Our new budget...

So after sitting down together and chatting, SCB and I think we have our first married budget:

South County Girl's Paycheck # 1
Any overtime will be put towards my Roth IRA (since we are in catch up mode) or towards un-budgeted things like doctors visits, dentists, etc.

• Mortgage: $808.18
• HOA: $262.50
• Health Insurance for SCB $82.00 (mailed to his folks)
• My Roth IRA: $89.32
• Giving ($46 to my church, $46 to childshare, $46 other)

South County Girl's Paycheck # 2

• Giving ($46 to my church, $46 to childshare, $46 other)
• Christmas Savings fund $50
• Gas/car maint $235
• Groceries/food $250
• Fun $40 (one nice date night, or several casual ones)
• Insurance Premiums (2 cars, house, earthquake) $143
• My Roth IRA: $294
• Utility Bills (2 Cell phones, electricity, and Internet) $230

South County Boy's paychecks..
If work is steady we each get $20 for personal fun money... if its not, then we don't. We decided to put at least $40 of fun money because we'd like to have at least one date night a month and with $40 it gives us the option of a few cheap dates or one nice outing. The following is a priority list of things we'd like to use with the money SCB earns.

• First, we'd like to knock the Xbox out of the way. We have money saved up for our vacation (woot for cash wedding presents) and since this is the last person we "owe" anything to, we will feel much better when its taken care of.  
• We'd then like to save up money for doctors visits (SCB's prescription is running out and can only be refilled after seeing a doctor in person)... and with the plan he's on we have to foot most of the bill (but its still cheaper then putting him on my plan right now). This may get flip flopped with the Xbox because he has to have his prescription renewed in 2 weeks because that's all the pills he has left.
• Dentist bills- we get a basic cleaning for free, but SCB hasn't been in eons and we believe he may have a cavity and needs a deep cleaning... 
• Eye wear- his glasses need to be replaced... and I lost my good pair I wear life-guarding at a city event I worked at on Saturday...  

You'll notice our giving is divided up. We are still giving 10% of our take home pay of our regular income, but we are splitting it 3 ways:

• My church- we are still attending my church and we want to be able to give something, but we aren't comfortable giving 10% straight because my husband isn't a member there and my church doesn't have  any expenses since we now have church out of someone's home... so all the money is going into the church's savings account.
• Childshare- Its a charity we both agree on and love 100% and we want to support them. plain and simple. 
• Other- This is money we will put into an account on-line to be used to help us be charitable year round. Since we don't make much money right now, but still have a desire to be generous and give, by putting this money away bit by bit, we will be able to support things we feel passionate about as a couple without ruining the budget for the month or being unable to because we don't have the funds. Whether that's helping someone out who's down on their luck, sponsoring a friend who's raising money for a random charity, buying food to donate to the local food pantry, giving a loan on KIVA, or even using the money to pay for the cost of the LA Marathon so I can raise more funds for Child share. This is money we want to spend to personally help someone out and build relationships with (not just something you write a check for and have no interaction with).

There is also a chance that we won't be able to fully max out my Roth IRA... and that's okay. At this point its great to see it worked back into the budget and that's its a priority for us once more, but we only have 5 months left this year, so it may take into 2012 to max out 2011... but we are going to try for it!