2007 November | Out of Debt Again

How Much Do You Spend On Food/Groceries Each Month?

By Mrs. Accountability on November 27th, 2007

I haven’t read this book, so this is totally hearsay, but I read on another list I’m on that in this book – The Omnivores Dilemma – the author states that the average American spends 5% of his or her income on food.

I have been mulling that over in my mind for the past few weeks… wondering how that makes any kind of sense.

Let’s take the amount of money … click here to continue reading How Much Do You Spend On Food/Groceries Each Month?

Time Value Calculator

By Mrs. Accountability on November 26th, 2007

I found the link to the Time Value Calculator from an older post over at Mommy Millionaire Next Door’s – a calculator that helps you figure out how much you actually make per hour. I was thinking about this just last week because I’m becoming very disgruntled with my job, and am looking for ways to rationalize finding something else… the problem is, I have a very strong sense … click here to continue reading Time Value Calculator

Just a Few Dollars Here and There

By Mrs. Accountability on November 25th, 2007

That’s how I rationalize a lot of purchases, “I work hard for the money I earn and it’s just a few dollars here and there!”

When you really start taking a closer look at your finances, it becomes astonishing (and a bit frightening) to realize just how quickly it all adds up. Yesterday I posted a screen shot of our expenses for October and we ended up overspending in the … click here to continue reading Just a Few Dollars Here and There

The Plan: Step 3 – Just The Facts, Ma’am

By Mrs. Accountability on November 24th, 2007

My next step is to analyze exactly where the money is going. Let’s take a look at the month of October and see if we can figure out why on paper we should have extra money leftover, but we keep going farther into debt! As you can see, we overspent by $724.42 during the month of October. Thankfully we’ve had a cushion in our account, because it would really be … click here to continue reading The Plan: Step 3 – Just The Facts, Ma’am

The Plan: Step 2 – Budget

By Mrs. Accountability on November 23rd, 2007

Okay, here’s our budget. I know we could cut down dramatically, but if this is going to work we have to take it slow and easy. So this is what it looks like on paper.

MONTHLY INCOME $5272

EXPENSES $5040

$1,350.00 Groceries, Sundries, Pet Food 4 weeks$60.00 Money Order for Bill$700.00 Gasoline$400.00 Babysitter$500.00 Mortgage$60.00 Land Line Phone$335.00 Electricity$50.00 Satellite Internet$10.00 Webhosting$35.00 Trash$57.00 Satellite Television$45.00 Water$112.00 Cellular Phones$342.00 Livestock Feed$200.00 Credit Card 1 Minimum … click here to continue reading The Plan: Step 2 – Budget

Wedding Under $3000

By Mrs. Accountability on November 22nd, 2007

Okay, here’s the final tally on our wedding which I had hoped to keep under $2000. We invited 160 people, and 96 actually showed up. We had a lot of children at our wedding, too, which really made it a lot of fun! I can’t believe people don’t want children at their wedding!

Ceremony/Reception Location: $0. We had our wedding at my job, which normally charges $800 for the room but … click here to continue reading Wedding Under $3000

Wants Vs. Needs

By Mrs. Accountability on November 21st, 2007

I want one of these: Pioneer Woman’s Calendar.

I don’t want much and I don’t want anything too expensive. But since we’re supposed to be getting on a budget and tightening our belts, I realize items like this beautiful calendar are definitely a want vs. a need. After all, I’ve already purchased a calendar from Saver’s for $1.99 for the coupons inside (“worth hundreds of dollars!”) and my … click here to continue reading Wants Vs. Needs

Renting Vs. Owning Your Home

By Mrs. Accountability on November 20th, 2007

Red hot topic over at Millionaire Mommy Next Door’s. (Millionaire Mommy’s blog was hacked and the post is no longer available, but here is a comparable one in which she examines renting vs. owning at her new site).

My take on this discussion. I have rented and I have owned homes. I have been inherently happier as a homeowner. I can’t imagine EVER renting again, and hope I never have to … click here to continue reading Renting Vs. Owning Your Home

The Plan: Step 1

By Mrs. Accountability on November 18th, 2007

Yesterday and today I spent about ten hours figuring out our finances. I use Quicken and hadn’t entered data since mid-September. I input data from every receipt I could find and using online access, downloaded statements and reconciled all our accounts.

We recently purchased six months worth of automobile insurance and also six months worth of hay for our dairy goats. To make sure we don’t just spend that … click here to continue reading The Plan: Step 1