by Ashley
Hi friends!
Is it just me or does the week after Thanksgiving not even feel like a “real” week?? It’s like you’re supposed to be back at work, but everyone is out doing Christmas shopping and holiday planning and things are just nuts! It’s impossible to concentrate! I know I’m definitely guilty of this and I’ve certainly been a bit distracted lately! It’s also hard because most of my “pressing” work (things with deadlines) is done right now and basically on hiatus until January (this is my last week of teaching for the semester, so just a little bit of grading and that’s it). I really, really need to be working on getting some manuscripts submitted to academic journals for review, but its soooo hard focusing on that stuff when there’s no set deadline and I feel like there are so many other things competing for my time and attention….
Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent but I’m sure some of you are in the same boat with me right now!! Onward!
Here’s my planned December budget:
| Place | Planned Budget |
| Rent | 1055 |
| Electricity | 170 |
| Water | 60 |
| Natural gas | 20 |
| Sprint (2 lines) | 115 |
| Cable/Internet | 100 |
| Car Insurance | 56 |
| Health Insurance | 350 |
| Trash | 35 |
| Debt | 2078 |
| Miscellaneous | 300 |
| Groceries | 400 |
| Baby Purchases | 1200 |
| Gasoline | 100 |
| Saving for Irregular Expenses | 495 |
| Total Budgeted | 6534 |
There are exactly 2 things that are different from last month (see November’s budget and update here). I raised my baby purchases back up to $1200 (where it had been originally), and I raised up the amount going toward debt! Woohoo!! Finally a month where I’m breaking the $2,000 mark toward debt! Last time I paid over $2,000 toward debt in a single month was all the way back in August! Feels good to punch some debt in the face!!!
With that being said, I wanted to remind you that we live on last month’s income and to let you know that we’ve got more to work with this month (meaning, our income was higher last month). Always a good thing! I think it’s largely due to husband’s extra crew. Wahoo!!!
Last month we earned a total of $6550. I’ve budgeted a total of $6534, which leaves us a tiny little buffer. I like to have a little bit of wiggle room, even if its only $25. It helps!
I’m excited and nervous to see how we do this month with income (income that will be spent in January). Even though we’ve decided to go out of town for Christmas, we should still earn some money from husband’s additional crews while we’re gone. There are some good jobs lined up already, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that our income won’t be hit too hard by taking off for a bit this month (we’ll be gone a total of 10 days).
How are your months shaping up? Is your budget drastically different in December to accommodate gift giving and/or travel expenses?
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Freshly 40, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
Thanks for
Hi Ashley, Thanks for your post! Sorry about the partial comment before, my feedly app is being weird! Great budget for this month. Just wondering, did you budget for Christmas gifts at all or travel? My husband and I sat down and did this and we were astounded at how much it would cost to buy decent gifts for everyone on our list (and we draw names on my side of the family!) I didn’t see a line item in the budget for that so just wondered.
Part of my “savings” has been for Christmas and travel expenses ($25/month). We’ve got $200 now, so obviously that won’t cover the full amount but it gives us a starting point. I had talked before about taking some money from savings to cover the rest of the expenses, and I’m thinking that’s probably what we’ll end up doing.
Being realistic with the holidays – you may want to hold back $50 from your debt payment. Holiday surprises tend to pop up….and if you don’t need it, you can always add it to your January debt payment. Just trying to give you a little “grace” to enjoy the holidays – you’re doing great!
I think I’d rather dip into savings than lower my debt payment, but this is something to think about. Also, I’m taking out some cash from a couple of savings apps that I’ve been using. One is PACT (I wrote about it here: https://www.bloggingawaydebt.com/2014/04/pact/), where I actually have almost $60. And I’m going to check and see if I have any “rewards” from any of my credit cards (I’ve written about how I still use some credit cards, but pay off in full each month)…I may have earned enough points to get some cash at this point. I’m really going to try to be creative and do whatever I can to avoid reducing my debt payment.
As long as you have a little fun money for the holidays I think that’s great! And I love that you don’t want to reduce your debt payment!!!