Friday, June 11, 2011
It’s been a while since I posted figures, so we’ve got some catching up to do. We’ve had two paychecks clear and paid the first-of-the-month bills in the interval. I transferred $700 back to savings, to re-fund our (travel-depleted) Baby Step 1 emergency account, a la Dave Ramsey. We still have money left in checking, but I am waiting on a bill or two that should have been here by now.
Carryover balance: $1387.02
Income: $1885.74 full-time paycheck
169.52 part-time paycheck
.03 checking account interest earned (what a joke!)
Expenditures:
Mortgage: $1087.25
Home Equity payment: 200.00
Power Bill 233.00
Oven payment 50.00
Cable TV 11.42
Transferred to Savings: 700.00
Gasoline : 116.48
Groceries: 86.13
Yard: 17.09
Eating Out 49.80
Gifts: 173.00
Cash (pocket money) 40.00
Current Balance: $669.14
That grocery total looks a bit high, given what we spent last week. I need to go back over those receipts to see if they included other things--household products or something for the kids. That just seems a bit excessive to me. I know about $7 of it was paint for a project Struggle, Jr. is working on, which will be re-paid to his father, and some of it was for shampoo, shaving cream and other toiletries.
The restaurant bill was for a family outing with relatives, after an out-of-town church service, and for fast food one evening when I took the kids out after we had been running errands. The "Gifts" figure included Miss S2’s birthday presents and a couple of checks I wrote to graduating seniors whose families are close friends. I’m still looking for the homeowner’s insurance bill as well as the Visa bill—the one with all our travel expenses on it. I think we owe around $1200 dollars on it. Mr. Struggle wanted me to pay it off instead of replenishing our savings account, but I felt uncomfortable without that security net. He doesn't know I put the money in savings, so we haven't actually squabbled about it, but he'll be okay with it when I remind him of Dave Ramsey's plan. Anyway, the bill hasn’t arrived yet. Maybe I’ll change my mind by then…….
What about you---are you able to relax without the security of a savings account? Or would you rather pay off a bill sooner and avoid the interest charges? Sure would love to see your comments!
