We Moved!

One of the things that has kept me busy from posting this year is building a new house and selling our old house.  We started the building process in January, and we finally moved in last week!

We managed to have a few days to pack up, move everything and clean our old house before we had to be out.  It was very rushed but my hubby and I made an awesome team, and we had lots of help from family.

We are settling in to our new house, and it's going to take us some time to unpack and set up, but it's already feeling like home!  We moved to a smaller community outside of the big city we were living in. Commuting to and from work is so much easier and less time.  Hubby and I also carpool, so he drops me off and picks me up from work.  It's very nice for me, I'm spoiled!

Our two dogs and cat are adjusting and have tons of room to play inside and outside, and there is an offleash dog park a block away!

Now that all the dust has settled regarding relators and lawyers fees, and now we can get back to paying off our debt and building up our savings!

Update - August Goals

Here is an update on my August Goals:

Stick to Our Budget: ½ half of August: FAIL

We took out $400 in cash from the first paycheck in August, thinking we were going to use the envelope system and split up the expenses. One thing lead to another, and the month flew by and the cash flew out of hubby’s wallet. The good news is, we only used the cash and we didn’t use credit cards, but the bad news is I have no idea where it went so I can’t tell how much money we spend eating out/groceries/ gas etc. New plan for the rest of the month is to only take out in cash the amount for our personal spending money (because I really don’t care to track it!) and track everything else through the debit account.

Here is the break down for the remainder of August:
Groceries - $159 (rounded to create a zero based budget)
Restaurant - $100
Gas - $200
Pets - $20 (just in case we need something, but I think we have enough food etc to last)

Pay off Credit Card #2: Still in progress – we look like we will be within a couple hundred of paying the $1540 off!

August Update #1

I have a couple of financial goals set for August.  I want to focus on the financial aspect of our lives this month because that is the only this we can really control.

Here are my two August financial goals:

Stick to Our Budget: Meaning when there is no money left, there is no money left.  No food money left? We aren’t going over and spending money eating out. No gas money, well we are going to have to budget that well because 32 kilometers is going to take me a long time if I am going to have to walk to work!

Pay off Credit Card #2: This is going to be a tough goal considering hubby added another $230 to his visa for tickets he bought me for our anniversary.  Very sweet, but very not in the budget. We are going to have to really scrimp and save to pay off the credit card this month, hopefully having extra food and gas money at the end of the month we can use towards the credit card.

The good news is I started working full time at the end of July after working part time for 6 months.  The bad news is there was a problem with payroll when I switched to full time and my first pay check this month was smaller than what I had in my budget.  It will be fixed on my next pay check, but because of taxes, it won’t work out quite the same.

This month hasn’t had the best start but I am determined to get it under control!

Here is what our planned spending budget looks like so far:

Food (including grocery and restaurant) $0/$600
Gas $0/$400
Household Goods $50
His Spending Money: $60/$120 (cash)
Her Spending Money $60/$120 (cash)
Pets: $81.77/$100

Debt Free Take Two

I have not blogged in a really, really long time. Unfortunately we had some major medical issues in our house and it's been a lot to deal with. After two surgeries, my husband is on the mend. Unfortunately, we are also still dealing with our fertility issues but have made progress and have started treatments.

We also managed to pay off our $12 000 line of credit and keep our credit cards paid off, until earlier this year when we both were off work because of my husbands surgery. We also decided to move this year and are in the process of building a house. Our down payment is on our line of credit until we sell our current house.

We took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, and we are going "Gazelle Intense" this time!

In July this is where we started:

Credit Card#1: $500

Credit Card#2: $1350

Line of Credit#1:$5800

Line of Credit#2:$11800

Car Loan:$25800

We managed to complete Dave Ramsey's baby step #1 - $1000 emergency fund and pay off Credit Card #1.

My goal for August is to pay off Credit Card#2 but it might be a bit of a tight squeeze because we still have to make minimum payments on everything else.

It feels good to be back in the saddle and having a plan!!

Meal Plan Monday #2

Today is Canada day and we are home from work.  Dinner tonight is going to be easy and quick grilled - chicken and salad.  We used frozen chicken breasts for the longest time but have switched to fresh and it has made all the different.  I plan to chop up the chicken and add it to a huge salad with mixed greens, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower.

Our meal plan for the week of July 1st is:

• Grilled Chicken Salad
• Homemade Pizza
• Roasted Zucchini Pasta (emeals)
• Zucchini Pizza Casserole (Debbie Does Dinner)
• Shrimp and Broccoli Stirfry (emeals)

Budgeting Software: Why I love YNAB

Last fall I began looking for software I could use for budgeting.  I wanted something a little bit more fancy than a spreadsheet but easy to use for the average home budget. I tried a couple of different android apps, some of which I couldn' t even get set up and I found them very complicated.

Then I found YNAB (You Need A Budget). I read through the forums and downloaded the trial to see if I could make it would for my budget.  It was pretty easy to get set up and the few questions I did have got answered by reading the forums. By the end of my trial, I was hooked and decided to buy the program, which cost $60. I conveniently set up a budget category for purchasing YNAB and the money was in my checking account when I needed to purchase it.

Why I love YNAB:

1).  It's easy to set up and use

I had my whole budget set up in less than 30 minutes.  You create accounts to reflect your current chequing/saving accounts.  You also will need to create your budget for the month where you appoint each dollar to a category.  YNAB has tons of tutorials and help if you run into any problems. At the end of the day/week/month it is quick and easy to enter your purchases, or YNAB has a handy mobile app so you can enter them as you're checking out from a store.

2). It imports transactions from bank statements.

To be honest, I rarely used this feature because I preferred doing it manually.  The only reason I wanted to do it manually is so I could break down transactions further and really see what I was spending.  I'm a little bit of a numbers nerd when it comes to budgets and spreadsheets.  I also felt like it made me more accountable to what I was spending, kind of like a calorie journal for someone on a diet. For the rest of the people out there who really don't like budgeting and would like to spend as little time possible doing it, this is the feature for you!

 3). You can set up automatic payments.

This is one of my favourite features because I was able to enter in my paycheck amount once and have it automatically repeat every two weeks.  This was the same with the mortgage, car insurance and other payments where the same amount came out on the same day every month.  This made it easier to balance my budget and I spent even less time entering in transaction every month.

4). The categories show your balances.

 Whenever you look at your budget it tells you the amount you have budgeted, the amount you have spend so far this month and the amount you have left to spend.  At the end of the month you can choose to carry what you have left over/what you overspent to the next month's total budget or directly to the same category.  This makes it really handy for budgeting for things like Christmas - if you budget $50 one month and you don't spend it, it will add to the next months budget making your category total $100.

5). It has Four Rules to whip you into financial fitness.

One of the things I love the most about YNAB is the philosophy behind it. It helps you plan your budget and teaches you how to make your money work for you.  The rules are

Rule 1: Give every dollar a job: This means you work on a zero based budget there should be no dollars left over that haven't been allocated to a specific "job" or category in your budget.  There is still room for spending money, but it has to go into a category called something like "spending money", "play money" or "misc". This makes it possible to know how much of your income is going to needs and wants. Remember, your budget can always been adjusted, need to put extra gas in the car and have money left over from groceries?  Simply adjust your budget categories for the month, but every dollar still ends up with a job.

Rule 2: Save for a Rainy Day: This step is all about saving for both those planned and unplanned expenses.  You need to set aside some money to cover big bills (think taxes, insurance premiums or Christmas) and you need to have money put aside for an emergency fund (emergency car repairs, job loss). YNAB suggests having at least $1000 available to access in case of emergency.  $1000 is a great start, and building that up to 3-6month worth of expenses would be even better.

Rule 3: Roll with the punches:  This works closely with reason number 4 why I like YNAB.  It automatically adjusts next month's budget if you go over your budgeted amount.  This means if you are budgeting $200 in groceries and you end up spending $250, it will subtract that extra $50 from next month in order to balance your budget. This might sound a bit odd at first but if you do the math it makes sense.  Let's say you have $1000 in your bank account as your "rainy day" money.  You get paid $1000 and now have a total of $2000 in your bank account.  Then you budget the whole $1000 pay check but end up spending $1200.  You would only be left with $800.  Next month you get paid $1000 and have a total of $1800.  YNAB is going to tell you to budget $800 instead of $1000.  This way you build your $1000 fund back up before it's eaten away.  Sounds a bit confusing, but good news it, YNAB does all the math so you don't have too!

Rule 4: Live on Last month's income: I cannot wait until we reach this stage.  Imagine, it's the first of the month and every penny you are going to spend that month is already in your bank account.  No checking to see if you will get paid before your mortgage comes out or having to wait till pay day to pay utilities.  This step really puts you in the drivers seat of your money.  If something was to happen and you lost your job or had to take an unpaid leave, you'd have a month to figure out what to do.  This may be the hardest step to achieve, but it makes a huge difference in how you spend your money.

YNAB has changed the way we track our money and view it over the month.  We still use a spreadsheet and YNAB and will most likely continue to do so until we are out of debt and completed the fourth step.  Tracking everything in YNAB makes it super easy to look back on and compare month to month using their reporting section.

What programs do you use to track your spending?

Emeals

Hubby and I started using emeals about a month ago and we absolutely love it! It gives us a meal plan, with instructions and a grocery list for the week.

We've tried a couple of different meal plans and we really like the clean eating one.  It had a few recipes that I didn't think I or my hubby would like but they turned out delicious.  One was a cooked kale salad with cheese, rice, raisins and walnuts.  I am not one for kale and had never had it cooked.  It turned out really good and really filling. Recently we have switched to the classic menu in hopes it will save us a little bit of money and will have soon quick and easier recipes..  This week shrimp tacos in on the menu.

We don't tend to follow the menu every night so sometimes when I buy ingredients for a week, it lasts me a week and a half.  It's really nice to never have to think about what is for supper!

They also have a breakfast and lunch menu.  We subscribe to the lunch menu which is less customizeable than the dinner and is set for a family of 4. We only used it for a week before hubby went in the hospital and since he's been home and I've been working from home a far amount since, we haven't been using it.

We will be renewing the dinner subscription for sure! It was only $7 a month for three months ($5 a month if you sign up for 12.)  I think $7 is a reasonable amount to pay to keep our family at home and eating healthy. I wasn't to sure if I would use it when I signed up for three months, but it is definitely something that is going to be continued!