July Money Recap / August Goals

brij2006 · July 2014

We do a weekend accountability, but lets start doing a monthly one. I will try to post it at the end of each month or beginning of the next, and we can share what goals we achieved this month and what we want to see for next month.

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?

3. What were your greatest achievements?

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month?

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?

formerlyGDaisy09 · July 2014

Love this!

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?

We did fairly well, we were on vacation the last week of June, so we went into the beginning of the month with a slightly different financial picture than we usually have, but I think we adjusted well.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?

this was the first month we started really shifting into longer-term planning for starting a family, so H and I were both feeling motivated.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

I went into the month feeling like we were in recovery mode from vacation and wouldn't be saving too much, yesterday I put $500 more into savings than I thought we would! *win*

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

My garden has become a bit of a money-suck...We're loving all the fresh veggies, but since this is the first year with the big garden there have been some unexpected expenses to fix various "issues". lately it was re-constructing a trellis, my initial engeneering of it wasn't strong enough ($60) and beetle traps ($11). not budgeted for, but all the work an money we've already spent would have been thrown down the toilet if we didn't fix those problems.

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month?

keep working towards our savings goals, I'm also going to invest in some cannning supplies...I'm giving away a lot of the extra veggies from our garden, but I don't want to waste anything, so I'm hoping to have sauces, pickles etc. to consume all winter...or give away as christmas gifts. We have also talked for a long time about investing in a freezer, if I can find a good deal I think I can fill it with lots of soups and pre-made crock-pot meals from the garden, I think if I can get a month or two of meals frozen rather than composting unused veggies the investment will pay for itself.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?

I have budgeted out the rest of the year, based on expected take-home (without overtime) and expected expenses. H and I have decided that when paychecks are more than expected the "excess" goes straight to savings, when expenses are less than expected the difference goes to savings, and when paychecks are less or spending is more we deal with it. I've put our usual transfers to savings into the budget. so far we've saved an "extra" $24.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?

Our main goal right now is finishing the basement, this should be a less than $7000 project. We have a 2br 1-story house, we're planning to turn the 2nd bedroom into a nursery, and want the basement finished so that my parents have a place to stay when they come visit. Last year our goal was to go on vacation we managed to save $4k for that in 5 months while we were still agressively paying down H's CC debt ($900/month towards the debt). we've now paid that off, so we feel like we can reasonably save for this home-improvment project, and still be putting money into general savings.

brij2006 · July 2014

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? Not too bad. We budgeted in a lot of extra things for the nursery remodel and a couple other items for the house, but we stayed within budget.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? I really watched our groceries. Bought a lot of things from the farmers markets and planned our meals around things from the garden.

3. What were your greatest achievements? We spent $357 in groceries. This is amazing for us. Normally I budget $500, but June I spent $400 and I wanted to see if I could beat it.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? Our eating out budget went crazy. We had too many meet-ups with friends that were in from out of town, and too many lunches out while we ran errands. We just pulled the extra from the Entertainment budget that we didn't use, but it was still a lot more spent than needed.

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month? To get our grocery budget down to $300. We have a lot of weekend travel going on, and I want to pinch our budget as much as possible.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? Meal plan, use items in the freezer, and utilize our garden and farmers markets.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? Eating out and our weekend trip to Ohio. We know both can get expensive with the things we have going on this month, but I want to stick to cash only for our weekend in Ohio so we don't have the opportunity to go over.

hoffse · July 2014

Good idea!

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?

We were pretty good - we did go over by about $100 in groceries, but we were under by $150 in gas because H was studying for the bar exam and was literally not driving anywhere. I way over-shot the estimate for paint, so we netted a savings of $600 over what we were expecting. We've banked that for house expenses coming up.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?

I followed up with H a few times during the month to make sure he was checking the google doc where I track spending. We do everything by credit card so there's an electronic record, and I just keep track of them as we go. H was really the one who improved this month - he wants to make sure we have plenty in savings after we close, so he did a pretty good job of cutting expenses.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

Negotiating the purchase of our first house... I had to lawyer up a little bit during one phase, but we're getting everything we want, and we should be closing on time.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

I haven't couponed as much this month. I'm going to try to get back on track for August. I may not be back into it until September though.

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month?

Stick to the budget with house stuff. H starts his job September 2, so our goal is really to get through August without dipping into our e-fund. That includes our trip to London. I think we will be fine, but we might be cutting it close. It's hard to know because I haven't seen the HUD-1 yet, so I have only an estimate of what will be left in our savings account after we close. It's hard to budget to $0 with an estimate!

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?

Honestly I'm just going to take this month day by day. Normally, I'm a severe pre-planner, but I just don't think that's going to work for August. I'm going to be vigilant about tracking expenses each day, but other than that, I think I have to be ready to roll with the punches this month. We have a short list of stuff we need to buy, but we are prepared for it to get longer after we move in.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?

I want to work on utilities this month. I don't know what the utilities are for this house, and once we get those statements I'll be able to better-prepare for upcoming months.

smbenevides1989 · July 2014

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?

We changed our outlook on how money should be spent, and how to save up any extra money to payoff debt. I've been putting this plan into action, and we have saved up a quarter of what we will need to payoff that debt by the end of the year. I'm just waiting for two major things to happen before I dump it all into the CC debt.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?

Instead of putting any extra money that we get each week into a CC or other bill to get rid of it, we decided to put the extra money into our payoff savings account and not touch it until we reach our goal. While we do this, we pay a little bit above minimum due. We also up'd a couple of categories to help us stick with the budget better (fun/groceries/eating out) and it's been working so nicely.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

I was able to put a little over $550 into various savings accounts, pay off my plane tickets and Disney Christmas park tickets, and stick to our budget so much better this month.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

I stupidly paid a few bills on the wrong date, causing me to transfer money from my Efund to my checking. As soon as that Friday came, I put that money right back into savings. I'm now trying to be more careful of when I put in pay date. We also needed a new fridge, and opened up a store card to get 0% financing for 6 months. We could have paid it off, but I would rather budget the payments each month instead of starting our debt payoff all over again.

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month?

I want to continue putting money away for our payoff and continue sticking to our goals. I also want to try to get us way under in the grocery budget buy trying something out a little differently.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?

With the grocery budget, I usually plan on $120 on groceries every 2 weeks, with an additional $10 in between to get things like milk and fruits. This month, we will be going to BJ's to get a month's supply of meat, chicken, fish, and snacks, then spending between $20-$30 a week on easy spoilers like milk, fruit, veggies, eggs, and bread. I also want to get back into making homemade foods to freeze for easier breakfasts and snacks.

Money wise, I am hoping that I will be able to stash away an extra $2000 for the remainder of our planned vacation and stash at least $400 away into payoff.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?

I currently budget by week, updating as I spend in the certain categories. It's been working well so far, but I'm always looking into finding a better way to budget (I always stick to one budget while I play around with new budgets and see what ends up working best). I would love to try to get down to a zero based budget and adding a miscellaneous category to catch anything out of the ordinary. I may try it since the August 1st fall on a Friday, and both DH and I both get paid this week (he gets paid weekly, while I get paid biweekly). I would also like to try to budget based on a 4 week month so I can stash away our "extra" paychecks. It's always a learn as you go, so we will see if this works out or not.

jessica490 · July 2014

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? Pretty good minus 2 big unexpected vet bills, but we will have those paid off in August probably from the e-fund and a quick decision to replace our leaking refridge.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Not much

3. What were your greatest achievements? Just adding to DP fund and E-Fund

4. What were your biggest downfalls? The 2 vet bills

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month? To get the vet bills and fridge paid off though it may cut into adding to DP/e-fund this month due to large $$$$

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? Make H work more overtime!

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? We have our cell phone bill and phone/int/cable contracts ending this fall, so I will begin making phone calls to find cheaper plans

FabulousMrs.P · July 2014

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?
Good with the exception of 2 vet bills. Unfortunately our dog was diagnosed with an auto immune disorder so we have a had a few extra visits to get blood work, new meds, etc. Luckily all are already paid off and we will work on putting that money back into the e-fund.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?
We did great with coupons this month. Other than that, we did the same.

3. What were your greatest achievements?
Just adding to the usual funds: E-fund, DD's college fund, vacation fund, christmas savings, etc.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? The vet bills. We are changing our budget to include more vet visits until we can get her disease under control.

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month?
Same as usual. I am working on getting the grocery bills down a bit more as well with frugal shopping, coupons, etc. so we can set more money aside for future veterinary bills.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?
Try to be slightly more frugal at the grocery store. Additionally, DH gets paid bi-weekly and will have an extra paycheck in august that will go directly into savings. (We only budget for 2 paychecks a month. When there is an extra one it goes into savings!)

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?
Grocery bills. We want to get that cost down a bit with some more coupons and sales shopping.

SlurpeeLove · July 2014

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?

Horrible at the beginning. Pulling through towards the end.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?

Started clipping coupons for groceries. Sat down with DH and had a real talk about finances and started really paying to credit cards and savings.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

Getting our savings up, though it's not to our first goal yet.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

Eating out. We're working to get it under control. But we really enjoy eating out way too much.

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month?

Get savings up to $1000 and then start really cutting away at credit card debt.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?

We've agreed to one night a week date night, where we go out to eat. Grocery budget is $100 every week. Only using debit, no credit cards.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?

We're really going to be focusing on eating out, as it is consistently our weakness. If we could get that under control, we'd be in a much better situation.

cbee817 · July 2014

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?

We didn't have much planned for goals- the clapboard is bought ($600) to replace part of one side of our house that is in pretty bad shape. Everything is painted, so everything will come down and the new stuff will go up on Tuesday/Wednesday next week.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?

With DH being on summer vacation (he set aside $2,000 that is paid out in July and August to have some sort of income), we basically just have my paychecks, so things are a little tight. So unfortunately, June was a better month than July.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

My paychecks are covering all expenses for July

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

I feel like last year, we had a better handle on DH being on vacation with just $1,000/month coming in for him... I don't know what happened this year, but we'll get it together for next year.

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month?

All expenses are budgeted and we won't need to go into savings for anything.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?

We're good this month- looking forward to Sept when we can start adding to savings again

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?

Target bill- it seems out of control lately.. I'm blaming it on the good deal they had on diapers. We're set for DD#2 for a bit, so hopefully it'll be less this month.

lifeonthehill · July 2014

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? We were behind a bit due to a vet bill but reworked the budget and were able to make it up during this last paycheck.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? We got better with our food bill this month than we were in June. Having to grocery shop only in the summer is going to throw us for a loop every year.

3. What were your greatest achievements? Saved for my first college semester including books all in cash! Can't wait to pay the bill and not have to worry about it anymore.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? We caved and adopted an adorable little kitten which pulled money from other categories but besides that it was a pretty solid month.

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month? Start saving to pay off the next SL! We need $4,350 for this one and it wont be all saved until October 15th but we will get a good chunk of it saved this month. Also to keep our food budget on track until the 25th when the school starts feeding us again.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? Cash in our change we have been rolling to get a head start on the loan. We had been putting off doing that until we had $100 rolled.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? We don't have anything to work on this month. July went amazing for us. September will be a while new story.

CuriousKiddosMama · July 2014

This is going to be a hard post for me, but I like the idea.

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? Pretty good. We were able to cash flow our escrow and the payment for the sprinkler system at the new house, and still put a little in savings.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Cut everything. I spent under $100 at the grocery store because we are trying to empty our pantry and freezer- so we are coming up with some creative meals that use the ingredients we have left. Pretty much I bought milk and some fresh fruit for LO.

3. What were your greatest achievements? nothing major that I can think of

4. What were your biggest downfalls? Closing on our new house has been delayed- we now have to move EVERYTHING into a storage unit for 6 days. It sucks.

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month? Getting into the house, closing on our current house on time so we can put all that money towards the new house without having to get the loan recast

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? nothing- that's up to the title companies.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? Decor- I know I"m going to be excited to decorate the new house, but I have to take it slow. We won't have the $ left over this month to do anything.

vlagrl29 · July 2014

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?

I think we did really well considering the first 9 days of the month we were still on vacation. When we got back in town I had to play at my aunts funeral and then a wedding. We didn't eat out as much this month because of trying to save money from vacation. This month went super fast! Booking weddings was really great in the month of July so we were able to put more money aside.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? I honestly don't think I did anything differently than I normally do.

3. What were your greatest achievements? Not hardly buying anything when we ran errands.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? Paying off my hernia bill made our savings diminish a bit

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month? Use less electricity by upping our thermostat 2 degrees. It seems maybe the electric bill went up more than normal last month. Putting more cash in our emergency fund. It seems to never be able to stay at the full amount but hey at least we don't have to charge things Make more $$ since school will be starting so my student load will go back to normal.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? As long as I keep advertising like I do, I should keep the bookings up. We already have 36 events on the calendar this year.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? I want to see the electric bill go down. I'd also like to see the savings get bigger. We are working on a basement fund right now so I'm hoping to sell some items on CL and at MIL's garage sale so we can put that money into it.

uncreatedsnow · July 2014

I love this idea! I do most things on a quarterly basis and always want to AW when I get those final numbers in so this is great!

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?
Goals were easy peasy as I all I have left for this year is to get my car under 5 figures. Everything else was done prior to the end of Q2.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?
This month I've really been tracking savings, working on selling items around the house that I don't need and adding that into savings.

3. What were your greatest achievements?
Getting rid of almost all of my Direct Sales Cash & Carry. And finally taking a weekend just for me and splurging on a Spa B&B weekend. Was it MM? No. But now I KNOW what I'm saving for and have more drive to actually save faster to get back there or someplace like it!

4. What were your biggest downfalls?
My biggest downfall was not exactly sticking to my envelopes. It was easy to chalk everything for my weekend away up to that instead of taking gas and food out of my envelopes. Vacation is coming up too so envelopes have gone to the way side, but with my paycheck tomorrow I am going back at it hot and heavy!

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month?
This month is to get back into my envelopes and STICK TO THEM. Putting everything that is leftover into savings so I won't be tempted to spend it and really getting my room at my new place set up(reorganizing, sorting out clothes that I need vs. want, still selling off stuff, decluttering, etc.)

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?
Hopefully my promotion goes through in early august so that will be a bit of an adjustment, but hopefully able to add to savings/snowball that much faster. Might add two new envelopes(nephew and vacation) which will help needless spending throughout the year.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?

Same as above. I'm stockpiling savings right now and at the end of the year will make a lump payment to make my car goal. Since my moonlighting position can end at anytime I want to be cautious about throwing extra money at things, hence the waiting. My long term goals(ie. by 30, which is by September 2015) I want to have my car paid off, $5,000 in EFund(have $2,500 in there now) and have a positive net worth. So basically everything is being driven by those three goals right now.

emily1004 · July 2014

I wrote out the whole thing. Then I deleted it before posting. It was boring. Nothing of note other than sticking to my budget, home updates and remodeling the kitchen next year. But I truly enjoy reading all of yours!

Wulfgar · July 2014

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? Not as bad as it could have been with our vacation in the middle of the month.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? We have decided to check our budget once a quarter since our payments don't change and we keep in constant discussion on any unexpected emergencies.

3. What were your greatest achievements? Not going over $600 for vacation.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? Eating out more then we should and not checking the chemicals we have before spending on more chemicals to kill bugs and weeds.

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month? Hopefully to pay down more debt while saving for our LO.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? Try to minimize the amount we eat out instead of cooking. This one is rough especially after a long week.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? I would like to focus on paying off my suit from May, it is taking me a little longer than I was hoping to pay this off. We are also going to switch to our own cell phone plan from her parent's 1990's contract. We also have to start paying for Pre-school which we sort of been planning for but I don't have the savings that I wanted.

We are going into the bad part of our year where a lot of annual only bills come due so we end up eating into some of our savings for this. I am hoping that I get either a new position within my company or at least a promotion which would come with a decent raise in either case. If not, a lot of our extra in our budget will be reduced so we will have to watch our money closer than what we have been.

Xstatic3333 · July 2014

Finally at a computer so I can fill this out!

JULY

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?

With preparing to close on our house, it was a weird month for goals. But, we stayed on budget and were able to build up our savings a bit. We didn't need as much as planned for closing, but I have some dental work coming up so we will use it for that.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?

Not too much, but H is finally getting more into the budget. He's saving towards a specific goal (a new sound system-who knows ) with some of his discretionary money and I think that's really motivating him.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

Rebuilding our short term savings from around $130 to $1,700 in a month. In fairness, it was "bonus paycheck month" for H as well as the month where you move from renting to buying and seem to "skip" a housing payment.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

Eating out during the move. I don't really see a way around it for the three days the kitchen is packed, but it still bugs the heck out of me.

AUGUST

1. What are your goals for this month?

We've reevaluated our goals post-closing and decided we want to pay off our cars quickly before saving our our next big trip (Europe). Combined, we owe around $11,000 on them; both are practical, and neither is underwater, so at least there is that. I think we can get mine done by the end of the year, and H's next year. Without those payments, saving for our plane tickets will only take around 2 months, instead of 10ish like it would currently.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?

I am going to really reduce short-term savings to the token amount required for my quarterly taxes, dental work, and family visits. I used to pad it just to pad it.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?

"Fun." We tend to go over here and make up for it with my mileage reimbursement for work. I'd like to stay on-budget and be able to put my mileage reimbursement towards the cars.

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