October Budget

Now that I've sorted through the last month of crazy, insane spending, its time to focus on October and set some good goals that will help us get back in track and inline. I have 4 goals for the month

Reduce Eating out to $200

Roxy "helping" with laundry...

We have been getting really out of hand with the dinning out... and part of that comes from being tired and pregnant... Since we have been spending $300 - $400 a month the past couple of months on eating out, I'm setting a realistic goal of spending around $200 this month on eating out. I'm still only budgeting $100 for it below because that is out ultimate goal, but we will use some of South County Boy's paychecks to cover the overage like we have been doing. I keep telling myself its better for me and the baby to make meals and SCB is trying to help me too.

Keep Groceries Under $400
We normally budget $300 a month for groceries, but in an effort to reduce the eating out and the knowledge that we aren't really stocked up with basics at the moment... I'm setting a realistic goal of under $400. This means if I buy a little more pre-prepared food to get us through the month, so be it. It will also give us a little flex to stock up on some items we have simply run out of. Again, we are still going to line item $300 for groceries and anything over that will come out of SCB paychecks since we don't spend those.

I love car rides & dad's Hat!

Finish the basics for Goobers "nook"
Our goal this month is to patch all the holes in the closet, sand, and re-paint the nook. We will need to replace most of the baseboards in there as well as get a rug to cover the parts of the carpet that were cut for the old closet. Then I want to get a baby gate installed instead of a door to keep Roxy out in case she ends up needing more time to adjust to baby goober once its here in March/April.

The glider worked out and we were able to pick it up second hand for $80 off Facebook, and we also scored a $40 pack-in play. Unfortunately its a lot wider than we thought it would be and we can't roll it from room to room like we planned... so it looks like we may end up trying to find a crib from the get-go instead of just getting a good mattress for the pack-in -play for a few months.

Stock Up on Essentials/Space
Finally, I want to stock up on Essentials. I know its a very "Mormon" thing to talk about things like "food storage" and being prepared... but when you have another person to think about, stuff just seems to become more important. We are hoping to create a small cash reserve to keep in the house outside of our emergency funds so we have some cash in case we need it for a quick baby sitter or just to have at home. We also want to add more bulk storage like wheat and some long term supplies that we can use for cooking from scratch. Now that I have a wheat grinder we want to take some of our flour containers and convert them to wheat storage.

We may have made a fort in the living room... 

We also need to continue to purge some of our house hold items and make better use of the space we have in our home. We are thinking we might install a Murphy bed in out bedroom so we can have more living and playing space through the day and for when the baby gets older. The Murphy bed system will cost us around $600 since we plan to cover it with nice curtains instead of paying another grand to hide it in a built in closet.

So here's the budget:

Spending:
Church giving: $636.00
Mortgage: $771.99
Groceries: $300

I have learned to love naps

Eating out: $100
Pocket Money: $80
Cell Phone: $60
HOA:$295
Gasoline: $250.00
Utility Bills: 150.00
Discretionary: $103.97

Savings:
Insurance:$143.00
Christmas: $50
Roxy: $50.00
Dr. Visits/Medical: $50
Roth?: $275.00
Birthdays: $50
Vacations: $100
Car Emergency Fund: $100
Car Registration: $25.00

SCB Allocated Paychecks:
1,040.00 - Goober, Projects, Savings, Overspending.