March 2009 Budget

For March, our projected income is $6,590. This includes $600 that will be transferred from our Savings account. It also includes $150 from jewelry sales, which is $100 more than the usual $50 that I budget. This is because I will be doing a big craft show and anticipate making some extra cash. It also includes a commission in the amount of $1,300.

Our projected expenses is $6,527. This includes all our regular expenses including $200 towards our last debt (HELOC) and $1,000 to our "Snowball Savings Account". (We are putting this money aside because of worry about the economic situation in our country. If the storm passes, we will eventually put all this money on our last debt.)

This month's expenses also includes an additional $125 for a charity fundraiser we will be attending to benefit autism (listed under Misc.). It also includes $100 for new clothing for the children for spring clothes and shoes. (This might be a bit low, but I do have another $300 budgeted for summer clothes in June.) It also includes $300 for my daughter's braces because I had forgot my checkbook in Jan. and we missed our appointment in Feb. It also includes $50 for my cell phone as I will need to add some more minutes. (I use a prepaid phone only for important calls.) It also includes $256 for life insurance (which we pay annually instead of monthly).

Our projected savings by the end of March is $5,900. Of this, $4,400 will be in our Snowball Savings Account and $1,500 will be in our Regular Savings Account (and the $1,500 is including the $1,000 BEF).

Expenses
AUTO-Excise Tax	$0
AUTO GAS - BR	$200
AUTO-Insurance	$120
AUTO-Maintenance	$0
CASH-Auto Gas JR	$100
CASH-Clothing	$100
CASH-Dining Out	$120
CASH-Gifts	$0
CASH-Grocery	$500
CASH-Kids Allownce	$50
CASH-Parties	$0
CASH-School Lunch	$45
CASH-Spending	$200
DEBT-Equity Loan	$200
DEBT-Visa	$0
HOME-Cable/Phone	$181
HOME-Electric	$180
HOME-Water	$0
HOME-Furnace	$0
HOME-Mortgage	$2,327
HOME-Oil	$400
HOME-Trash	$65
KIDS-Bball	$0
KIDS-Misc.	$0
KIDS-Piano	$0
KIDS-Preschool	$0
MISC.	$125
MISC.	$0
PERSONAL-Cell Ph	$50
PERSNAL-Contacts	$0
PERSONAL-Lif Ins.	$256
PERSONAL	$8
PERSONAL-Rx	$0
PERSONAL-Braces	$300
PERSONAL- Sprts	$0
PERSONAL-Vaca	$0
TO SAV E.D. Snowb	$1,000
TO SAV ING	$0
TOTAL	$6,527
INCOME	March
1st Paycheck	$2,220
1st Commission	$1,300
15th Paycheck	$2,220
Church Pay	$100
Jewelry Pay	$150
Other	$0
Transfer fr Savings	$600
TOTAL	$6,590
CASH FLOW	March
Beginning Balance	$0
'+ Income	$6,590
Subtotal	$6,590
'- Expenses	$6,527
Subtotal	$63
Save For Next Month	$63
Ending Balance	$0
SAVINGS FLOW	March
Beginning Balance	$5,500
+Transfer to ED sav	$1,000
+Trnsfer to ING sav	$0
Subtotal	$6,500
'- Trnsfer fr Savings	-$600
Ending Balance	$5,900
SAVINGS BALANCES
E.D. Snowball Total	$4,400
Ing Savings Total	$1,500
Total Savings	$5,900

Update

Current Savings: $4,500

Current Debt: $23,000

Current Mortgage: $219,000

Current Snowball (to Savings): $1,200


Extra Earnings This Week:
- Jewelry Sales: $80
- Church Nursery: $34
- Book Sales: $.75
Total: $114.75

Refinancing Reconsidered

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. Just seems like I haven't really had anything to report lately . . .

Today we did get an email from our mortgage broker checking in about refinancing, asking us if we wanted to go ahead. At first I assumed that meant the rate had gone back down to 4.5% (for a 15 year fixed) - but he said he would get back to me on that, so . . . we'll see.

I do feel a bit better about the idea of rolling the HELOC into the refinance because I was watching the Dave Ramsey show this morning (on dvr) and he just recommended that to a family that is in a similar financial situation as my family. He noted that they could then move past BS2 and work on building up the FFEF - which is what I really want to do.

So, I'm hopeful once again that maybe this will happen and get us moving forward again.

I know that we aren't really "stuck" right now, but it does feel a little like that. With us putting the snowball money into savings, it just doesn't feel like we're moving closer to our goals, even though I know inside that we are.

I guess it's just a tug of war between wanting to feel the security of having a lot in savings ("just in case") and the feeling of freedom from being close to debt free.

Daily Progress Report

THE GOOD:
Extra Earnings:
Associated Content: $4.89


COULD DO BETTER:
- 2DD bought lunch today. I should have made it for them.
- Going out to dinner for DH birthday today.

Want To Save On Your Electric Bill?

In recent months we have done a good job at lowering our electric bill by being diligent about turning off and unplugging electrical items when not in use.

In order to find ways to save even more, I decided to research the cost of using ordinary electrical appliances. I used a great tool called "Calculate Your Electric Cost" over at the Saving Electricity site. (I used $.12 as the cost for the electricity, which is the national average. Your cost could be different, but the list below will still be helpful in noticing which appliances cost the most to use.)

Clothes Dryer - $.48 per hour
Oven - $.48 per hour
Dishwasher - $.40 per hour
Toaster - $.15 per hour ($.01 per 5 minutes)
Microwave - $.15 per hour ($.01 per 5 minutes)
Coffee Maker - $.10 per hour ($.01 per 5 minutes)
Stove Top Burner - $.09 per hour ($.01 per 5 minutes)
Refrigerator - $.03 per hour ($.79 per 24 hours)
60 Watt Light Bulb - $.01 per hour ($.06 per 8 hours)
Laptop Computer - $0 per hour ($.04 per 8 hours)
Clock Radio - $0 per hour ($.01 per 24 hours)
27" Widescreen TV - $.01 per hour

Starting A New Price Book

I have decided that since Grocery prices have gone up considerably over the past few years, I really need to do a new Price Book.

They way I do a Price Book is to make an alphabetical list of all the items I normally buy at the grocery store. I then record the lowest price I have purchased each item for. This price becomes my target price. I try to never spend more than the target price for any item. I try to purchase enough at the lowest price to last me until it goes down to that price again.

Here are some of the low prices I know by heart and aim for at the grocery store:

butter: $1.50 lb
chicken/boneless: $1.79 lb
Doritos: $1.50
Hunts spaghetti sauce: $ .79 can
Old Spice deodorant: $1.50
paper towels: $ .50 each roll
paper plates: $.99 per 72 ($.013 ea)
pasta: $ .79 lb (gone way up!)
sandwich bread: $ .50 each loaf
Secret deodorant: $1.50
toilet paper: $ .19 each roll
wheat thins: $1.50 a box

Extra Earnings Progress

This week (so far), my extra income earnings are:

Jewelry Sales: $106
Church Nursery: $34
Ad Revenue: $ .75
Book Sales: $10
Ebates: $5
TOTAL: $155.75

I have decided to put a monthly balance of Extra Earnings Savings near the top of my sidebar to track my progress prominently (and inspire me to make more!).

Cash 4 Books!

I found this great site for selling your used books. It's called Cash4Books. They tell you up front which books they will accept and how much money they will give you for them. And, they pay the shipping costs to send them the books.

You just log on to their website, enter the ISBN number (number below the bar code) of your book, and it will tell you immediately if they will accept that book and how much money they will pay you for it! It's great!

After they receive you books and they inspect them for condition (they must be in good condition), they will either send you a check or deposit the money into your Paypal account (and you get a 3% bonus if you choose to use the Paypal option).

They also offer an Affiliate Program, where you can earn $5 for each person you refer to their site. (If you decide to join, please click on my referral link - the graphic above.)

Yesterday I checked on about 20 books and they only wanted 2 of them. But I'm going to get paid $10.00 for those books. I think that's pretty cool!

January Reflections

Now that January is over, I thought I'd take a look and see how I did for the month.

My jewelry sales were down, I know. I only made 5 sales totaling $104. I need to work on taking new photos and listing new items.

Noticed that the interest rate for ING has dropped to 2.178%. Emigrant Direct is still at 2.37%.

I haven't written anything for Associated Content for a long time. The $3.62 is just passive income from views to articles I already wrote (which is sweet!).

Extra Income:
Jewelry Sales: $104
Associated Content: $3.62
Ad Revenue: $16.01
Church Nursery: $120
Savings Interest: $9.45
TOTAL: $253.08

Not that close to my goal of $1,000 a month in extra income. Need to get focused!

February Budget

Expenses
AUTO-Excise Tax	$0
AUTO GAS - BR	$200
AUTO-Insurance	$120
AUTO-Maintenance	$0
CASH-Auto Gas JR	$100
CASH-Clothing	$0
CASH-Dining Out	$120
CASH-Gifts	$0
CASH-Grocery	$400
CASH-Kids Allowance	$50
CASH-Parties	$0
CASH-School Lunch	$45
CASH-Spending	$160
DEBT-Equity Loan	$100
DEBT-Visa	$0
HOME-Cable/Phone	$181
HOME-Electric	$190
HOME-Water	$0
HOME-Furnace	$0
HOME-Mortgage	$2,327
HOME-Oil	$550
HOME-Trash	$0
KIDS-Bball	$0
KIDS-Misc.	$0
KIDS-Piano	$264
KIDS-Preschool	$0
MISC.	$160
MISC.	$0
PERSONAL-Cell Ph	$0
PERSNAL-Contacts	$99
PERSNAL-Life Ins.	$0
PERSNAL-Newspap	$8
PERSNAL-Rx	$10
PERSONAL-Braces	$200
PERSNL-BR Sports	$0
PERSNAL-Vacation	$0
TOTAL	$5,284
TRANSFR To Sav EXPENSES+To Sav	$1,700 $6,984
INCOME	February
1st Paycheck	$2,217
1st Commission	$0
15th Paycheck	$2,220
Church Pay	$100
Jewelry Pay	$50
Other	$80
Transfer fr Savings	$0
TOTAL	$4,667
CASH FLOW	February
Beginning Balance	$2,523
'+ Income	$4,667
Subtotal	$7,190
'- Expenses+To Sav	$6,984
Subtotal	$206
Save For Next Mnth	$206
Ending Balance	$0
SAVINGS FLOW	February
Beginning Balance	$4,500
'+ Transfer to Sav	$1,700
Subtotal	$6,200
'- Transfer frm Sav	$0
Subtotal	$6,200
Cash In Home	$0
Ending Balance	$6,200

We started out this month with $2,523 in our checking account. This is unusual. We usually begin each month very close to zero (on purpose, because of our zero based budget). This $2,500 would normally have been transferred to our savings account in January, I just didn't get around to making the transfer. Then, February would have had us transferring money from our savings account. So, since I hadn't got around to it, it just made sense to leave those funds in there for the start of February.

Our income for February should be $4,667. Our expenses should be $5,284. So this is one of those months where our income from the month doesn't cover our expenses for the month. In the past this would have had us using our credit card to get by. Thank goodness those days are gone!! With a little planning, we can get by just fine. So, we have $2,523 leftover from last month, which will fill in the gap for this month and leave us with $1,700 extra that we can put into savings.