If you don't love to read this bland update, I understand. It's how I keep myself accountable (knowing it will be posted publicly even if no one reads it!). If you don't want to read, just come back tomorrow for a real post. =)
Sorry this is late in the month. I planned to do this last Thursday but was sick, so it didn't happen. But here it is in all of its ugly glory:
INCOME:
Our income has decreased by $200/month. This is due to the Army withholding $200 from Chip's guard check each month to pay back the money they advanced him for OCS, which he did not complete. That extra money they paid us has been sitting in our savings account waiting for them to ask for it back. I need to find out if they just want to keep pulling it out monthly or if they want us to pay it back in lump sum.
On an up note, Chip did sale a trumpet mouthpiece, so that was an unexpected $80 in our pockets.
UNDER BUDGET:
Gasoline: $24 under budget for the month. I guess this is the lack of work and school commuting for Thanksgiving. I don't know...but I'll take it!
Car Parts/Service: $30 under budget for the month. Because of previous work done on the cars, we are $115 over budget on the rolling budget, but the plan is to have a few months without any service needs and let this work itself out.
Electricity/Water: $12 under budget for the month. Because of really high bills during the summer, we are still $37 over our rolling budget, but I'm hoping that will work itself out next month with another low set of bills.
Doctor: $25 under budget. We had one doctor's appointment but since I get reimbursed for 2 co pays per family member a year, I was reimbursed this amount. So we have $105 overage on the rolling budget, but pending no major illnesses over the next few months, that should work itself out as well.
Childcare: $20 under budget. No need this month. I'm about to decrease this amount because we don't use it frequently so I can free up some space in the budget.
Hair: $25 under budget. Nothing here. I think I'm actually going to use up a bit of my $156 credit in the rolling budget version of this category this weekend. As a treat to myself. I know...looking at this budget, it doesn't look like I deserve a treat, but my hair is AWFUL!
Toiletries: Spent $0 this month, but am over on the rolling budget, so I'll have to wait for that one to roll on out on its own.
Clothing: $20 under for the month, but since I bought some winter stuff previously, I'm still over the rolling budget by $120.
ON BUDGET:
Auto Insurance: No surprises here.
Television: As usual.
Term Life Insurance: Done
Mobile Phone: Nothing new here.
Alarm Monitoring/Pest Control: Regular charges here.
Mortgage/HOA/Timeshare: On course.
OVER BUDGET:
Fast Food/Dining Out: $232 over budget.
I know...but I do know where it went. Almost all of it ($181 of it) went to buying dinner for us and our extended family when they came into town. We paid for it because they had paid the travel costs. We knew what we were doing, but in the transparency of disclosure on this blog, I have to tell you about it.
Groceries: $296 over budget. Another big one. This was mostly having double the number of people in our house for 5 days and needing to eat big Thanksgiving meals. We should have planned better all around, but here it is.
Pharmacy: $10 over budget. Since Chip's acid reflux has started acting up again we had to buy some OTC medicine for him. That stuff isn't cheap (even when you buy the generic), so here it is.
Baby Supplies: $15 over budget. I cannot wait for Abigail to decide she's ready to potty train so I can completely get rid of this category. I'm shooting for a big potty training weekend in January. Wish me luck!
Home Supplies: $11 over budget. I rarely use this category, so I'm not too broken up over this.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
- Sent $138 more than budgeted to credit cards. Every little bit helps, right?
- Spent $40 to renew our Sam's membership.
- Spent $125 on a night on the town for our 10th anniversary. I know...we probably shouldn't have, but we did and it was really enjoyable. Our awesome neighbors kept the kids, so we did save on that!
- Spent $63 on Operation Christmas Child shoebox items. I just got an email saying that our boxes have arrived in the Ukraine! Love it!
- We spent $19 on a gym membership that I've been begging Chip to use or cancel. I would rather him cancel it altogether, but he feels he needs it to keep in shape for the Army. I wouldn't mind so much if he would at least go.
- Spent $40 on snacks for Patrick's classroom. It's a once-a-semester kind of thing. And we'll get 8 hours of volunteer logged for buying them, so I'll take it.
- Spent about $200 on Christmas gifts. Almost done!
Debt Paid off Since October 2011: $655.07
Debt Paid off Since October 14, 2009: $23,289.19
Change in Networth from September 2011: -15.33 (boo, retirement plans)
Change in Networth from October 14, 2009: + $43,611.88
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