February Re-Cap + March Budget

Awwww look, he's sleeping with my
bear... Yup. He's a keeper.

A few days, late, but our monthly re-cap is here.

We took $300 from our tax return to order some computer parts to upgrade and fix our desk top computer (one of our annual goals for the year)... Only NewEgg lost our package and it was never delivered... so we had to file a claim... wait 10 days... get the claim approved... and now we are waiting around for a new package to be sent to us... I keep getting all these emails showing $0.46 charge... then a $10 credit, but nothing on my actual credit card so I have no idea what's what... and it looks like we might miss out on $30 in mail in rebates because our packages haven't arrived and we have to mail those off soon... Grumble Grumble Grumble...

You'll also notice our "giving" is a bit higher this month, and no, its not because I got a big raise... SCB and I tithe off of what we receive in our paychecks, so we tithe off our tax return as well, since we consider it a paycheck.

SCB also decided to hold off on the T-Shirt he wants until his birthday (he's hoping he will get two this way because if I have to pay for shipping, I like to make it worth it), so I transferred the rest of the money from our Mortgage Refund check to our birthday savings account.

We also got a check from our Costco rewards credit card. We picked up a few things at Costco grocery and household wise that won't be reflected in our monthly spending since this was "extra" money (and was actually picked up in march-- but it wasn't anything earth shattering, just some Milk, another case of re-fried beans, Laundry Soap, and a pizza from the cafeteria. The rest of the check is just staying in my wallet as "blow money" for the two of us. (As a side note, all our income from jobs, including overtime, and holiday pay, etc is always focused towards our savings goals, but the little extras we tend to pick up from credit card rewards is usually spent since we don't have much lee-way in our budget at the moment for hobbies, shopping, and stuff). 

February Monthly Spending

Giving: $392.00

Gasoline: $151.15

Groceries/Household Items: $247.32

SCB Health Insurance Premiums: $178.00

Tax Preparation Fees: $56.98

Mortgage: $857.20

HOA: $262.50

Valentines Day: $8.50

Clothes: (SCG- $21.00, SCB- $9.07)

Electricity: $40.37

Cell Phones: $137.97

Date Nights/Eating Out: $65.60

Computer Parts: $297.32

Internet: $35.14

What we spent money on in 2013:

• Church Giving: $935 (part of 2012 is in here too)
• Groceries/Household Supplies: $405.66
• Car:
• Gasoline: $240.18
• Car Registration: $81.00
• Date Night/ Eating Out: $111.01
• Cell Phones: $277.93
• Internet: $70.28
• Electricity: $84.89
• House: 
• HOA: $525
• Mortgage: $1714.28
• Clothes:
• SCG: $28.27
• SCB: $9.07
• Medical/Dental/Dr/Prescriptions
• Heath Insurance Premiums: $178.00
• Holidays:
• Valentines Day: $8.50
• Other:
• Utah Corrections Board: $50.00
• Tax preparation fees: $56.98
• Computer Parts: $297.32

March Budget:

My COLA finally went through this past month, and with it also went an increase to the costs associated with my pension, which means its time to run the budget numbers over again... which is a good thing I did because I realized that I made some incorrect math errors the first time, and I had somehow given us an extra $13.00 that we didn't have... but now with my cola, it evens it out almost exactly... So here's our new budget:

Paycheck 1: $1,368.52

Mortgage (P&I, Property tax, MIP, & $54.22 in extra principle): $857.08

Giving: $137.00

Fast Offering: $10.00

Groceries/Food/House Items: $240.00

Prescriptions & Doctor' Visits Fund: $50.00

Date Night/Discretionary Money: $60.00

Birthday Savings: $14.32

Paycheck 2: $1,368.52

Giving: $137.00

HOA: 262.50

Insurance (2 Autos, Earthquake, Homeowners): $129.00

Bills (2 Cell Phones, Electricity, Internet: $230.00

Christmas Savings: $50.00

Health Insurance: $178.00

Roth IRA: $232.02

Financial Annual Goal Progress

1. Make one extra Mortgage payment this year:  ($108.44 / $650.64) 16.6%
2. Put at least 15% of our income into retirement: 11.61% thus far 
1. Deferred Comp: $20.00
2. Roth IRA: $466.68 / $5,000.00 
3. Save $300 to upgrade our computer that's been having issues lately. DONE... if it gets here
4. Save $100 to fix a few things on Wanda "our 22 year old clunker"
5. Save $500 to go camping with the family in southern Utah this summer
6. Save $1,500.00 for dental work for SCB
7. Save $1,000.00 for future car repairs and the start of a car replacement fund.
8. Save $300 for a winter trip out to Utah to visit family.
9. After that, throw everything we have at our mortgage to try and get it under $93,600.00 so we can refinance and loose the MIP payments we currently pay. 

Fun Annual Goals Updates

1. Find something new to crochet-- sweater, pattern, anything.
2. Sew something from scratch or re purpose something I was going to toss out into something I'd wear. DONE... but you'll have to wait to see the post on this!
3. Cook or try to cook 6 new things or recipes
4. Read / Enjoy 6 new books
1. Sabriel by Garth Nix (audio book)
2. Lirael by Garth Nix (audio book)
3. Abhorsen by Garth Nix (audio book)
5. Loose weight (or just get the scale to 148 lbs and stay there or under)
1. at 151, so 3 more to go! (and that's on my work scale fully clothed with shoes and everything!) I'm already smaller than I was at my wedding and approaching college graduation weight!
6. Change my last credit card to my married name
7. Grow a garden with my neighbor
8. Complete a half marathon in 3 hours and 30 minuets or less.