A month of success :week 4

I'm declaring this month a success! 

1st of all, I'm so proud that I've started tracking our spending, and have been working to reduce my day to day spending, that is a huge accomplishment in itself. 

2nd. I'm so proud that I've gotten other people to start thinking about saving money and working towards their financial goals. 

3rd. It is great to know where our money goes and to begin thinking about money in terms that we can begin to control.  

4th. I looked at our savings account and saw a wonderful thing.  While we deposited money to the account as we do every month with our automatic deposit, we DIDN'T take any money out of the account. That means for the month of January 2012, we spent less money than we made. So far, we have a profit for the month that will help us out somewhere down the line. That is a huge accomplishment. If we do it every month, we'll have created a substantial growth in our saving account.   

5th. We were able to track spending and make cuts along the way. For the month, we only went "over" in one category, "Gasoline/Fuel" but the amount over was.... $4.17. Not bad.  

6th.  The other category we wanted to boost was Charitable Giving.  The bar graph shows our lameness, but it doesn't show the amount we donated this weekend at our church, nor does it show a donation made to our charity of the month Braille Without Borders.  This organization is dedicated to helping people in developing countries learn Braille in order to be able to go to school and be considered helpful members of society.
To learn more about Braille Without Borders, read the amazing book "My path leads to Tibet" which tells the history of the project and about the way the blind founder, Sabriye, dealt with becoming blind.  Further she wrote “Tashis neue Welt” and the latest book is titled  “Das siebte Jahr” ("The seventh year") which tells the story of Sabriyes and Paul's seventh year in Tibet.You can also watch the movie "Blindsight" which tells the story of 6 of Sabriye's blind orphans and mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer, who attempted to climb Lhakpa Ri, a 23,000 feet high peak next to Mount Everest.


Braille without borders is an excellent organization that we are proud to support. They are working to empower people, change lives, and promote life skills for people who have been cast aside by society.  If you are interested in learning more about them or making a donation, you can check out their website http://braillewithoutborders.org/ENGLISH/index.html.  To receive tax credit for your donation (501 c 3) you actually need to write out a check for them.  Writing a person check is touching and personal way to support an organization. While writing out a check, you can also write them a letter telling them how you admire the work they do, its another way to fortify their work.

We are quite proud of our month, and would love to hear how you did, if you were able to save a little extra this month, pay down a loan a little more, or give to a cause you believe in. Please leave your success stories in the comments below! 

Week 3: Doing well and working out.

 We finally have all of our accounts in one place, and we continue to stay within budget.  This month will reveal how much we spend and where.  In the coming months,  we'll be better able to target some of these areas more specifically as areas to cut or cut back.

We like going out to eat, but it is an "extra" expense that we don't "need".  It may come under the gauntlet in coming months.  We also may chose some months to really cut back, but then not be so stringent in others, just so we don't have ... mmm what do they call it.... saving exhaustion?

The trick when cutting spending, is to actually do something "extra" with the money not spent. Money saved is only saved when it is actually transferred into a saving account to earn interest, or used to pay back debts that carry interest (or late payment fees) - therefore lowering the amount you pay overall - and putting more money in your account in the future. 

 

This week I also checked out my credit card spending.  So far this month, I have spent 1/2 of what I normally would spend in a month on my credit card.  If I don't spend any more money this month than I will have met my goal of slashing the bill in half! yay! 

This is the pie chart that I can make with my accounts. I choose to display just my credit card so I could see what I was spending money on.  Half of my spending is on purchases that will be avoidable next month, our anniversary dinner out, and a ballet class that runs from January to May.  The other half of the spending was groceries, gas, eating out (may need to cut down budgetary amount of this one day), medical and travel (these last two were also unavoidable this month).  So, I feel pretty good about the money I have been NOT spending. Next month, without these gifts and ballet fees, I'll automatically cut this pie chart in half!

Did I spend any frivolous money this week? Yes. On Friday, my family went to look at a place where we will probably have my son's 3rd birthday party. Afterwards, we went to Starbucks and used a gift card to get 2 hot chocolates and 1 cup of coffee (the cheapest thing you can get there), we were $1.05 over. I paid in cash because I had some cash still in my wallet from our trip (that almost never happens).  So, that's my frivolous spending for this week. Not too bad. That $1.05 afforded my family a nice little table at Starbucks and 45 minutes of hanging out and being happy. Also not bad. =)

Now you might be wondering, is ballet a justifiable cost? I really love the class, it helps me stay physically fit, active, happy, and allows me to leave my family and do something once a week by myself.  The benefits are huge to me.    My husband also gets his happy alone exercise time. He goes to the gym two or three times a week, that is a yearly fee and we pay it in the summer.

Finding activities that keep you active and relieve built up stress are really good for you.  It doesn't have to be something that costs money like ballet or a gym, there are plenty of free things that you can do. Walking or running is a great example, and it requires very little equipment.  A pair of running shoes might costs you $40 from the clearance rack at Sports Authority, if you are a girl, you'll also need a sports bra, which can be bought for as little as $10.  The bra will last for years, the shoes 3-12 months depending on how much you get out. But, I'm telling you, getting out is worth it.  Reducing stress and staying active boosts your immunity, keeps you healthier, and lets you avoid not only missed days of work and doctors visits, but also visits to the therapist for stress, bottles of Asprin (and the like) for headaches, laxatives and Pepto Bismol for constipation or indigestion, coffee for depleted energy, the list goes on. Exercise is awesome, do it. You'll feel better, and its a great time to either forget your troubles, or work out solutions to solve them!