Monthly Bills/Balances-April 2013

Rent: $475-3 bedroom house in a small town goes for a reasonable rate these days
Capital One Balance: $277-Will pay this off next week
MB Balance: $3,300-Now that taxes are done, we can start chopping away at that
Electric: $70-guess this is going to be high with the cold temperatures, but it's about to warm up
Propane: $50/month average. We use this for heat, so it won't amount to much in the summer
Laundry: $20/week-this doesn't vary much, coin washers/dryers aren't cheap these days
Cell Phones: $180/month-this includes our internet.  Not cheap, but sadly as truck drivers, we need the smartphones to make our job more feasible
Groceries: $100/week-including dog food and toiletries
Transportation: $120/month-our old used car doesn't get very good gas mileage
Savings: $0-We have money left every week now, but we will be sinking much of it into the camper
Fun Money:-$200/month-Just there to keep the sanity

Wow! Life has definitely changed since that last post!

Well it's definitely been a while since my last post.  Wow, how things have changed.  For starters, I have changed a couple of times, moved across the country and back, remarried and moved into a camper!  Yowza!  So I am going to try to get back into the swing of things with a monthly bills/balances post and then attempt to write something witty about the last few years.  Here we go...

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like a Gift-less Christmas...

Another year has passed and again we are not giving gifts for Christmas. Hell, we aren't even sending cards this year. Even without listening to the media drone on and on about the economy, we are feeling the pressure to quit spending like never before. I'm even going for a job interview next week to take on a second job to help us build up some savings. Unfortunately right now we are saving every spare penny we have to put towards a decent used car so that I will have something to drive to work once my job moves to the 'burbs. As much as I love Christmas and giving gifts, it just doesn't seem practical this year. Not to mention, I really feel as though I have turned over a new leaf and there isn't anything that I actually even want! That is a very liberating feeling let me tell you! I've also decided that I need to quit being so extreme in what I do. When budgeting in the past, I was unrealistic. I budgeted practically every dime we made to pay off debt or I would say "to hell with it" and blow all the money on stupid things. When I finally let go of that mindset, budgeting became my friend. I'm a firm believer in adding some money to your savings while/before you pay down your debt. My reasoning is pretty simplistic: If we have money set aside, we don't continue spending on the credit cards while we pay them down because we actually have a little cash set aside for things that crop up. It may take a little longer to pay down our cards, but it keeps us from diving further into the black hole that is credit card debt. So this year, I guess we are giving gifts to each other: peace of mind. Merry Christmas Baby!

Monthly Bills/Balances-December 2009

Rent: $1524-We are going to stay in our apartment until the end of the lease as we have no idea when my job may be moving.
Discover Balance: $4897-This went up for a couple of reasons...eating out (somedays job stress is too much to bear and I can't bring myself to slave over the stove when I get home) and I purchased some replacement boots.
Chase Balance: $5628-This also went up for a few different reasons...eating out of course, but my husband needed new work shoes as well, and I needed minutes for my prepaid phone. Thankfully I only buy minutes about once a year and they are $100.
MB Balance: $0.00-We never seem to use this card, which I might add is a good thing!
GMAC Balance: $0.00!!!-They are paid in full! It took every dollar we had, but they are done!
Electric: $40-still around the same bill since the temperature has dropped into the 30's.
Groceries: $25/week-still eating some high-carb processed food, but only for another week
Transportation: $86/mnth-train pass
Savings: $1500-car fund
Fun Money:-$400-This should help us to keep from using the credit cards!

Monthly Bills/Balances-November 2009

Rent: $1524-Considering trying to break the lease as the apartment manager cannot make the residents have any decency in keeping things clean and as a result, our dog had to have a $2000 surgery to fix a problem caused by dirty residents!
Discover Balance: $4290-currently there is $141 that is not part of the available balance, but I think it might just be holds on the card-only paying the minimum this month as we have to save to buy a car since my job is moving to the end of the earth!
Chase (formerly WAMU) Balance: $5052-again, only paying the minimum this month so we can put some money away for a car.
MB Balance: $0.00-still a big goose egg for this card-at least something has a bright side here!
GMAC Balance: $3738-we should be able to settle this debt for 60% and pay it in full this month
Electric: $40-we've started opening the door to let in some cool air!
Groceries: $25/week-not eating terribly fresh food, but trying to scrimp as best we can here.
Transportation: $86/mnth-train pass
Savings: $1000-this is pretty much for the car.
Fun Money:-no fun this month! We spent what little we had on a birthday dinner for the hubs!

When It Rains, It Pours...

Let the deluge begin! Just as we are getting things under control financially and reining in the frivolty, my job decides they are going to up and move to B.F.E.! It's still close enough to commute, but the commute will now need to involve a car! AAAARRRGGGGHHH! I sure wish I would have known this before we got rid of our cars! I realize the car payments were crushing, but if I had known I would need a car, maybe I could have traded it in on something cheaper! So with all of our debt repayment, we now need to find a way to come up with a little bit of money to buy a cheap-o car that will hopefully last long enough to get me to work for a few months until we can get out of the hole we have dug ourselves. This is how the viscious circle begins. I'm sure there will be car repairs, there will be parking fees involved, gas, insurance, blah blah blah. How depressing. Next thing you know, we'll be at the Check Cashing Palace to get a payday loan! Well I guess we better buckle down and prepare to eat rice at least 10,000 different ways for the next couple of months and hope like hell we weather the storm!

ETA: Shortly after this lovely post, it rained harder! Our pug needed emergency surgery to the tune of $2000! Next month's bill posting is going to look like a bomb went off on our credit cards!

Monthly Bills/Balances-October 2009

Rent: $1524-Reduction didn't happen, but in speaking with the manager of the building it would seem that if things don't change, she won't charge us a penalty if we decide to leave early due to the ugliness of the building.
Discover Balance: $3077-probably another $1000 or so going to it at month's end
WAMU Balance: $2654-slowly plugging away at it, it will also get about $1000 at month's end
MB Balance: $0.00-rockin!
Electric: $60-don't see this changing too much
Groceries: $300-$400/mnth-the price of fresh ingredients just sucks in the Windy City
Transportation: $86/mnth-train pass
Savings: $1000-woohoo, we've moved up in the world!
Fun Money: this is pretty much ZERO this month.