Financial Update -- May 2011

A little financial update for everyone since I just got around to moving some money here and there. 

Hubby got paid today (a bit early because of the holiday on Monday) so I decided to get the ball rolling on some transfers. 

Some of the money I already had set aside and the rest was added with this paycheck.

• Transferred $450.00 to our mortgage savings for 1/2 of the monthly mortgage payment (it's actually more than 1/2 our regular payment, but I like to have the account padded a little in case homeowner's insurance or property taxes go up)
• Transferred $501.07 to our credit card
• Transferred $240.82 to my college loan savings (loans not due until end of 2011/beginning of 2012, but starting to make "payments" to get a head start)
• Transferred $501.08 to our emergency fund
• Transferred $534.00 to our vacation savings (have to keep up with it if we want to go to Italy next year)
• Transferred $50.00 into my IRA (automatically deducted every month)

All of our bills are paid until the middle of June.  The emergency fund is almost back to the pre-layoff amount, which we'll finish next month.

End of Month--October 2008

Wow!  Another month gone.  The holidays are coming up so fast!

I am amazed with the current gas prices!  Hubby stopped for gas the other day even though he wasn't totally empty yet because he saw it for $2.299!  It cost him $36 to fill up!  Let's hope the prices stay this low or lower.  At least for a little while!

I've updated the sidebar.  Not much to really update, but I did it.  I also updated the NetWorthIQ for October.

We finally ordered the tires for my husband's truck.  They were really needed.  I saved and transferred the money to the credit card and then used it to pay for the tires.  They should be here in a day or two, then we'll make an appointment to have them mounted.  The total cost for four tires was $675!  Ouch!  But it is a worthwhile expense.  His safety is more important than money.  We researched the tires on tirerack.com and were very pleased with the reviews.  These tires should last a lot longer than the ones that came with the truck.  

Other typical end of month tasks:

• I transferred $45.59 from my round up fund to my emergency fund
• I transferred my VA benefit to my emergency fund
• I added any interest given at the end of the month.  We earned $9.22 this month in the emergency fund!  

I also figured out that I should be at $5,000 in my emergency fund in 9 months or less.  If you remember that was the original amount I wanted to save, then I upped it to $10,000.  I'll just be happy to make it to the halfway point because that's where we were before my husband was out of work for 2 1/2 months last year.  It will make me a lot more comfortable knowing we have that money to pay the bills just in case.

I also paid two bills for next month in advance.  Well, I used billpay and set the date for after the next pay period.  At least I don't have to worry about paying them.  The first was a $65 cell phone bill (2 cell phones--family plan) and the second was our electric bill of $159, which just keeps going up no matter how many times I turn things off.  I think it may be because we are on the budget plan though.

How does your electric bill compare?  Do you find it always going up?  Or have you found a way to keep your electric costs low?  I cannot wait until we are debt free so we can afford to put in a solar system!  It is one of the first things I want to do!

Finally...

I have never been so happy to see a pay period get here!  OK...that's not exactly true because all pay periods are good...more money always helps!  But this time with DH's mistake I was really looking forward to this one.  

And there are NO BILLS due for these next 2 weeks!  I can really put some money aside for DH's tires and hopefully he'll be able to get them really soon!  I've already replaced all the money I've "borrowed" from the other accounts.  Plus the normal transfer of $442.60 into the savings account for our mortgage payment.  

Getting into the routine of transferring 1/2 the mortgage payment every two weeks into the savings account it automatically gets pulled from was a great idea!  The mortgage is the first thing I "pay" every pay period.  I have never made a late payment or missed a payment!  And I know the money is always in the account when it's time for it to come out.

I don't expect to have any problems paying my bills, but if I did I would pay my mortgage and heloc first because I would never want to lose my home.  Second, I would make the truck payment because DH needs to get to and from work (though if we were really that bad off we would probably sell the truck and get a cheap, reliable vehicle--unless it was already paid off).  Lastly, I would pay the credit card.  Of course mixed in all that would be buying food, prescriptions, and paying for utilities.  Those would also be before the credit card.  

Of course all of this really doesn't matter if you plan well.  That's why we have an emergency fund.  If DH loses his job we don't have to make decisions on what to pay and what to not pay.  

And someday our plan is to not ever worry about it at all!  Our plan to payoff all our debt including our mortgage is a long term one for now, but once I can go back to work that will turn into a short term plan.  

• Everything I make will go towards debt!  
• Anything over what we've been currently living on from DH's paycheck will go towards savings.  

Right now it's just send whatever we can to pay down or off our debt.  Living below our means definitely helps though we don't deny ourselves either.  I have 2 more years (Spring, Summer, and Fall terms) of college to complete my B.S. degree along with my double minor and 3 certificates.  Once that is done I'll volunteer for a few years to get my foot in the door of my new career and still be available for my youngest son, who will still be in elementary school.  I'll be able to get a job again when he gets into middle school (my oldest will be in high school by then).

I can't wait to see how fast the debt disappears once I'm working again!  I almost want to see about getting a job sooner because of it, but I know I have to concentrate on my schooling and children first. Though if the right opportunity came along that still allowed me to do all the things I do with my boys, then I would consider it.

September Update

I finally got around to taking care of end of month activities.  Phew!  This year is just flying by!

I've updated my sidebar including NetWorth IQ.  Did you notice the truck payment?  I'm now under $7,000!  My last two payments have posted and the remaining balance is at $6,697.32!  I AM SO EXCITED!!!!  Sorry for screaming, but I just cannot contain myself.

My emergency fund is trickling along, but at least it's moving up.  It's now at $3,273.04 and I earned a whopping $8.65 in interest last month!  This is the most I've ever made in interest.

I earned a measly $0.29 interest in my checking account, which I promptly put in my round up fund, and $0.71 interest in my "mortgage" savings account.

I've already paid most of my bills for this month.  The credit card, cell phones, water/sewer/garbage, and the electric bill (which was horribly high for us at $153 and some change) have now been paid.  I only have two bills left for the month--other than the mortgage, which is automatically taken out in a couple of days.

I seriously need to go through our food and set up a menu plan so I can use all the food we have efficiently.  I know I'll be running out of a few items soon, but for the most part we have a lot of food to eat if I would only start writing it down!  That will help me save money on running out for food I don't really need yet.

Attempt to Get Back on Track...

...Or at least I'm going to try.  

I've updated everything on the sidebar now as well as NetWorthIQ.  It's not looking good, but I didn't expect it to what with the student loans being added to it all.

I made several payments to the truck loan.  We are now down to $7,131.24 left on it and I don't owe them another payment until January.  Of course, I'll continue to send them in because I want it gone!  My extra loan payment "savings" is up to $145.69 so I'll only need $87.07 to send in another extra payment along with my regular payment.

I received my homeowner's insurance statement.  The payment is due in December and is paid through my mortgage escrow account.  I would love to not have a mortgage escrow account, but they are required on VA loans.  As usual the policy covers some pretty stupid things like volcanic eruption, which may be needed if I lived in Hawaii, but I live in a flat state with barely a hill; and grave markers (is there something I don't know about?).  The good thing is that it looks like it will be going down $14.97 from last year's premium.  It's not much, but it'll still lower my monthly mortgage payment.  That's $1.25 a month that I can put towards something else.  

I have all my monthly bills paid for the rest of the month and we still have another payday to go this month!  The next bill is not due until the 7th of next month and it's the only one for the next two pay periods!  I've already made sure I did a big grocery shopping.  We are set for food other than refrigerated items we go through quickly.  I spent over $215 so it better last!  So I think this is a good time for auto maintenance.  I need an oil change and new battery and DH needs an oil change, some other routine maintenance yet to be determined, and a couple of new tires.  We'll have to do some pricing.  For tires we like to check them out on Tire Rack to get reviews and pricing.  We bought my new ones on there earlier this year.  We had them delivered to a local shop to be put on and we couldn't be happier with them.

I believe that may bring me up to date for now.  If I think of anything else, I'll add another post later.

Final Dentist Bill and Incoming Money

I received the last claim statement from the insurance company so on Wednesday I went into the dentist's office to settle up with them.  The final bill came up to $299.50 so my total out of pocket for all their dental work was $671.60.  I'm glad I took care of it and got it out of the way.

I'm now waiting for the remaining balance of my student loan to post to my account.  You may wonder why I take the full amount when I also get a grant.  The reason is that it still doesn't cover everything.  I only get $600 a term in grant money.  That is about the cost of my books in a fall or spring term, which I pay out of pocket and then reimburse myself with the loan.  My tuition is around $1,800.  Any left over goes towards paying down my credit card to prepare for the next term.  The remaining also covers my summer term costs, which I receive a small grant for but no student loans.  

This is what this term cost:

Tuition--$1,831.28 minus $600 Grant = $1,231.28 minus $2,722.50 = ($1,491.22) remaining.

Books/DVD's--$582.18 minus $1,491.22 = ($909.04) remaining.

That remaining $909.04 needs to be "saved" for the summer term's tuition, books, and supplies, as well as any additional supplies needed for this term.  I'll add whatever is extra from the spring term to the fall term's remaining balance, too.

Doctor/Dentist Bills, Red Cross, End of Month

I received a bill from one of my doctor's for an appointment I went to in December.  I've actually had 2 other appointments since that appointment, but for some reason they messed this one all up by putting in the claim 3 times!  Pretty unorganized of them!  So now I have to fit in a payment of $125.32 to them.  I'll take care of that this weekend and get it out in the mail on Tuesday.

I've also received some more of the claim forms for my boys' dentist appointments.  So far it looks like I'll owe them $209.30 at least until I get the last claim form.  I underpaid on a couple of appointments and overpaid on one.  This is not as big as a deal because I was pretty much expecting it.  Plus the dentist office has not sent me a bill as yet either.  So we'll wait and see on that one, but I'll probably go in as soon as I've received the last claim form and settle up with them.

On the sidebar you'll notice a banner for the American Red Cross.  They are one of the few organizations that I support and believe in.  I do not in any way receive money or endorsement from the Red Cross for placing the banner on my blog.  

Since today is the last day of the month I'll probably be closing everything out.  It looks like I'll have $38.17 to transfer over to my emergency fund (other than the normal $117) from my round up fund from the checking account.

These are the final month end numbers:

Groceries: $379.07

Dining Out: $249.53

Gas: $540.41

DH's Work Lunches: $108.06

I'm not sure if I've missed anything.  The progression bars will be updated in a week or so when the mortgage, truck payments, and emergency savings are shown to be updated in their systems so I can get exact numbers.  Though I believe the emergency fund will be above $3,000 and the truck loan will maybe be close to $7,000.

Been kind of lax...

...with everything!

Good thing I have all my bills paid right now.  I guess it's because I'm on "vacation" until school starts back up.  I need a regular schedule even if it is only at home.  

Luckily there haven't been any major expenses these past couple of days. *knocks on wood*

I'm waiting for the end of this 2-week pay period, which ends this Thursday night.  I'm hoping to see that I've stayed on budget.  We're cutting it kind of close this 2-week pay period.  I've already "paid" all my bills for the next 2-week pay period through bill pay -- well I've scheduled them anyway.  I decided to only pay the interest on the Heloc this month (plus extra just to round it up to the next dollar) and try paying by bill pay this time (usually I send a check).  We'll see how it goes.  I'll be putting the extra money towards paying off the truck loan.  I really want that truck loan gone!  Technically my next payment isn't due until November, but I'll be continuing to make payments anyway.

So here is my plan:

• Pay off truck loan early
• Start paying down Heloc until student loans come due
• Pay off student loans as quickly as possible
• Finish paying off Heloc
• Work on paying off mortgage early

The last two should be easier because I should be working again by then.  The student loan payoff will take a while at the beginning since I won't be working right away, but should take off once I'm ready to get a job.

Landline and Internet Service

I'm a little frustrated--OK, I'm A LOT frustrated with AT&T.  Just because they are becoming a monopoly again, they are able to do whatever they want with what they charge for their services.

We currently pay $37.95 for our DSL service with a voice line which we currently pay $12.45 for the basic residential service.  It was $11.25 last month, but I just found out they raised it without telling me first.  Nice!  Then they charge various fees and surcharges that total $10.07 for a total of $22.52 for the landline.

So we decided to look into naked DSL figuring we'll save a bunch of money by getting rid of our landline.  We'll also save because we'd have to get rid of our security system, too, which we would replace with our own self-made system.  The problem is that AT&T in an effort to continue earning as much as possible charges for the same DSL package $42.95 or $5.00 more since they'd be losing out on the landline charges. 

Talk about a rip off!

I know I'll still be saving money, but I'm so frustrated with them that I really don't know if I want to go through the hassle to get it all done.  I wish we had other options, but even if we went with another company we would still be paying AT&T because they own the lines.  So they would charge the other company to use them, who in turn would pass it on to us.

Then they try to shove their bundle packages down your throat.  I've figured it out before and we pay a lot less without the bundle package.  Our internet and landline was bundled automatically when we signed up, but they are not part of the bundled packages they try to sell.  Our dish plan is billed separately and I have it automatically deducted.  And our cell phones are separate with a family plan (used to be Cingular, but that also got bought out by AT&T like our BellSouth service) plus we get a discount with my husband's work.  I wonder how many people actually save money with a bundled service.  I suppose if you downgrade a service you would save.  We already have the minimum services other than the dish plan and internet.

They were stopped from becoming a monopoly in the past and now because of deregulation they are able to go right back to where they came from and become a monopoly again.  I guess history does repeat itself!

Free Samples, Town News, and Filing

I got some of the samples in today:

• Oatmeal Crisp sample
• Mario Badescu samples including: Enzyme Cleansing Gel, Special Cucumber Lotion, Glycolic Eye Cream, Drying Mask, Collagen Moisturizer SPF 15, Drying Cream, and Strawberry Face Scrub.

I also got the water/sewer/garbage bill today.  It went up to $68.00 from last month's $66.22 so I'll need to look into that, but they do say they are on conservation rates so the more used the more it costs.  We'll see.  

But the neat thing about getting the bill is that it comes with a little newsletter about what is happening in our city.  I knew they were building some new fire stations (3 to be exact), but what I didn't know is that the one replacing an old station I go by all the time is being built for free due to "an exchange site agreement" with Kohl's Department Store.  Apparently they agreed to pay for it to be able to build their new store on the main road where it would get more traffic instead of behind it on the street over.  

1. That is so cool that the city actually agreed to it and was smart enough to see a way to save us taxpayers money and still get a new fire station.  The entire city is a PUD so I supposed it only could take place since both sites were within the PUD regulations to make the switch.
2. I'm excited to know that we'll be getting a Kohl's and so close to where I live.  I've heard a lot about it, but I've never had one near me to shop.  I guess I'll see what all the fuss is about when they finally build it.  I don't expect that will be anytime soon because the old fire station is still there until the new one is built.

The other news I actually got on Saturday from my DH.  He stopped by our local Albertson's, which is across the street from where this new Kohl's is supposed to be, and he found out they are closing down.  We don't shop there much, but it is the closest grocery store for quick pick-ups and stuff.  The cool news though?  Publix bought them and will be opening up there after a little remodeling!  I love doing my grocery shopping at Publix.  The one we usually go to isn't really that far away, but this one will be much closer.  Yay!  

On filing news, I've started scanning a bunch of documents and magazines articles/recipes into folders on my computer.  I am determined to get my papers down to a minimum!  But it will be a long, long time before I'm totally done.  My goal is to do a little bit at a time while keeping up with anything new that comes in as well.  We'll see how it goes!  I also need to buy some more CDs so I can back everything up once I'm done.

2-Week Pay Period: July 31, 2008 and End of Month

It isn't often that both the end of a 2-week pay period and the end of the month coincide.  This was also the end of a 3-check month.

End of 2-Week:

• The first thing I decided to do is to redirect my extra 1/2 mortgage payment transfer amount of $442.60 to my new extra loan payoff savings.  I just don't really need it for the mortgage so I figure it'll do me more good paying off some debt.  So along with some additional funds I managed to move over there, I was able to make two additional payments on the truck loan.  So this month I've made payments for August, September, and October.  And I still have $90.03 left in the extra loan payoff savings.  When it reaches another payment, then I'll send it in as an additional payment.
  

• I paid $100 for my August credit card payment.  I only owed $19.00, but I'm used to paying extra.  Besides I've had to use it more often lately because of the boys' dentist appointments.  
  

• I scheduled our cell phone bill for August in the amount of $63.75 (that's for two phones).
  

• I paid $99.91 on a doctor's bill for what was left after copay and insurance.
• I transferred the blow money for my husband and me; and the allowance for the boys.
  

End of Month:

• Groceries: $213.59
• Dining out: $184.31
• Husband's Work Lunches: $138.10 (can you tell bringing his lunch to work isn't working?)
• Gas: $570.21 (it's going down!)
• Prescriptions: $8.20
• Dental: $313.70

All our bills are now paid through the next pay period due on August 14th.  I may still need to update some of the numbers in the sidebar later because:

1. the mortgage payment hasn't gone through yet and I like to see the exact loan amount remaining after the payment.
2. interest in the savings accounts are not showing yet.
3. I always check the truck loan after the checks have cleared as the total amount due is usually lower (I tend to overestimate the interest and underestimate the principal).

I believe that about covers this last 2-weeks and last month.  Let's hope August is a good one!

2-Week Pay Period: July 3, 2008

I'm a little behind due to some school work (I'm happy to say I received a 96% on my test yesterday) and I still have more to do (another test today and two papers due Monday).  So let's see if we can make this a bit quick today.

Because of the holiday (Happy Independence Day!) my husband got paid a day early!  YAY!  That helped out tremendously because I was in real need of groceries with the boys home for the summer eating everything!

This is what I did:

• Transferred $442.60 into savings account for 1/2 mortgage payment
• Transferred remaining $43.00 ($8.60 each) into 5 virtual savings accounts (set up in my Quicken program): Auto Purchase, Christmas, Home Improvement, Investment Property, Vacation.
• Transferred the boys' allowances ($6 and $2) and our blow money ($25 each) into virtual accounts.
• Transferred $100.00 into virtual Auto Insurance savings account to prepare for January payment.
• Paid bills due prior to next payday: $100 to credit card (already set up), $62.53 to cell phones (already set up), $14.93 to medical bill, $300 to heloc payment (interest and principal).
• Got my husband's medicine refill: $5.48
• Bought $111.17 worth of groceries.

We now have about $467.00 left to last until the next payday on July 17th.  That's not bad considering we won't be going anywhere today or this weekend.  I estimate over the next two weeks my husband will spend about $195 in gas and about $56 in food.  I expect he'll actually spend less.  This leaves us with $216.00 for any other incidentals that may pop up over the next two weeks.

Vanguard, Water, and 2-Week End

Lots of different things to discuss this time.

Vanguard got my check and promptly applied it to my account.  I've already made an additional $0.01 too!  :-)

This morning I woke up, put water in my kettle to make tea, and started a load of laundry.  The washer was almost filled up and the water stopped!  Apparently someone broke the main water line--I'm not going to mention who, but "idiot who was doing construction on new 4-lane road near our house" is probably the most likely candidate!  

Because of this, I brought the boys out for lunch at McDonald's.  I did have a coupon for a free kid's meal from when my youngest went to a birthday party.  Free is always nice!  Since we were already out I filled up the car ($41.82!  But it has been 18 days since my last fill-up!) and stopped by Walmart for a few needed supplies and two 2-drawer filing cabinets to complete the first desk in my office makeover.

Again another 2-weeks has passed!  I had $19 left, which I split among the "savings funds", though some just replaced what I transferred back due to the stupid Dish Network bill.

All the bills have now been paid for the rest of the month:

$442.60 transferred to savings for 1/2 July mortgage payment

$36.75 paid for my car registration--yep it's my birthday this month!

$69.60 bill set up to be paid 6/20 for water/sewer/garbage with city

$139.14 bill set up to be paid 6/23 for electric

$62.22 bill set up to be paid 6/23 for landline and internet (we would love to get rid of the landline, but it would take a lot of shuffling around other services to do it--so for now we are keeping it)

I'm now just waiting for June to be over to update my debt, net worth and move into July with 3 paychecks!

Bill Taken Out Early

Grrrr (I seem to be doing that a lot lately) Dish Network took out their payment a day early, which messed up my 2-week plan a little.  I ended up transferring money back into the checking from my Miscellaneous Savings, Auto Insurance Savings, and Auto Purchase Savings.

I guess if I want to look on the positive side, then that's one less bill taken out of the check tomorrow!

2-Week Pay Period: June 4, 2008

I apologize for not being around much the past couple of days. Between the boys getting out of school for the summer, all their end of school activities, and my mountain of college school work, I really haven't had much time to close out the 2-week finances.

But I did them all tonight! And I had 2 days worth of receipts to take care of in my check ledger and Quicken. 

• I had $116 left at the end of the 2 weeks so I split them up among my various savings funds.  You'll notice the increase in some of my progression bars.  I split $23.30 among 5 different savings funds: Auto Purchase, Home, Investment Property, Vacation, and Yard Sale.
  
• I transferred $442.60 to my credit union savings account to cover 1/2 of the mortgage payment.
• I set up some additional future bill payments online using billpay.  The electric, water/sewer, and phone (landline) are all set up for the end of the month.
• I still need to take care of the heloc and AAA bills.  I'll be writing out checks for those.  The heloc interest is only $151.14 this month (and my interest rate went down to 4%!) so my principal payment will be $148.86 this month.  

Another thing you may notice over on the sidebar is the NetWorthIQ graph.  I've put in all the info I had to January.  I like seeing how it's gone up!

Oh and are gas prices going down?  My husband got gas today and paid $3.899!  He may have just gotten lucky, but I'll live in la-la land at least until he gets gas again...LOL.

Stimulus Refund

We got our stimulus refund direct deposited tonight and within 20 minutes it was gone.  See that's what I call good planning.  :-)

We got $1800, which was the original $1200 plus $300 for each of our children.  

• On Quicken and my checkbook register I transferred $800 to our new auto insurance fund to ensure we have the money available for our auto insurance payment in July.  I did not actually transfer this money with my credit union because I will need it readily available to either transfer online or write a check when the bill becomes due.  We never really saved for the payment before, but I've decided it will take a lot of stress away knowing it is available if I started saving for it little by little instead of waiting until a month with 3 pay periods.
  
• I then transferred online with my credit union $767 to my credit card.  I had planned on paying $873.15 in total, but that included some left over college grant money after summer tuition that I haven't received yet (will be used to pay off the textbooks I bought on the credit card).  So when I receive that money I'll pay an additional $106.15 on the credit card.
• Finally, I wrote out a $232.76 check for the July truck payment.  I made double payments at the end of April for the May and June payments.  At the end of this month I'll make a double payment for the August and September payments.  Anyway, the July payment check is ready to go out in the mail tomorrow.  I then rounded up the amount as I usually would when making a payment.  That puts an additional $0.24 going towards savings at the end of the month.

Tax Stimulus Refund balance: $0.00

Staying at Home

Today is a no spend day for us because we are just planning on staying at home. I love days when nothing is spent.

Technically, yesterday would be a no spend day, too, but we had bills go out. The credit card and cell phone bills were sent out through the billpay I set up in advance and I mailed out my $300 heloc payment. Other than those, we didn't spend any money outside of the bills.

Payday Activities

Hubby got paid yesterday so I did my usual every two week payday thing.  

First I checked to see the final balance in my checkbook for the end of the day for May 7th and zeroed it out by transferring the remaining money to different savings funds.

Next I transferred $442.60 to my mortgage savings account for 1/2 the mortgage payment (P&I and escrows), so it will be available for the June automatic payment withdrawal.

Then I paid any remaining bills.  They have all now been deducted and/or scheduled for the remainder of the month and all except two will be deducted from this pay period.  The other two have been scheduled to be sent after the next pay period in two weeks.

The only remaining things to take care of this month is interest received, VA Benefit received, the IRS rebate which has to be disbursed to various areas, the college grant remaining after tuition payment, and the 5/22 paycheck and 1/2 mortgage transfer. Once those are complete, I can begin taking care of June's bills.

HELOC Interest Rate

We originally got our HELOC in 2006 with an interest rate of 7.5%.  A few months later they modified our interest to 7.25%.  Because of the drop in interest rates it is now at 4.25%!  

I always pay a fixed amount of $300 every month regardless of the interest due (unless it is more, but it never has been yet).  That means due to the lower interest rate I'll be making a larger principal payment of $138.90 this month, whereas last month's extra principal was $116.03.

Postings and Budgeting

I just want to let everyone know that I sometimes have a habit of wanting to post several times a day.  I like my posts to be organized into categories so I may write a post that talks about one subject and instead of continuing on will write another post about a different subject.  OK...I'll admit I'm weird. :-)

Now as for my weird budgeting.  And yes it is weird.  I don't make a true budget and I don't do it monthly, but I do keep track of some things monthly.  Have I lost you yet?

I use Quicken to keep track of all my bills, deposits, transfers, etc.  So I do not make a true "write it all out on paper" monthly budget with a bunch of categories of what is due when.  I also base my so called "budget" on each pay period (every two weeks) instead of monthly.  To me it is better to know what is due within a two week period than a monthly one.  Therefore, I am always over-budget if you look at it on a monthly budget because most of our two week pay periods overlap months.  Still with me?

However, I still like to look at monthly totals for things like gas and groceries.  I also keep track of my round up fund monthly, where I round up my payments to the nearest dollar and transfer the total monthly into my emergency fund.

So now that I've totally confused you, here are my April monthly spending totals:

Bills (utilities, doctor, heloc): $876.49

Auto (Fuel): $629.65

Groceries (for family of 4): $255.25

Dining Out (includes a special anniversary lunch): $164.73

Dining (DH's work lunches): $117.47

Other Expenses: $339.17

Auto (Loan) (double payment made): $465.52

I also transferred $42.14 from March's round up fund to the emergency fund and two transfers of $442.60 to cover the mortgage.