Being Comfortable

Originally posted May 23, 2010
Probably the worst thing about being comfortable is knowing it won’t last. I was up at 4:20 this morning. I tried to fall back asleep, but finally got out of bed at 5:40. The kids are not up. They might sleep in today since I am already up. For me, sleep goes out the window when change is coming. Big change is coming! We will sign for our house on Monday (tomorrow!). This means it will be time to redo our budget. We took Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University last fall and hammered out the following budget November 2009.
Giving
Church 260.00
Savings
House down payment 700.00
Retirement
Housing
Rent 885.00
Renter's insurance 13.00
Repairs, maintenance 25.00
Utilities
Electricity 88.00
Water 41.00
Phone 81.00
Trash 20.00
Cable 15.00
Food
Groceries, toiletries 300.00
Stockpile for groceries 20.00
Restaurants, take-out 60.00
Pet food, litter 20.00
Transportation
Gas 58.00
Maintenance, repairs, tires 50.00
Insurance 52.00
License 13.00
Car replacement
Clothing
Children 16.00
Adult 30.00
Medical
Doctor office visits 30.00
Portland Parking 4.80
Dentist
Optometrist
Prescriptions 45.00
OTC medications 10.00
Veterinarian 20.00
Personal
Life insurance 37.70
Baby sitter
Gifts 50.00
Professor's allowance 10.00
my allowance 10.00
Kid's allowance 10.00
Haircuts 25.00
Recreation
Entertainment--family 10.00
Vacation 100.00
Debt
Professor's Student Loans 150.00
my Student Loans 300.00

Spent Pay Period Total 3,559.50
Income Actual Pay 3,815.33

Not too bad; things in green are currently unfunded. We had some extra at the end of every month. I wish I could say it was put into savings, but I only have a vague idea where it went: going to the dentist ate up some and when our co-pay doubled in January, the extra was spent on that too. Also gas prices have gone up.

This budget is monthly and is meant to accumulate in most categories. When the insurance is due to car or rent, we pay all of it. Vacation is a bit high, but there are two out of town weddings coming up, and we all fly to NY every other Christmas. When this budget was written, we were credit card debt free and had doubled payments to my student loans. For those looking VERY closely, we only get $10 a month each for allowance and I had to insist that the kid's get 'allowance' money too, because I knew my money would be spent on them.