Friday, October 30, 2009

Our budget plan in a nutshell

My weeks seem to be getting busier and busier. I am able to keep up so far. Madison's girl scout troop is having so much fun. She earned her first petal and we were so proud of her. It brings back so many good memories for me to watch her. Girl scouts were some wonderful times. School has been a bit crazy. She is really doing well and learning so much. I couldn't ask for a better student to teach. I am including cooking each week into her lessons as well as shopping. We love using the thrift stores for some good lessons. She amazes me constantly. Mackenzie is standing and clapping and waving. So many new skills, its amazing she is able to sleep at all. Last night, just before I put her in the crib, she clapped for the first time and hasn't stopped since. I thought for sure she would be up all night clapping. The whole family was in her room and she was clapping for us. Great idea just before bed, but she still slept fine. She went on her first audition this week. My mom, Madi and I drove her all the way to Miami for an audition for a photo shoot. 4 hours there and 4 hours back! But is was a fun road trip and a good experience to see how well she might do. She was as good as I could possibly have asked of her. Now we just need a call back! Keep your fingers crossed and say a few prayers for us!

I have been working on writing a lot this week. It has been very fun. Creative juices are flowing at the very least. I have been posting some articles on line. You can see them on the right side of this page. The name of the site is ehow. I haven't read a lot. I suppose the balance is probably more of an average!

Our budget is coming together. This month, we are testing our totals and will be readjusting as needed. We are working toward to goal of having 6 months of income saved up. At the moment, we speak of unexpected expenses...we are most likely going to be replacing Mike's car and my check engine light is on. Sooooo...this "readjustment" has taken some careful thought. We have our monthly budget. Then with the money we have saved each month we have an "excess income" amount. From that excess income, we have a set amount that is for savings and the rest is excess for checking. The excess in our checking is meant to pad our checking account for things like unexpected car repairs or just life happenings that are not already budgeted. We budgeted in the things that we know we need or do every month. Now we have envelopes for each category to document what we spent by writing it down or by receipts. I will be really tightening our belts in a lot of areas to have as much excess in checking over the next few months. Every tiny amount I save is money toward our goal. That means each night I save money per person on a meal, we get more padding in our checking account which turns into more money in savings because after a few months, I will add to our savings column to get us to that 6 months savings mark faster. So that is our plan in a nutshell.

I will keep you posted on this and please ask me if you have any questions!


Moments are so many, but here is a sneak peek...
-Mackenzie sitting on a big red bean bag chair having a mini photo shoot! All smiles!
-Madison being this amazing, supportive big sister. She watched every second and did everything in her power to keep her happy so she would do a good job!
-Mike surrounded by the girl scout troop stuffing a scarecrow!!
-A shower...without interruption...oh wait. That was just a dream:)

Life's pace is picking up so we are buckled in and ready for the ride!

1 comment:

  1. It sounds like you’ve got a very firm budget plan in place. It seems very concrete, but you’re right not to forget about unexpected expenses. There should always be allowance in our finances for emergencies or urgencies – the kinds of spending that creep up on us or surprise us. We should always be prepared for anything.

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