by Hope
We’ve just wrapped up our second week on the farm, and for the first time in years it seems I feel like I can breathe again. You just don’t realize the amount of stress you are carrying around until it gets lifted. I mentioned in my post this past weekend that I was really staying busy with work, but I am also doing a lot of work outside including spreading mulch, cutting down tress and bushes and general lawn maintenance. The kids and I even went to one of my new work client’s homes and worked on weeding and mulching their flower beds for 3 hours on a 90 degree day…I will check the weather before committing next time!
And we are truly enjoying the chickens, mostly our 25, but we meander down to check on the other 420 once a day too! Here is how our household money has been spent over this last week and a half.
| Week of 4/19-5/1 | ||
| Category | Amount | Balance |
| Week 4/18 | 174 | |
| Auto – Gas | -98 | 76 |
| Savings | -143 | -67 |
| Food – Eating Out | -58 | -125 |
| Debt | -98 | -223 |
| Child Support | 160 | -63 |
| Salary | 477 | 414 |
| Reimbursement | 111 | 525 |
| Laundry | -40 | 485 |
| Dentist | -65 | 420 |
| School | -24 | 396 |
I think most of it is self explanatory, but here are a few notes:
Gas – the gas money is going to be high, there is just no way around it. While I am trying to minimize our trips to town, we have to go at least 4 afternoons a week for sports, 2 mornings a week for Princess’ Spanish class and my work. So I’m trying to plan everything else like grocery shopping and misc other errands around those trips, but sometimes…well, it’s a lot of gas. Even History Buff has noticed the difference with his car.
Eating Out – I cringe looking at that number especially since one of them was a total weakness on my part. But I’m cutting myself a little slack and will do better.
Reimbursement – paid by a client to reimburse for a business trip I had to take on their behalf.
Dentist – I think I’ve written before of how we go to the local dentist hygiene school for our check ups and cleanings every 6 months. It was that time of year again, and no cavities for anyone!
School – One of the twins is taking the AP Psychology exam this year, this was the fee for that test.
I know I have some out of pocket medical costs coming up this week. One of my children has on going medical needs and we have exhausted the treatment covered by insurance for this particular issue other than the prescriptions. And I have to make a $250 payment to the orthodontist per the payment plan we have just worked out. So I’m keeping a bit of extra in my operating budget in preparation for those expenses.
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 5 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
Sounds like this will be a good break for you. It’s amazing what stress does to your body/life and you don’t even realize it when you are in the midst of it. I went through a similar situation and swore that I would take better care of myself the next time, but that’s not always possible (money and/or time constraints).
$58 dollars eating out for a family of five isn’t that bad, and it’s understandable with all the moving.
Thank you for posting numbers! It makes it easier to see what’s going on.
Hope – thanks for sharing these numbers. I feel like between these posts and the debt update you did, we all have a much better idea of where you stand. Thanks also for sticking with blogging here. I know the comments have gotten a bit heated (you’re tougher than me; I would have bailed already!), but I am pulling for you and want to follow along as things take a turn for the better!
Great idea on taking everyone to a local school for cleanings. That saves a ton! And paying for the AP exam could save some money as well. It’s a lot cheaper than paying to take a college class.
Oh – I forgot to add two things:
1. The photo is really cute!
2. Can you get the testing fees waived or reduced given the financial situation? I know you can do that with college application fees, but I’m not sure how much documentation you’d need to provide.
Sounds like the new situation is good, and you not only have breathing room, but fresh air to breathe. Whew!
Hope, is it possible for you to give a more detailed financial breakdown? Maybe use a budgeting/expense tracking software like Ashley does? I think hers is YNAB. I find it really hard to tell where you’re really at – and maybe you don’t really want to share in depth like that – but if you could, you might find that the advice you get could save you some headaches. Since this is really about the journey of paying off debt, and your current “budget” doesn’t even address that, it is hard to tell if you’re making headway or even staying above water. I’m suggesting this only as a means of accountability. Like I said, if you want to keep it private, I understand.
Good job getting you and your family into this new situation.
Hope,
Nice! As much as I want to ask for more, I say baby steps! If you can post something like this weekly for the month of May, I think that would be a great achievement.
Are the numbers under “balance” what you have left in what you allocated for the month? If so, how come savings is negative? I think after you’ve done this for a month or 2, it would be nice to also keep track of budget to actual.
I hope you get to stay in this situation for a little while. you definitely deserve some stability!
The left is the expenditure and the right is a running tally. I’ve tracked my cash flow the exact same way for years. To take it a step forward, I also project out future cash flow based on known inflows and outflows for planning purposes.
ah, thanks for the clarification
Have you paid the owed rent? You don’t address this amount here