What’s that you say? The first of the month was a few days ago and I haven’t done my budget yet? Pshaw!
Well, it seems that every month I start with doom and gloom about how we mismanaged our budget, overspent on who-knows-what, and failed our budget goals!
But let’s talk about the good first, okay?
The good: We’re 17% of the way toward our $10,000 August goal. And we didn’t touch our savings this month—not at all. I also added 10% to our total monthly income by babysitting alone. And decided to put it all towards our Honeymoon Fund.
The ugly: I think we spent about $600 over our budget this month and our credit card is over the $1000 mark.
The good: The reason our card is so high is because it was Eric’s birthday which resulted in several what-the-heck-it’s-your-birthday-month! charges and we just charged our Seattle flights and hotel on the card. Seattle? Why yes! The Newlyweds are going to Seattle! Eric is going up for a firefighter test, so we figured—why not make a trip of it? (okay, okay, it was more like me being “Why should he get to go to Seattle and have all the fun? I’m going to get stuck at home sulking and doing laundry. Screw it—I wanna go too!”) And I refuse to take money from savings to pay for this trip!
The bad: In order to pay for the trip, and not break the bank, and bring our credit card back down, we’re going to have to be extremely frugal this month.
The good: I think we can manage. And February is a short month—so less days to spend money!
The best: I think I’ve decided that even though we always pay off our card in full every month, I get sick and tired of always seeing a balance on the card. I’ve realized that points aren’t as important anymore. And we always seems to be one paycheck behind. I think I’m ready to say goodbye to cards once and for all. (But still keeping them for credit report purposes and such).
Let’s do some mini-goals this month:
Goals for February
- Pay off big chunk of Credit Card
- Stop using Credit Card, unless for emergencies
- Do not dip into savings
- Have an awesome time in Seattle without breaking the bank!
- Get our savings up to 30% of our goal!
- Personal: Lose 5 pounds, Read Water for Elephants
How did your budget go? Any February mini-goals?
And for those of you that like to see the color-coded pie charts–come on, I know you love them, it’s okay!
8 comments
Just wondering…do you have 2 different savings accounts? one for your 10,000 dollar goal and one for your 1000 savings? or is that all bundled into one? My husband and i are working on paying off our credit card, then we are going to save save save. We want to start looking for a house by this time next year so saving a big chuck of change like that is a hard thing to do!
I hear you on giving up the plastic. We generally try not to use it with the exception of gas. But recently, we’ve had to put random things on it like a celebratory dinner out or stuff for the wedding. Those little things start adding up really quickly and before we know it, we’re in a hole again. We’re looking into a no interest credit card to use for wedding expenses so we don’t have to accrue interest on the balance. We’re also considering transferring the balance of one of our cards to it so maybe we can finally get ahead.
I think Seattle will be great and as long as you do it on a budget, it’ll be a nice trip that won’t break the bank.
I am SO glad I found your website! I am getting married this August and budgeting/saving money is definitely on our mind a lot, both for wedding expenses and other life expenses. Can’t wait to read more! I Enjoy your trip to Seattle! I live here so let me know if you have questions. 🙂
I think you guys should use the credit card for one thing, like gas, each month so that you still have and pay off a balance. Looks good for the credit score. Seattle sounds fun! I am glad you’re going to be able to go with him on the trip. Take lots of pics!
Have fun in Seattle! And definitely read Water for Elephants!
I’m a super big fan of the pie charts.
:0]]
I think a lot of people overspent in January from what I’ve seen – including myself! Must be a first month thing. ;0]
I am looking at January spending tonight… hopefully we did ok! In Feb, we are going to try and not dip into savings, and stay under our weekly grocery budget. Those are our goals! Have fun in Seattle!!! Such a fun city! Make sure to check out Fisherman’s Wharf and watch them throw fish back and forth to each other!
Kudos to your January budget, you really didn’t do bad at all! And you will have a blast in Seattle, I bet. I love the idea of paying off the credit card each month. That’s my goal too. Or to not have to have ANY balance on any of them at all, ideally! I’m getting there!