Monthly Financial Update: August 2019


In December, when reviewing my finances for 2018, I mentioned my desire to look at them on a monthly basis in 2019. Justin and I spent a little too much in 2018 and let our finances get the best of us. Maybe by looking at our finances monthly (and let you guys/gals keep me in check), we will do better this year.

That's the goal anyway.

Here's month #8:

 Spending:
green = this year, yellow = last year

Last Year:
• We spent more on everything except…
• we spent less on uncategorized expenses. (And I don't even know what they were!)
dotted line = last month, green line = this month

 Last Month:
• We spent more on everything except…
• We spent less on fees (yearly fee for Capital One Venture).

 Where We Spent Our Money:

Top 10 Merchants:
1. Electricity
2. Anthropologie (2 dresses)
3. Starbucks
4. Embassy Suites
5. RaceTrac (gas)
6. Kroger
7. City Farmer's Market
8. Free People (2 dresses)
9. Amazon (2 books for French class, champagne flutes, headphones)
10. Destin Ice Market (wine, meat, bread)

Top 10 Categories:
1. Food & Dining
2. Auto & Transport
3. Shopping (clothes, books, headphones, champagne flutes)
4. Bills & Utilities
5. Travel (hotel, Lyft)
6. Life Insurance
7. Fees & Charges (balance transfer fee)
8. Uncategorized (No idea what these were! 🤨)
9. Personal Care

Budgeting:
✓ Gas & Fuel – over
✗ Groceries – under
✗ Restaurants – over
✓ Hair Appointments – under
✗ Everything Else – over

 Net Income:

Debt:

credit cards

student loans

How Did I Do On My Financial Goals for August?
✓- Get Chase Slate set up. (Set up, but not showing on Mint)
✓ Continue to use the correct credit cards for gas and restaurants.
✗ Quit eating out when we aren't hungry for a meal. It's bad for weight gain and for our wallet.
✓ Spend less than we did in July on something (groceries, restaurants, or other). It doesn't matter what.
✓ Return top to Belk.
✓ Pay for car tags.
✗ Look for a used wine fridge.
– Be careful with spending during our short Florida getaway.

 Numbers:
* Loan Payoff Date 11/1/22
* Emergency Funds: $11,035
• 401K $43,021.41
• Credit Scores: 768 (Justin), 804, 807 (me)

Overview of the Biggest Impacts This Month:
1. Opened Chase Slate.
2. Bills increased.
3. Traveled to 30A. (gas, meals)
4. Buying clothes. 😬
5. Breaking all of the champagne flutes! 😳

What went wrong this month?
1. Bills increased again.
2. I probably bought too many clothes. But I love most of them. ❤️
3. Getting a break from work. But it was good for my mental health.
4. Gas was really expensive this month because we drove my husband's truck to Florida. (Trucks use a lot of gas. Also, traveling meant we spent extra on gas this month anyway.)
5. Breaking things and then needing to replace them. Always feels like an unnecessary expense. 😕

What went right this month?
1. Going to see movies for free! It was fun and a great way to get to know my co-worker!
2. We spent less on groceries this month than we did last month! Yay!
3. Credit score increased!
4. Got a check from Target for a data breach! And a few surprising opportunities to make extra money.
5. Being told in advance what book we would need for our French class and being able to order a used copy online.


Financial plans/goals for September?
1. Continue to reduce grocery spending. (We have lots of wine! We don't need anymore!)
2. Start purchasing gifts for Christmas.
3. Go low-key when purchasing birthday gifts this month. 😳
4. Aim to only spend around half (or, ideally, less) of our takehome pay.
5. Buy tires for my car.
6. Look at the budget and make adjustments. (Some are needed!)
7. Return dress to Free People, leggings and dress to Belk (if I'm not going to wear it).

September is looking to be quite expensive. There are so many birthdays! And my car needs tires. Can I ever catch a break?

 On the upside, I feel like we did pretty good at accomplishing many of our August goals. Spending less? Win! I don't know if it's sustainable, but I hope we can continue that into September even with our extra expenses we know we have coming up.

How do you plan for months where you know extra money will be spent? Is your budget generally low enough that it doesn't matter and the extra expenses don't affect you? Or do those weird months throw you off for a bit? Anything I should think about before September hits?

Financial Resolution Goals 2019


August Lookback



It's another month and thus another edition of the "lookback". August is passing by far more quickly than I anticipated. (Don't most months?) School has started where I live, and I'm already missing the "lazy" days of summer. Where is the beach when you need it?

Anyway, here's what I've been up to –

Listening to: 

 You've Got Mail

 Part-Time Working Hockey Mom was looking for movies where ice cream is consumed. I thought this was one. We both decided it had been too long since we last saw it, so I've now got it playing in the background while I, again, don't pay attention to it and, instead, focus on blogging.

 This brings up a fair point – do people actually sit back and watch movies any more? I feel like any time I'm watching movies or tv shows with my friends, we are usually on our phones multi-tasking. That or I'm editing pictures on my laptop or writing a blog post… I'm never sitting idle.

 The good news? I'm going to a screening for a movie where I won't (and can't) be multi-tasking! No idea if the movie will be any good, though. Guess I'll find out. Maybe it will give me a chance to slow down and relax.

Remembering:

a time way back when, when getting an email felt like it did in the movie You've Got Mail…

"I turn on my computer. I wait impatiently as it connects. I go online, and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words: You've got mail. I hear nothing. Not even a sound on the streets of New York, just the beating of my own heart. I have mail. From you.” - Kathleen Kelly in You've Got Mail

 Now, advertisers capitalize on that feeling, overwhelming a person daily with email. So to combat that, we use programs like Unroll.me risking our privacy to prevent all of the stress that comes from 15,000 emails a day. Is there a way to get back to that feeling of excitement when you open your inbox? 

Planning:

nothing at the moment 😳

Anxious about:

 French 101.

 I took German with my husband in high school, but we weren't even together then! He's so smart that I am certain I will fall behind. My hope is that, because the class is so small, the experience will be more about learning something and less about taking tests. If I can emerge from the class knowing something more about French than I already do, I will consider that a success.

Interested to Know:

I went to a party on Saturday at the house of a co-worker. She fixed the most amazing Colombian soup. She is kick-ass, extremely kind and generous, and has so much personality. My husband and I ran into her on a random date night and she oh-so-kindly went out of her to welcome us into her friend group.

So what I'm wanting to know is – how do you do that? How do you speak your mind and keep the peace?

Granted, she is older and thus has waaaaaaayyyy more life experience than me, but I would really love to emulate her. I would love to ooze confidence like she does. ❤️

Keeping A Secret: 

I figured out a Christmas present for some friends and I am super excited about it. I know it's far in advance, but I would need to send it early. Maybe after Christmas, I will blog about it. (Or at least after they get it; it's the kind of present that they really should open before Christmas.)

Shopping: 

• the Vanderbilt Skirt made by Maeve and sold by Anthropologie (I discovered it can be worn as a super-cute dress! Probably only works that way if you are short, though…)
• Across the Sea Tunic in Lilac Fields from Free People (I love this dress in the other colors I've purchased! It has pockets!)
• Coast to Coast Convertible Top in the Tomato Combo from Free People (No idea if I'll like it, but I think it could be cute with bike shorts.)
• French Now for my French 101 class beginning later this month! (Bought used.)
• a Johansen Missy bag in mint for my laptop (Already gotten so many compliments! And it is so big! -- I bought mine used.)

Reading:

nothing

I suspect that the number of books I read will begin to dwindle as I take on French 101 in the next few weeks.

What are you up to this month? Doing anything fun or different? Do you remember a time when checking emails was fun? Do you actually sit and watch a movie rather than multi-tasking through it?