End Of July Report

End of July report

This month again, did not use my credit cards!!!!! YEA! Now I can’t because I cut them all up. I had to dip into the emergency fund just a little due to lack of planning (not emergencies) so it is at about $650 right now.

In the end of June report I talked about setting up a notebook that I was going to try out and see how it worked. It actually worked very very well. I also liked the fact that I didn’t have to load up MS Money just to check my balances. Here is a quick rundown of how I did it:

I used an entire sheet in my notebook and separated it into several spending categories. Groceries, gas, daycare, lunch, etc. I left space under each heading maybe 10 lines or so. Under the heading I wrote the amount I had to spend in that category. Every time I spent from one category I would subtract the amount. Normally I would wait a few days until I had 4 or 5 receipts. As I got toward the end of the month the only categories that were left were daycare and gas. So I was able to stop tracking because I remembered what was in each. Daycare is really easy because it is always the same and I have the exact amount allocated to it.

I really liked this system and don’t know why I never thought of it before. For me it is easier than the MS Money budget. I am going to keep it from month to month so I have the same categories each month. Another thing I did was write down all the bills I pay each month that do not change in price. I wrote them all and added up the total cost, so I don’t have to do that every month. I am also keeping it in the notebook.

Things to do this month. Paid Twice had a really good idea about putting money toward your debt all month AS you get it. I am going to try that. I am considering doing several things to pay toward my debt. I have some ETF’s that are not tied to any retirement account so I think I may cash those in even though it is not the greatest time to be doing that. I wish I had done that about a week ago! There are also some things I could sell around the house. Our newspaper offers free ads for any items that are less than $100. I am continuing to take online surveys, but haven’t been mystery shopping in a while. I may have to start back though.

End Of July Report

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