My Middle-Class Struggle: Catching Up

Friday, June 3, 2011

Because of our trip, it’s been quite a while since I posted the details from our checkbook register.   I’ve been waiting to make sure all of the debits cleared, and to tally the damage to our balance.   Surprisingly, we have a decent balance left in  the account,  almost enough to pay off the Visa card, which we used for our hotel bill and many of our other travel expenses.  I am hoping to pay off the charge card when the bill arrives (for the third month in a row, I think?),  and very pleased that we estimated our travel expenses so accurately.

Anyway, here are the details:

Carryover balance: $205.98

Expenses:      $120.00 graduation gifts (friends and family)

                       127.63 gasoline

                        227.49 groceries/petfood

                          14.00 haircut

                         100.00 cash for travel

                           37.51 household misc.

                         286.23 travel (food, entertainment, etc.)

Income:  $1885.74 full-time paycheck

                  169.54 part-time paycheck

                    42.38 part-time paycheck (reduced hours due to travel)

Current balance: $1387.02

Hopefully, that adds up.  I didn’t want to take the time to enter each individual transaction, since there were so many while we were traveling. 

I noticed the food and gasoline expenses were up dramatically this month.  The food budget will be higher throughout the summer, due to both kids being home from college.  I am trying to compensate by serving cheaper foods, more vegetarian fare and lots of pasta, beans and rice.  I also am trying to make sure we eat all leftovers and perishables, so as not to toss anything due to spoilage.

The gasoline is another matter, and will hopefully be lower this month.  Not only is the price coming down at the pump, but we don’t have any traveling to do that I know of, unlike the last few months, when we drove out-of-town on several occasions.  Still, I totaled it up, and realized that for the past two months we have spent nearly $100 more in gasoline each month than was in our budget!  We will have to scrimp in other areas, such as saving or paying off debt, in order to pay for gas. I'm sure this is affecting many middle-class families in today's economy.  Unfortunately, we live in a very rural area and have no other form of transportation available to us except our own automobiles.

So, I’m trying to decide what to do with the $1387.02 remaining in the checking account.  As you’ll remember, I had transferred $1500 from our savings to help pay for our trip to see our daughter’s graduation.  That left our savings account at only $300, well below the recommended $1000 balance recommended by Dave Ramsey for your starter emergency fund recommended in Baby Step 1.   I would love the security of having this money back in savings, at least part of it, but it is extremely tempting to send it all to Visa and pay that off in one fell swoop, not to mention avoid the interest that would otherwise accure.  What's your opinion? Which would you do?

Negative Territory

Saturday, April 23, 2011

It looks like I got over-confident and put too much in savings.  We  would be overdrawn, except that we missed church last week and I haven’t made our monthly contribution yet.  I’ll either hold that check until payday or have to transfer money out of savings to cover it.   Here’s the breakdown:

Starting balance: $71. 83

Deposits:               27.92 online income        

                            127.14 part-time paycheck

Expenses:             98.89 gasoline

                            113.77 groceries                

                              6.40 postage

                              31.80 Easter basket goodies

                                7.52 clothing

                              30.09 restaurant meals

                              50.00 tuxedo deposit

Remaining balance: -111.58

The gasoline is really killing us this week.  We filled up one car and topped off the other so we could visit relatives this weekend for Easter.  That also included a few gallons of gas for the lawn mower.  I’ve been putting off visiting, but I haven’t seen some of my relatives since Christmas.  The gas prices only seem to get higher and predictions are they will keep rising through the summer.  I guess it’s better to visit now, especially since most of my siblings will be there, too.  It’s only a two hour drive.  Then I’ll try to stay home for the next two weeks to make up for the money spent on gas.

The other thing I spent money on was to take some family out to lunch.  We went hiking together and they drove to the trail, so I felt it was only fair that I buy their lunch.  Oh, and then there was the $50 tuxedo rental for Junior’s prom date that I forgot about.  The entire rental was over $122, but he will pay the rest of it when he picks it up.  By then he will be home from school and able to put in more hours at work.  Once we return from our visit tomorrow, I guess I’ll lock myself in the house to keep from spending any more money.

Oh, Mr. Struggle got a call back from one of his job applications this week!  They have set up an telephone interview for next week.  I don’t hold out much hope, since this job is out-of-state and they are not likely to offer a relocation package.  But, who knows, maybe the salary will be enough to make it up.  We’ll see. 

We’ve lived in the same town since before our children were born.  We liked the stability and roots it gave to our family.  I’d prefer to stay here another year or two, to make sure the kids are settled in their own homes, not just dormitories, but Mr. Struggle is getting behind at work, in both salary and benefits, and it’s time to do something about it.

How much of a salary increase would it take to make you up-root and leave your home behind?

Herbal Cures

Monday, April 11, 2011

Of course, the very first thing I did after the paycheck was deposited was to transfer the borrowed $25 into our oldest daughter’s checking account. 

We had two kids home for the weekend, and so bought a few extra groceries.  We also replaced some herbal supplements (fish oil and red yeast rice) that  Mr. Struggle has been taking to help lower his cholesterol, in the hopes that he can avoid going on medication at his checkup later this month.  Even though he is not overweight and eats fairly carefully, Mr. Struggle’s cholesterol count has crept up over the years.  I’m not sure that the herbal supplements save us any money since we have a reasonable co-pay for generic medications on our insurance plan, but we’ve heard the cholesterol-lowering drugs can have a lot of negative side effects.

Mr. Struggle and I celebrate our wedding anniversary this week, but we have decided on smaller presents and elected to skip the obligatory dinner out, in order to save money for our upcoming trip next month.     

The gasoline prices continue to rise.  I only bought half a tank,  waiting for the full-time paycheck to come later this week and hoping that prices go down in the meantime.

  

Here’s the breakdown:

Carryover:   $0.68

Deposit:       25.00 Miss S1’s refund check

                   169.53 part-time paycheck

                         .02  interest earned      

Total:        $195.23

Expenses: $25.00 repayment to Miss S1 for refund check

                     34.01 gasoline (includes lawnmower gas)

                     24.75 herbal supplements

                     29.11 anniversary gifts                            

                     39.21 groceries

                     20.00 cash (pocket money)

Total:       $172.08       

Current balance: $23.15

Have you or anyone you know had good results using herbal supplements to lower cholesterol?  How about side effects from the traditional medications?  I’d love to hear your comments!

Floating Checks

Monday, April 4, 2011

The check from the second income has come and gone, and we’re on a spending fast yet again.  In fact, we had to do a bit of fancy footwork to keep our account balance from running into the red.

Carryover balance: $10.00

Deposit:                   169.53  part-time paycheck

Total:                      $179.53

Expenses:        $  11.82  lunch-date

                               3.23 coffee & apple turnovers

                             42.41 groceries 

                             27.58  household and toiletries

                             11.57  personal care

                             20.00 cash for incidentals

                             62.24 gasoline

                         $178.85

My husband bought the gasoline while I was out buying the groceries, toiletries and household items (cleaners, paper goods and such).  I knew the car he drives needed gas, but I forgot how much it would be now that gasoline is selling for $3.59 a gallon.  Perhaps I shouldn’t have gone grocery shopping; most of what I bought wasn’t necessary, but just impulse items purchased on sale to stock the freezer.  Luckily, we didn’t go into negative territory with the bank balance, but ended up with just 68 cents left in our account.  Knowing that we would need to buy gas for the other car later this week, I deposited a refund check intended for Ms. S1 into our account, with the intention of transferring the money into her account after our next paycheck.  In the meantime, we can buy a bit of gas for the other car, which I’ll need to pick up Struggle, Jr. at the bus-stop later this week.  (Struggle, Jr. and Miss S2 come home from college every two or three weeks to see friends and get some hours in at their part-time jobs here in town.)   I probably won’t use the car at all until then, so at least we won’t need much gas.  I seem to be getting used to staying at home during the day.  It’s a bit quiet, but it saves quite a bit of money in gasoline, fast food and unnecessary purchases.  I never was one to spend time or money in the shopping mall, even  less so today.

Have you changed your any of your habits or hobbies because of high gas prices?