Expensive Month

A lot of unplanned/unbudgeted for amounts this month but it still didn't hurt our bottom line.

First, we had a trip into the city to stock up on some things. It was expensive, but it’s completely paid for. We stocked up on a good supply of meat, got four giant bags of Mocha’s kibble (she needs a special kind they don’t sell in town here) and purchased a new humidifier as our old one stopped working. Unfortunately, Mocha’s budget is over this month because we got a 100 day supply of her insulin needles as well as the food - which was on sale thank goodness. Also, as of right now we are $31 over our food budget this month but we have enough food meal planned to get us until the 1st of next month. So I'm hoping we don't have to spend more money there.

Second, $320 for massages. G has really good coverage thru his work so this will be 100% reimbursed once the claim gets approved. As I’ve already taken it out of the budget and made the numbers work, so once that money gets deposited into our account it’ll just get rolled into one of our savings goals. 

Savings goals such as our moving fund! We hit the $2000/month goal again in January and our Moving Fund is now sitting at $4000. Due to the unplanned expenses we won’t be able to snowflake extra to our vacation fund other than the automatic contributions but there will be lots of time to catch up there in the future. 

Lastly, an expense we were extremely happy to be able to make work in our budget. I debated if I should even talk about it, so please don't think we are 'showing off' - I'm just trying to be real while being anonymous at the same time (oxymoron?). Anyways, G and I took our first leap into one of our 2016 goals and gave a $500 donation to a cause in our community. When I heard this group was looking for donations I spoke with G that evening about it and after about 10 minutes of discussion we both agreed that we believed in the cause and wanted to help out. Being able to start 2016 off in the right direction with our goals is a positive sign of the things G and I can accomplish this year.

So January was expensive (and it’s not even over yet) but we were able to adjust our budget accordingly and still reach our savings goals. There’s still a cushion in our account incase something comes up in the next few days but I’m hoping we don’t have to use it. Meals are planned for until next Monday, gas tank is full, bills are all paid and we don’t need much for entertainment. So I guess there’s only one logical goal to aim for: let’s try and go for a no-spend week. Anyone with me?

- M

PS: I got a 57cent raise at work on Thursday - or an increase of about $1500/year. It'll be retro-dated back to January 1st and that will be on my next pay cheque. Yay more money!