So I haven't updated here in quite some time, at least since February. We finished paying off our credit card debt and are still working towards paying off Hubby's car and are actively looking for our first home. We are looking into buying a townhouse. It has been a slow-moving process. But I think we've finally found a place we like. Unfortunately, the bank won't even process our pre-approval until we have $10,000 in the bank. Right now, we have $8,300ish, so we're going to have to buckle down and save to get it up. But we'll probably be too late for this particular townhome by the time we save all that money. We save about $600/month give or take.

Anyways, we've looked at our budget and cut a few things, but I think we're finally ready. Thank God because I am sick of driving 45 minutes to an hour to work every day!

Hubby and I realized that our budget was not working. I mean, we weren't really trying and we both needed to cooperate in order for it to work. So, during the month of December, we created a new budget. We use YNAB and did a "fresh start". And we are really doing well! The month is almost over and the only thing we've overspent on was medicine, because we both got sick. Our personal funds were dropped from $100 per person per month, to $30. We cut a few things, and it worked out perfectly.

Now, with everything going on, we are very close to paying off our debt. And we are closer than ever to getting our own place. The new budget has been a challenge. I input all our transactions in the software, and it gives us these reports. Basically, we are living within our means now and saving more than ever.

And after I input all the transactions, it automatically updates our budget. And then I email the leftover amounts to Hubby. It's full disclosure. I can't hide any overspending, and he can't claim that he didn't know we didn't have the money in the budget. It's going to work out really nicely. After we pay off the credit cards, we'll finally be able to apply that extra money to saving for our own place. And I'll start putting money away for a new car for myself. In a few years, I expect to be able to buy a better car.

As of right now though, I'll take the little victories.

My boss and I are going to have a competition to see who can spend the least amount of money throughout the month of September. Unfortunately, my finances include both myself and my hubby and my boss's only account for his actions so we'll need to be extra careful about spending.

I think it's just what we need to get serious about our bad spending habits. We were able to pay down some debt from August to September, but I know we could have done more had we just buckled down and kept at the low spending. The winner gets 100 gold in World of Warcraft. (Yes, I play. Yes, I'm a nerd.) It's less about gold and more about the stimulation of competition for spending less. I'm a competitive person, so this might actually work out for me.

I was just looking at my Mint account and loving our comparison between last month and this month on spending on food & dining. And then I decided to look at a comparison of overall spending. This month, we did so much better on controlling our spending than last month. And our savings is the proof. But there's also charts.

Hubby and I are bad at keeping on budget. But now, we are trying to move out on our own, pay off our debt, and save money. Because of this, we will be staying on our (already low) budget. We get a date night once a week. The rest of the time is eating in. That was the lowest I could get it without us cheating on our budget. But we've been bad lately. Spending extra. And we cannot afford to do that! So, we've spoken and agreed that we need to start staying on budget immediately. We pack lunch for work. We stay in more than go out. We lowered our weekly date money from $50 to $30. It sucks, but that's what needs to happen in order for us to save the most we can. We don't know how long it'll be before we have to move out on our own, so we've begun buckling down.

We are just waiting for some money to come in, but Hubby's car fund is all done when that money gets deposited. I can't wait to get rid of this clunker. So we'll only be putting money towards our emergency fund starting this week.

We have officially paid off our BP card!

And our debt is down from $4801 at the beginning of April to $4322 to date! I'm very happy about the accomplishments we've made this month.

We are trying to pay off our debt and save money at the same time. We're looking into renting an apartment too. So, hopefully we'll have time to pay off debt and save a decent amount of money too.

Also, we're switching back to using our debit cards. The cash thing didn't work out. We spent even more money than usual. So, back to the cards we go.

I'm super excited. Hubby got paid this morning, so we paid some bills. And we managed to pay off our chase card! It didn't have that much money racked up on it, but I still am happy to see it gone.

Also, we're doing well with the switch to cash. Hubby accidentally used our debit card once this week. It was fine. I left extra money just in case.

He then deposited his cash to cover it. So we're fine. It's a little easier since we're both so busy. But we both also spent our personal money completely for the month! The next few weeks will be tougher. But we're doing great. We're also discovering more and more coupons.

Once our debt is paid off, we can finally afford to move in together.

So, Hubby and I have finally decided to switch to spending using only cash, instead of our debit cards. We will start this when I get my first paycheck on April 9th. I'm very excited, mostly nervous though. I hope we can handle it.

I think, though, that it'll be better for budgeting purposes. I have lots of questions though. Do you keep replenishing the cash regardless of how much is left at the end of the week? Or do you only replenish it to the amount it was assigned every week?

My tip jar didn't really survive this weekend. I started out with $60, bought a few necessary things using the cash (dry cleaning, a new toothbrush) and *poof* there went my hard-earned tip money.

There's still $11 left and I work again today in the club lounge, so hopefully I'll be bringing in some serious tip money this week.

Anyways, it was better that we had that cash because I'm a lot less nervous about not getting a paycheck next week.

I'm am loving my new job. Today was a great day. I'm exhausted though. So, today I made $29 in tips! I added it to my stash, so I'm up to an even $40. I also found $0.12 in total today, which is awesome since I've been hitting a dry spell in finding change lately. I found a dime and penny at the gas station and another penny in the back of the club lounge tonight. I'm still a little nervous about getting through these next couple of weeks without dipping into savings, but, with the way things are going, we should be okay.

I had to buy some work shirts today. I bought some before, but they turned out to be completely see-through. So I have to return them tomorrow before work or Hubby has offered to do it after school tomorrow. Either way for a refund. I also got gas and paid a bill.

We've paused on the snowballing until I get my first real paycheck so we don't get ourselves into too much trouble. I get the last paycheck from my old job tomorrow. We'll be okay this week, we just have to keep it cheap.

We'll see about next week. At least Hubby still gets paid.

I officially wrapped up my last day at the job I've had for three years yesterday. It wasn't very difficult. The job I'm starting today is full-time (more money), full medical benefits (health, dental, vision), and retirement! I even get paid time off! Yay!!! Anyways, switching between jobs presents a temporary challenge. I am switching from being paid weekly to being paid bi-weekly. That being said, I don't know when my first paycheck will come in. Therefore, I'll be keeping any extra money (after gas and bills) in my checking account. Meaning, savings will stop until I get my first real paycheck from this new job.

I hope we can make it!

We are halfway through March, here's where we stand on overspending:

Overspent on restaurants by $31.73.
Overspent on miscellaneous by $218.96 (I owed my mom money).
Overspent on pets by $14.


That's it. Restaurants was definitely 100% my fault. I twisted some excuse and realized later. So I can improve on that. I owed my mom money, so that $218 couldn't be avoided, but it's in the budget because it's spent money. And the pets thing was also 100% my fault. I bought my bird a new toy and a water feeder since the vet told me way back when that he's dehydrated and probably just not drinking that much water since it's always available for him. So I bought that stuff, but ended up going over budget.

We've also managed to save $175 this month so far. Yay.

So today, Hubby got paid. Which means we paid some bills. Car insurance and more snowball to the Chase credit card. Today, I'm staying home though. It's a no-spend day!

I have nothing to do, outside of taking a midterm online today. And hubby is at work, but he shouldn't have to spend any money today. So today is a no spend day.

We will be doing better this week than last (at least that's what I have planned). We've done it before and I know we can do it again. It's difficult, but no one said this was going to be easy.

So this week, we failed. We overspent. And I feel so guilty! We spent through our emergency fund. I told Hubby that we need to have more self-control. I don't want to have the emergency fund in a separate bank because if we need it, it needs to be available ASAP, but we can't continue to spend it. He agrees. We are still not good at this. We have been getting progressively better, but it's a work in progress and this week, we failed.

As far as paying off the credit cards goes, we're doing well. As for the rest of the month, we'll just go on like usual. One date a week. And be much stricter on emergency fund disposal.

We failed. But, I've forgiven myself just enough to sleep at night, but we absolutely cannot let this happen again. It was so irresponsible. This journey is not easy.

One way we're trying to overcome our failure in coming weeks is to have our date nights in the middle of the week instead of directly after payday. We get so excited about payday that we always do dinner the same day or the next day. We will wait until Monday night this week. Hopefully it's in between enough for us to hold off. I guess we'll see.

Every payday, I assess what I need to buy and put the rest into savings, leaving myself with the bear minimum. This week I was able to put away $60. I'm currently doing halfsies. I need to build up my emergency fund, but also need to build up the car fund because hubby's car is crap. So, $30 went to each of those goals.

I love payday and I hate it too. Just as quickly as my money arrives, it disappears. *sigh* Hopefully I'll be debt free soon!

February was a difficult month, financially. It was tough because we spent so much money. Izzy's car is falling apart, so it's been expensive on that front. We also switched phone carriers, and that was expensive too. At least we can put February behind us and get back on track in March.

March, I'm sticking to the basics. Once a week, we're going on our date, but not eating out other than that. Gas prices are on the rise, so we'll see what happens there. Hopefully, it won't affect how much I have to put aside for gas every week. But let's be realistic. If it keeps going up, I'm going to have to. Sunpass stays the same. Groceries stay the same. The rest of our income is pure savings. Which will be great since we have to buy Izzy a new car soon. That scares the crap out of me.

We have $2k saved so far. Hopefully, we'll be able to get at least another grand before his car dies. We'll see. Right now, he needs a new alternator. And we need to keep an eye on his oil level. There is supposedly a leak. I just don't know how accurate that is.

I'll be looking into saving for retirement too. Izzy has a retirement fund through his job. I don't though. We'll see. We are also down to $4900 (more or less) in credit card debt. I feel pretty low that I can't afford to go out and do the things I see my friends doing.

But I know that at the end of life, I'll have a nice savings, and they won't. So...it is what it is.