Mid-Year Spending Status Report

[Iggy aka IG]

(I originally was going to post this in the What I did to save money thread)

Just printed out my Jan-June semi-annual budget, both income and expenses, and went through it with a fine-tooth comb.  The goal is to free up more money to put toward retirement:

Went online to see if I can reduce my cell phone bill. I could if I were willing to cut out texting altogether which doesn't make sense because clients text me, and vice-versa.

Just got off the phone with my office land line carrier.  I saved $10/mo for re-upping my contract with them. I also learned they offer a bundle discount with my cell phone carrier for $5/mo off for 24 months, but want my SS# to sign up for it. No thanks!

Am going to save $15/mo by no longer belonging to the local chamber (dues/annual dinner) and Lions Club membership.

I keep reviewing our grocery/HBA budget for some sort of outstanding magic trick I'm missing and having no luck. Occasionally I review the WIR grocery challenge thread, but it's not applicable because we do not have a majority of the stores listed.  The only thing which stands out is to stop buying diet soda and most vitamins.  This should free up around $20/month.

Medical and gasoline charges should reduce the second half of this year. I've got three more medical/dental visits to the big city for various things, and then I'm finished for the year.  Knock wood.

I paid off a personal loan earlier this year, freeing up $$ to put toward my school loan.

I plan on reducing my monthly entertainment (booze!) budget by half.  We'll see.

I am seriously considering cancelling my life insurance policy-something I'd never advise my clients to do. This would save $81.27/mo.

Without cancelling my life insurance, I figure I will save $352 a month with the reductions found today.

Overall, my monthly income has increased by nearly $400/mo this year vs last.

How is everyone else doing so far this year? 

[Wisconsin Beth]

DH made the last payment on our vacant land up North last night.  And we've got 2 more payments for day care for our son.  Between the 2 - that will free up around $750 a MONTH.  I want to set up an autopayment to our savings account with about $500 a month of it.  DH wants to start college funds for the kids.  Hmmm, maybe we can do both - $500 to savings and $100 per kid for college funds.

ETA - I know there's a ton of drips and leaks per month in our house.  Just setting up a budget would probably close some of them. 

Oh and DH cancelled our landline.  But upped the cell phone plans so it's basically a wash. 

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Hmmm.... let's see.

Our water bill has doubled because the rates have doubled, and it's been weirdly hot.

Our power bill is up because the rates have increased, and it's been weirdly hot, smoggy and now smoky.

Our T-Mobile bill is up because my wonderful DH added international calling since he was deploying and he thought I might want to call him. Of course, he doesn't have a phone there (or a number) that I can call, so I think I'm paying extra "just in case I need to call him" while he's deployed.

Our "eating out" spending is down because my wonderful DH is deployed and I'm dieting.

Our "grocery" spending is down because my wonderful DH is deployed. However, I'm eating a lot of fresh veggies and seafood and organic healthy stuff and that's a bit more expensive than some of the crap I was eating before. I still think we're spending less.

Our recreational spending is down because my wonderful DH is deployed. But I did just spend $14.99 to buy a movie I wanted to see and didn't want to wait for it to be available as a rental.

My clothing spending might be going up if this diet is successful.

While my wonderful DH is deployed, we do get an additional $250 a month as "family separation pay." Woo Hoo! That's like $8 a day. (No combat zone tax exclusion or hostile fire pay because he isn't deployed to an eligible country for those things)

Our gasoline spending is definitely down, since I don't really go very far. (Trader Joes and Petco ... both just a few miles away.)

I did forget to drive his car enough to keep the battery charged, and it died ... so I did have to spend $65.01 for a new battery (it was under a prorated warranty) In my defense, the battery WAS 4 years old.

[marvholly]

I am retired so my 'income' is pretty much arved in granite. I just reviewed, afterreading the OP, my annual budget spreadsheet. I am pretty much below budget 5/7 months. Moinths where I am over it is due to those BIG annual expenses like real estate taxes and insurance. BUT overall I am >$900 UNDER budget.

[resolution]

I am about 3 months behind on my savings plan for the year, although there is a fair chance I will catch it back up.

In May DH quit his job and went to Hawaii for two months for a job trial. If he had liked the job we were going to move there. The company covered his apartment and vehicle while he was there, but we bought plane tickets both ways and also we both went there for a week at our own expense for the interview. I stopped our IRA contributions and brokerage savings to build up cash in case we moved. I also cancelled the vacation we had planned for September and we made his job interview our vacation.

He ended up not liking the job and came back, worked his side job for a few weeks and then started a new job here this week. So things seem to be stabilizing and hopefully I will be back on track with the savings plan next month. I still have the cash that I hoarded while he was gone, but we may end up replacing our computers instead of sending all of it to the brokerage. I guess that is the peril of leaving it in the bank account instead of hiding it somewhere inaccessible.

I quit drinking diet soda for diet reasons, but I have noticed that my grocery bill is down about $15 per month for not drinking soda. But I am buying more drinking water, so probably ending up with a net savings of $10 a month.

[TheHaitian]

Terrible... Just terrible!

We ended up purchasing a home over our Max budget; also it was new construction so utilize more of our savings that we did not budget on for upgrades.

Second took an assignment in a different state for work that started literally two weeks before I close and requires that I have an apartment in that town. So we went from $1,375 rent to $2,061.62 mortgage and $550 rent on top.

The only good thing is that I got a ~40% raise out of it. So expenses were higher than expected (by a lot in some cases) , we depleted savings to get this house and saving rate is below what it should be.

Terrible I tell you!!

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Jul 31, 2014 8:06:36 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Terrible... Just terrible!

We ended up purchasing a home over our Max budget; also it was new construction so utilize more of our savings that we did not budget on for upgrades.

Second took an assignment in a different state for work that started literally two weeks before I close and requires that I have an apartment in that town. So we went from $1,375 rent to $2,061.62 mortgage and $550 rent on top.

The only good thing is that I got a ~40% raise out of it. So expenses were higher than expected (by a lot in some cases) , we depleted savings to get this house and saving rate is below what it should be.

Terrible I tell you!!

Yay for the raise, though.

Do you have a plan to start rebuilding your savings?

[TheHaitian]

Jul 31, 2014 14:09:47 GMT -5 ❤ mollymouser ❤ said:

Jul 31, 2014 8:06:36 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Terrible... Just terrible!

We ended up purchasing a home over our Max budget; also it was new construction so utilize more of our savings that we did not budget on for upgrades.

Second took an assignment in a different state for work that started literally two weeks before I close and requires that I have an apartment in that town. So we went from $1,375 rent to $2,061.62 mortgage and $550 rent on top.

The only good thing is that I got a ~40% raise out of it. So expenses were higher than expected (by a lot in some cases) , we depleted savings to get this house and saving rate is below what it should be.

Terrible I tell you!!

Yay for the raise, though.

Do you have a plan to start rebuilding your savings?

Slowly but surely :
- EF is at 6k now, goal is 10k
- back to maxing 401k and hoping to max my wife next year
- after that attempt to contribute something to ROTH

But the current plan is moving back home, just applied for a position that is 1hr away from home. It is a lateral move so no pay increase, and 2 hours round trip commute might be a pain in the end but I get to be home and sleep in my bed every night. I figure the $650/month is cost to keep my current apartment will be eaten up by gas/car maintenance. So in every sense of the word a even swap financially but I get to be home and that is the best part.

*fingers crossed I get it*

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I hope you get that job! (And I hope you hear, soon!)

[resolution]

Any chance your wife can volunteer for overtime to help build up savings more quickly? When DH was going through all of his job uncertainty I was able to pick up 8-10 extra hours a week, which helped out a bit.

[Deleted]

Jul 31, 2014 21:51:48 GMT -5 resolution said:

Any chance your wife can volunteer for overtime to help build up savings more quickly? When DH was going through all of his job uncertainty I was able to pick up 8-10 extra hours a week, which helped out a bit.

his wife is at a salaried position - there is no overtime.

[TheHaitian]

Aug 7, 2014 8:18:08 GMT -5 @singlemominmd said:

Jul 31, 2014 21:51:48 GMT -5 resolution said:

Any chance your wife can volunteer for overtime to help build up savings more quickly? When DH was going through all of his job uncertainty I was able to pick up 8-10 extra hours a week, which helped out a bit.

his wife is at a salaried position - there is no overtime.

What she said... Unfortunately like me my wife holds a salaries position.

I haven't heard about the job yet and will have to dip into our EF.

My car needs a new transmission and was quoted $2,200. I was told I was lucky because usually it cost more than that.

I guess better than a car payment .

-> my wife is looking for a new job. She is hoping to not to have to make the switch till next year but every day it seems it is not going to happen (great job but co-worker from hell).
---> she is going to look closer to home (driving distance) and even if for same salary, it will save us $330/month for her train pass and $80/month for parking space. So $410/month net.

*Also keeping fingers crossed for that*