Welcome To Our December Personal Budget Report!
Happy New Year, friends! It’s time for our December Personal Budget Report.
This month, we spent a whole lot of money, but the majority of the overage spending came from that money we saved up over three months when we were saving up to get Mr. P&P living on last month’s income.
I keep mentioning that changes are coming. So, what’s going on? Well, we’ve decided we’ve had it with The Pit. No matter how much money we dump into this house, the situation never improves, so with heavy hearts, we are cutting our losses and getting out while the getting’s good. There will be a post coming in the near future explaining why we chose to do this even though we can’t really afford to.
This upcoming change will effect some of our spending from December. Then, things will probably blow up next month. Lot’s of changes ahead.
So, let’s look at last month’s earning, spending, and saving!
Check out these links to see previous Budget Reports!
- August 2019 Budget Report
- September 2019 Budget Report
- October 2019 Budget Report
- November 2019 Budget Report
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Why Create A Monthly Budget Report
The first real budget I set was back in 2014 when I was making A LOT less money than I am today. I had been idling along for years in my retail service job, scraping by from paycheck to paycheck, and making very little headway. Way back then, it wasn’t even debt reduction or budgeting that got me interested in getting my finances under control. An interest in prepping lead me there.
In learning about preparedness, I began to realize that if there were ever an emergency, I was going to be out of luck. There was no savings to speak of, cash or otherwise. Stocking up was out of the question. The debt I had accrued was taking up all my expendable income and then some, probably. I thought I was okay with money, but it turned out, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. At best, I was JUST okay. So, I started to research.
I probably learned about every system under the sun. Cash envelope systems, spreadsheets, percentages and ratios… There was so much to absorb. I made a lot of mistakes. To be honest, I still do. But I did find a system that worked for me, and it made a difference almost instantly. In finally creating a physical budget, I could see that my money was being wasted all over the place. It was no wonder I couldn’t catch up.
If there were only one takeaway I could share, it’s this. You do, in fact, need to set a budget and put it on paper! Yes, technology counts as paper here!
Why Am I Sharing My Spending And Earnings?
Simply put, it helped me when others showed me what they were doing. I can only hope that sharing my own monthly budget report can help others out there who aren’t sure where to start.
I also think it’s really important that we talk about money. Like, as a society. The secrecy and shame surrounding spending makes it so much harder to figure out a system that works for you. There should be less fear of judgement and failure around money. If I can contribute to expanding the conversation, I want to!
Now that I have a child, I am realizing she learns so much by watching me. The best way for me to set her up for success is by showing her what’s out there and how it could be handled. It might not have taken me until I was almost 30 to realize I didn’t actually know what I was doing if there had been more conversations about healthy spending going on around me.
A Few Details Before We Start
Everyone budgets a little differently. There’s not really a right or wrong way. Just what works. Mr. P&P and I don’t track our budgets exactly the same way. But we’re working on getting there.
For a little consistency on our budget report, I’ll calculate monthly spending based on purchases made during the calendar month.
As for income, I work on a zero based budget using last month’s income. Basically, this means that all the money I earn this month is budgeted and spent next month. It’s an absolute life saver, especially if money is tight or inconsistent. Having the ability to borrow from my future self has saved my life a few times! Want to learn more? Check out this post where I break down how and why I budget this way!
Mr. P&P is still budgeting the current month’s income, so we do a little of both. Since most of our income is salary, this really only effects extra earnings and rental income.
December Budget Income Report- $6,999.07
This is money that was earned during the month of December.
- Teacher Salary – $6,952.63 This includes both teacher salaries after the automatic withdrawal of taxes and health insurance.
- Rental Income Property – $46.44 Our first home was a townhouse we paid under $100,000 for in good condition, which is unheard of in today’s market. When we bought The Pit, we decided it was better to keep the town home as rental income rather than sell it to put money toward the new house. We stand by this choice even despite the problems with this home! This is the money we receive after paying any management and repair fees. There were some repairs this month, so the income is low.
- Extra Income Deposited – $0 Nothing this month
- Extra Income Paid in Cash – $350.00 We’ve been listing stuff like crazy in preparation for moving. We tend to keep cash we earn on hand just in case something comes up. This money will likely be used for moving expenses. Since I don’t budget this cash in, it won’t effect our spending or income on this report.
December Budget Spending Report - $7,801.42
It’s December. We spent money. Also, there are expenses tied to trying to get out of The Pit, but we are using saved money to cover that spending. This will change, though. You’ll hear AND see it in the next budget report once everything becomes official. Things actually went alright though.
Monthly Living Expenses - $3,817.83
This budget report category includes typical monthly expenses that come out of our budget basically every month. These are our “basic living” expenses that we need to pay in order to get through the month.
- Mortgage – $1,642.30 This includes our payment, interest, taxes, and insurance on The Pit. We have stopped contributing extra principal toward our mortgage since we are leaving .
- Utilities – $468.01 This covers the electricity, gas, water, sewer, and pest control services. The Pit has regular problems with spiders, mosquitoes, and rats, making pest control an essential service! We did cancel the mosquito service for now. It’s cold enough outside that the mosquitoes are more manageable. We could have cancelled the rodent service, but honestly, the infestation we’re dealing with right now is grotesque.
- Daycare – $600.00 Paid during the school year only. We do have to pay the full month despite having two weeks off. But we are fortunate to know an incredible lady who provides services for teacher’s kids at a very affordable rate. Baby Girl loves going!
- Car Payment – $234.35 On top of the home issues this summer, Mr. P&P’s 14 year old car died right in the midst of everything. The car seat doesn’t fit in mine, and we were basically living in a hotel, so we were stranded. We purchased a used car through Hertz Rentals because we knew it would be maintained, and their process is very straightforward. But we didn’t have the cash saved up after foundation repair, so we had to finance. I am still driving my paid off sub-compact.
- Gas, Toll, and Other Transportation Expenses – $71.03 This covers gas for both cars.
- Car Insurance – $435.00 We had to pay our new premiums this month. Mr. P&P negotiated lower rates, and we had saved a little for this expense last month, so we didn’t have to scrape up as much to cover the cost. After this month, we will contribute to this category every month as a sinking fund. This way, the money is available next summer when we need to pay our premiums again.
- Groceries – $367.14 Under budget again this month. I wish I could say it was because we did so great. To a degree, this is true. Honestly, though, we have so many mice and rats that it doesn’t seem worth it to buy them fresh food every week. So, our eating habits are less than spectacular. But it did make groceries cheaper this month. I’m sure it helps that I was very ill and had no appetite for almost two weeks. We also bought A LOT of bleach cleaner to deal with the actual rat nest in our pantry.
Debt Expenses - $1,629.47
This is money we spend in order to pay down previously existing debts and any expenses or debt we have as a result of those debts. Just look at how much money we’re giving away every month!
- Student Loans – $747.13 Ouch.
- Debt Repayment – $761.69 Still mostly minimum payments this month. Except that I accidentally paid one of my cards twice, so one of those payments was just extra. Beginning in January, we will be paying a set extra amount to clear my card before the balance transfer deal expires in June.
- Fees and Charges – $2.75 I haven’t been very organized lately, so I’m struggling to find the best time to pay my cards each month to prevent interest fees.
- Medical Debt – $117.90 I have about a million bills from Baby Girl’s rough start in collections right now. I was able to pay off a small one. Of course, that did little to make up for the two additional bills that recently showed up… Mr. P&P has also started making monthly payments on his recent hospital stay so that he will not have a million bills in collections like me.
Other Recurring Monthly Expenses - $220.16
These budget report expenses happen every month, but they are not absolutely vital spending categories! This is the stuff we could get rid of and survive if we needed to.
- Phones – $88.48 The cost of both cell phones. We don’t have a land line.
- Digital Media, Streaming, and Internet – $86.68 This covers our internet and Hulu accounts. We’ve never paid for cable, and with so many options, we don’t plan to! We’ve also cancelled Netflix for now, and switched to a cheaper Hulu plan to save money.
- Rock Climbing Gym – $0 We love rock climbing together! This pays for our family membership plan. Since we haven’t gone in a while, we have put a temporary freeze on our membership to save some cash.
- Monthly Renewals – $45.00 We each have some subscription boxes for various hobby interests throughout the year.
Variable Spending - $2,133.96
These are expenses we may or may not have every month. They are somewhat unpredictable and variable.
- Health Care – $30.31 I probably should have gone to the doctor’s office, as I spent my holidays very sick. But I chose to just curl up and hope for the best instead. This was a medical bill for Baby Girl from when she got Staph a couple months ago.
- Home Improvement – $0 We’re not fixing one single solitary thing we don’t absolutely have to.
- Home Expenses – $97.16 Baby gates for the new house. It’s a two story house. This was basically Mr. P&P and my gifts to each other this year.
- Dining Out – $63.36 Still higher than we’d like to see on average, but better than we were doing before! We ate out a couple of times and ordered pizza one night.
- Blog Expenses – $997 I was planning on purchasing Elite Blogging Academy when it released in 2020, but they did a special release this month. It wasn’t in the budget to sign up this month, but it’s going to get more costly later, and I did plan to purchase it. This is basically debt, and I’m hoping it pays off in the next few months.
- Baby Expenses – $0 We didn’t spend money on Baby Girl this month, but fear not. She was still spoiled rotten this Christmas. She got so many gifts, and we took her on lots of walks to see lights!
- Classroom Spending – $1.92 I honestly can’t even remember what I bought. Probably some holiday activity off TPT.
- Digital Streaming/Media $0 Nothing this month.
- Gifts – $139.79 Some of this is gifts. We make chex mix and jelly for everyone. There’s a good chunk, though, that includes stocking stuffers, bigger holiday shirts for work, and a couple of decor pieces that I never separated out and can’t find receipts for. So I’m leaving it all here. It’s holiday stuff. That’s like gifts.
- Hobbies and Entertainment – $50 I bought some hobby stuff.
- Other Spending – $81.23 There’s a bunch of weird stuff in here this month. Fees from money transfers and the rental house. Jeans for Mr. P&P. A pair of shoes for me. (I’ll be returning a pair I bought in November, but I purchased a pair at the beginning of the month to replace the ones I’m returning. So it’ll basically be an exchange when it’s all done)
- Savings – $673.19 This isn’t really savings, but we’re putting it here. We’re holding on to any extra money right now rather than paying down debt in preparation for buying a new house and moving.
Budget Goals Progress
I kind of knew this month wouldn’t be great. I spent large amounts of money on things I didn’t anticipate buying this month. Several of our debt numbers are going up a little bit. That’s how budgeting works sometimes. We’re rolling with it.
January is going to be an epic disaster, though. You guys, it’s going to look so bad! I think it’ll be better in the long run. I’m tired of being sick all the time and scraping mouse turds off every surface in my house. It’s just not safe.
This house is the ultimate sunk cost, and it’s time to cut it loose.
What Does The Future Hold?
Facing your financial burdens head on does not feel good, but it is important if you want to grow. You can’t fix a problem if you don’t know it exists. My situation is probably fairly common. Our income is pretty good. We have a lot of debt, but not as much as we could. Many of you might be in a similar situation. Some might be better off, and some might have a longer road ahead. No matter where you are, figure out what you’re starting with so you can decide where you’re going.
If you need help getting started, well, that’s what I’m here for. Check out this recent post that will give you a step by step guide to help you make a plan and get out of debt.
We longingly dream of the day we can say we are entirely debt free! I don’t know if that day will come, but why not dream big? Today, our goal is to make progress. But someday, we want to have as much control as possible over how we use our money. So, I’m giving you a breakdown below of our major debt goals and monthly progress. Who doesn’t love a good bar graph?
All totals except the credit cards go back to the original loan amounts, and the credit card total comes from our calculations in September 2019. I have also added a category for Mr. P&P’s October medical debt.
The percentage bar shows the percentage paid off.
The numbers beneath show the total remaining / original loan.
$38,285.65 / $39,558.61
We are shooting for a goal of payoff in 2 years! Just 1 year, 9 months to go.
It’s not going to happen unless we seriously pick up the pace. Time to get busy.
$11,885.63 / $14,169.05
This includes only the debt I took on with the birth of Baby Girl. The cost of her conception through treatments and prenatal care were paid in cash, as was the hospital down payment. This is just the debt accrued after delivery complications and emergency services that I couldn’t deal with due to a mostly unpaid maternity leave. A lot of this is currently in collections because I just don’t have enough money to settle yet, but I’m chipping away.
$5,427.53 / $5,526.63
This is the debt we took on as a result of Mr. P&P getting an infection that went septic and needing hospitalization in October.
$2,620.07 / $2,620.07
This is the debt we took on as a result of Baby Girl contracting a staph infection in October.
$12,720.74 / $14,111.92
We’re not putting extra here yet.
$62,809.10 / $80,567.17
Someday, we might qualify for debt forgiveness due to becoming public school teachers. We’re not really putting a ton of eggs in that basket though. If I can get them paid off earlier, I will. A lot of the progress I made here happened in the years where my income was fairly low, so I’m pretty proud of that.
$267,900.20 / $292,407.00
The mortgages are last on our list of payoff priorities. They’re pretty huge amounts for us, but we really would like to pay them off early and save some interest!
Now, It's Your Turn
If you haven’t sat down yet and faced your debt head-on, I really encourage you to do it! Figure out what you owe. Write it down. Stare those numbers in the eye and acknowledge them! Here’s a step by step guide to help you get started.
You can’t fix a problem you don’t know about!
What was your spending month like?
Maybe the holidays were tough on you, too? Or perhaps you’re rocking the end of the decade. Let us know!
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