June in Review

Blogging:  Goal: 15 per month  This is post number 10. With the computer change at work, I am struggling to keep up with anything in life.

Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 150 by December 2014.  I am still using the weight loss prescription and am continuing to loss a pound a week so I have definitely made progress. Goal Met!

Financial Goals:

1.  Pay off credit card debit by June.   Our dryer is on it last leg and after some thought and debate, I will be using the no interest for a year options to make this purchase. I am going to modify this goal to read pay no interest on credit card debit.  Goal met for this month.

2. Emergency Fund to $2000.  Limited progress this month.  I am continuing to struggle with this. I do have a plan to have $725 in this account by the end of July.

. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month-  Total Spent $816.63.  This did include the majority of food for Kendall’s birthday party. But ouch, a huge area that I need to get under control in July as well.

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs.  Total Spent $470. Looking back over the month, this amount is strictly gas. I am afraid we are doing a lot of travelling. This may need to be adjust because we have been way over for the past several months.

 

Overall, I was able to meet only 2 of the 6 goals posted here.  I knew going into June that this would be a very expensive month but we also had the biggest revenue month ever as well.  My plan is to spend some time in July looking at our finances and determining if some of my goals are realistic or do they simply need to be revised?  I don’t like doing  an update with so little positive things but I also know this might just be the wake up call I need to start looking more closely at budgets and such.

Saving at Harris Teeter

I have been looking at the Harris Teeter ad for several days now, trying to decide it I should make a trip for this week or wait.  I am reading rumors that they will host a “Super Doubles Event” in the next few weeks, but after a little more printing, I knew this would be an awesome week to go.  I was able to load my card with the ZVR coupons (Harris Teeter) and I even signed into Saving Star to make sure I could get the best deal.

Bright and early this morning we headed out to Salisbury. I am so glad I did!

Total Spent $65.01
Total Saved $109.56
Percent Saved 63%

Once everything shows up in my Saving Star, I am also eligible for $10 cash back!

One of the reason I am so excited about this trip is the number of convenience foods, I was able to grab. We spend ALOT of time at the pool during the summer but there is no way we can afford to eat out or even just buy snacks at the pool each time. So today was awesome, I grabbed around 20 Lunchables- great for swim meets and if they last that long to take to the beach, 5 packs of Hunt’s pudding, 8 boxes of Granola bars, 4 boxes of fruit by the foot/fruit gushers and 5 cases of soda for Matt to drink at the pool and also for the beach. These are all easy things to carry to the pool. In addition to these items I also included in my purchase was 2 boxes of Hamburger Helper, 2 boxes of Suddenly Salad, 3 boxes of Stand up Taco shells and 2 bottles of salad dressing.

I keep a spread sheet for the year with most of my best saving trips on it. This is not the best trip as far as percentage wise that I have saved but it is the second largest savings dollars that I have achieved this year!

Budget Update-Mid June

 

As I predicted May and June have been some of the most expensive months for us. However, God has provided, Matt has been able to complete a major website and I have been picking up extra work due to the change of computer system at work. Between the two, we are actually way ahead of where we were even 3 weeks ago. I am not going to include the update on groceries or gas because we still have several weeks in this month but I am adding new goals and I am excited at our financial picture looks currently.

Monthly Goals

: 1.  Pay off credit card debit by June.  Home Depot will be paid off completely in July!  I have a small balance on my JCPennys card as well but it will be paid as well.

2. Emergency Fund to $2000.  Currently sitting at 625. I will have to “find” the money for saving in July however starting in August $100 will be budgeted to savings each month. I will need to boost this amount to $200 each month to met the goal but we do have progress.

. Short term goals: These are planned to be covered in June with extra income.

1. $400 pool dues–  Paid
2. $200 for music/piano lessons for the girls this summer-      Paid in addition to a used keyboard purchased for practicing.
3. $46 Kids dentist bill  Paid.

Additional Short term goals for the month of June- these were added at the end of May. 

4. Purchase of new “tent” to use at swim meets.
5. Update Emergency Fund to $625
6.  Cheerleading Expenses for first of July- $750 including new shoes for Lily. 
My plan is to use most of my extra check in the month of July to cover these expenses.  I am updating this goal to cover all known expenses( $1910)  except for the monthly fee which is already part of our budget.  After meeting  this goal we will start to save at least $100 for each of the competitions scheduled for the year.

NEW Short Term Goal:  Save around $500 for some minor car repairs that are needed on my car. Currently it needs new wheel bearings and a new window shield prior to the inspection taxes and tags due in September .

Long Term Goals: These are for the next 6 months

1.  $2000 to repair our septic system- I have no clue of the cost for this but this is a save range. I will be counting our Emergency Fund in this amount for the time being because if it cost less than anything left will stay in this fund. No progress
2.  $1000  to replace the floor in our Living room. No progress    We have decided that it will be in our best interest to skip the huge expense of remodeling this year until we have covered the cost of repair to the septic system.

 

As you can tell we still have a lot of known extra expenses but I am hoping to stay on the right track and meet all of these prior to the end of the year.

Square Foot Garden Update- June

I am so totally excited to be able to pick and enjoy vegetable from our garden. I can say without a doubt that this year, we are getting the most and best veggies that we have ever grown.

Yesterday we harvested our first major amounts. For the last several weeks, we have been picking squash and a few random cherry tomatoes. But yesterday we harvested 2 green peppers, squash, several cucumbers, several cherry tomatoes and enough green beans to cook and have as a side dish. So far I have frozen around 8 packets of squash for casseroles and given away at least that much. I can’t wait till we can restock our tomato sauce. I have not bought any tomato products in 2 years but my freezer is empty of these so I hope to get a huge harvest in by the middle of July.

We have decided to make one change for next year, I will be adding an additional bed on the side for just squash. This should allow us to have more cucumbers as these are our current favorites.

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Finally a sample of what we are getting..

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Busiest Day of School

Wednesday, June 11th, was quite possibly the busiest day of the school year for us.  It was also the last full day of school. I knew in advance that I would not be able to attend all the festivities, due to the implementation of a new computerized medical records system at my work.  I had asked Amanda to help out and she did. I was so thankful! First thing in the morning was the Awards Assembly for 3rd and 4th graders. Matt, myself, Zach and Kendall all attended to watch Lily. She was able to achieve “A” honor roll for both the 4th quarter and all year!

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Brooke, my niece, who is 9 months older than Lily also made both a Honor Rolls.

Brooke, my niece, who is 9 months older than Lily also made both a Honor Rolls.

Next Kendall had a “Fiesta” for the entire Kindergarten Group and Lily had a class party. Zach and Matt went to the class party that was themed “The Awards” . In Lily’s classroom, they have been doing a movie theme all year. The invitations were to come and watch your child walk the “red Carpet”. Here are some pictures to enjoy.

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Amanda attended the Fiesta with Kendall and joined her for lunch. After lunch, Matt, Zach and Lily were able to attend Kendall’s class party. So as you can tell I was really not missed at all.

Kindergarten Graduation

Kendall’s official graduation was on Monday afternoon, I was able to get to the ceremony but had to leave before cake!  Matt was standing for pictures and I thought I had a great second row seat, however the pictures tell a different story.  They marched in, sang a song, read a poem and were each given a “special award”. Kendall received the “Ravenous Reader Award.”   At least she is cute in every one of the pictures!

Random Thoughts Thursday- Money Edition

Today, we have spent most of the day running errands and shopping so this is a great way to share my best deals of the day!

  • CVS paid me to take 4 tubes of Toothpaste today including 2 of the hard side bottle that are great for traveling. Total Spent $3.66, ECB back $4ECB and I did not start  ECB with any so this is definitely a profit.
  • We found 2 “Palm Tree Coolers” at “Five Below”. I can’t wait to use these at Kendall’s birthday party.
  • At BedBathandBeyond, the salesperson asked if I had any coupons, I replied “No, but I would take one if you can find one.” She said let me look. I ended up with a $5 off my purchase! I was able to buy a new steam iron and a melon baller for $19.05!!
  • Our first stop of the day was to purchase meat at one of the “local”  closest (20 miles) Meat Markets. We spent $185 for 15lbs of bacon, pork chops. hamburger patties, chicken nuggets, cube steak and 2 packs of steaks for grilling. All were processed and frozen within the past 24 hours. This is addition to our purchase of hamburger to be delivered in July should help us stay in budget for the rest of the Summer.
  • I am glad to say that June will still be our most expensive month of the year however God is providing so that it also appears that it  will biggest income month to date as well.