About My January 2009 Budget

Just wanted to point something out about my January 2009 Budget that might not be obvious at first glance.

It appears that my expenses are greater than my income in this month:

Beginning Balance - $850'
+ Income - $7,590
Subtotal - $8,440'
- Expenses - $8,129
Subtotal - $311
Save For Next Month - $311
Ending Balance - $0

But, my "expenses" includes $2,500 that I will transfer into our savings account to save for future months.

January 2009 Budget

Expenses- Jan
AUTO-Excise Tax - $0
AUTO GAS - BR - $250
AUTO-Insurance - $120
AUTO-Maintenance - $50
CASH-Auto Gas JR - $100
CASH-Clothing - $0
CASH-Dining Out - $120
CASH-Gifts - $0
CASH-Grocery - $400
CASH-Kids Allowance - $50
CASH-Parties - $100
CASH-School Lunch - $45
CASH-Spending - $160
DEBT-Equity Loan - $103
DEBT-Visa - $0
HOME-Cable/Phone - $181
HOME-Electric - $160
HOME-Water - $0
HOME-Furnace - $0
HOME-Mortgage - $2,328
HOME-Oil - $300
HOME-Trash - $0
KIDS-Bball - $120
KIDS-Misc. - $0
KIDS-Piano - $264
KIDS-Preschool - $0
MISC. - $300
MISC. - $350
PERSONAL-Cell Phone - $0
PERSONAL-Contacts - $0
PERSONAL-Life Ins. - $0
PERSONAL-Newspap - $8
PERSONAL-Rx - $20
PERSONAL-Braces - $100
PERSONAL-BR Sports - $0
PERSONAL-Vacation - $0
TRANSFER-To Sav - $2,500
TOTAL - $8,129


INCOME - January
1st Paycheck - $2,220
1st Commission - $3,000
15th Paycheck - $2,220
Church Pay - $100
Jewelry Pay - $50
Other - $0
Transfer from Savings - $0
TOTAL - $7,590


CASH FLOW - January
Beginning Balance - $850
'+ Income - $7,590
Subtotal - $8,440
'- Expenses - $8,129
Subtotal - $311
Save For Next Month - $311
Ending Balance - $0

I Think I'm On The Naughty List

Oh - it's so hard to blog when you've been bad!

I want to be gazelle - but the reality is that it's just not happening right now.

Every month I make up the budget. But I have been making a lot of extra money with my jewelry shop - and that extra money hasn't been going where it should. It has been slipping through the cracks. Lots of presents for the kids for Christmas and lots of clothes for me (I'm embarassed to admit).

I had great plans to put all the extra earnings into our new "Snowball Savings Account" (ING Direct). I had hoped that opening this account would inspire me to keep depositing every extra penny so I could watch it grow (and eventually, barring any major financial setbacks, using it to pay down our last debt).

Ugh.

I guess there'll be New Year's Resolutions (yuk!).

And my husband wants us to refinance - and include our last debt (home equity loan) in the refinance. This would technically have us being done with Baby Step 2 - which would be great - but somehow it feels like it would be cheating. I'm just not sure it's the right thing to do.

In any case, if we do refinance, it would be to a 15 year mortgage (we currently have 15 years left on a 20 year mortgage) and it would be at a lower interest rate (obviously) - just not sure about the equity loan. But I think we might have to because I don't think you can refiance if you have an equity loan outstanding - but I'm not really sure.

Anyway - so sorry that I haven't been around for all my blogging friends. I'm still here and I'll be here for the long haul. Hopefully I will be posting more often though.

Off to catch up on all of your blogs and all the Carnivals I have missed.

Hope you're all enjoying the Holiday Season! Hope to have better news in future posts!