BUDGET RESULTS
January turned out to be one crazy month. I went over my entire budget by $29.27. Luckily I have overdraft protection and the money was pulled out of my savings account. I forgot all about my insurance bill that is automatically debited from my account on the 28th of the month. My overage was also offset by the $262 in extra income I brought in. Makes me wonder: Did I overspend because I had the extra income or was I just lucky?
Income: I brought in an extra $262.52 via a combination of income from my blog, Pinecone Research and sales off of Amazon and eBay. That extra money definitely saved my behind.
Miscellaneous: This category has been labeled as DDD's baddest budget buster and I do believe that I broke the record this month. I was over budget by $312.62!!!
There were a number of things, unforeseen and foreseen, that came up:
- - Car registration renewal: $36.10
- - Doctor appointment co-pay: $15
- - Prescription: $15
- - Cold medicine: $20
- - Souvenirs from birthday celebration: $50
- - Money to sister for computer: $60
- - New hair dryer: $50
Gas: I went over on gas by $68.91. We had quite a number of major projects that came in this month. Of course I was given the responsibility of overseeing them and this required me to work at the client's office instead of from home. I met all my deadlines and have two left that I am going to get done this upcoming week. After that I picked up some cost analysis projects that I can work from home.
Rent & Utilities: I was over budget by $26.19. In December I winded up changing my cell phone bill's due date from the beginning of the month to the middle of the month. I winded up paying a month and half on my January bill.
Groceries: I went over in this category by $63.67. My team had been working so hard this past month so I decided to buy them all lunch and bring it to our end of the month meeting this past Wednesday. Fortunately I get reimbursed for all that. I turned in the needed information in on Friday and should get a direct deposit sometime next week. So in reality I came under budget by $8.33.
Car Note & Insurance: Over by $3.53. I miscalculated my exact monthly payment. I am still debating on if I should increase my deductible and receive the $10 decrease in my monthly paypment.
Daughter's School: Under budget by $105.20. No school the first week of January so no tuition due. Again, something I totally did not take into account when I did my January budget.
CC Debt: I winded up paying about two to six times the minimum payments on my credit cards.
NET WORTH
My net worth decreased by $675 dollars. The two culprits were my 401K due to the stock market craziness and I adjusted my car's retail value by $785. Aside from those two, everything is looking pretty good. I currently have a goal of reaching a net worth of $1 by January of 2009. That means somehow eliminating $28,702 in
Not sure if I can really do it but I will definitely have fun trying to. If I am able to meet my goal by January 1, 2009 I plan on giving myself a very very nice reward.
Hope you guys are there for the ride.
Comments
I could add more categories but I don't think that would fix the problem. I just need to stick to my budget. I also need to account for certain things that may come up like doctor appointments and car registrations. I knew those things were going to take place yet I didn't account for them in my budget. I shouldn't blindly put a number down and expect that to take care of everything. I am definitely going to take this approach with my February budget.
I tried to do that with car mainteance. However, the $100 that I had set aside for car maintenance wasn't enough to make a dent in the $1400 car repair bill I got last week.