Techie Expenses-Need To Build into Budget

I apologize for my absence this week writing or commenting on others blogs. I've had an insane work and personal schedule this week, plus not feeling very well, I've not even turned on my home computer since Monday. I've tried to keep up via my phone, but that has been difficult as my fingers don't work the best on the tiny screen. My little $250 computer that I've had for nearly four years is dying, or at least the part that gets me to the Internet is failing. I can only get to certain websites-this being one, but it won't move me through pages nor let me do any searches. I can get to YouTube, but last night it wouldn't open any of the videos. Turning to my phone, it is only two years old, but doesn't have enough speed or memory for the way I need to be able to use it. Add to both of these, our Internet has gotten painfully slow at home and it is time to invest in an updated  WiFi System. We still have a land line, but the phone has been on the fritz (we just have one in the kitchen), so haven't used or really missed it. 

Tech, love it or hate it, it's part of life and has to be planned for. I haven't priced computers for a while and I could still get by on a very low cost model for home use, but the cell phone and WiFi need more thought. Regardless of what I end up spending on the computer, we've got some investment to make very shortly. All my little pay bumps are sure being eaten away! Replacement of technology needs to be built into my families current budget better than just an incidental, no different than we think about other home repair and maintenance items. 

We started a sub savings account when we paid off our mortgage for taxes and insurances, which were no longer part of an escrow payment. About seven years ago when we had paid off a car, we added to that account by continuing to pay ourselves and have used for things like buying a car for DD2 to use. This is also the account that we could tap into to pay off the current interest free loan if we choose. We've tweaked that a bit over the years to include a budget for replacement items in the home instead of cash flowing them like the new dishwasher two years ago.  We did this after having to replace both the washer and dryer four years ago right after we had spent a small fortune on our UK trip. We were mighty glad to have had the sub savings account and not tap into our other savings, but realized we weren't accounting anywhere in our budget for these home replacement items. 

It's time to revisit that account again. Both insurance and taxes have gone up and we need to make sure we have tech replacement accounted for somewhere. Once I figure out what all this tech will cost and the lifeline of it, we'll prorate those costs into the savings as well. My guess is we need to increase this somewhere between $100 and $150 a month to really have a sub account to take care of these normal, but periodic expenses, maintaining peace of mind when we pay the monthly bills. We're giving ourselves until the end of the month to decide if we keep or ditch the land line, which if we ditch, would take care of about $50 a month to put towards the sub savings fund, still leaving a gap. Ugh, there goes my July raise. 

Five and Five: A March Progress Report

I haven't taken a good look at my frugal wins in comparison to my budget busters recently. More than half way through March with spring on our door step, seems as good a time as any to reflect. I'm focusing on things that could perhaps have been avoided or done differently, and things I was successful at doing differently, not just the regular course of life such as wedding and shower gifts and daughter now driving. However, taking advantage of on-line deals saved money on the wedding/shower from, and insurance is drastically lower for good students, so we tok advantage of our daughters smarts. 

Let's start with the bad and get it over with.

Clogged Sink Fix- $319 later and I have a functioning sink. That is good, because I have been limping along for far too long. Reminder to self, to do more to keep it from clogging in the first place.

New Vacuum- At $148 including tax, not on sale and not part of the planned spending. I am using household maintenance and appliances for both these two costs, so the money is there. However, those dollars would have been better spent on repairs or enhancements that add or keep value, not maintenance, but life  and dirty homes are like that.

Extra Gas- I split my first Friday off into to afternoons due to work reasons. I also did not have any telecommuting days as I've been playing catch up since missing so much work in February due to illness. Combined, this meant two extra trips into the cities, costing a minimum of $13 in extra gas, and if the federal mileage costs are accurate, $69.44 in total care expenses at $0.56 per mile.

Food waste- Just plain and simple, too much. I had done  a medium shop in mid February, and so many items never got eaten or used up, shoved to the back of the refrigerator. This month I threw cottage cheese, moldy lettuce, slimy spinach, and orange juice as a few examples. As hard as I try, we seem to have more still than I think is acceptable.

Shower planning and a second glass of wine-Well, I didn't need any wine, when I met my sister n law to plan our nieces shower, but I had tow glasses.It was already a day where I left for work at 7:00, and wouldn't be home until nearly 10:00, so decided to indulge a little. Still $6.75 a glass, at a pizza pub, might be a bit steep. DH was happy with the pizza leftovers at least.

And the Wins-

Thifted brand new dress pants- At $8.99, a pair with tags still on, priced in the store at $50 came home with me. My work wardrobe is quite lacking these days, and these are a good neutral gray that will work with the transitioning weather.

Made use of wedding shower leftovers-As much a frugal win for DD1 as me, we ate up the food leftovers, and I am buying back unused items that otherwise might have gone to waste.

No baggage check fees- another frugal win for my off spring, as DD2 ended up not having to pay checked luggage fees as she carefully packed to fit in a carry on size. It could have cost her $80 extra for her trip expenses, and instead, she came home with that money. 

No late fee-DH noticed VISA added a $27 dollar late fee. We are not late with bills, so called, and no questions asked, was removed and credited.  

Skipped lunch delivery last Wednesday-This was happenstance, but the office team ordered lunch one day, and I must not have been around. I happily joined them with my own home packed lunch. I still had the camaraderie without the hefty cost. 

How about you? Where were you able to keep expenses at bay, and where did you find dollars leaving your wallet quicker than you would have liked? 

Reality Check-Budget Goals 2016

I've finally separated out planned and budgeted spending for the house, with new monies coming in to determine where I a at in my Budget Goals for 2016 Part 2. You may recall, I set a lofty target, more than likely unachievable target, out of touch with reality target,  of $16,500 to cover  mini get aways, college savings and current extra curricular activities for DD2, Christmas, and  Roth savings. It is not looking pretty. My tally as of September 30 is $3,700. this includes the third paycheck in September, plus the VISA cash back bonus. That leaves three months to save $12,800, or $4,267 per month. Starting this goal when July was already going to be a negative savings month didn't get me off to a good start. I'm hopeful that at least an additional $6,000 can be socked away, but that leaves us still with decisions to make on where to cut. It also means unless something dramatic happens, there will be no winter/spring vacation away. I actually am OK with that. I have some day trips I'd like to do and spend more time on writing and blogging. We also are looking at a driving vacation to Yellowstone next summer, frugally planned of course.

With the foundational stuff now done, we could trade off further cosmetic home updates that we already have set aside in savings to go towards either the college savings or Roth fund. I've already decided to scrape back Christmas by a few hundred, and the weekend get away budget will either be gone, or scaled back drastically, and I think we could find a nice one nighter for very little-the fun is in the planning. It is not all savings doom and gloom. We are net positive, better than the alternative as it was looking in early summer. I will have put away an additional $3,000 in my retirement account over 2015 by years end, plus we maxed out the Roth for 2015 back in April. We got some desperately needed repairs and replacements made on the house, making my outlook and mood so much brighter to be in my own home. I reigned in much of the needless spending on groceries and household, and have gone back to some of my frugal roots, which will position us well for 2017 savings goals. Reducing our grocery and household budget has not diminished our quality of life.

There are a few things I want to buy though in preparation for winter. We need new ice skates-blades and boots have seen their day. I'm looking out for used cross country ski's and snow shoes. With all the upheaval on the new cabin, I'd like my family to be able to use it and enjoy the open spaces around it.I'm dredging the budget to see if there is any other room to cut to find these dollars. While our entertainment budget is relatively small, we could skinny it further, since these items would after all, be entertainment. Do snow shoes count as clothing? I'm off to make myself a home brewed skinny latte, with some PB and J on toast, a good breakfast for pondering over a budget. If you have savings goals, how are your plans going? If like me, you are far from reaching them, are you buckling down harder, accepting it for what it is, or a combination of both? 

A Few Frugal Wins in September

I've got to do some serious figuring as to where we are in savings towards my end of year challenge, compared to the output on house updating/repairs that were already saved for and in our spending plan. I perhaps should have started s separate bank account, or at least a ledger of outgoings and inputs, but I'll spend some time in October when the VISA (for floors and miscellaneous house expenses) and  garbage (for dumpster and some hauling costs) come to see what we actually added above planned spending to the bank balance. As the flooring surprised me at how expensive it was, yet didn't phase DH, something is amiss in our budgeting for the house, so we need a good sit down on that. Despite the outpouring of cash for floors, new gutters, and miscellaneous house purchases, and  assorted DD2 expenses, there were many successes on the September financial front. 

Grocery shopping and school lunches: We managed to keep spending on groceries, not counting her part to my target of $300.  I was not so careful in keeping the specif receipts, but within a 5% margin of error, I am going with a final of $286. I did put $50 in DD's lunch account, but she has been taking lunch a minimum of 2 days a week, so a reduction from last year of  $17.60 a month. There were days when we just weren't planful, or she liked what was on the menu, but still at this rate,  that's $158 more in my pocket by school years end. 

Cleaning, Health, and Beauty: A major target sale combined with manufacturers coupons stocked me up for probably all of October as well in cleaning and toiletries and personal supplies. The purging of my kitchen and bathroom under sink cupboards cabinets yielded a long term supply of women's razors plus cleaning supplies for the rest of fall. Dish cleaner and laundry soap is all I can think that we will need until November. 

Freebies: The above Target purchase also netted me $25 in Target gift cards. A coupon for a free 8 by 10 print at Walgreen's meant I could get a semi formal family picture, taken on the cruise, then cleaned up (it was quite blurry and had weird things in the back ground) by DD1, to update the last one taken over nine years ago! While not professionally done, I look at the one we had on the cruise in 2007, and quite frankly, this one isn't any poorer quality and I can imagine we paid plenty. DD1 brought a bag of picked apples home last weekend after picking more than she and her friend could use after their fall day out the previous Sunday. I think of apple orchard picking as entertainment with the bonus of fresh fruit to bring home, so with that perspective, the apples were sort of free.

Gas: We've been fortunate that gas continues to be lower than it has been in years. Add my minimum of $0.05 off per gallon and an additional three days I didn't commute to the office, I kept below the budget. 

utilities: DH negotiated an addition $5.00 off per month for our Direct TV, and got the NFL package thrown in for the duration of the season. We would never spend the money on the added package, but a happy husband, without any new toys, is a bargain!  

Home making: I wrote a few weeks back about repainting towel shelves in my bathrooms. I am happy with how they turned out, and it at least temporarily, feel more positive about the shape of my home until we can source the best deals on a real bathroom makeover upstairs. Some hand towels I bought a while back, and a new on clearance shower curtain and rug for downstairs spruced up the generic white hospital look, spending a grand total of $28 down stairs. I popped a few pictures in below.

I feel fairly content as to how September went. Income is still nothing to rave about, and with that the budget will remain tight. We had a few expenses that frustrate me, and a few such as wedding, shower, and other gifts that are just part of life.We have scrimped in areas, but I do think we could do better. I don't feel like we have done without-not in food, experiences, and home life.In fact, I am feeling loads more satisfied with every bag of clutter removed and every item donated. I really do not want any more meaningless stuff in my home. Unless basics we really will use, I feel free from buying things just because it was a good deal. Clutter and chaos are not frugal. Use it up, redo, and make do, has to become part of my actions not just a sound bite. How was your September? Were your goals, spending, saving, or others met?

What was white, chipped, and flaking got a spray of granite.

Clearanced towels and my "babies" in old glass picture frames.

Downstairs freshened with new shower curtain, rug, and hand towels.

 

My First Vlog!

I am finally getting around to trying out the camera for the primary purpose I bought it for, blogging and a little vlogging. Well, actually primary was to be able to take non blurry and distant photos of family, friends, and life events, but for two for one, right? I'm typing this as I wait for my first Sam Vlog to upload to YouTube. Apparently there is some way to save video or format the video that will allow the upload to happen much quicker but I need to learn that. If anyone has a great tutorial or a couple easy steps for me to follow, I would appreciate it. 

For my first Vlog, I'm going with a subject that is near and dear to me, but probably getting  a bit redundant to all of you, my make it at home lattes. This was a good first venture topic as it is relatively brief, has a little action to follow, and is contained within 18 square inches of my kitchen so I didn't have to move around. Things to learn. Get rid of your smelly (though no smellovision here, thankfully) and dirty dish towels from the shot, and don't leave dirty dishes and coffee grounds in your sink. But hey, I was baking-real life and all, right. 

While I'm at it, I thought I would post up a comparison coffee house at home breakfast cost to coffee house in town experience. I baked up a batch of blueberry muffins using a $1.99 mix form Aldis, on sale vegetable oil, and 2 non organic eggs. Because coffee house muffins are mammoth, I'm using for comparison purposes two Aldi mix muffins, at $ .38 for two muffins. I used $ .40 for my latte in the video, though I might be a bit cheaper, but let's go with that as the math is hurting my head. A breakfast should also have some fruit or juice, so let's add in 8 ounces of o.j., also purchased at Aldi's for $ .25. My home breakfast comes in at $1.03. 

Compare this to Caribou or Dunn Brothers, also both near and dear to my heart, but not my wallet. A small plain latte is $3.19. Muffin's or thick slices of quick breads are $2.49, and a small 8 ounce bottle of orange juice is $1.99. Let's not forget  Minnesota's 7.25% sales tax and my breakfast out would cost me $8.22! Take the latte down to just a small coffee, and I still would be at $6.61. I know I will still have the occasional coffee out,; work meetings and time in between meetings often requires places like coffee shops. But, when it is myself on weekends, or even with a friend, a once a week habit can suck  $300 out of my budget, the same as two activity fees for DD, or two months worth of gas for our cars, or a  little weekend away. 

As for the Vlogging, I'd love your feedback. Is it a thumbs up, or a thumbs down? Should I hang up my YouTube shingle, or stick to the written word? 

Living for Now, Planning for Future

I've developed friendships or minimally friendly relations with many coworkers that I keep in touch with over the 29 years of being in the adult workforce. Some have been younger, particularly as the years moved on, but many are a decade to two older. Many of the latter have either retired in recent years,or would like to very soon. Some have had to push back retirement by 3 or more years, pushing what they thought would be 65 to now closer to 70. The recession really sucked, didn't it, and I wonder if we really ever will be completely out.

I'm completely rubbish at understanding how the market works, and understanding where to hedge your bets and move assets around. I can understand simple compound interest, and have set my goals based on average rates of return that lean to the conservative side. I put as much in tax deferred options and after tax accounts that will be tax free in retirement that we can. My husband wants to get into investment property, but I know how we operate life, and with his job, that doesn't seem to be a realistic option.  His parents did it, but his mom did not work a regular job outside of the home and handled showings, collecting checks, bookkeeping, and coordinating work. In the real estate area, keeping our housing expenses low, and eventually downsizing will be our only real estate strategy. However, when we do downsize, it will be to something below market that we invest elbow grease in, as we did our first house, in order to bank a substantial amount of what we sell this place for.

Where was I going with both of these ramblings? A sad series of real life anecdotes about so many of my older friends has me thinking hard on DH and my retirement strategy. I shared last year about a recently retired colleague that had a stroke and died at 67, within a year of retirement. A colleague from my last job has been on  family medical leave for over a month out of state after his younger wife, had a debilitating stroke while on vacation. They are getting ready to move her back here, and outfitting their house for all the modifications required, rather than adding more travel to their schedule. He was getting ready to retire next year at at 68, but who knows if this changes their plans. I hear what happens to so many people who have worked so hard, and in some cases longer than they wanted, only to have another sucker punch push plans yet further away. I have so many plans for my future post work life, I want to do everything I can do to preserve my dreams, but am a little wigged out that it seems a little luck of the draw sometimes, and I don't want to look back, or have my kids look back, and wish i had done more in my younger years.

First, I don't think all travel, hobbies, entertainment, and relaxation should be put off until retirement. However, I have insurance to carry for my family through my work, a child at home and to put through college,  so neither DH or I are in a positions to reduce work, so need to fit in things when we can. Second, as much as financial needs are critical, as much and maybe even more so for that future is to have healthy body's in retirement. DH had a TIA shortly after his 50th birthday four years ago. That knocked us into reality that if something didn't change in his diet and exercise, he might not see his kids graduate college let alone see retirement. When my health issues surfaced, I was so good for so long following the regimen of physical therapy and diet, but  have become undisciplined. This will not do, and part of the blog is to help me keep focused on leading an active and healthy life through diet, exercise, and  mental health breaks.So while I can save money buying really cheap groceries that fill up bodies to save money, I need to ensure optimal nutrition is purchased with those grocery dollars, hence my move towards more economical and meatless. yet delicious and healthy meals. On the flip side, investing in a gym membership for me would be a waste of money when walking and light weights and resistance is really the only exercise I do (when I do exercise), and I have a free wellness center at my office and can buy a $14 annual walking pass for the indoor track at the high school. 

No one's ever accused me of not putting deep thought into a subject. Some days I am confident in our retirement plans, and other days, I think I will be like my friends that have pushed retirement out later. So many readers are also bloggers I follow so I have a good range of different plans, or different experiences for retirement, and learning more keeps me grounded but not naive. While you can't control for the totally unexpected, even the investment ignorant can do things to hedge our bets. I just need to make sure it is in both the financial and health areas.

My Unfrugal Week

There are holes this month in the household finances, and some big plugging needs to happen in June.  This was a particularly costly week, though to be fair some of it is just timing and is included the overall household budget. Still, when you are taking out cash, or pulling out the card more frequently than average weeks, even the budgeted items feel painful. Here is my unfrugal Friday list.

• Last minute call to join new colleagues out for a patio lunch near the office, added $13.00 in spending.  Four of us admitted to having brought a lunch, but chose to go anyway.
• Running late to drop of DD#2 at her early school rehearsal, breakfast for her courtesy of her teacher, but I then stopped and got a coffee and a breakfast sandwich and spent $2.16
• Two separate vehicles to the cabin, adding 120 extra round trip miles.  I drove with DD#1, and I kindly filled her empty gas tank for an additional $35. Fortunately gas is still about $1.00 a gallon lower than last year at this time.
• $17.23 on a case of beer that I consumed too much of, but was shared freely with others- I am sorry to say I get on better around extended family with liquid courage, so count this in personal care rather than entertainment.
• $22.00 is last minute groceries for packing a school trip lunch for DD#2, when we learned late she was accepted into a young authors conference and we had nothing brown bag packable in the house.  I don't know how donuts and specialty coffee made it into the basket along with the deli meat and individual juices.
• Out of town soccer game with extra kids in tow, stopping for  ice cream cones after the game. Not too bad thanks to McDonald's deal so only spent a few pennies short of $3.00
• As it was a gorgeous Thursday, different colleagues and I had an afternoon meeting over ice tea and Diet Coke on the patio of same restaurant, and I spent another $3.00.  I did resist the $5.00 chocolate torte, so little victories.
• As I'm typing, DD#2 is running around, not eating breakfast so will be grabbing something in the cafeteria, for another $2.00 ding

The little things that add up and throw a budget out of wack.  While half is somewhere in the budget, at least $40 was total excess mostly due to poor will power, poor organization and lack of planning. If I had weeks like this every month, the $480 loss could mean denying ourselves a weekend get away or delaying a more capital asset that we would enjoy or use for many years such as a new laptop or a couple deck chaises. While I like reading the inspirational savings plans, tell me where your budget went out of whack.  Do you have a weakness for sunny patio lunches and expensive cafe drinks like I do?  How do you join in, without breaking your own spending goals?

We are down to under 26 hours until I do my anniversary drawing for the Minnesota gift package.  Simply comment or follow my blog to enter.  Thanks for reading.