Big (Little) News!
I am VERY excited to announce that we are expecting our first child, a little girl, in the fall! My due date is October 5th, so she is just over halfway cooked. Everything has been going swimmingly - just more tired than usual, which accounts for the radio silence over here.
Well, that and the CRAZY amount of prep work required for a new person. Seriously, it’s a little overwhelming.
I’m in the process of getting things back to normal and adjusting our budget to account for our new addition. We’ve been re-evaluating our expenses and cutting them down as much as possible to increase our bottom line and increase our savings. In the last 8 months, we have cut our monthly expenses by over $1000. Some of that is from paying off debts, and some of it is from finding ways to save on our regular monthly bills. I am excited to share it and hopefully others can save some money, too!
Quicken User Error
The other day, I almost had a heart attack.
I was looking at our budget in Quicken, and comparing our spending to our one income budget. Our spending was in line, all of our bills had been paid or scheduled, and we had one more paycheck coming in for February.
Then I looked at the forecast for the next 3 months. This shows a nice little graph of what your bank account balance is projected to be based on expected income and expenses.
Our balance was forecasted into the negative. I freaked out. Sheer panic. How can that be? I have reviewed this budget over and over and, while it is tight, we should not be going into the negative.
After determining that Quicken was a piece of garbage, and vowing to try another budgeting software, I saw something little in the corner. Something that said “Extra Monthly Expenses”. A value that should have been zero, but instead was listed at $3800.
Oops.
Due to some user error, the software was projecting an extra $3800 to be taken out of my bank account every month. No wonder it had projected into the negative.
So, Quicken, this is my public apology. I will no longer blame you for errors that are clearly my fault. And I will vow to double check all my numbers before I freak out and think that our new budget is going to bankrupt us.
Menu Monday - New Budget Edition
Here we are, a week in February and our new one income budget. My husband was out of town all last week, so I cheated on the menu by eating tons of leftovers and mooching meals off relatives. But now I have to get back to cooking and keeping our meals within our grocery budget of $300/month.
I bought a huge packet of bone-in chicken breasts for $0.99/lb yesterday and they’re cooking in the Crockpot as I type. I plan to use them for a few meals this week to help stretch our grocery dollars.
Monday: Roasted Chicken & Veggies
Tuesday: Italian subs OR Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
Wednesday: Chicken Enchiladas
Thursday: Kielbasa & Potatoes
Friday: Buffalo Chicken Wraps & Sweet Potato Fries
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Valentine’s Day Dinner! Scallops Au Gratin & Ravioli
For more inspiration, check out the menu plans at OrgJunkie.com.
Automating Student Loan Payments
I have finally joined the digital age.
By that I mean, I finally set up my student loans to auto deduct the monthly payment from my checking account. I graduated in December 2004. So for the past 5 years, I have been logging in every month and manually initiating the payments.
Which is a pain in the butt.
The problem is I have a lousy memory. I can remember to pay the bill, but it takes 10 days to process the auto payment. By the time I log in to pay the bill, there isn’t 10 days left until the due date. Then after it’s paid, I completely forget about it for the next month.
Rinse & repeat for 5 years.
I’m ashamed to admit this because, aside from being much more convenient, enrolling in automatic payments makes me eligible for a 0.25% reduction in my interest rate. My current interest rate is 4.75%. Based on some rough calculations, the reduction in interest will save me a little over $3/month. Over the remainder of the loan, I will save about $385.
I would say that is worth the 5 minutes it took to sign up.
Have you been procrastinating on something that could save you time and money? DO IT NOW!
