by Stephanie 10 Comments
Debt Repayment
Both last month and this month we have had an expected low debt payment. Starting in March, payments will increase substantially! We have changed from a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants budgeting system to a living-on-last-month’s-income system. It’s really exciting!
So essentially, in January and February we have paid and set money aside for a month and a half’s expenses each month. You can read all about living on last month’s income in this new post. . I am really excited about this change and how it will increase our debt payoff, organization and sanity.
Our (anti-climatic) debt payoff for February is $364.47. Of course, I would have liked to pay more, but this was what we expected as we made the budgeting change-over. Something is better than nothing! We are in a unique position of no minimum payments on any of our student loans because we have an income-based repayment plan and low income for our family size. It is nice to have that flexibility, though our loans are still accruing interest.
Income
Regular Income: $2969— This is the new standard after-taxes take-home pay for my husband. At first we thought that something was wrong because this is less than we had been receiving last year. In the middle of last year, his payroll switched from every two weeks to twice a month. In order to account for the change, his paychecks for the last several months of last year were higher. You can read more about our income here.
Etsy: $325— This is my profit after taking out all fees and supply costs. It was a below-average moth for Etsy income. I haven’t created anything new for my shop in ages, just custom variations on what I have been selling for a long time. In March I plan to get some new listings up and hopefully increase my profits on Etsy.
Other Income: $140–I had hoped to get some things up on ebay, but that didn’t happen. This income includes cash-back from ebates(I love how they just deposit it into my Paypal account) as well as some blogging income.
Spending
| Category | Budget | Spent | Notes |
| Tithing | $373 | Our regular 10% tithe on our income. | |
| Rent/Mortagage | $0 | $0 | We are happy to live in my in-law’s basem*nt apartment. |
| Gas | $500 | $493 | I really thought we were going to go over on gas this month because our kids were involved in a musical production that was an hour away. Thankfully it was only for 6 weeks. We don’t do many extra-curricular activities since we live in the boonies, but this one (which was free besides the cost of driving into town) was well-worth it. |
| Utilities | $0 | $0 | Included in our free rent. |
| Groceries | $300 | $219 | We kept the grocery bill down this month because we knew we would be over in other areas (see below). |
| Cell Phones | $20 | $20 | Hooray for dumb phones on the archaic family plan! We pay $10 each. |
| Clothing | $30 | $8 | On Valentine’s day, my husband had a hearing at the courthouse that is near one of my favorite thrift stores (they have certain color tags that are 25%, 50% and 75% off). I had him go by and check out the kids clothes. They have a pretty small selection of kids’ clothes, so it wasn’t overwhelming for him. I gave him a few ideas of what the kids need and told him to browse through the ones that are on sale. He got some great things for the kids and gave them to the kids that night for Valentine’s day, which made them even more special. |
| Home & Office Supplies | $40 | $33 | Our Dollar Shave Clubsubscription is $6.45. So far my husband has been using 1 blade per month, so each subscription is lasting us 4 months of shaving! I also bought some thread and ribbon for a dress I made for my daughter (with fabric I already had). I also bought 10 dozen flat lids for canning (so I could can some more applesauce). |
| Entertainment | $0 | $1 | We borrowed Tangled from the library. |
| Health Insurance | $114 | $114 | You can read about our changes in insurance under the ACA. |
| Dental | $22 | $122 | Our $22 dental discount plan plus a $100 payment for October’s dental work. I thought last month was the last payment, but unfortunately I was wrong. |
| Lawyer Marketing | $450 | $553 | In addition to the standard half-page ad in the monthly publication, annual dues for his professional association were due. |
| Lawyer Marketing Food | $25 | $14 | Missed a couple networking meetings this month because of some overlap in work. |
| Law Practice Expense | $60 | $45 | Monthly $45 practice management software subscription. |
