January/Febuary Check in

lifeonthehill · February 2015

I know there will be an accountability post for the weekend tomorrow but I just love reading every ones monthly updates!

January

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?

February

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?

lifeonthehill · February 2015

January

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

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? We used our Christmas money very wisely and we were able to use some of the money we had set aside for it for other things. Also our AMAZING tax refund.

3. What were your greatest achievements? We have funded 75% of our car fund goal in 31 days!

4. What were your biggest downfalls? We have been lazy because of the cold weather and been using a local corner store to grocery and toiletry shop instead of making the 25+ minute trip into town. It is nearly 2X the cost and bad for the budget.

February

1. What are your goals for this month? We should be able to save the last $1,750 for the car fund this month.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? Not eat out unless there is a gift card and go to town to buy food/toiletries again.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? food/toiletries. We are spending nearly 2x what we did in previous months. It is out of control.

als1982 · February 2015

January

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? Okay. We still eat out too much.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Last week every night during the week we shared a can of soup and made a nice salad, and then went to the gym. Good for both the wallet and the waistline. I plan to continue to do that this week.

3. What were your greatest achievements? Adding to savings, paying off our cruise set for May, and paying down my student loan to $6,000.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? Just random budgeted expenses, like oil changes, birthday parties, and H's quarterly website fee coming due.

February

1. What are your goals for this month? Continue to pay on my student loan with the goal of having it gone by May. Keep saving for a bathroom remodel that we can hopefully move forward with in June.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? Nothing different. We've been really good at pouring every extra dime into my student loan. We're so close now that it's pretty easy to be motivated.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? Try to spend less on food. Yesterday I made H homemade frozen lunches to last the month. We also have a freezer full of stockpiled food, so I'd like to try and minimize grocery shopping.

SmrBrd2012 · February 2015

January

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? Pretty good! We bought a few things we could have just avoided but we still were able to save quite a bit.

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

I wrote down a list of tentative goals I wanted to achieve and tried to stick with it.

3. What were your greatest achievements?
We saved 2k this month!

4. What were your biggest downfalls?
One of the goals I had written down was no more Dunks coffee and no more going out to eat for the rest of the month. We went out once with a Groupon but still had to pay for part of the meal and I also got Dunks a few times because I need something to cope with all the snow we've been getting...

February

1. What are your goals for this month?

Try to save 2k again.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?
Write down mini-goals at the beginning of the month instead of halfway through...

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?
Stop spending so much on food/miscellaneous unnecessary things. Well, it's cold and miserable outside so it makes me want to not leave my house. I'm hoping that will help! I'm also trying to meal plan a little bit better.

hoffse · February 2015

January

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

Pretty good.

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

We cut our discretionary spending a lot, because we weren't sure exactly what our paychecks would be. I underestimated what they would be, so we ended up with a good bit left over in our cash flow.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

Not sure if this is an achievement, but I got a big bonus at the end of the year, and our tax refund appeared last week, as well as the rebate for the water heater. So we are on target to finish the back room remodel several months early, and we should have a good cushion in our budget for that.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

Our water heater unexpectedly died, so we had to replace it. We ended up cash-flowing about 1/3 of it, and the remainder came out of our e-fund. We actually decided to pay back the e-fund with credit card rewards that have just been sitting in our bank account that weren't really earmarked for anything imminent. So our e-fund has been replenished, even though we had that (major) unexpected expense.

February

1. What are your goals for this month?

Finish the remodel without going over budget.

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

Nothing. I think we have enough, plus a decent cushion.

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

We've been doing really well with our grocery budget recently, and I'd like to continue that momentum.

simplyelise · February 2015

January

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

Really good. Proud of all we managed to do with DH out of work this month.

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

This was our first month with a strict budget. We did cash for our blow money and we recorded every purchase in our spreadsheet.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

We paid $2200 in student loan debt and made $225 extra cash income by doing some odd jobs and selling things.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

DH's car has had a few problems lately. We paid $600 in december on repairs and another $500 this month. We were able to use an American Express giftcard from Xmas and the rest was covered by our extra cash earnings.

February

1. What are your goals for this month?

Strict written budget, cash in whole life policy once term is finalized, pay down SLs (hoping to do more than 3k), and a job for DH!

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

We're going to do cash for the groceries this month. We stayed on budget just fine this month, but I think the cash will still help us make good choices.

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

Utilities! Our bill last month was higher than we expected. DH turns on the heat sometimes when I'd prefer to just get under blankets. Hopefully we can work together on that more this month.

smbenevides1989 · February 2015

January

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

Really well compared to previous months. We really buckled down this time around instead of just spending a little here and a little there.

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

Stuck to the budget and moved money around to account for other things that came up.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

Staying other budget for gas. It helped that gas went down so much. Also, by sticking to the budget, we only overspent by $250 which is a big thing for us (we always end up spending more than that) and saved a total of $1250!

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

We overspent in a few areas, especially in the dog and kid categories.

February

1. What are your goals for this month?

Continue sticking to the budget and cut the extra spending down a little more. We are also planning on paying off a major credit card (thanks to our tax refund), pay two little cards and paypal, and put the remainder of our refund towards the last big credit card.

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

Just keep away from the stores to avoid spending money and put the money as it comes in from the refund into the appropriate cards.

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 continue working on the personal categories. I really want to stick within our budget and try not to overspend.

Melliewood · February 2015

January

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? It was my birthday, so I went over a bit

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Used gift cards for starbucks

3. What were your greatest achievements? not paying for coffee haha

4. What were your biggest downfalls? overspending other ways

February

1. What are your goals for this month? keep within my budget

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? use apps to keep track

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? price comparing and only buying what is nessasary

kmurphy2131 · February 2015

January

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

The best we have ever done!!

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

I got a free trial of YNAB. It runs out in a few days and we have decided to purchase the software. Instead of filling in a spreadsheet at the end of the month and reflecting on what we spent we truly followed a budget. I have never been able to stay on top of updating a spreadsheet and H has never been a part of it, so being able to update YNAB on our phones in the checkout line kept us 100% on top of things. I was able to make decisions based on what we had remaining. I spent out my personal "fun money" with $2 remaining, but didn't go over for the first time in 6 months. We had >$150 left in our grocery budget when I usually got over by $100-200. H also has a better understanding of where our money is going, and why he cannot have more "fun money" now that he sees where our expenses are at and what our goals are in a more clear way. I'm positive that there are ways to do this without spending $60 for YNAB software but it has worked so well and is saving us time and money so I am going to purchase it.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

What I mentioned above about staying on budget. Also we reached a point where we have 4-6months in an e-fund. I am unsure if we are "done" funding the e-fund of not. We have close to 6 months of a barebones budget if we both lost our jobs, and 4 solid months of continuing to life our current lifestyle/paying my student loans. I'm not sure if we should shoot for 6 months of that solid e-fund.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

UGH. I keep forgetting to the pay the electric bill right when it comes in and I have missed out on the 20% discount two months in a row now. That is so much money I am really unhappy with myself. H is going to help me remember to pay it as soon as it comes in.

February

1. What are your goals for this month?

To stay on track of our budget again this month and hopefully come under in groceries. Pay my electric bill the day it comes in.

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

Keep on our January plan.

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

I have no specific goals this month except stay on track like we did in January. H has a job offer right now that is contingent on a clean background check and physical. It should all be fine and he will get a start date in the next few weeks. SO much of our budget is dependent on when that all starts. We are going to reschedule our vacation (in April currently) to bump it up to the week before he starts the new job, he will need new clothes/equipment, we may need COBRA if the new benefits don't start immediately, we will be moving in the spring etc. Going to try and go with the flow.

jessica490 · February 2015

January

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

Overall we did really well. It was H's birthday so we spent a little more than we wanted to in that area. We saved another $5K for the mortgage principle

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

Just kept working my part time job, cut back on the newspaper delivery days, saved $5K to put towards our mortgage principle so we can list beginning of March, and just overall watched our spending. After changing our dogs diet to an RX one, we've been able to stop his stomach meds and cut back on vet visits for his issues!

3. What were your greatest achievements?

Saved $30 on our newspaper delivery every 13 weeks and the part-time job paychecks help. Dog issues calming down

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

H's birthday massage and gifts

February

1. What are your goals for this month?

Continue to save and put more $ to our house principle and closing costs for when we do sell. Our non-financial goal is to take this month to get our condo ready for sale by cleaning, touching things up and getting a storage unit

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

Just be frugal and work our a$$es off. Pray for a good tax return!

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

We cut back on the newspaper so I am happy with that for now.

formerlyGDaisy09 · February 2015

January

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

enh. it was an expensive month. we spent a little more on groceries, we purchased our pilates reformer (we were going to buy a gym membership that would have been $100 more), we had a wedding to go to, and we rounded the month out with the purchase of a new dishwasher. none of it was unexpected or unplanned or at least not thought through carefully looking at long term trade offs, but my brain hurts seeing it all together.

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

nothing

3. What were your greatest achievements?

we're just getting by.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

groceries, I towards the end of the month I started just feeling gross about all the pasta, pizza, carby, bready stuff we were cooking at home. so I started spending a little more on groceries because I just felt like I wasn't getting the nutrients I needed on our lower budget diet.

February

1. What are your goals for this month?

no more big purchases.

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

H and I are on the same page. we're just going to keep on keeping on.

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

we have no weddings for the next few months, however to keep wedding expenses from cropping-up on us we're going to try to do some wedding gift purchasing, or at least consiously putting a little more money in our vacation fund, so that when we have 3 weddings in June, 2 in August, and 2 in September we're ready!

cbee817 · February 2015

January

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? We did great- saved $1,000 to general savings, $1,000 went to vacation savings account. Didn't have to take anything out of savings to cover our day care payment this month.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Didn't do too much different- stuck to budget.

3. What were your greatest achievements? We have $5,000 in our vacation account already. Our first big trip (air fare, Disney world and cruise for 4) isn't until February 2017, so we're well on our way.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? Not much- January is a good month with 5 paychecks between DH and me.

February

1. What are your goals for this month? Save $1,000 to general savings, pay $700/month towards our sewer repair job (will be paid off before the 0% interest expires in December), and get our taxes completed.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? Not much- continue to follow budget.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? We're pretty much on track. Hoping to add to our vacation savings account again with our federal and state return- seems like we'll get just under $1,000 back (we'll round up to $1,000) between the two.

Wulfgar · February 2015

January

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? For the most part, pretty good. Put most of my extra towards my credit card that has medical bills and expenses when MW was in the hospital in December.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Tried to use my extra cash to pay down my credit card.

3. What were your greatest achievements? It was another rough month with birthdays and some travel but we were able to cash flow a good portion of it.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? Being slightly sleep deprived so ate out a little more than usual.

February

1. What are your goals for this month? To tread water this month. My extra cash for the first paycheck went to new clothes since I ripped my pants at work. My next extra cash will be to go have a spa day with MW. Her's is going to be free thanks to her work. I have to pay for mine.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? My goal is to hopefully save most of our tax return for overrun on our roofing project and to remove hopefully three trees this spring. The left-over will be our emergency fund.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? We need to do better about not eating out. I have to help MW find easy healthy recipes that are quick to set-up and just let cook.

Xstatic3333 · February 2015

January

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?
Better-although due to a few big unforeseen expenses we are still behind

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?
We cut way back on weeknight beer drinking. We also cut back out of fear due to all of the unforeseen expenses.

3. What were your greatest achievements?
We stayed on budget during our Orlando trip, even with two days at the Disney parks.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?
We had to pay $1000 for H's dental crown that we won't be reimbursed until next January. It is on the credit card and we will need to pay for it with last year's dental and vision reimbursement (around $2,000) which may or may not arrive on time. This is bad, bad, bad and making me feel extremely nervous. We also had to pay $900 in car repairs.

February

1. What are your goals for this month?
Our dog is arriving on Saturday. We will hopefully cash flow all of the dog stuff (much has been spent already, and the rest budgeted for) and get to pay off the crown in time. If not we will need to borrow *most* of the e-fund or pay CC interest. Can't decide which is worse.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?
We have paused travel savings and sadly given up on our goal of going to Peru this fall. This means we will not go for several years; Peru is a seasonally-dependent trip, we want to TTC by late this year, and I do NOT want to climb the Inca Trail pregnant (if that's even allowed). Hopefully we'll cash flow a smaller trip to somewhere like Puerto Rico, Mexico, or Ireland that is cheap from Boston, but "real life" stuff is coming first right now.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?
Ideally, I'd like to get to pay off the dental stuff in time and then make more e-fund contributions. There's more car trouble on the horizon, however :-/

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