain routine service such as new wiper blades for two vehicles.
Spending $400 for tires was expensive but I could feel my tires starting to spin and the car starting to slide in wet weather. It's less money to buy tires than it is to pay a deductible and rent a car while your car is being repaired - I went through that last year. Not going to make that mistake again this year. I still need rear tires but that's going to have to wait.
For Christmas we spent $340 - still owe $190 but plan to pay that off on Jan. 15th with funds from paycheck.
Also had eight birthdays in December that we budgeted for $200.
And my son's 21st birthday was in December so we celebrated with a restaurant dinner.
I'm very proud of my son. He worked and saved his own money and bought a new (used) car for himself back in November. We sold his old car for $1350 so that helped with the budget.
Spending $400 for tires was expensive but I could feel my tires starting to spin and the car starting to slide in wet weather. It's less money to buy tires than it is to pay a deductible and rent a car while your car is being repaired - I went through that last year. Not going to make that mistake again this year. I still need rear tires but that's going to have to wait.
For Christmas we spent $340 - still owe $190 but plan to pay that off on Jan. 15th with funds from paycheck.
Also had eight birthdays in December that we budgeted for $200.
And my son's 21st birthday was in December so we celebrated with a restaurant dinner.
I'm very proud of my son. He worked and saved his own money and bought a new (used) car for himself back in November. We sold his old car for $1350 so that helped with the budget.
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