I created this blog to not only share our journey to becoming debt free, but to also hold myself accountable in my budget. The good and the bad. Thankfully, it's mostly all been good...until now.
December, my friends, was a budget massacre. So, if you are a lover of numbers as I am, you may want to stop reading. 'Cause it is getting ready to get ugly in here.
Apparently the funk that I was in for the better part of December affected me more so than I thought. But, I'm over that funk (thanks, Mom!) and I'm back with a vengence for the month of January.
Thankfully December only had 3 goals...but I must say I didn't do good on either one! :( Here was December:
- Of course continue to pay off the truck. Nothing extra went here this month, which pains me...but it's true.
- Replenish the EF. I actually did. Then DH needed money for a trip he goes on every year after Christmas. We had that money set aside, but Willie decided that the kids needed more for Christmas (!) and I caved in. Agh!
- Stick to the $300 Grocery Budget Do I even want to go here?! Hmm....I don't exactly know what I spent to be honest...which I really don't like...but I had no form of organization (other than a menu plan) this month. My receipts are here, there and everywhere they are not suppossed to be. I'm a number control freak, and I feel so lost and out of control here. But, in all honesty, I don't think that it is as bad as I think. I did not go shopping the week of 12/21 like I should have..instead I put it off a week. This means that I've been able to live off of my stockpile for the last week (other than milk), which is fantastic. My cash left for grocery expenses is $73. The kids and I got snack food for dinner one night as well as other stuff we really didn't need.....But..I used the debit card (!) at Walgreen's to the tune of $48.97. So, I really should just have $23. I will see what I can pull together. Fingers Crossed!
In a nutshell...here is the damage:
- Roughly $300 overspent on Christmas. AGH!!! I was really trying hard in this area....but temptation gave in. The only upside to this is that some of the things they got were things they needed. Not much of an upside though, since the toys far outweighed the "needs". They are getting older and the toys are getting higher for sure. MUST GET BETTER ON THIS! This includes....I don't even want to say it....
- $100 in CC debt. Oh No Way! Yup, you read it right. DH was trying to hide a purchase he made for me...so he put it on the CC instead. Boo! (But..I LOVED his gifts!!)
- $200 EF void. Blech! Thankfully, Willie worked a lot of overtime the last few weeks, so this should be replenished fast. Also, we've not drove a whole lot the last few weeks..so the extra money from our gas budget can go here.
- Bad organization=lost receipts=no rebates. To the tune of, oh $50 or so. Bad news...but I'm on a mission. Must find receipts.
Now that I am left with the bits and pieces of the massacre scattered all over my house...the only thing I can think of is making it better. Fixing it. So here are my goals for January:
- Put the gas budget back to $300 This is where it was at before the gas prices went through the roof and I had to jack it up to $400. I've been monitoring the spending here and it is consistently lower than the $200/wk.
- Drop the grocery budget to $250. I've been thinking about it for a while, and I've been coming in under the $300 for the last few months...so now that I need to catch-up, I think it is as good of a time as any to drop it.
- Pay extra on the truck. Honestly, I don't know that I can do it for January because of all the catch up I need to do and the fact that my van is probably going to need a major repair in the coming weeks. When it rains is pours! :)
- Either sell or donate all my cluttery goodness. This goes for all the clothes and toys that I've been meaning to get rid of for how long now?! My cheapness is getting in the way here...and sometimes I just wonder if I should just give up on selling it, and just donate to a free store so a needy family can take advatage of it. What are your thoughts here? Should I just go ahead and donate all this stuff and get it out of my hair, or should I go ahead and attempt the whole E-bay thing? Nonetheless, it must go soon!
Dropping those two areas will grant me an additional $150 to throw at the damage. Essentially that will rid the CC debt (again!) and give a little extra to put back into the EF. Hopefully Willie's overtime will take care of the rest of the EF, and then I can focus back on the original goal of paying extra on the truck by mid-month.
I want to thank all of you for all the encouraging words and support. As you can tell December was not my month. I was here, but I wasn't here, if that makes sense. I've never been like that before, and thank God that I'm not there anymore. It's over and it is time to move forward. I WILL be debt-free and this WILL NOT get me down. If anything, it made me stronger.
12 comments:
Can the old stuff be donated for a tax deduction? Salvation Army and Goodwill should give you a receipt for your donation. There are also groups in our area that take donations for foster children, Fostering Hope.
I might be able to do the tax deduction...but I'm not sure where around here does that. We don't have a Goodwill or a Salvation Army :( I like the idea of helping out foster children too, but I'm not sure we have that either. I'll have to look into those, though. Thank you for your ideas!
do you have craig's list in your area? I try selling things on there before I do ebay because you don't have any fees with craig's list. I would only try for ebay if you have really nice name brand items (gap, old navy, gymboree, boutique, etc) in good condition, otherwise it won't be worth your time, effort, and costs of listing.:) any off brands or well used things I would just donate! ..but that's just me!
Yeah, we have Craigslist..but not my exact area. Guess I could offer to ship. I tried it once, but never got anywhere.
Most of the stuff that I have saved back are name brand stuff, I've already donated the off brand, and the really used items. I also have some toys and stuff..but a lot of the toys are so bulky (like a Shake and Go Speedway) that it would eat you alive to pay for shipping. Hmm..so many decisions..and STUFF!! I'm really hating STUFF! (I say this after the kids just got more STUFF for Christmas! Haha.Thankfully not as much as years past.)
Hi! I just found your blog today and I just wanted to say that it is really inspiring. My husband and I are working on our debt and I am just getting into the world of frugal shopping! It's hard to do in my small town (no walgreens or kroger's that I can shop at- basically wal-mart is the cheapest it gets!) I love the way you are so organized and keeping track of everything, thanks for sharing your personal story of getting out of debt :)
We are going on a financial "diet" too so I am looking forward to hearing about how your grocery budget will do. I know that I need to cut mine way down so I'll be working on that.
As for the clutter, I am so not the one to give advice because I can't stand having it around, so all my stuff is given away.
I am sure I could have sold some of it but it just seemed like way to much work (kind of like a garage sale) and I just wanted it gone.
Some churches (like ours) take donations like clothes and toys so that may be a thought.
BTW, I think you are doing great on your budgeting and you should be proud, my friend!
Oh how I've missed reading your posts! I have been MIA on my blog for a couple weeks....I'm resolving to be better at posting come the New Year. I've tried to get rid of "stuff" by having garage sales, or going to consignment shops, but I've found it easiest and much less time consuming if I just donate my junk without trying to make a profit on it. I just feel good knowing that the garbage bags full of "stuff" are OUT of my house! It all depends on the time you are willing to spend on getting rid of it. We also went $200 over budget on Christmas. But what's really depressing is all of the Christmas money we received (600), we are throwing towards our debt. The only thing we got was a coffee maker ($30), because our old one broke. But, we are willing to sacrifice and hope by next Christmas, we'll have all of our debt PAID!! (except mortgage) Happy New Year!!
I would donate. Im like you because I have a ton of clutter laying around and packed away that I have kept to sell but instead i just keep packing more on top of it and now its driving me insane. Ive decided to donate it all and from now on sell each piece of clutter as it become a problem.
Im a new follower to your blog and I really enjoy it. check mine out if you have time. Thanks
Krista Hanna-
Thank you for visiting and you kind comments!
Frugal shopping/living sure is addicting! I live in a very rural town..so I feel your pain somewhat on the deals. Wal-Mart sometimes has good deals. I've been meaning to get better at posting their deals, I just haven't yet. I do hope to, though..so maybe that will help you a bit!
Let me know if I can help you in any way. We're in this together! :)
Hayley-
I've missed you!!! The holidays sure make things crazy..I look forward to your return!
Debtfreemommy-
Love your name!!
I think that I, too, am just going to donate what I have now, and then resolve to stay on top of the clutter and sell from that point. Sometimes my cheapness/frugalness gives me a headache! :)
Thank you for dropping by, and following!
I have a problem with too much stuff too! Luckily this year I designated an extra bedroom as a "stockpile" room but it has totally gotten out of control! I've thought trying to sell it and i thought about donating it... and while the extra money would be nice, like you, I think all the stuff has grown out of control and unorganized that at this point it would be much easier to just donate it and work on being more organized as new stuff comes in.
I gave a bunch away to DH's family over Christmas. They were absolutely delighted to get it and I was absolutely delighted to get rid of it!
i persoanlly donate everything cause i feel i get blessed with more when i need it and its really true i rearly have to buy clothes it seems just when one of my kids goes to the next size and i have 5 kids so there is always a need for clothes lol there it is on freecyele waiting on me!
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