Category Archives: plan of action

Update on the Child Support Saga

plan of action
As I shared in an earlier post Past Due Child Support, in spite of the fact that Mr. A and I have remarried, he is still liable for child support due to the state of Arizona. I called my child support caseworker and explained that we had been unable to come up with the entire $6000. She was sympathetic, but said there was nothing that could be done to lessen the amount. I told her we could come up with… Read the rest

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

plan of action
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 horrible to be overdrawn by $724.42. As you can see… Read the rest

The Plan: Step 2 – Budget

budget, plan of action
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… Read the rest

The Plan: Step 1

plan of action
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 money each month, I've set up recurring transfers on my online… Read the rest