Spending More Than You Make?

Is the reason that you like a certain day of the week because it is payday?  Our payday is twice a week on Friday.  Today I plan to stay home and not spend any money.  Why because tomorrow I can pay cash for things.  Today I can pay cash for items but it would be from savings and not from a new paycheck.
What percentage of what you make goes to each category?  What is the normal amount?  Are you higher or lower than you would like?  Are there things you care less about that you can chip away at from a particular category.

Our pending decision is whether to take the company offered medical plan or to pick up coverage on our own.  This was our first year with an HMO.  In prior years PPOs were the selections for the companies that employed my husband.  PPOs enable you to go to in network providers without having a referral.  Referrals now tend to be on a central database and take limited amount of time to set up.  Referrals were not as much of an inconvenience as they could have been.

Do you tighten your wallet when you have less money and tend to be more free with money when you more of it in your possession?  Last October we needed a new dishwasher.  We did not have the money saved up for it but went ahead and put it on credit.  This past month we wanted new chairs for the living room.  We had the money and paid cash for them.  We paid cash for them is key but did we budget to get them or were the chairs an unbudgeted item?  I would say they were an unbudgeted item.  When we first bought a house we had a goal of getting a dining room set. We had a picture of the set on the refrigerator waiting for the day when we could afford the dining room set.

When I look towards tomorrow do I run right out and shop for more chairs?  Probably not.  We do want to get seating for 7 and currently we have three new chairs.  We plan on buying two more adult chairs and two
 additional chairs for teenagers.  I have an idea of what I want or could use.  The teenagers have an idea of what they want.  Their chairs cost about 60 apiece while the adult chairs will be about 250 a piece.

Since it is December we will have added expenses related to Christmas presents and additional food for the holidays.  We have extended family that we can buy presents to mail away.  This is always optional.  We are hit or miss whether we do it or not.  Last year we did not have gifts for everyone that we visited on Christmas.  It worked out okay but I wished I did have something available to give to them especially since we received unexpected presents from them.  This year we can be prepared but I am really thinking of tokens of appreciation in the form of artwork or cookies rather than a retail type gift.

We also need to keep our eye on the prize.  No debt in January is one.  Four more seats for the living room is another.  Food in the refrigerator is a good one.  Gas in the car and oil in the furnace are good choices also.  Everyday we are faced with choices on how to spend our money.  Do we pack a lunch the night before or do we write a check for our child's lunch account?  Today I wrote two checks for lunch accounts.  The other day I handed over $20 in cash to fund another lunch account.  My oldest son says he would need about $5 or 6 dollars a day to eat in the cafeteria.  My youngest sons are capped at about $3 per day and they can get a good amount of food.  One problem with bringing the extra food into the house is that it does not get saved for lunch but random snacking.  While reviewing the school calendar there are 15 school days in December. The students that need $5 a day for lunch would be spending $75 for December.  Considering we have 5 children that number is going to add up fast.

Do you participate in all the holiday gift giving?  We do every year.  In the past I have thought it would be good to celebrate Christmas every two years.  This year I have watched so many Christmas movies that it is looking like visiting friends and family is what should be taking advantage of during the holiday season.  It is not so much the present that is important but being present to share your time with others.

When we bought the chairs with cash we might have used unbudgeted dollars but we did not use credit.  The problem came later in the month when rather than use the existing paycheck to pay for the lunch accounts we used savings.  While it could be argued that funding the lunch accounts were necessary they were still unbudgeted.  It is fairly easy to make up a budget.  The hard part is sticking to the budget and saying no to the things or events that are not in the budget.

We have a goal of not using credit for this holiday season.  Done.  We shredded the credit already.  The next goal is to live within our means.

Shred the Credit

In the past we were debt free except for a mortgage.  Now we need to struggle to get back to that comfortable position.  What lead up to the making less than you spend and needing to rely on credit?  Loss of a job, give birth to twins, rely on additional income that is not an annual occurrence, medical plan changes, middle age, children involved in more organized activities, expanding family means larger home, larger grocery bills, more expensive healthcare plans and more expensive utilities.
Our home
1998 we moved to our first home.  In 2008 we moved to our 2nd home. In 2009 we sold our first home.  In 2009 we had twins.  In 2012 my husband changed jobs. In 2013 he was laid off from the new job.  Two months later he had a new job.  During this time we started charging items but not paying off the balance because there was a promotional 0% interest rate.  After the lay off I think we were unsure how long the lay off would last and did not focus on paying down our credit card prior to our interest rate going up.
Now in 2015 we are trying to get back on track.  We did this once before.  In 2005 we had just bought and leased two cars and no other debt.  In 2008 we were on our way to paying off our first house in approximately four years.  Our cars were paid off and we were handling our financial donations very well.
The problem was we were still relying on our credit cards to pay our extra expenses.  Today we shredded our credit cards.  No fan fare just a simple shredding.

My husband asked that we use cash and debit card exclusively so we have no need for a credit card.  I have thought of one instance where it could be a problem.  That would be an unmanned gas station and all that you have is cash.  I guess we will need to get all our gas during daylight hours.

Summer Movie 2014

Planes: Fire & Rescue may be the best movie about determination, friendship and that life is not always what you expect. Glad we had an opportunity to see it.

Travel Video For a Friend July 2014

Bowling for 6

The deal was $60 for two hours of bowling, shoes, 2 slices of pizza each and a pitcher of a soft drink.  I did not feel satisfied with my purchase when we only got thru one game of bowling during the 1 and 1/2 hours that we were there.  I guess 60 frames on one lane in an hour and a half works.  I am not sure how much it would have been to buy everything separately.  The other alternative would have been to reserve two lanes so that we could finish a game faster.  Live and learn.
Fast forward two years and we had two lanes for 7 people. Due to bowling alley problems with one of the lanes we saved money on the shoes. Due to a web site coupon we had a two free pitchers of fruit punch. With our savings we were able to buy a pizza to serve all 7. We also splurged on vending machine items. The price might have worked out similar but we only needed to spend $30 and we bowled and had beverages. 

Day 1 Evening

At the suggestion of a friend, I am trying to reduce our intake of processed foods.  That is going to be more possible once all the cookies etc are gone. 
Our evening meal consisted of a hamburger without a roll, lettuce, carrots and cantaloupe for dessert.
7 family members
5 ate the hamburgers, one needed ketchup and cheese on the hamburger
4 ate the cantaloupe

I am feeling full or satisfied.  Guess I need to do some shopping. 

Desserts on a Budget

Do you ever find yourself craving something?
I made three desserts yesterday with the help of the Internet.  I rearranged my cabinets recently and I knew what ingredients I had and where all the measuring spoons were located.
I was able to search in house ingredients to search out what I could make. 
I found many recipes for chocolate brownies and peanut butter.  I choose a recipe that would produce cupcakes.  I have never made anything with a brownies mix except the actual pan of brownies.  Cupcake brownies with peanut butter was a success.  I also choose an additional recipe on a box that was supposed to make cake bars.  I added additional water and an egg so my intended bars were a cake instead.  No problem.  I might try that one again without the extra water and egg.  This cake had peanut butter in it also.  My children figured I was craving chocolate and peanut butter. 
My third dessert was an pineapple upside down cake.  Most of my children enjoy pineapple so they were willing to try it.
Now on to main meals.  I have cream of chicken soup but no additional chicken so I was trying to find a recipe for that.  I also have canned green beans and was looking at some version of a green bean casserole.  Other ingredients on hand include graham crackers and rice.  I am trying to use up some of my extra pantry items.  3 cake mixes seem like a lot.  I also had an enormous amount of peanut butter.  I am also fully stocked with red sauce and types of spaghetti. 
My craving was really for some more space in the cabinets and to try new things.
Best wishes for a fulfilling day.