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How we track our monthly budget

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As I’ve been sharing our #debtfreejourney to #financialfreedom progress on social media, more and more people have been requesting to see how I track our monthly budget. I started sending it individually to each person that asked via Google but then thought, why not put it out there for all to see?

I must admit I sometimes felt silly sending it off because it is super simple. I must also admit that just two months ago it looked completely different with tables, a ton of colors and far too many lines. One day it just clicked: log the money coming in, log the money going out. We’re entering three months of officially sticking to our budget and with the new year approaching, I can tell you there will be slight changes made. I will be adding fixed expense lines for:

  • our mortgage. I read that if you pay just one extra payment toward your mortgage each year, you’ll shave off 7 years! (on a traditional 30 year mortgage) I don’t know how accurate that is, as the book was written in the early 90s, but regardless, it has got me motivated to save! For this figure I’m simply dividing our monthly mortgage payment amount by 11 and saving that amount monthly so that in December we can make the additional payment.
  • hair cuts. The beau gets these on the regular and I don’t… but I should. So I’m going to start saving now so that I don’t feel guilty when it happens.
  • Christmas / weddings / birthdays etc: GIFTS! The beau and I aren’t big gift givers and for the holidays my family doesn’t exchange much, as we prefer time spent with each other over items bought just because we “had” to. In example, for Mother’s Day I took my mom to the Catskill Animal Sanctuary and out to a delicious vegan lunch in Woodstock. It was a perfect day out. It would feel good to be prepared for those special occasions, rather than feeling defeated when they roll around. And FYI, they are the same every year, ha! Christmas doesn’t just show up in August out of the blue…
  • the occasional weekend getaway. Dave Ramsey says NOT to take a vacation during baby step number two but for how long its going to take us to pay off this debt, we’ll need treat ourselves occasionally or we’ll get demotivated. I know myself, especially when we start attacking our largest debts and it’ll take longer to see results. I’m not talking thousands each time, I’m thinking a couple camping trips in State Parks next summer, and possibly a weekend in the Catskills next autumn. Our honeymoon is already booked and paid for with cash: I’ve waited a year and I’m not going to wait any longer <3

That being said, here’s what our current monthly budget looks like and as a disclosure, many of the numbers have been changed (those highlighted in green and blue ARE actual numbers):

At the top of the spreadsheet, I list all of our income which includes our two salaries, earned commission from Young Living (yes, not only has this company been supporting my wellness for over 12 years, but it is also contributing to my financial freedom), rebates and any odd jobs I pick up for the month.

Next, I control where EVERY DOLLAR is spent. Many people think budgets are constraining or limiting, but that’s only if you tell it to be! I have two columns for expected and actual because some lines do fluctuate each month i.e. utilities, gas, essential oils, etc..

I prefer to have fewer lines in my budget because when we pay for something randomly, it stands out immediately. If it shows up multiple months in a row, I know it is time to add a line to our budget. The lines that are highlighted in blue are bills that we don’t pay every single month but are fixed on a yearly basis i.e. our water bill will always show up 4 times a year, so we plan ahead and set money aside. Same with our car insurance every six months, trash etc.. We’ll be bumping up the line labeled “inspections” and probably re-name it as “auto maintenance” because my car is ten years old and a newer one is not on the horizon until we’re debt free and I have enough cash in full to purchase one.

If you add up all of the fixed expenses, our hypothetical monthly cost of living would be $3,330. That’s how much it would cost to pay all of our bills in full.

All extra at the end of each month is automatically deposited toward debt, its that simple!

Step one of Dave’s plan is to set up an emergency fund just in case. Prior to us starting this plan, we were both making contributions toward savings. Now that our emergency fund is established, those monthly payments automatically get deposited toward debt, on the same day every month, as if it were going into savings. We chose to do this because we were already use to making those payments, there was no reason why we should be allocating it toward any other line item.

Now for some examples. In this first example, I’ve filled in our hypothetical total income for the month with some of our hypothetical expenses. You can see, we clearly have money left over at the end of the month ($4394.01) to deposit toward debt. Yes!

In this second example, I’ve added some examples of random monthly purchases we’ve seen that reduce the amount we’ve deposited.

The goal either way is to spend less than what you make or to LIVE BELOW YOUR MEANS. Case and point: if you’re struggling to figure out how to pay your rent / mortgage, then maybe you don’t need a brand new iPhone. Or a brand new car. Or the newest workout gear for the season. I’m not going to preach because your decisions aren’t going to effect my budget, I’m just going to tell you that I have been and will continue to live below my means because that’s the only way to see results. And if you still want all of those things but are struggling, then that means you have to find a way to bring more income into your budget plan. I’ll stop there for today.

Below is a snapshot of a budget that is lacking enough funds to not only cover the monthly expenses, but random expenses that do pop up.

So there you have it. It is super simple and easy to follow each month. Almost ridiculously simple. And if you aren’t an excel / Google Sheets pro, you can list this out every month in a notebook to keep track. I have tried Minted. I have tried EveryDollar. I have tried almost every app. available to budget but to be honest, I love my spreadsheet.

Another tip I have is to PAY CASH FOR EVERYTHING! Except for your monthly bills that you can pay online, pay cash for everything else. For example, at the beginning of the month I withdraw $400 cash and put it in my groceries envelope. Literally an enveloped labeled groceries. Every time we go to the market, we pay cash. When you run out of cash, thats it for the month, no more groceries. It has been proven that people spend less when paying cash because you literally see it leaving your wallet. If you’re someone who shops for new clothes on a monthly basis, then you have an envelope for new clothes. The same with entertainment, home repairs, and anything else you may wish to purchase on the regular.

As you can tell, I’m 100% obsessed with talking about this topic and could go on forever. If you have any specific questions about this post or anything else related to budgeting and paying off debt, feel free to comment and I’ll answer them in a future post. You’ve got at least two more years of these updates coming your way 🙂

Hiking Mount Waumbek

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On Day 2 of our weekend in New Hampshire, we decided to hike a quick “little” mountain, Mount Waumbek at 4006 feet. Paula had already hiked it previously and said it was fairly easy and doable on tired legs. We took our time packing up at the motel and eating breakfast, and was at the trail head at 8:15AM. Again, it was a gloomy day but the humidity was gone which made the climb much easier. The trail looked to be an old carriage trail and soon we passed an old well. You could see the remnants of old pipes underneath our footing; Paula mentioned there being an old hotel or building on the top of Starr King. About twenty minutes in, Paula made the decision to wander back to the car. It was lightly drizzling, her legs were tired and she just didn’t feel like climbing this mountain again. I didn’t blame her. Off I went, knowing she’d start back out on the trail around noon if I hadn’t returned by then. No big deal I thought… until I did the math. This hike was a total of 7.2 miles and we started after 8AM. That meant I had to hike at least 2 miles an hour, on a wet trail with boots that have zero tread.Once I realized how fast I’d have to hike to make it back by noon, I mentally told myself to just keep moving. Typically I’d stop for 15-30 seconds to catch my breath every once in a while, but on this morning, I just slowed and focused on my breath. The scenery was beautiful despite there being no views; the fog made it seem like I was in the rain forest. The climb was pretty steady but nothing difficult / too slow me down. I eventually passed a fellow heading down and didn’t expect to see anyone else, until I did at the summit of Starr King.I met what I assumed to be a husband and wife with their dog, William or Bill for short. He was very enthusiastic and eager to press on – I zoomed past them as they checked out the remains of an old fire place. I wanted to keep moving because I didn’t want to keep Paula waiting, and traveled the mile in between summits within no time. The mile was wet for sure, as it was a pretty flat / even section of the trail, but nothing I didn’t slosh through without hesitation. Summit of Waumbek at 10:28AM. I quickly took a photograph of my pack near the cairn and grabbed my bag of crispy wasabi peas for a snack; I had 1.5 hours to descend and 3.6 miles of slippery ground to cover.

After a handful of peas, I was off! I ran into multiple young men on the trail in between Waumbek and Starr King who seemed to be trail running, and then a couple more people once passing Starr King. I knew I was moving pretty fast because the young men never caught up to me. When I can trust my boots, downs have become a favorite of mine. On this day I was cautious but anxious to make it out on time. Then, it became a HIGHWAY on the trail! No joke, one group had more than 20 people in it! And they were all hiking together! There had to have been at least 25 other people on the trail scattered in between; I was thankful I was heading out of the woods at that hour and not headed toward the summit.

I don’t remember much, other than the small mental notes one makes of the ground on the way up. And the good news: I met Paula on the trail less than a quarter mile from the now-filled parking lot. Officially back at 12:11PM. Not too shabby. Now 25/48 for NH. Oh! And Paula sewed on my 46er patch! This was my first peak sporting the new hardware – only took me four years to get it on there 🙂

 

October in Review

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Woah. October was a doozy. And I know technically the month isn’t over but our bank account is officially “frozen” until November first. We got hit with a number of expenses this month that don’t typically occur / we hadn’t saved up for AND my income was slightly lower with the transition into my new job. We cash flowed all but one item, but more on that one item to come.

Items we paid cash for this month that we typically don’t budget for:

  • a new skirt and two new shirts appropriate for my new office job
  • the beau’s Stitch Fix delivery
  • a solo trip to the movies
  • RAM for my laptop
  • tuition for the beau’s upcoming class
  • a hair cut
  • a new (used) phone for the beau
  • a visit from the plumber
  • a hotel night in Long Island for a road race
  • pumpkins and Halloween candy for the neighborhood kids

Also, spending $55 within the first week of the month out of food budget on a garlic braid might not have been the smartest move on my end but oh, was it worth it.

Food wise, we’re learning to just make it work. Completely cutting out our alcohol envelope was a littttttle rough, but again, we made it work. And did over spend a tiny bit. I think we only had take-out once (Chinese) and didn’t eat out at an actual restaurant at all. That last sentence is a complete 360 change from our lifestyle six months ago. Do I miss it? Yes. Is it personally worth giving up for a relatively short amount of time to pay off debt? Yes.

I mentioned in a previous post that our meal plan / schedule changed this month and I think it was for the better! Shopping was much easier and we didn’t get sick of the meals, which is a plus! Above is a photo of our second trip to the market (Trader Joe’s), as we only shop twice a month.

Mondays: Stir fry
Tuesdays: Lentil walnut tacos
Wednesdays: Sissy’s sandwiches
Thursdays: Indian over rice
Fridays: Spicy pasta in the crockpot
Saturdays: pizza!

Sundays we planned ahead but switched it up each week. November I plan to do the same thing however I’ve got to plan and prepare at least two crockpot meals because the beau will be starting his evening class. I’d prefer to send him off / have him pack a dinner that wasn’t another smoothie (he has one for breakfast every day). The tricky thing is, it can’t be soup; he doesn’t prefer a soup as his entire dinner meal. I took out a book from the library to help me – it helps that books get delivered right to my desk!

The only item we didn’t cash flow this month was a new winter coat. A few months back we transferred my old cc debt to a new and much lower rated card with our local bank. We of course got a cc card with it and it sat in an envelope for months locked up. This is the debt we are currently working to snowball and are fully prepared (we WILL!) to pay off this debt in November. With funds getting low this month, I figured, eh, why not? We won’t accrue any interest… well, if you’re a friend of mine on FB, you probably saw my post that the representative who sold me my coat, also stole my cc information! I’m positive it was her as this card has never been used previous to that transaction. Needless to say, I took that as a sign and learned my lesson: ABSOLUTELY NO CC USE, EVER! If you can’t pay cash, you can’t afford it.

The only other budget action I took this month was offering to take on the occasional babysitting gig for a local family. I responded to a post on a private FB group thinking, why not? I do love being around kids and I could use the extra cash. For now its as needed, it may turn into a weekly date night thing once they settle into their new routines. AND she offered to barter my services for massages! Hell yes! If you’re in Troy and would like me to babysit occasionally in the evenings, just reach out!

With all of this spending, we still deposited $1,388.73 toward debt! Our new balance is $80,076.40 – so close to being in the 70’s! And in case you’re keeping track, we’re down 10.10% since September when we started this journey and I put my payoff goal out into the Universe…. which is exactly when I told myself I was sick of my current job situation and landed me a far better job; both mentally and financially. Believe in the power of positive thinking my friends!

September In Review

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September went by fast! So fast, I didn’t have the opportunity to celebrate the first day of Autumn until a week after the fact. I blame a physical inventory count at work and I also blame the weather – I can’t look cute in a pair of tights when it’s 90* out!

In total, we dumped $7,610.32 toward debt this month! HOT DAMN! This includes minimum monthly payments plus any extra cash left over in our budget. We paid off student loan #1 in full and are now snowballing into debt #2, which is my credit card debt. Initially I opened this card up via Banana Republic and the interest rate was up around 27%. Yeah, not a wise decision. I closed this account years ago because I knew I couldn’t trust myself, but even with consistent payments, I was barely making progress. After getting a mortgage from SEFCU last year, they offered us a credit card at a much lower rate (6.9%) and I jumped at the opportunity to transfer the balance and save some money with interest. Now more than ever I’m determined to clear this one up.

In regards to food and eating out, we stayed right on budget. In fact, we had about thirty dollars left over that will be applied toward debt this month. It’s tempting to buy up alllllll the pumpkin beer this season but I’m trying to practice self control. Ha!

We only tried a couple new recipes this month, including the best burger in the world via Bosh… that wasn’t my favorite, at all.  The beau seems to think it’s because we strayed too far from the recipe, but I’m reluctant to try again because I was STARVING the day we ate these and if they didn’t taste good when I was hungry, then they aren’t worth trying again. Sorry, no photographs, it wasn’t worth it. On to the next veggie burger recipe.

I made a batch of this chicken soup but vegan, and to be honest, it was super bland and not good. I don’t know what happened, I think I need to switch up the Goya seasoning and cook the pepper/cilantro less. I didn’t want to waste the huge pot of leftovers, so I decided to make a homemade pot pie. I used this recipe for inspiration. I could tell the beau was hesitant, especially when I chose a roll of crescent dough to plop on top but let me tell you, it was delicious! We ate the whole pan. And all of the crescent rolls. Whoops! I had enough soup leftovers to make a second batch, so I did and threw it into the freezer (just the filling) for a future autumn meal. Cannot wait!

The only other recipe we tried this month was for zucchini rice. We had all of the ingredients already on hand, it was super easy and was super tasty! A keeper! However, I’d probably save this for next summer, as it was very light and I know we are shifting from zucchini season to squash season = my body is craving heavier meals to fill me up.

We saved a little bit of money in a couple other categories as well: utilities, phone and essential oils. This month’s electricity / gas invoice was our lowest yet! I’m pretty proud that we didn’t use our air conditioners once this entire summer, just a window fan in our bedroom. I’m also proud that we have yet to turn on the heat. Yes, it’s only the third of October while typing this out but it’s been chilly! Time to bundle up! My personal goal is not turning it on until November… we shall see. My mom use to have a rule growing up that we couldn’t turn the heat on until Thanksgiving, yeah, we’ll see how long we can last. Also, isn’t it frustrating when your “delivery” fee costs more than your actually usage?!

Last month I walked into AT&T to change my cell plan, for the first time since 2003. I realized that I could be saving about $20/month with a newer plan, but my contract (who knew I even had one being a customer for 14 years) isn’t up until November 11th. So, I walked out without changing anything… but when I went to pay my bill, I had a random 20-ish dollar discount applied. I admittedly didn’t question it and paid on time; hopefully it’ll extend into this month. *Update since first writing this: I’ve received this month’s bill (October) and it was about $20 more than usual. I called customer service, explained that I never authorized a change in contract, and I’m back to normal. Phew!

Essential oils. This topic I’m going to discuss in further in a separate post but a lot of people assume that essential oils are expensive and that they can’t afford them. WRONG! Well, admittedly some of the individual oils are pricier than others, but personally I invest in them every month to support my overall health = less healthcare bills later. And I’m not purchasing just oils, I’m purchasing: our supplements, our laundry soap, my face care products, etc. AND I’m basically earning 25% cash back on every purchase. Can’t say that about any other store (Target, Hannaford, etc.) without having to open a credit card, which is the opposite of what I’m trying to do by paying off my debt. I’ve been preparing for the changing of the seasons with my purchases and have been sticking to our wellness plan. No extra oils for us unless they are free (and yes, that happens at least once a month). I only spent 1/6 of our budgeted allowance for this category in September.

Other stats for this month: I hiked only one mountain, went to one Mets game, I had two job interviews, we attended the Apple & Wine Festival and I read three books.

As I recap each month on this debt free journey, feel free to ask me any questions or tell me what you’d like covered – I’d love to share the process to help inspire others to become financially free!

A change in October

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Fourth load of laundry in the wash.

Full pot of stock simmered and jarred.

Green bean casserole in the crock pot for tonight’s dinner.

A batch of potpie filling cooling, waiting to be frozen for future dinner use.

And a batch of TJ’s pumpkin muffins with a best buy date from March 2017 ready to go into the oven.

This Monday is shaping up to quite productive. Hell yeah! I initially wanted to go for a hike because the leaves are starting to turn up north, but this weather (90 degrees) isn’t appealing. So, I’m making the most of my last personal day with my current employer and getting stuff done around the house. If you didn’t see my post last week on Facebook, I’ve accepted a new position with a local non-profit. More to come as I transition but I am pretty damn excited! And nervous to be honest. Seven more working days until this much welcomed change.

With that change, will come a shift in our budget and debt free goals. My salary will increase and I’ll no longer be responsible for paying for my health care insurance plan. Can I get a whoop whoop?! Seriously, beyond thankful for this opportunity. But with these changes, we aren’t going to increase our monthly budget. Instead, we are going to put all extra income toward our debt snowball. AND we are going to kick it up a notch budget wise and try to spend even less than we did during the month of September.

Why? Because I have some big expenses this month that I don’t normally have and would still like to contribute the maximum. Some of these expenses include a hotel room for an upcoming half marathon and a mini (probably 5 pieces) wardrobe update for the new job. I can’t get away with jeans and t-shirts like I have been the last four years or so. I do hope the Loft has some good sales!

What may you ask are we going to do? For starters, in October we are eliminating our alcohol envelope completely. With the changes we’ve made over the last couple of months, we’ve cut back significantly on the number of meals that we eat outside of our home. One maybe two meals total. The beau has also cut back on his daily DD large unsweetened iced tea and is now brewing tea at home (c’mon cooler weather, help us out here!). We’ve consistently had money leftover in the dining out envelope and have been spending that on alcohol, which is totally unnecessary. So, we’re cutting back and using one envelope for the two categories (without changing the amount). Maybe this will change around the holidays, maybe it won’t.

I’m also going to implement a new meal plan system. The beau already leaves it up to me to plan our dinners and I do this every two weeks. I do ask for his input and he does print off recipes for us to try and makes requests for repeat meals that he’s enjoyed / hasn’t had in a while. I love this task: making a list for the market, sticking to the plan and paying cash. No better feeling. P.s… you tend to spend less if you bring say only $100 to the market and use a calculator. No surprises at the checkout AND no poor snack decisions.

When meal planning I try to stick to similar themes each week: a taco Tuesday, typically at least one pasta dish, one rice dish and Fridays I try to incorporate the crock pot because it’s easy to come home and have a meal ready. For the month of October however, I’m going to stick with the same meal with each day of the week, excluding Saturdays and Sundays. So for example, every XXX of the month, we will eat:

Monday: veggie stir fry
Tuesday: tacos!
Wednesday: pasta and red “meat” sauce
Thursday: BLTs
Friday: chili

These aren’t set in stone, just an example. My thought behind this system is that I’ll be saving a lot of time planning and making lists. If I make one list for the first two weeks, I can reuse that list half-way thru the month. I’ll also be saving money by purchasing items in bulk. I’m starting to plan the five day meals around what I can buy at the co-op. Did I mention that the co-op is within walking distance from my new job? It is! Hello grocery shopping on your lunch break and saving gas money!

I was shocked when the beau agreed to this simple meal plan and I can’t wait to give it a-go. We’ll probably be sick of the five meals we choose but hey, we’ll just switch it up in November. Gotta live like no one else now in order to live like no one else later.

Are you a meal planner? How do you choose what meals you’ll be cooking? Is it on a weekly rotation? I prefer to eat with the season, so I’m going to keep that into consideration as I plan. More to come on this subject when I recap the month!