April/May Check-In

als1982 · May 2015

TGIF and time for monthly check-in!! (Plus, it's May Day, my favorite childhood holiday!)

April

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?

May

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?

GTKY Bonus

This month, as part of your monthly check-in post, why doesn't everyone ask their own GTKY question for the entire board to answer?

Xstatic3333 · May 2015

als1982 said:
TGIF and time for monthly check-in!! (Plus, it's May Day, my favorite childhood holiday!)

April

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?
Much better. For the most part we stayed within budget, which means catching up for us right now instead of making progress, but it's something. Our achilles heel was gardening purchases but all could be absorbed.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?
We shifted from a debt-payoff to savings and retirement strategy, and made a much more realistic budget. My dive instructor class and associated expenses ended. Also, our dog (knock on wood) hasn't had to go to the vet in a while and his new-dog vaccines are finally done. Taking a hit to our e-fund from the tax bill also forced us to get serious about sticking to the budget since we're not comfortable at all with how low it is.

3. What were your greatest achievements?
Staying on-budget while in FL for my instructor exam.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?
Gardening and landscaping purchases: fertilizer, raised beds, soil, tools, shrubs, etc.

May

1. What are your goals for this month?
Resume putting $400/month to our e-fund, and have me ready to give 10% to my Roth IRA again starting in June.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?
We consolidated H's student loans, lowering the payment from $408 to $208 a month. His loans are only at 2.5%, so it doesn't make sense to prioritize them until all other debt is gone. The difference is going to straight to our e-fund, as will any savings from our new homestead property tax exemption.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?
I need to start slowly adding to our travel fund again. This is not for a big trip at this point, but we will need to hire a dogsitter or board our dog for a few weddings and camping trips we plan to take this summer. I'll start slow at $25 a paycheck.

GTKY Bonus

This month, as part of your monthly check-in post, why doesn't everyone ask their own GTKY question for the entire board to answer?

I'll start: Who is your celebrity crush? Mine is Chris Pratt.

AprilZ81 · May 2015

April

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? Pretty good actually! We are getting used to the tighter budget and stayed under budget in all categories (although two came in just under with just a few dollars left). I went through our credit card statements and DH was a bit lazy in entering in his spending, we were further ahead until I reconciled those statements.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Same stuff we always do, tracked spending and tried not to over spend.

3. What were your greatest achievements? I opened up and maxed out my ROTH and DH made a large contribution to his. Rough math has us contributing 16% of our income to retirement for 2014. With all of my free time I did some hard calculations and research and we are on track to retire with $2 million even if I don't work another day in my life (which I will, God willing).

We also used our tax refund and a hefty family discount to pay cash for a new HVAC. It is nice to not have that hanging over our heads going into the summer (our old unit was 22 years old) and even nicer to save so much money and still not have another bill to pay.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? DH spent a lot of money on his bar (by my standards anyway). The small trips to Home Depot really add up and I've not had the guts to add it all up. He doesn't ask for much and he has wanted to do this since we put in an offer on the house.

Here is the "before", the one cabinet and plumbing was there and we are using my old dorm fridge for his beer. He kept the cabinet but made his own counter top, built the frame, bought a new sink, and we bought a pre-fab cabinet to go on the other side of the fridge.

The "after".

May

1. What are your goals for this month? Nothing specific for this month, I'm still looking for a job and I have an appointment with a fertility specialist.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? I did update our budget to account for my unemployment, but 95% of it is going to savings goals. We upped our fun money just a little to give us some breathing room and also increased our HELOC payment (back to what we were paying before I lost my job) and our donation to church.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? Now that the bar is done I'm hoping that our trips to Home Depot slow down. I need to strip wallpaper and repaint a bedroom but we just need to buy paint, we have the stripping materials already. We've done our spring planting and won't do our summer flowers until the beginning of June so this shouldn't be a problem.

GTKY Bonus

This month, as part of your monthly check-in post, why doesn't everyone ask their own GTKY question for the entire board to answer?

@xtatic3333 My celebrity crushes are Chris Helmsworth (Thor), Chris Pine (the new Star Trek movies) and Brett Dalton (Agent Ward on Agents of SHIELD)

My question for everyone: What is your favorite summer activity (not on vacation)? Mine is to grill out with friends and family and hang out on the back deck.

jessica490 · May 2015

April

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

Overall we did pretty well. Didn't spend a lot and saved a good amount of $ towards our mortg principle and house dp fund

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

Just being cautious with spending

3. What were your greatest achievements?

Saved a lot, Condo went under deposit

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

Nothing I don't think

May

1. What are your goals for this month?

To enjoy our vacation that we leave for on Sunday! We've worked really hard since last summer/fall to save up to get out of this condo. Keep saving towards our house DP and move into parents house at the end of the month. We will cut some major bills out once that happens!

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

moving in with my parents will free up a lot of money!

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

Nothing for now, we will be in good shape.

GTKY Bonus

This month, as part of your monthly check-in post, why doesn't everyone ask their own GTKY question for the entire board to answer?

What is your favorite beach you've ever been to?

formerlyGDaisy09 · May 2015

April

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

It was a bit of an expensive month, but a lot of that was planned and saved for (though the credit card balance stressed me out a bit until I subtracted out the things I'm getting reimbursed for and the things we'd saved and planned for)

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

we didn't do much differently this month, although a lot of the spending we've discussed in the past few months happened in april (new guest room mattress, wedding and shower gifts...)

3. What were your greatest achievements?

We're moving forward with home renovations. we've got plans for the basement, and replacing the windows, and we're planning on installing solar as part of a local solarize initiative. I feel good about doing this all this year so the house will be in tip top shape when baby arrives, we're going to have to finance a small portion of it, but we've already budgeted that out, and tried to overestimate expenses and did not count electricity savings from solar into the budget.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

a little extra garden spending...I'm rationalizing it will mean lower grocery bills this summer.

May

1. What are your goals for this month?

keep chugging a long, and get the basement started!

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

a few more checks at the grocery store, H has gone a little rogue with his "needs" sorry H, fancy protein bars that cost $1 each do not make a good snack.

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

A little work on extra spending would be good. however we've moved from saving to spending on the basement project, so that's always a tough transition.

GTKY Bonus

This month, as part of your monthly check-in post, why doesn't everyone ask their own GTKY question for the entire board to answer?

@Xtatic3333 I guess maybe David Boreanaz

@Aprilz81 My favorite activity is gardening

My question for everyone is, are you crafty? if so what do you do? if not is there anything you wish you could do?

I'm a kintter and quilter. I also bake and have dabbled in cake decorating.

hoffse · May 2015

April

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

Very good - we had money leftover at the end.

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

Nothing different - just reminded H to check the budget sheet more often.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

Getting my first reimbursement for my tax LLM processed... that's a few thousand bucks that I can finally put back into our cashflow!

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

Eating out. It's always eating out. Sigh.

May

1. What are your goals for this month?

Stay under budget with house projects and a bachelorette party I am attending this weekend.

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

Nothing - just keep tracking every penny

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

Probably our slush fund. I might start sending part of it to debt. H and I are talking about it.

GTKY Bonus

This month, as part of your monthly check-in post, why doesn't everyone ask their own GTKY question for the entire board to answer?

1. My celebrity crush is Jonathan from Property Brothers. I'm kind of in love with him (in a non-creepy way, I promise).

2. My favorite summer activity is going to the lake and grilling out

3. The best beach I've been to is right off of 30A in Florida, a few miles outside of Seaside. It's private, and we're blessed to have a family friend with a house ON the beach... so I've never seen more than a dozen people there in all the times we've visited. The beach itself is awesome, but the lack of people is the real winner.

4. I'm fairly crafty, but I don't make time for it like I should. I swear I will sew my own curtains eventually...

Xstatic3333 · May 2015

@hoffse definitely Team Jonathan as well! I hear ya.

lifeonthehill · May 2015

April

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? Good! I splurged a little in some areas and we cut back in others.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Nothing. I have been grocery shopping much more often. It kind of sucks.

3. What were your greatest achievements? Just kept plugging away. We are making progress but haven't completed anything yet.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? We under budgeted for my fall semester by $500. We are scrambling to get the money together by June 1st now.

May

1. What are your goals for this month? Save $1,250 for the new car, $500 for my fall semester, and $500 to pay off an old debt to H's grandparents. We are being incredibly ambitious.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? I am proctoring the SAT's and 4 AP exams in the next two weeks. That should give me about $400 for my fall semester.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? I don't want to change anything right now. It is going well.

als1982 · May 2015

OMG @AprilZ81 your new bar looks great!!

April was pretty good to us!

1. Not bad but we did end up with a little extra on the credit card, but we got that paid off yesterday.

2. We cut our grocery shopping and eating out this month pretty drastically. I haven't been to the store in 3 weeks, and don't plan to go again until we get back from our trip. I think in total, we've saved at least $300.

3. Killing my student loan! It's now at less than $1,500 and should be gone before we even get back from our trip.

4. We had to replace the wiring and spark plug in my car ($500), a larger number of birthdays to buy gifts for, and little things for our trip.

May

1. Start on H's student loan. It has a balance of $58,000 and we're hoping it kill it in 15 months or less. Also, get closer to topping off our bathroom remodel fund. Right now we have $7,000 and are hoping to spend no more than $10,000.

2. We'll be starting TTC this month, and London/Paris/Norway is our 'last hurrah' which means that the $1,000 line item in our monthly budget for travel will be reallocated elsewhere.

3. Not going over on entertainment and miscellaneous. Hopefully continue to cook and eat healthier meals at home.

GTKYs:

Don't judge me, but Daniel Craig.
I love just being outside in the summer. Also, baseball and soccer games.
I'm a Kansas girl who loves the ocean. Best would be between Bondi in Sydney and Wailea on Maui.
And I struggle with finding the time, my cheapness and being a perfectionist - not a great mix for craftiness.

als1982 · May 2015

Oh, and my GTKY question: What is your best money saving or money making tip?

lifeonthehill · May 2015

@xtatic3333 My celebrity crush is Ray Ramano.

AprilZ81 I just love working at my moms daycare honestly. I spend two hours a day playing in a pool with kids and getting an awkward tan. What could be better?

jessica490 I went to a beach in St. Lucia when I was a kid and I just loved it. The water was warm and the sand was so fine.

formerlyGDaisy09 I can sew up a storm. I really wish I could make a cake look as pretty as I can make it taste. Haha.

jessica490 · May 2015

Love that bar April!! Good job!

Fav summer activity- Kayaking

Celeb crush- I love Vin Diesel and his arms ( I like Daniel Craig too!)

Crafts- I Love to scrapbook

Beach- My fav beach would be Megan's Bay in St. Thomas

Best money saving tip- Use coupons

smbenevides1989 · May 2015

April

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

Eh, alright. We did get a little sloppy and spent $300 more than I allocated for that wasn't towards debt payoff.

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

Well, we spent the extra cash on groceries and eating out. So not a big help.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

We were able to save $877!

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

Eating out and grocery shopping.

May

1. What are your goals for this month?

We need to save as much as we can for closing costs because we will be making an offer on a piece of land!

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

We tightened up our budget big time and I'm back at meal planning to help curb the spending.

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

Savings! Work on the dining out and grocery budget Per usual.

GTKY Bonus

1. Who is your celebrity crush?

Chris Hemsworth

2. What is your favorite summer activity (not on vacation)?

Sitting outside and grill.

3. What is your favorite beach you've ever been to? Hampton Beach in New Hampshire

4. Are you crafty? if so what do you do? if not is there anything you wish you could do?

I can bake and create cakes. I also make and sell bows, bowties, bow holders, diaper cakes, canvas boards, etc. It's my hobby.

bmo88 · May 2015

April

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

Given we anticipated spending $850 outside of our normal budget this month, I think we did awesome. We had to register my vehicle ($400) and then install a whole house humidifier ($450). Knowing that, I strategically planned to do a pantry/freezer clean out challenge. We basically lived off our reserves for the month of April and only ate out twice (IHOP and Taco Bell) and then I had to go shopping once, but only spent $30. So that really helped keep our expenses balanced.

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

As mentioned above, we did a pantry/freezer clean out and that kept our food expenses low. Now, I am shopping the sales to re-stock our freezer.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

I brought in an extra $500 from side hustles this month (tutoring and consulting). So that helped pad our savings.

DH finally asked for a raise and received $2,500. So that helps tremendously.

We finally got to 4 months emergency savings! That's a relief. As a result, we have increased out debt repayment amount by $350 a month, which has cut our pay back length from 3 years to 2.5 years. That's so exciting for us.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

Nothing major. Just majorly frustrated that we have been delayed in opening Roth IRAs because of paperwork issues (I need to get a notarized medallion signature and DH has had issues getting his identity verified). We are hoping to finish setting it up in May.

May

1. What are your goals for this month?

Open our Roth IRAs and begin funding them.

Continue our debt repayment plan.

Increase side hustle funds or at least maintain.

Begin negotiating a salary raise for myself.

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

More detailed analysis of our budget and spending. Be more intentional about creating a spending plan to track expenses.

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

Our debt repayment funds and making sure to free up that amount.

Our Roth IRA contributions once we get it set up.

als1982 · May 2015

bmo88 said:
April

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?
Given we anticipated spending $850 outside of our normal budget this month, I think we did awesome. We had to register my vehicle ($400) and then install a whole house humidifier ($450). Knowing that, I strategically planned to do a pantry/freezer clean out challenge. We basically lived off our reserves for the month of April and only ate out twice (IHOP and Taco Bell) and then I had to go shopping once, but only spent $30. So that really helped keep our expenses balanced.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?
As mentioned above, we did a pantry/freezer clean out and that kept our food expenses low. Now, I am shopping the sales to re-stock our freezer.

3. What were your greatest achievements?
I brought in an extra $500 from side hustles this month (tutoring and consulting). So that helped pad our savings.

DH finally asked for a raise and received $2,500. So that helps tremendously.

We finally got to 4 months emergency savings! That's a relief. As a result, we have increased out debt repayment amount by $350 a month, which has cut our pay back length from 3 years to 2.5 years. That's so exciting for us.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?
Nothing major. Just majorly frustrated that we have been delayed in opening Roth IRAs because of paperwork issues (I need to get a notarized medallion signature and DH has had issues getting his identity verified). We are hoping to finish setting it up in May.

May

1. What are your goals for this month?
Open our Roth IRAs and begin funding them.

Continue our debt repayment plan.

Increase side hustle funds or at least maintain.

Begin negotiating a salary raise for myself.

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

More detailed analysis of our budget and spending. Be more intentional about creating a spending plan to track expenses.

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

Our debt repayment funds and making sure to free up that amount.

Our Roth IRA contributions once we get it set up.

I love a good side hustle! I recently signed up for Gigwalk and Fiverr, which are pretty cool.

cbee817 · May 2015

April

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? We did well- $1500 went to savings, about $1200 went to our vacation fund. I added 1% to my 401K, so I'm now at 12.5% (get 1.5% from employer- we also have a pension so that's why it's low). With my raise, I can actually move another 1% and my income won't be lower than it was earlier in the year- might end up doing that next month.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Kept our usual budget- not much different. The $1200 for our vacation fund was from our tax returns.

3. What were your greatest achievements? Kept to the savings plan.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? Not really anything that I can think of.

May

1. What are your goals for this month? $2,000 more for savings (it's a 3 paycheck month for me!), move $5,000 to Roths

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? Keep to budget and transfer some of our savings to our Roth accounts. Not much different- just keep plugging away.

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

GTKY Bonus

This month, as part of your monthly check-in post, why doesn't everyone ask their own GTKY question for the entire board to answer?

1. Who is your celebrity crush? Justin Timberlake

2. What is your favorite summer activity (not on vacation)? Going on picnics with DH and the girls

3. What is your favorite beach you've ever been to? Poipu Beach in Kauai

4. Are you crafty? if so what do you do? if not is there anything you wish you could do?

I like to think so- I've been sewing since I was 6. I've made my girls dresses, stuffed animals, doll clothes, pillowcases, embroidered hoops for their room, and just started quilting about a year ago. Love making things- it's a great outlet.

Do you have a goal for the summer? Mine is to start working out in the morning- get about an hour in a day before I have to go to work.

simplyelise · May 2015

April

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? Good! We had $11 left in the april budget yesterday and used $5 to buy nyquil last night lol.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Same old same old, loved our first month using the everydollar.com budget tool.

3. What were your greatest achievements? Got the SL under 40k!! We're on track for the loan to be paid off in June 2016!

4. What were your biggest downfalls? Not anything huge, just got tight on groceries again at the end of the month, but we made it!

May

1. What are your goals for this month? Three paycheck month for me. We'll be putting $3600 to debt, $100 to car repair/replacement. Also starting a sinking fund for gym memberships which come back around next february.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? We're putting almost my whole extra paycheck towards debt, so I guess that's different.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? Just got to keep sticking with it. We both feel very good about how smoothly budgeting has gone the last few months. We've got some weddings and visits coming up, so I'm hopeful we will plan ahead well and limit extraneous spending.

1. Who is your celebrity crush? Adam Scott! (especially as Ben on Parks and Rec)

2. What is your favorite summer activity (not on vacation)? Staying inside? I don't do well with heat and humidity.

3. What is your favorite beach you've ever been to? Indian Ocean Coastline

4. Are you crafty? if so what do you do? if not is there anything you wish you could do?

I like knitting and I'm not half-bad at art. I wish I made more time for it.

5. Do you have a goal for the summer? DH and I have a devotional (sacred marriage) that we want to start going through this summer. we've never done something like that before, so I"m excited for it.

Wulfgar · May 2015

April

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

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? April is our COLA increases at both of our work places. In total we got roughly $4200 per year in raises that helps.

3. What were your greatest achievements? Being able to shift some money towards misc. for eating out a little more each month. The increase is only $80 a month.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? Having too many other things that we would love to spend our money on and the small emergencies that come up.

May

1. What are your goals for this month? My main goal is try to get my credit card paid off prior to paying for for our roof and siding.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? Need to just focus on this a little more and do a little less spending on other things.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? Need to do a better job of allocating my extra that I don't put towards my credit card.

GTKY Bonus:

1. Celebrity Crush: Colbie Smothers
2. Favorite Summer activity: I like hiking in the woods and grilling outdoors as long as it isn't too hot and humid. I also like going to the pool.
3. Favorite Beach: I like Gem Beach on Catawba Island on Lake Erie. I need a beach where I can swim.
4. Are you crafty: Does baking cookies count?
5. Goal for Summer: Bond with my family more.

dragonstarjk · May 2015

April

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? Pretty good overall. We seemed to have a little bit of wiggle room which helped cover a few unexpected expenses.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Nothing specifically, but my raise kicked in in March so I think I'm just starting to feel the effects of that. I also closed my business bank account and transferred the money ($300ish) to one of our savings accounts.

3. What were your greatest achievements? Upping my 401K contribution to 12%; upping my Roth IRA contribution to $150/month; starting a savings account for our 10 year anniversary trip to Europe (we have 4 years to plan and save)

4. What were your biggest downfalls? H had some medical issues come up that he needed some testing for, so we're still waiting to see what we will owe for that once insurance has paid. I'm thinking we will be able to cash flow it but won't be sure until we see the bills. Also, we had to hire a surveyor to the tune of $700 to survey our lot so we can apply for a variance to build our front porch. That will be paid out of our front porch fund and hopefully replenished before we actually have to pay for the porch.

May

1. What are your goals for this month? Submit our variance application; make sure we have enough saved for our trip the first week in June

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? Be cautious about extra spending and our grocery budget this month

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? I'd like to look at our retirement planning and see if we are on track. I would like H to open an Roth IRA and start making contributions, but I need to find out what the minimum is to open it.

GTKY Bonus:

1. Celebrity Crush: Heath Ledger or Orlando Bloom. Or Jude Law....
2. Favorite Summer activity: Going for walks w/ H; we have an awesome system of walking paths along the creeks through town
3. Favorite Beach: Ka'anapali Beach in Maui

4. Are you crafty: Yep. I have baked and decorated cakes for the past four years as a side business. I also paint, scrapbook, collage, draw.....I was an art major

5. Goal for Summer: Be more active! Focus on creating quality time w/ H and the dogs instead of just staying inside being couch potatoes.

kmurphy2131 · May 2015

April

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

We did okay. We went on a vacation and we indulged a bit but we actually came in $350 under budget (we had $300 of gift cards to use while we were there so I was pretty spot on with my estimates!) I had a goal to save $1400-1500 and we fell a little short at only $1200.

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

Nothing.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

Budgeting and saving appropriately for our vacation so that I didn't have to feel stressed about what we were spending.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

I overspent on groceries and purchased barstools for our kitchen which dipped into what I was hoping to save. I had been looking for stools to fit our new space for two months so I was pretty excited to find them & I didn't worry too much about price (we have a really weird height counter so I needed weird height chairs) I also overspent in my personal money fund but I will just take a smaller amount this month to even it out. I'm not worried at all about that, I got some new work blouses (desperately needed), new dresses for our vacation (not needed...but I won't buy more this summer) so I just won't need to spend this month.

May

1. What are your goals for this month?

To stay on track with the budget, and try and work within my lower grocery & personal spending budgets after last month.

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

Update our budget daily, I had been doing it only weekly this month for some reason.

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

No specific areas. We just need to get back on track after moving in March and going on vacation in April.

blondie42107 · May 2015

als1982 said:
April

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?
Not horrible but not great.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?
---
3. What were your greatest achievements?
---
4. What were your biggest downfalls?
We ate out WAY TOO MUCH!

May

1. What are your goals for this month?
Stick to the budget better.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?
I need to update our spreadsheet more often. I slacked last month.

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

GTKY Bonus

This month, as part of your monthly check-in post, why doesn't everyone ask their own GTKY question for the entire board to answer?

vlagrl29 · May 2015

I haven't went thru my receipts yet, but I know that April was great because we were out of town for 8 days which was budgeted for. I know we spent more on clothing for DD for spring and summer, but that's really the only category we went over on. For May I would like to keep putting more money back in savings because we had to take out $1100 last month for a repair on DH's car - and I about cried when I had to take that much money out of that account.

1. Celebrity Crush: I've always enjoyed Ewan McGreggor, Jude Law, and Johnny Depp
2. Favorite Summer activity: Going to the pool with DD and spending so much time outdoors watching her play.
3. Favorite Beach: Poipoo (sp?) in Kaua'i

4. Are you crafty: Nope! DH is way craftier than myself.

5. Goal for Summer: Spend as much outdoors as possible and keep learning more advanced yoga poses. I want to learn as much as possible before I get pregnant with #2 next year so I can keep practicing when I'm pregnant.

CrazeRIRunner · May 2015

April

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

Could have done better, bought a few things I wanted but did not really need.

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

Consolidated credit cards into one loan.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

Getting rid of my credit card debt (I know I transferred it but it still feels good seeing 5 balances at 0)

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

Shopping splurges for when I budget too tightly.

May

1. What are your goals for this month?

To try and drop the loan balance by almost $700-$1000.

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

Limit unnecessary spending.

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

Little treats. (I purchased a $30 tank top on Friday from Etsy.)

GTKY Bonus

This month, as part of your monthly check-in post, why doesn't everyone ask their own GTKY question for the entire board to answer?

What is your favorite spring time activity?

April/May Check-In

Re: April/May Check-In

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