I am glad that January is gone as of Midnight tonight. Hasta la Bye Bye.
Our no eating out challenge could not have failed in any more of a blaze of shame. I had several indescretions and no one to blame but myself. We ate out as a family once, but I pseudo justify that because it was our anniversary and our schedule got messed up. And then this past Saturday evening G-man and I got Chinese food because I didn't make dinner. HORRIBLE.
We made next to no headway on debt. The change in my pay schedule is still effecting my ability to figure out how much "extra" we will have per month. The distribution of funds is out of whack. Things that used to come from Paycheck 2 now have to come from paycheck 1, and the amount of time between replenishing is off. I am sure it will settle into a new routine, but we aren't there.
Snow has cost us a bundle. Here in CT, we are at over 80 inches of snow for the season thus far. We had our snow shovel stolen, which needed to be replaced. Add in the bags and bags and bags of Ice Melt that we have had to purchase. Plus, there have been loss of wages due to not being able to go to work.
Gas prices have gone up....so my $400 a month for gas for the cars isn't cutting it anymore. I think I am going to have to add at least $30-$50 a month for that.
Side Hustle is going S-L-O-W. My goal of $150 a month....yeah, not so much.
My car is making a horrible squealling noise. I know it is a belt, but not sure if we have more car repairs in our future. I mean, we already replaced the battery last month, and a $50 switch this month (my headlights wouldn't turn off). The plan was to pay off the Christmas nonsense, then little student loan, then hit the car loan hard and heavy. We may need to revisit this plan if my car is dying the slow death.
Grocery budget of $400 in cash went well up until last week. G-man.....*sigh* Nuff said.
The mortgage did close, which I guess isn't a failure, but that certainly wasn't without its own bumps and bruises. But now I have to follow up on the tax situation....hey, $1760 is alot of money!!! I want it back.
Goodbye January....won't miss ya.
$400+ for gas? *WOW* Why so much? I've never heard of anyone spending so much on just gas. Just curious.
ReplyDeleteWe each drive over 30 minutes each way for work. He has an Explorer, and I have a Mini-Van. Neither are the most gas friendly. Add in driving to his second job, and taking Bossy to therapy once a week...and there ya go. Gas here is sitting at about $3.34 a gallon.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry that it was such a rough month. Still, I admire you for trying. I am a procrastinator and decided that I am putting all that stuff off til April, when the youngest is back from her trip to Paris, as the $400 monthly payments out of the budget is a bugger! Hang in there, any improvement is a big one!
ReplyDeleteI am glad that I was not the only person that had an epic failure this month as well! But on the bright side, I got my first request to have someone guest post on my blog. WOW!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you! January was rough...like ROUGH...on our budget. Time to get down to business in February...
ReplyDeleteIt takes the rough months to give us the ability to get through the others. I wouldn't consider it a failure. You got your refi done, you paid bills, you didnt sink.
ReplyDeleteThank makes the month a success
Judy
@Judy - thanks for the perspective.
ReplyDelete