by Hope
I believe…and I say that cautiously that I covered all our regular monthly expenses in this budget. And that I can stick to it through this fall.
Tell me what I’ve forgotten…
| Description | Monthly Budget |
|---|---|
| Rent | $650 |
| Groceries | food stamps ($600) |
| Health Insurance | medicaid ($305) |
| Kids Activities | $250 |
| Auto (gas & maintenance) | $300 |
| Utilities (gas, electric, water, trash) | $290 |
| Auto/Rent Insurance | $268 (Sea Cadet pays $100 of this each month) |
| Car Payment | $400 |
| Misc - Entertainment/Clothing | $150 |
| Life Insurance | $23 |
| Total Personal | $2,330 |
| Business Expenses | |
| Cell phones | $286 |
| Internet | $65 |
| Annual Software Costs (Microsoft Office, Dropbox, Adobe) | $37 |
| Total Business | $388 |
| Total Monthly Costs | $2,718 |
Here are my thoughts with this budget:
- The twins’ birthday is in October. I typically budget $50 for each child’s birthday + dinner out. I didn’t include it in the budget as I already have their presents and will use part of our entertainment money for the meal out.
- Christmas…no idea. But right now, debt payoff is #1. I will revisit this in October when I’m planning to revisit the budget.
- Kid’s Activities – I know this is still high. And we are not spending anywhere close to that right now. But I want to build some cushion. Anything not spent will be saved, designated as kids.
- Same thing with car/maintenance. We don’t spend near that, but I don’t want to be caught unprepared. Whatever is not spent will be saved.
- I broke out the costs covered by my business account just to make it a full representation of our monthly costs. I am still working on lowering our cell phone bill.
- We are planning to go back to Texas for Thanksgiving. The only real cost will be gas money to get there and back. And my dad will help some with that, so right now I haven’t broken it out at all, but I may in October as it gets closer.
Because I have the $1,110 EF, I have not budgeted any additional savings right now. My goal is to get out of debt! My next goal is to put a preliminary plan together for all debts with anticipated pay off debts, a all encompassing plan as you have it. But I will probably continue with my baby step plans that have worked so well for me this past year.
All extra monies, because my income varies so much, will go to debt.
Give me your feedback, be brutal. What have I forgotten? Are there any other line items I should include that even if we don’t spend, we are designating money towards them?
