by Ashley
Things were pretty ho-hum in terms of spending and budgeting in the month of September. No spending was crazy or out-of-line with what would be expected. Here’s our budget from September:
Place | Amount Spent |
Rent | 1200 |
Electricity | 251 |
Water | 60 |
Natural gas | 34 |
Cell Phones (2 lines) | 82 |
Cable/Internet | 97 |
Car Insurance | 117 |
Trash | 35 |
Preschool | 916 |
Gift-Giving | 30 |
Personal Maintenance | 14 |
Restaurants | 105 |
Groceries | 601 |
Gasoline | 74 |
Household Goods | 50 |
Clothing | 81 |
Toddler purchases | 0 |
Postage | 14 |
Rainy Day Savings | 225 |
Savings Goals | 500 |
Debt Payments | 2564 |
Total Budgeted | $7050 |
Last month I’d reported issues with both my cable and cell phone bills. I was happy to report when both of those issues are resolved.
The $50 household goods charge was for all those Bath and Body Works candles I bought (remember?) And the clothing purchases still never did include those black pants I was after (in fact, I didn’t go shopping again for the rest of the month after that incident). But the first weekend of October I managed to score a really cute pair for 50% off at Banana. That place is becoming my gold mine! (side note: how is a plain pair of black pants “super cute,” you may ask? Aren’t’ they all rather plain? And the answer is no. The ones I got are adorbs. They’re ankle-pants, like the new kind that are in style now. I know that’s not necessarily great long-term since they’re likely to go in and out of style, but I lurve them! They’re super flattering, go with a ton of stuff, and I will get lots of wear out of them!)
Our rainy day savings was a little slim this month: $200 toward our dental fund (in anticipation of hubs’ upcoming dental work needs) and $25 toward the girls’ college savings. Nothing else. I’ve really gotten a little too close to the line on our savings. I’ve been a little skimpy in favor of making larger debt payments. But this needs to stop.
We’ve got to beef back up our:
- 3-6 month EF (which we depleted down to about $1,000 back in August and have never replenished)
- car repair fund (which we always end up depleting everytime it gets to about the $1,000 mark. Right now we only have $75 in it!)
- annual fees fund (which is just silly to neglect because these are known and expected expenses)
So those will be priorities in the coming months.
The $500 toward our savings goals represents the $500 funneled toward Cruise 2016 (only 6 more months until the sale date! We booked 12 months in advance so it feels like it’s really coming up even though its still half a year away!)
That’s it for this month!
How was your spending in September? Are you anticipating any big holiday spending in October? I’ve really been trying to keep my eyes peeled for possible Christmas gifts. I’d rather spread out the shopping a little instead of having it all concentrated in December!
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Freshly 40, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
I know you don’t think September was a very good month, but you have actually done pretty well. You managed to pay down some debt and not create new debt, so congratulations! Our summer has gotten really out of control. I should have another credit card paid off this month, but instead I have a balance over $9,000 and it’s frustrating. June, July, August and Sept we added to the credit card instead of paying it off. My husband is not on board with the idea of paying off debt and budgeting, so it makes life difficult. He says it will all work out eventually and I want the debt gone now. So, again congratulations to you and keep up the good work!
Hi Cathy! That makes life really tough when your spouse isn’t on board with debt pay-off! Mine has always wanted to be out of debt, but he would also prefer if we had more savings and paid off debt a little less aggressively. Fortunately for us, he’s pretty go-with-the-flow, so when he saw how important getting out of debt was to me, he got on board with making it more of a priority (above savings).
I think you are doing great! I always think of my clothes purchases in “per wear” costs. A pair of black pants like that you could wear twice a week for the next 24 weeks and if you paid $25 for the pair .52 a wear. If you get two winters out of them your cost goes down to .25 a wear. have a good week!
Thanks Theresa! I hope you have a good week too!
I think you are doing great! As Cathy D. said, you haven’t created any new debt and have been able to weather the unexpected and cover it with cash flow/savings. Sometimes, not creating new debt in the face of the crisis (dental issues, illness, etc. is half the battle!).
Thanks Maureen! I appreciate the positive perspective and little pep talk! : )