Monthly Spending

After this weekend my life should go back to "normal" since Relay For Life will be gone and passed. I'll know what free time is and i'll truly be soaking it up!

No more crochet flowers for fundraisers... after hour runs to the storage building... and trying to cram too much in before the day is done.

SCB has been busy running around getting things set up for his next farmer's market appearance (2 days before fathers day) so we will market his pens as the perfect father's day gift and see if there really is a market for them. If there is, we will be branching out to other farmer's markets in the area to see if we might be able to get more exposure. We got a letter in the mail from the Unemployment office telling SCB that he has an on the phone interview with them about continuing his benefits... No idea what that is about... We find out tomorrow.

But now, monthly spending reports because I haven't had the time for weekly updates in awhile...

1-May   

• $17.24 Victoria Secret

2-May

• $15.00 Dr. Visit
• $5.00 Prescription Refill

3-May   

• $126.00 Giving- American Cancer Society
• $7.80 - Ralphs (Groceries)

4-May

• $32.08 Target (New Dress Shoes- SCB)
• $13.95 Chipotle (Date Night)

5-May   No Spend

6-May

• $45.15 Fresh and Easy (Groceries)

7-May   

• $44.85 Electricity
•  $808.18 Mortgage Payment
• $10.50 Ebay (Mother's Day)
• $ 7.99 Ebay (Mother's Day)

8-May   

• $8.59 Walmart
• $12.12 Subway
• $52.00 Elephant Bar (Birthday Dinner)
• $53.55 Gasoline
• $ 2.00 Movie Theater
• $5.00 magnet pen@the beach.

9-May   

• $53.75 Walmart (stuff for my bike)
• $ 6.93 USPS (Mail mothers day stuff)
• $25.00 Red Robin (Date Night)

10-May 

• $5.34 Walmart (Stuff for my bike)
• $11.11 Home Depo (Peg Board/ Bike Hooks)

11-May 

• $13.95 Chipotle

12-May 

• $38.98 Costco (Groceries & mothers day flowers)
• $12.36 Sprouts
• $44.33 Gas for SCB

13-May 

• $13.80 Walmart
• $ 7.68 Ralphs

14-May 

• $67.27 Walmart (EZ up & yarn)
• $10.00 perscription
• $15.00 doctors visit

15-May

• $19.98 Woot Shirt
• $10.00 Church giving

16-May 

• $5.85 Ralphs

17-May No Spend

18-May 

• $13.95 Chipotle (Date Night)
• $ 8.63 Target (House items)

19-May 

• $6.23 Sprouts (Groceries)
• $137.73 Cell Phones
• $30.37 Costco (Groceries)

20-May No Spend

21-May 

• $35.87 Target (Water filters)
• $362.51 Car Insurance-SCG
• $198.59 Car Insurance- SCB
• $262.50 HOA

22-May 

• $6.15 Subway
• $62.32 Gas

23-May 

• $20.00 Prescription

24-May 

• $20.00 American Cancer Society

25-May 

• $1.00 Ralphs
• $22.47 Pei Wei (Date Night)
• $26.68 Staples (Work Expenses)
• $ 1.00 Ralphs (Groceries)
• $10.51 Sprouts (groceries)
• $12.55 Fresh & Easy Groceries

26-May 

• $4.98 Stater Bro's (Groceries)

27-May 

• $10.48 Walmart

28-May 

• $6.96 Fresh & Easy (Groceries)

29-May 

• $35.14 Internet
• $3.37 Ralphs (Groceries)

6 Month Car Insurance Due

Our 6 month car insurance bills came in the mail this week so its time to pay the piper. When I called in our payment I spoke with a rep about lowering the amount of miles SCB drives since he's not working and driving out to Anaheim anymore and we generally only fill up his car once a month with gas. So I paid our full bill and will be receiving a check in a couple weeks for the discount and then i'll update that in my calculations.

South County Boy: 1991 Ford Escort
Apparently my husband is special because he's ticket and accident free for over 6+ years so he's been claim free for 6+ years so he gets what state farm calls their Superior Driver Rate Level. Hats off to SCB!!!!

• Liability Bodily Injury $100,000/$300,000
• Property Damage $50,000
• Emergency Road Side assistance 
• Uninsured Motor Vehicle Body Injury $30,000/$60,000
• Uninsured Motor Vehicle Property Damage

TOTAL: $198.59 

We get a multiple line deduction ($40.10), a Multi-car deduction ($43.87), Driving safety record ($166.78), California good driver ($49.63), and a loyalty discount ($42.97)

South County Girl: 2004 Toyota Camry

I'm not so nifty because of the ticket I got a while back for that stupid stop sign so i'm classified as a Level 1 for Driving Safety. At least the discounts I get are higher than his... but that's because it costs more to insure my car since its newer and we keep Comprehensive and Collision on mine and not on his.

• Liability Bodily Injury $100,000/$300,000
• Property Damage $50,000
• Emergence Road Side Assistance
• 500 deductible Comprehensive
• 500 deductible for Collision
• Uninsured Motor Vehicle Body Injury $30,000/$60,000
• Uninsured Motor Vehicle Property Damage

TOTAL: $362.51

We get a multiple line deduction ($74.04), a Multi-car deduction ($69.27), Driving safety record ($212.12), California good driver ($91.06), and a loyalty discount ($79.35)

Since these bills are paid every 6 months we take the amount we pay and multiply it by 2, then add our earthquake annual premium and our homeowners annual premium and then divide by 12 figure out how much we need to set aside monthly to cover all our insurance bills. We currently budget in $143 a month to cover our insurance bills. 

Mortgage Update (May 2012)

Mortgage Update:
Principle paid down: $160.91
Interest: $489.73
Additional Principle: $2.91 


New Balance: $111,776.81

The pay off date is still January 2039 which is 8 months ahead of schedule. If I continue to pay the minimum on my loan, I will pay $111,874.44 in interest instead of the original $116,404.23. The extra $1,380.74 I've tossed at the mortgage to date has saved us $4,537.29 in interest over the life of the loan. The extra $2.91 i sent to the mortgage just saved us $7.50 in interest.

All in all, it took me $7,057.08 to get the keys to my condo... and another $17,672.29 to remodel and repair it...

In short, I was -$24,729.37 in the hole on day one... 

But thankfully the hole is getting filled in a little bit each and every month.

• In 2009 I got the First Time Home buyer's Credit giving us $8,000.00. I also got to write off some of the property tax I paid in addition to taking the standard deduction. This gave us an extra $90.10... but then I had to pay an Electrician $95.00 to fix an outlet... We ended 2009 with a refund from my botched tile job that gave us $1,265.00.
• In 2010 I saved $1,087.00 on my federal taxes and $461.00 on my State taxes from itemizing my homeowners expenses. (This is what I received ABOVE what I would have with just the standard deduction). 
• In 2011 I spent $12.97 at home depot, and $72.29 on a kitchen door, but I received a small $70 refund check from over paid closing costs. We also saved $494.04 by living in our condo instead of renting (See Mortgage Update + Condo Costs December '11 for that break down.) Since we tied the knot in 2011 we won't be able to itemize our housing costs so there's no savings there for us. 

so this leaves us $13,442.49 in the hole...

• If we assume our home is worth at least what we paid for it, then we have $8,223.19 in equity...

Leaving us about $5,219.30 in the hole after 2.75 years.

We also assume our monthly mortgage payments are a wash since its cheaper to OWN our home then to RENT an apartment. Check out Housing Comps 2012 for how we figured that one out.

Thus far for 2012 we have spent $4,127.68 to live in our condo (Instead of $6,969.25 for the apartment) .

• All Mortgage Payments (including principle, interest, property taxes, MIP, and additional principle:) $3,885.86
• HOA: $1,312.50 ($262.50 a month)
• Home Repairs/Improvements: $0
• Earthquake Insurance: $0
• Homeowners Insurance: $0

If I sold the condo tomorrow, I'd have to sell the property for $132,975.21 to break even.

• This assumes a 6% total commission ($7,978.51)
• Enough money to refund the amount i'm in the hole for ($5,219.30)
• and enough money to cover the first time homeowners tax credit i'd have to repay for not living in the property for 3 years. ($8,000.00)

But if I wait out the credit, in November of this year I'd be able to sell for $122,378.23

• This assumes a 6% total commission ($7,342.69)
• and enough money to refund the amount I would be in the hole for 8 months down the line assuming I make just the minimum payments till then ($4,238.93)

Farmer's Market Run Down...

Hubby selling at his little stall :)

I'm happy to report that we had a good turn out for our first event!

It was really funny setting up next to the other vendors because we only had one table and all our supplies fit in a small box with wheels and it literally took us 20 minutes to set up (including the EZ up) and it took everyone else a good hour and a half plus. We also have no idea how long it took everyone to tear down because SCB was gone 15 minutes after they closed up the market to shoppers.

What's also funny, the other vendors didn't move much product at all and I think we sold more then then anyone else (but we weren't sure about the Jewelry lady cause SCB didn't talk to her).

Pen in progress!

We ended up selling 7 pens (he had 10 made) and one letter opener (it matched a pen and sold as a set). We were surprised that the bottle openers didn't sell at all and we thought they would sell better then most items since we live in Orange County and people like to drink so we were a little bummed since SCB had made 7 of them and none of them sold. They were also priced $5 more than the pens because the materials cost more then the pen kits, so they may have been just too high. He also made 7 letter openers as well and other then the one set that sold, people weren't too interested in those. We may have to try and lower the price if they don't sell next month just to get our initial money back from them and drop them as a product item. The other possibility it to do matching pens and pencil sets with the letter openers and try and sell them as "executive packages or sets."

We were REALLY glad we had set up the SQUARE account to collect Credit Card transactions because only one person paid in cash. With pens at $15.00 a piece and the letter opener that went for $20.00 so we sold $125.00 in merchandise before the sales tax we collected (so we collected $134.69). Which isn't so bad for our first showing and about 4 hour of sales on the first weekday they offered arts and craft vendors (Word hasn't really gotten out yet). As Summer rolls around the corner I think more people will come out to the market and we might be able to tempt more people.

We spent $20 for the stall, $3.25 in credit card transaction fees, and will be remitting $9.69 back to California for sales tax, so we walked away with $101.75.

Most of these items weren't actually sold
at the market, and went to friends as gifts...
but it gives you an idea of some of the stuff
he makes :)

With Graduation and Father's Day around the corner we are going to take the gamble and apply to be a vendor next month to see if Friday's success was a fluke or not.

Since all the really nice pens sold, we are going to pour our profits from this last sale back into the business and order more supplies and focus on pens. Additionally we are going to order some wine corkscrews and bottle stopper combo sets to see if that resonates with the public better that the standard bottle openers. If we can't move these items at the next farmers market we can always gift them to friends for Christmas and we can always donate some to Child Share to put with their silent auction items (Booze Baskets and Walls of Wine are always large sellers with them and those products would compliment them and give us some business exposure.) We might also be able to sell some items for them in November to some really high end lifestyle people who have lots of money!

We're still here, I promise... just busy little bees.

So much has been happening and going on in our house hold that I really just don't know where to begin.

We both turned 26... survived mothers day... & I've been working my tail off getting Relay For Life moving and shaking since its NEXT MONTH! Oh man where did the time go?

We are both trucking along and growing together as a couple. Its weird to think that in 7 and a half weeks we will be hitting our one year anniversary!

Just to briefly update, tomorrow SCB will try and sell his pens, bottle openers, and letter openers at the local farmers market so cross your fingers for us because I think SCB has run out of benefits for Unemployment and we can't get through the phones or anything to see if we can extend his benefits (they litterally hang up on you and tell you the lines are full) so we are hoping this can take off and really work out into something great. Who knows, maybe we can branch out to some other farmers markets in the local area?

Wish us luck!

May Budget

We will be using SCB's unemployment check to finally finish our emergency fund this month. On a bare bones budget, we will have 6 months of expenses saved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will be soooo nice to no longer be throwing money into here!!!!!!!


So what's next?

Saving up what we can in our car/auto fund.Why? Because that's the next thing that can throw us off our plan. 


"Wanda" (the '91 ford escort) is on its last leg and is SCB's wheels. Depending on when she blows, we might purchase my mom's old truck from her for $2k because she just bought a Camry... Yes, somehow reason entered the picture and she just couldn't fork over money for a Lexus or a BMW... and she decided to keep the truck. As long as Wanda will physically run, we can trade her for $1,000 in the states "retire old vehicles" program. If Wanda continues to keep trucking along and will pass CA SMOG standards next year, we will keep her until she doesn't--- but it will be nice to have $1,000 set aside for Car Repairs and regular maintenance since "Stitch" (my 2004 Camry) is no longer under that pretty warranty anymore. So that's the next step... Save up money for car repairs and replacements down the line. 

I also should be expecting 11 hours of overtime on my next paycheck so we are planning to use that money to cover any expenses for mothers day, new running shoes, and an EZ up for SCB's first day selling at the farmers market. We still have our tax return slush fund sitting at $2,600 to go towards the last of the dental expenses that we really need to take care of... and then to start funneling towards our annual goals.

We will also get to do a bit of giving this month! We will be participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life next month, but we are fundraising for it this month. We have been saving our change in a jar and its up to $21.17 so I'm doing a luminaria in memory of my dad and one of the sister missionaries good friends who passed away while she was on her mission. We also cashed in my credit card rewards and got a check for $100 back so we plan to add that to our donations and also do some fundraising at the event itself :)


Here's our Tentative Basic May Budget:

Paycheck #1:

• Mortgage (P&I, Property taxes, MIP): $808.18
• HOA: $262.50
• Christmas Fund: $50.00
• Date Night/Spending Money: $64.32
• Prescriptions: $15.00

Paycheck #2:

• Birthday Fund: $50.00
• Prescriptions: $15.00
• Date Night/Spending Money: $55.00
• Gasoline/Car: $237.00 (Any Extra Money to Car EF Fund)
• Groceries: $250.00
• Insurance (2 Autos, earthquake, homeowners) $143.00
• Utility Bills (2 Cell Phones, Electricity, Internet): $230.00
• Roth IRA $220.00

Our goal is to seriously rein in our spending and start looking at what we are doing with our money and where our values are in the decisions we make. In June we might start tithing to my husband's church.

How we spent our Money Last Month:

• Groceries/House Supplies: $244.04
• Eating Out: 299.36----ekkkk!
• Gasoline: $111.83
• Car Repairs/Other: $0.00
• Giving: $0.00
• Prescriptions: $20.00
• Housing: $1,070.68
• Re-occurring Bills (Cell, Electricity, Internet): $210.08
• SCB's Wood Turning/Business: $329.51
• Gifts/birthdays: $349.95 (Before $80 paid back so actually it was $269.95) 
• Clothes: $0.00
• Other: $86.89
• Medical/Dental/Vision: $0.00
• Vacation: $142.19 (Disneyland)

How we spent our Money thus far in 2012: 

• Groceries/House Supplies: $993.84
• Eating Out: $687.28
• Cars
• Gasoline: $603.85
• Car Repairs/Smog/Registration/INS: $236.91
• Giving: $388.84
• Prescriptions: $68.00
• Housing: $4,282.31
• Re-occurring Bills 
• Cell: $547.39
• Electricity: $159.87
• Internet: $149.98
• SCB's Wood Turning: $497.02
• Gifts: $314.52
• Medical/Dental/Vision: $288.95
• Vacation: $516.57
• Utah
• $85.52 Shopping
• $168.88 Gasoline / Tolls / Transportation
• $119.98 Food/Eating Out
• Disneyland: $142.19 (Parking, Food, & Shopping)
• Other: $412.17

Were Back!! Monthly Spending

I took a week or so off from the blog to allow for birthday frivolities and to relax. If you noticed, I didn't itemize out our spending at all this month. I wanted to keep SCB's secret birthday things on the hush hush so now I get to unwind the damage for everyone here.

Just before you see it all, we cash flowed everything, still put money into the Roth, and tossed some to the emergency fund...  I was also paid back some of the birthday shopping we did as my mom had me order items for her to give SCB.... But we ate out A LOT... I didn't realize how bad it was with me ignoring the budget for the whole month.... WOW. I should never wait until the end of the month to evaluate our spending. Its really lucky we were able to cash flow everything after all!

Now the damage:


2-Apr
$49.43 Walmart (Easter)
$31.17 Target (Groceries)

3-Apr
$35.21 Fresh & Easy (Groceries)

4-Apr
$140.05 Penn State Industries (Small Business)
$31.95 Pei Wei (Eating Out)
$55.46 Staples (Small Business)

5-Apr
$9.50 JoAnn Stores (Small Business)
$100 to business checking account (Small Business)
$6.99 Rubios (Eating Out)

$7.92 Paradise Bakery (Eating Out)
$80.65 H&M (Birthday Shopping)
$40.51 Forever 21 (Birthday Shopping)

6-Apr
$24.50 Vista Print (Small Business)

7-Apr
$58.72 Gasoline
$25.18 Costco (Groceries)

9-Apr
$805.27 + 2.91 Mortgage
$43.19 Electricity

10-Apr
$19.89 Walmart (Craft Supplies and hangers)
$31 Islands (Eating Out)

12-Apr
$27.91 Pei Wei

14-Apr
$14.44 Chipotle
$30.00 Woot Shirt (Birthday)
$76.42 Think Geek (Birthday)

15-Apr
$10.07 Mcdonalds

16-Apr
$45.38 Sizzler

17-Apr
$7.54 dollar tree
$23 Casa Franco
$62.58 Fresh & Easy

18-Apr
$137.73 Cell Phones
$40.00 ATM
$102.19 DISNEYLAND!

20-Apr
$262.50 HOA Fee
$62.57 Think Geek (Birthday)

22-Apr
$2.50 Ralphs
$23.52 Costco
$21.34 Fresh & Easy
$53.11 Gas

23-Apr
$18.75 Nothing Bundt cakes

24-Apr
$12.00 Woot (Birthday)

25-Apr
$20.00 Perscription

26-Apr
$8.05 lego store (Birthday)
$40.07 Chili's
$21.54 Brookstone (birthday)

27-Apr
$29.16 Cox Communications
$10.03 Walmart- Shower Curtin, Boxed Pasta
$30.00 Red Robin

28-Apr
$35.05 Fresh & Easy (Groceries)
$7.49 Costco (Groceries)

28-Apr
$1.56 Costco (Smoothie)
$18.21 CVS (birthday)

29-Apr
$10.32 McDonalds (Birthday Breakfast)


Money Goals:

1. 2012 Roth IRA SCG:  $884.44 / $5,000.00 (17.68%) 
2. Emergency Fund: $12,387.52 / $12,500.00 (99.10%) 
3. Paying Extra on the House:  $38.73 / $1,301.28 (2 additional mortgage payments) (2.97%)
4. $1,000.00 Car Fund: $93.181 / $1,000.00  (9.31%)
5. 2nd Roth IRA: 15% $0 / ? We're just aiming to put 15% of what SCB earns in this account.