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Archive for January, 2016

January Savings Totals

January 29th, 2016 at 08:25 pm

Even though its not the end of the month, exactly, all my budget has been allocated for this month.

Any cash I have left from my carrying around/entertainment budget will get thrown into my change jar.

Funds for these savings come from salary, overtime, FB sales, etc. The amounts were how much was added, not what the total in the savings account is.

New Home Fund +$1,351.64
Baby Fund (for future expenses) +$50.00
EFund +$29.38
Home Upkeep Fund +$50.00
Medical +15.00
Automobile +$180.00
Vacation Fund +$10.00
Membership Fee +$13.00
Clothing Sinking Fund +$5.00
2016 Gifts Fund +$75.00
Baby's Savings (will be starting 529 or something soon) +$50.00
Nephew Savings (for school/car) +$14.37
Cash Savings: $146

TOTAL $1,989.39 YAY Overtime!

1/22 Paydate - meeting goals!

January 23rd, 2016 at 08:07 pm

I was paid yesterday and able to send quite a bit to saivngs/goals:

CC entertainment payoff $155
Gift savings $60
Clothes savings $5
EF savings $15
Car Savings $200
New Home Fund $935
House Slush Fund $130



Mini Goals through 4/30 Status:
Goal #1: Pay off extra entertainment splurge on credit card $155 – COMPLETED
Goal #2: Car Savings: $343 added by 4/30 $200/$343
Goal #3: Medical Savings: $493 added by 4/30 $0/$493
Goal #4: Nephew Savings $486 added by 4/30 $0/$486
Goal #5: EFund Savings: $936 added by 4/30 $0/$936
Goal #6 New Home Fund: $10,334 added by 4/30 $935/$10,334


Overtime Plan - through April 30th 2016

January 20th, 2016 at 12:35 pm

Currently, my office has unlimited OT and with the baby being soooo good. I am able to put quite a bit of time in in the evenings and on the weekends. I am lucky to be able to work overtime from home, which makes this possible.

My husband & I want to move/sell the house around April/May, so I am pushing to meet a lot of different goals using overtime plus my already budgeted amount per month.

These mini goals (all dependent on OT) are as follows. These are all stretch goals, but meeting as many of them as possible is a fun goal!

1.Pay off extra entertainment splurge on credit card $155

2.Car Savings - $80 (4 months of $20/mo automatic savings) plus $263 in OT [To meet goal of $500 by April 30th]

3.Medical Savings - $60 (4 months of $15/mo automatic savings) plus $433 in OT [To meet goal of $500 by April 30th]

4.Nephew Savings - $0 auto savings plus $486 in OT [To meet goal of $1000 by April 30th]

5.Emergency Fund - $60 (4 months of $15/mo automatic savings) plus $876 in OT [To meet goal of $1000 by April 30th]

6.New Home Fund – Auto Savings Total of $2345 plus $600 from extra paycheck plus $7389 in OT [To meet goal of $20,000 by April 30th}. ***We have additional home savings outside of this***


With Friday's Paycheck (overtime plus any automatic savings), I will:

1. Put $155 to the entertainment spending - MEETING THAT GOAL

2. Put $200 to the auto savings fund ($180 OT plus $20 auto savings)

3. Put $935 to New Home Fund ($600 OT plus $335 budgeted auto savings).

Great start!!

Paycheck went up for Friday - OT means extra to 401k as well as income

January 20th, 2016 at 12:31 pm

I have 31 hours of Overtime in this paycheck. I am happy to say that it increases my 401k contribution by $222.21 and increases the company match by $95.24. This is an extra $317 towards the 401k!

Yesterday's 5 Things - again

January 13th, 2016 at 01:24 pm

Tuesday was a good day. I visited the surgeon for my 1 month post-op appointment. I am allowed to resume all activity, which is great, because I can lift & carry the baby again!

-Bing [DONE]
-Doctors appointment [DONE]
-Work 2 hours OT
-List all newborn clothes for sale (too small for the baby now) and list online [DONE]
-Give baby a bath [DONE]
-make lunch for work tomorrow [DONE]

Trying to Sell the House This Year

January 13th, 2016 at 01:21 pm

My husband & I are trying to sell the house this year. We want to move from the 2 bedroom townhouse we currently own and buy a bigger place. With a baby, 2 cats & a large dog, we just don't have much in the way of room. We aren't going crazy, but we definitely want to upgrade a little.

This past weekend, we went through the house & put together a pretty long To-Do list to get the house ready. I am hoping to spend as little as possible doing so, but we have a small budget for it and will utilze those funds as necessary to get the house marketable.

Wish us luck! Our goal is to have the list completed by the end of April Smile

Yesterday's 5 Things

January 12th, 2016 at 12:38 pm

You may recall, my To-Do list is always overwhelming. So I decided to focus on just getting 5 Things off the list completed each day. Yesterday, I accomplished a lot:

-Sign up for Patient Portal with doctors office [DONE]
-print amz return docs [DONE]
-redo and reprint house To Do Before Sale List [DONE]
-balance checkbook [DONE]
-update OT plan [DONE]
-Bing Rewards [DONE]
-Mycoke rewards [DONE]
-Pampers rewards [DONE]
-finally add wedding band to insurance policy [DONE]
-take amazon return to UPS [DONE]
-take down Christmas tree [DONE]
-work 3 hours OT [DONE]
-cuddle with baby [DONE]

January Goals

January 12th, 2016 at 12:34 pm

Lots of fun stuff to do in the midst of germs just rotating between people in my house. The baby & I alternate being sick!

1. Put $60 budget towards cash only gifts 2016
2. Work Min 8 hours of OT per week to go towards goals [already exceeding this goal]
3. Put $600 from OT towards New Home Fund
4. Put $240 from OT towards car savings


Eagerly awaited 1st paystub of 2016

January 6th, 2016 at 03:14 am

I had calculated an estimate of my net pay after increased medical, HSA contributions and the addition of a childcare FSA. I used payroll city & got a figure.

Today, my paystub went up online & it was within 24 CENTS of my estimate. I can't believe how good that was!

My 2016 budget will not need to be adjusted at all!

Already hitting that Medical Deductable

January 3rd, 2016 at 06:08 pm

The baby is sick and we ended up taking her to urgent care today as her pediatrician is closed on the weekends. This is the start of medical expenses for 2016.

Upside is that she doesn't have anything more than a bad cold/bug and she is already feeling a bit better!

She is currently obsessed with the monkey faces on her footie pjs!


The good thing about today is that I purchased an activity block from a lady off a facebook sales site. Its in excellent condition and retails for $60 new. I bought it for $10. So happy about that!




2016 Spending

January 2nd, 2016 at 11:54 pm

So far, 2016 has been spendy. However, all entertainment/food spending has come out of the entertainment budget & is not out of line for the budget.

Jan 1st Lunch for both of us: $16.22
Jan 2nd Soda stock up $8.00
Jan 2nd Breakfast for both of us: $12.75
Jan 2nd BJs - groceries, diapers & formula $144.21
Jan 2nd Babies R US - humidifier for baby $54.99 (used $50 gift card)
Jan 2nd Amazon - 2 baby books, 1 baby toy & a replacement Wub-a-nub for the baby as the dog ate her current one $30.72

Gift Card and Coupon Code Inventory

January 2nd, 2016 at 06:52 pm

List of Gift Cards and freebie codes. Please note there are a lot of shutterfly - which I use for family yearbooks, grandmother gifts, etc.

Shutterfly: $20 off code expires 3/27/16
Shutterfly: $20 off code expires 3/27/16
Shutterfly: Free 8x8 Photo Book expires 2/29/16
Shutterfly: Free 8x8 Photo Book expires 2/29/16
Shutterfly: Free 8x8 Photo Book expires 5/1/16
TinyPrints: 20% off plus free shipping expires 2/29/16
TinyPrints: $20 off expires 5/1/16


20% off Gymboree expires 12/31/16
Old Navy Reward: $10 expires 5/31/16

Two Stones Restaurant Gift Card: $50
Bob Evans GC $10
Nail Salon Gift Card: $60
Nail Salon Gift Card2: $60
Barnes & Noble GC: $25
Walmart GC $2.97
Babies R Us GC: $300
AC Moore GC: $20
Home Grown Café GC $10
Christiana Pub GC $10
Skipjack Restaurant GC $10
Skipjack Restaurant GC2 $10
Primo Subs GC $5

2016 Savings Balances

January 2nd, 2016 at 05:30 pm

I have multiple savings accounts that I use to meet different goals. My current balances are as follows:

New Home Fund: $9,666.54
Baby Savings [Slush for purchases needed]: $0.11
Emergency Fund $53.22
Slush Fund [HOA, Sewer, Vet, etc] $614.15
Home Upkeep Fund $114.50
Medical Fund $16.32
Automobile Upkeep $157.41
Vacation Fund: $25.15
Memberships $104.25
Clothing/Beauty $100.93
2016 Gifts Fund $906.82
Z Savings - to be for education, etc - $123.73
Nephew Savings - $574.61

Recap of 2015 Goals

January 2nd, 2016 at 04:44 pm

2015 Goals Recap:
1. Contribute $8k to 401k
EXCEEDED GOAL - total increase in retirement accounts - $14,718.81
2. Pay off CC TY $1087.11(Paid off Feb 6th) COMPLETED GOAL
3. Pay off CC FR $5762.60 (Paid off Mar 6th) COMPLETED GOAL
4. Pay off CC BA $9257.35 (paid off August 10th) COMPLETED GOAL
5. Pay off Car Loan $1595.93 (Paid off April) COMPLETED GOAL
6. Cash Only Gifts - Birthday AND Christmas COMPLETED GOAL
7.Spouse Paying off the last of the credit cards he came into the marriage with. NOT COMPLETED - BUT VERY CLOSE

2015 Alternative Income Totals

January 2nd, 2016 at 04:41 pm

I utilize alternative income as part of my birthday/holidays/Christmas fund. In 2015, I collected $852.30

Alternative Income totals 2015:
Gift promotion $10
cc rewards: $566.53
ebates $36.23
change jar $76.2
Bing $20.99
inbox $40
mypoints $25
settlement $28.35
insurance reimbursement $49

My 2016 Goal for alternative income through things like Mypoints, Ebates, Coke Rewards, Credit Card rewards, etc is $200. Much less this year as I giving a break on credit card promotions for a while. I will use for normal purchase rewards, but am not opening new cards as we are looking to sell/buy a new house this year.

Total Financial Change in 2015

January 1st, 2016 at 07:19 pm

In 2015, I did the following:

-Paid off $15,019.95 in credit card debt that I came into the marriage with (Current CC Debt: $0)
-I paid off my car loan $1,595.93
-Purchased a crib $319.99
-Purchased a glider/ottoman $493.98
-Cash-flowed Gutter/Soffit Repairs $1933
-Cash-flowed car repair: $499.67
-Cash-flowed house painting $750
-Added $3840.32 to the New House Fund
-Increased 401k/IRA savings by $14,718.81


That is total change of $24,132.85 in debt payoff/savings/cash-flowed expenses and $14,718.81 in retirement savings for a total of $38,851.66 in positive financial change for 2015.

2015 was a great year! I am thankful for the overtime opportunities, flexible job and that we could do such positive financial changes while pregnant, having a baby and being on maternity leave!