Fall Budgets

vlagrl29 · August 2015

Is anyone else adjusting their budgets for the school year. I do this every August as DD starts pre k and dance this week. Our grocery budget is so much better after buying 1/3 of a cow a couple months ago. In July we only spent $375 for the month on groceries. The 2 categories I would like to be strict on are eating out and random store purchases. Goal is to keep it within $150 for eating out and $150 on store purchases. I also am going to budget $120 on household items. I don't do the envelop system because I feel we stay within budget on most items already BUT I think I will take out $150 in cash every month for eating out since that is what we slip up on. Our 6 year anniversary is in October so I will pad an extra $100 in there for that.

We have to be tight on things until DH gets this building built - hoping to break ground within a couple weeks fingers crossed. He will be bringing in $3400 ($1k goes to studio rent for business) and I will be brining in $600 for private lessons and as usual all gig money I make will be split between savings and retirement.

Do you guys have any goals for the upcoming season? Fall is busy for us so I hope we can keep our goals going.

hoffse · August 2015

We have several black tie things coming up in the next few weeks. Thankfully, H owns a tux and I'm going to try rent the runway to keep costs down for me. I'm trying to rent dresses that will work with shoes and accessories I already have.

We aren't exchanging gifts for birthdays this year since we just remodeled the kitchen - we're saying that the kitchen is our gift to each other!

We have a few more doors to panel this fall, but we already have most of the supplies for that project. I anticipate spending less than $200 on house projects between now and the end of the year. That's a relief and a HUGE change from the last 12 months, which have pretty much been non-stop house projects.

Other than finishing the doors, we're just trying to stash as much money away as possible so that we can have a bit of a shopping spree over our Christmas trip to Germany and Belgium. I'm excited to bring back handmade Christmas decorations for everybody! One of the markets we are going to visit is nothing but handmade items, and supposedly there are elves that watch to make sure everybody follows the rules

I can't wait to have a non-mass-produced Christmas!

short+sassy · August 2015

@vlagrl29, good luck with breaking ground on the new building!

Fall is REALLY busy for me and H, as it has been for the last 3 weeks also, as we work on rehabbing the duplex I just bought. I'm hoping to have the larger unit ready to be rented out by October 1st and the smaller unit by November 1st.

Construction is a lot of work and time. Finding and qualifying tenants, along with conducting showings, is also a lot of time. I will be breathing a big sigh of relief once all that is done, but it's still at least a couple months out until I can return my life to a bit of normal, lol.

csuave · September 2015

H is in talks with his temp employer about a FT job with potential to start in a couple of weeks. No concrete offer yet but I'm hopeful that it will come. If it does I am going to adjust the budget to start saving more for retirement and house projects, spending more on food/entertainment and maybe hire a cleaning lady.

If an offer doesn't come, it will be staying the course with the current budget.

vlagrl29 · September 2015

short+sassy said:

@vlagrl29, good luck with breaking ground on the new building!
Fall is REALLY busy for me and H, as it has been for the last 3 weeks also, as we work on rehabbing the duplex I just bought. I'm hoping to have the larger unit ready to be rented out by October 1st and the smaller unit by November 1st.
Construction is a lot of work and time. Finding and qualifying tenants, along with conducting showings, is also a lot of time. I will be breathing a big sigh of relief once all that is done, but it's still at least a couple months out until I can return my life to a bit of normal, lol.

Thanks - sometimes it seems it will never happen. Hoping that once ground is being dug up the process will move a lot more quickly. All DH is waiting on now is to hear back from the city that all the departments approved his architectural plans which we thought they already approved back in March. Cities are such a pain to deal with. He is now acting as his own general contractor since his last one quit back in May. He did find a really good builder to do consult work with him to make sure everything is going well since DH doesn't have the construction expertise a true builder has. So far DH has found all vendors to do it within budget but it's still tight! And he will have to pay himself money since he won't be able to be a photographer as much during this time building a studio. CRAZY! I was thinking once the construction process happens I can post photos on this board so everyone can see the process.

blondie42107 · September 2015

Similar here. Preschool starts back up for DS1 next week. Tuition plus regular daycare (this will be less since DS1 will be in school 3 days a week). We've been doing better with our grocery budget and I think our eating out will go down with being back in the school routine. Heating costs will start going up.

MissKittyDanger · September 2015

We don't have kids yet, so budgets are different for us. Right now things are tighter than normal because we're aggressively paying credit.

My mum use to say this time of year was most expensive with back to school and my bday.

I think fall budget is weird right now, as I've got more lee-way in October. It's a 3 pay month for me, so I'm able to drop a good chunk into savings and still have money left over for myself. We try to save money every few months by going to CostCo and loading up on meats, coffee, cat litter {bigger box, same price as grocery store *scowl*}

Side note: idk if anyone is Canadian on this board, but Americans also may want to read up on this. Apparently Canada is in a recession

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-hit-recession-economic-growth-shrank-second-quarter-123403348--business.html

formerlyGDaisy09 · September 2015

We're in flux this fall, with the house under construction and the baby due at the beginning of december we know there are just going to be lots of one-time expenses that we have to deal with. Our goal is to manage most of that without having to dip into our savings too much!

We're playing the balancing act of cutting back on everything we can (serious discussion over groceries happens every week, and we just decided that the dogs need a less expensive diet), and enjoying our last few months as "the two of us". We've got what we need to cover my and baby's max-out of pocket in savings. so we're lowering savings on our priority list and are aiming to cash-flow as much of the construction as we can (rather than building it into our construction refinance and having to pay interest on it).

We're also trying to spread out bigger baby-related purchases over the next few months...and preparing to take advantage of the one-time registry completion discounts for big items I don't expect we'll receive as shower gifts, or at least I'd like to be prepared to purchase them if we have to (crib, car seat, stroller). We already paid for half of the glider/recliner for the nursury (went for a nicer one in hopes that it will eventually become a piece of living room furniture).

We've not been big into date nights during this pregnancy, mainly because I have so many food aversions, but I would like to plan one more nice evening out or a spa day with H before we're a family of 3.

dragonstarjk · September 2015

Our budget is sort of out of whack with the porch project coming up and everything else that has come up. I think we'll probably just get through the rest of the year cash flowing as much as possible, and then at the beginning of the year we will iron out our new budget with porch payments, H's truck being paid off, and a few other things that need to be worked out before then.

splotch716 · September 2015

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

We're in flux this fall, with the house under construction and the baby due at the beginning of december we know there are just going to be lots of one-time expenses that we have to deal with. Our goal is to manage most of that without having to dip into our savings too much!

We're playing the balancing act of cutting back on everything we can (serious discussion over groceries happens every week, and we just decided that the dogs need a less expensive diet), and enjoying our last few months as "the two of us". We've got what we need to cover my and baby's max-out of pocket in savings. so we're lowering savings on our priority list and are aiming to cash-flow as much of the construction as we can (rather than building it into our construction refinance and having to pay interest on it).

We're also trying to spread out bigger baby-related purchases over the next few months...and preparing to take advantage of the one-time registry completion discounts for big items I don't expect we'll receive as shower gifts, or at least I'd like to be prepared to purchase them if we have to (crib, car seat, stroller). We already paid for half of the glider/recliner for the nursury (went for a nicer one in hopes that it will eventually become a piece of living room furniture).

We've not been big into date nights during this pregnancy, mainly because I have so many food aversions, but I would like to plan one more nice evening out or a spa day with H before we're a family of 3.

We just had our first last December. I love DD more than anything and wouldn't change our life at all. However, there are some things I took for granted when it was just the two of us. Being able to go out to movies whenever we wanted is something I miss a lot. We love movies. Since having DD we have seen 3. Being able to take a nap in the middle of the day on Sunday while watching football on the couch was awesome. Lastly, spending quality time with DH and being able to cuddle at night. It took us 6 months to realize that we needed to make sure we got at least one date night a month where it was just the two of us. Everyone told us that we would never sleep again but no one told us to find the things we love to do now and do them as much as possible.

Having DD is the best thing that has ever happened to us and I would not change it for the world. Now, the things we love to do involve her instead of just the two of us. Being a parent is one of the most challenging but most rewarding things for me and my DH.

jessica490 · September 2015

We don't have kids so there are no school budgets for us, but we have some household projects coming up:

-Our shed is being built and will be delivered at the end of the month so we have the final payment portion due.

- We are getting estimates on replacing our electrical panel

- We need to buy a leaf back blower as well as a roof rake and snow blower for the upcoming seasons

- get the chimney cleaned so we can start using the fireplace this fall/winter

formerlyGDaisy09 · September 2015

splotch716 said:

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

We're in flux this fall, with the house under construction and the baby due at the beginning of december we know there are just going to be lots of one-time expenses that we have to deal with. Our goal is to manage most of that without having to dip into our savings too much!

We're playing the balancing act of cutting back on everything we can (serious discussion over groceries happens every week, and we just decided that the dogs need a less expensive diet), and enjoying our last few months as "the two of us". We've got what we need to cover my and baby's max-out of pocket in savings. so we're lowering savings on our priority list and are aiming to cash-flow as much of the construction as we can (rather than building it into our construction refinance and having to pay interest on it).

We're also trying to spread out bigger baby-related purchases over the next few months...and preparing to take advantage of the one-time registry completion discounts for big items I don't expect we'll receive as shower gifts, or at least I'd like to be prepared to purchase them if we have to (crib, car seat, stroller). We already paid for half of the glider/recliner for the nursury (went for a nicer one in hopes that it will eventually become a piece of living room furniture).

We've not been big into date nights during this pregnancy, mainly because I have so many food aversions, but I would like to plan one more nice evening out or a spa day with H before we're a family of 3.

We just had our first last December. I love DD more than anything and wouldn't change our life at all. However, there are some things I took for granted when it was just the two of us. Being able to go out to movies whenever we wanted is something I miss a lot. We love movies. Since having DD we have seen 3. Being able to take a nap in the middle of the day on Sunday while watching football on the couch was awesome. Lastly, spending quality time with DH and being able to cuddle at night. It took us 6 months to realize that we needed to make sure we got at least one date night a month where it was just the two of us. Everyone told us that we would never sleep again but no one told us to find the things we love to do now and do them as much as possible.
Having DD is the best thing that has ever happened to us and I would not change it for the world. Now, the things we love to do involve her instead of just the two of us. Being a parent is one of the most challenging but most rewarding things for me and my DH.

most the things we do now, baby can join us for (at lease eventually), walks with the dogs, even some of our favorite places to eat-out (at least while she's in the snooze in the carseat stage). I would like one more meal at our favorite "special" restaurant where I think it's probably inappropriate to bring a baby, and maybe a nice spa day to just relax a little bit. in reality we don't eat out often (maybe once a month) and we haven't been to the movies in a few years (I generally dislike going to the movie theater). I have been able to take advantage of some cheap tickets to live theater in the area, and we *might* get in one more trip to a ballet the weekend before my due date (I'll be spending the extra $5/ticket on day-of tickets).

vlagrl29 · September 2015

We did 1 last meal out just the 2 of us the night before my induction. But honestly we did so much more together after baby was born because I had a rough pregnancy and stayed in a lot for those 9 months. DH and I still do 1 date night a month - it's something very important to us.

MissKittyDanger · September 2015

Irony, I found a really good site for meal planning. I think it will help budgets and stuff. I'm gonna give some of them a shot and see how it goes. I'm not into meal prep stuff, but why not?

http://newleafwellness.biz/2015/02/17/17-freezer-meal-prep-sessions-that-will-change-your-life/

vlagrl29 · September 2015

yes I need to get into crockpot freezer meals because sometimes either we are too busy or I'm too tired to want to cook.

MissKittyDanger · September 2015

@vlagrl29 I'm the same way except without a kid

short+sassy · September 2015

@MissKittyDanger, thanks for the link. Recently I've been trying to think of ways to make more homemade, healthy food...but without taking too much time. This is right up my alley for how to be as lazy as possible when I get home from work, lol.

MommyLiberty5013 · September 2015

I'm totally blowing our budget right now to beef up some of our emergency supplies prior to winter (just bought a generator and other things). And, I have to get new snow boots (the North Face ones I have are too tight after 3 kids). So, ShoeMall is having a 25% off with free shipping Labor Day sale and I just bought 4 pairs of $90 boots. I will be returning 3 pairs!

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