In November of last year we created a budget and have been keeping track of our expenses since then. I must say that I'm doing a great job keeping track of how much we spend, and not such a great job actually sticking to the budget. Each month so far we've come up with some reason to go way over budget. I guess we do a pretty good job staying within the limits of the categories we've created, but something always comes up that we haven't planned for and we easily convince ourselves to spend.
In December it was Christmas presents. Next year we will definitely set a limit on that. Yeesh. Also, we decided to take a trip to Strawberry Hot Springs for my birthday. It was wonderful, but expensive. In January, we took a snowboarding trip with friends. In February we bought a new printer, new glasses for me, concert tickets, ballet tickets, and a bike trainer for Jon. However, the amazing news for February is that we're out of debt!! Sort of. We were able to pay off the credit card once again and now all we have for debt is both of our student loans. Ahem...and the house.
My goal is to save $2,000 each month to go toward house renovations, trips, and eventually just straight saving. It's possible, but it would mean we can't do anything outside paying the bills and being slaves to the budget, so it's probably not very realistic.
I know that come spring I'll want to buy new plants for the yard, and there will be trips we want to take and we probably won't make it to that goal. But I think knowing how much we could save if we really tried will make it more likely that we'll at least be able to save something each month.
In December it was Christmas presents. Next year we will definitely set a limit on that. Yeesh. Also, we decided to take a trip to Strawberry Hot Springs for my birthday. It was wonderful, but expensive. In January, we took a snowboarding trip with friends. In February we bought a new printer, new glasses for me, concert tickets, ballet tickets, and a bike trainer for Jon. However, the amazing news for February is that we're out of debt!! Sort of. We were able to pay off the credit card once again and now all we have for debt is both of our student loans. Ahem...and the house.
My goal is to save $2,000 each month to go toward house renovations, trips, and eventually just straight saving. It's possible, but it would mean we can't do anything outside paying the bills and being slaves to the budget, so it's probably not very realistic.
I know that come spring I'll want to buy new plants for the yard, and there will be trips we want to take and we probably won't make it to that goal. But I think knowing how much we could save if we really tried will make it more likely that we'll at least be able to save something each month.
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