June 2014 Budget

I am back from vacation at the beach and was looking at my TODO list.  Last months I started using Leankit.com for my personal Kanban board (the list).  It helps me get things done and focus on important goals.  One of them is presenting my budget every month.  It is well into July so I better get my June budget up.

 This month was another tough one.  Not many people know this but when I switched jobs to reduce my stress I took close to a 10% pay-cut.  This hurt allot so the year hasn't been going well.  The bulk of the money I earn goes into supporting my family of six.

Fixed Costs

58% over target

 On the bright side I spent $200 dollars less on food this month compared to May.  On the not so bright side I had to have some maintenance done to my wife's 2006 minivan so that offset any food savings. 

 My utilities did jump up this month as well.  With summer in full swing and my phone bill finally kicking in that bumped it by almost $200 dollars.  At my previous job I had a company cell phone.  When I left I had to go out and buy a phone and get a plan.  Since my wife and older kids already had phones I did some shopping and got a family plan which costs us $160 a month.  That was the best deal all around.

 Looking over my data for 2014 and 2013 I am regularly over in this category.  Maybe living off of 60% of your income for a family of six isn't realistic.  I have a couple of things in this category I need to write about and get peoples thoughts on.  

Investments

63% under target

 I think I wrote about this briefly before but I have part of my paycheck taken and put directly into the cash account I use for investing.  This is way under my target but I am having a hard time bumping it up.  Need that cash for living.

Savings

156% under target

 I found out that you can't put negative numbers in a pie chart this month.  So I just set it to 0.  This month I had to dip into my savings to pay some credit card bills.

 I always pay my credit card bills off every month.  Living debt free is important and one of the first steps to being able to save money.  There is no point in saving money if you have to pay interests to your credit card company.  In the long run that will always be higher than any savings rate you could find.

Guilt Free Spending Money

%44 under target

 This is a good under.  Like some of my other categories had to squeeze them to make ends meet.  Not how I like to roll but this one is OK.  I still got to do some fun (and free) things with the family, eat out a couple of times and enjoy BOGO DVD rentals from Redbox.com.

Ending Comment

Overall 89 percent of the budget went to providing for the family.  I would love to get that under 60% or even 50% like some supper savers do.  That would increase my savings and accelerate my investing.  The more I can invest now the more time it has to compound over the years.  Shaving off years to get to retire at 55 would be awesome and I will continue to strive for that.


Comments

  1. Henry @ Living At HomeJuly 23, 2014 at 1:08 AM

    Ouch, a 10% pay-cut is tough. Especially when prices for everything else is going up. Keep at it, I'm sure you'll get the spending down to your goal.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dividend Family GuyJuly 23, 2014 at 12:18 PM

    Sorry readers my pie chart wasn't showing. I have that fixed now. Let me know if you have issues viewing it.
    DFG

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dividend LifeJuly 27, 2014 at 12:37 PM

    Hi DFG,

    I hope the reduced stress from your job change will more than compensate the 10% loss in income.

    Do you teach your children about the value of money, being responsible with it and saving etc.? My parents didn't have much money so growing up I learned about needing to go out and earn it myself; but of course I just spent most of it.

    I wonder if thinking about your cost of living budget as a fixed dollar amount rather than a percentage would help you - having a target such as 50% of income is quite an arbitrary number, whereas $3,500 or whatever is quite real.

    I tend to look at the dollar number more; the percentages are just interesting to me as a way of showing increases in income.

    The pie chart shows up fine for me.

    Best wishes!
    -DL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dividend Family GuyJuly 28, 2014 at 9:54 PM

      Hi DL,

      I am trying to teach my kids about money. The older 2 have a savings and investing account already. I encourage them to split up their money like I do for my expenses. Some for fun, some for saving and some for investing. I give them a handful of companies they know to pick from and let them choose. It gives them a good start. Hopefully this will set them up for the long run. I was a financial mess and it took me decades to dig out of the credit trap. My goal is to see them avoid the trap completely.

      I should probably stay at a fixed amount each month and aim for that. That way if I have any extra income it can go right to savings or investments.

      Thanks for the advice!
      DFG

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Will Dividends Teach My Kids to Work Hard?

After reading an article about education and learning from Mr. Money Mustache last week I starting thinking about my kids and their upbringing vs. how I was raised.  There was lots of discipline but also a tremendous amount of freedom.  That combined with loving parents taught me many lessons in life that I believe have led me to a great career and the joy of raising a large family.  The one thing that worries me the most is a fear that my children do not value gifts or money they receive as much as I did as a child. As a child I remember talking with my sister days before my birthday.  We share the same birthday one year apart.  We would spend the time talking excitedly about what we might get for our birthday.  Gifts were usually only on birthdays or major holidays.  Easter baskets filled with candy, or presents on Christmas or birthdays. Growing up with one TV that didn’t get the best reception left us with plenty of time to day drea...
Read more

What to write about when you have no money to invest?

Image
Without any money to invest from January all I could do is screen and learn about some new stocks that came up this month.  It is my hope still to save enough where I can actually invest on a regular basis again.  Part of me wants to start using loyal3 or computershare.com .  Buy for free and sell for free on Loyal3 or for a fee on Computershare.  That way I can continue to invest in some of the strong dividend payers these companies allow you to buy.  The other part wants simplicity and is willing to pay the fee to keep all my money in one place with one tax document.   The third part just reminded me my goal is to first rebuild an emergency fund.  That part is such a downer and is no fun.  The fourth part is my wife who wants me to put any free money into home improvements.  I avoid that conversation at all costs.   The house will hold up and last longer than me.  My time is what I want not a nicer house. I cou...
Read more

The Cost of A Vacation for Six

Image
All investing and no fun can lead to a happy me but a not so happy family .  I am the only one who actually doesn't mind managing the finances and money matters in my family.  The kids are slowly learning and my wife leaves it to me since I use my computer and online services.  Both systems work but my system allows me to get things done faster and produce reports I enjoy studying. Here is the breakdown of our 7 night trip to the beach and a 2 day visit with my brother: Lodging $1,966 This was the largest expense.  We stayed at hotels during the trip there and while visiting my brother.  Luckily we have a relative that works at a major hotel chain and is able to pass a discount on to us.  The remainder of it which was the big chunk was the condo on the beach that we stayed at.   I found it as one of the deals on Kayak.com .  Overall the site was easy to use and compare different places.  Unfortunately I should have listened to ...
Read more

Investment Disclaimer

This webpage is provided for general information only and nothing contained in the material constitutes a recommendation for the purchase or sale of any security. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at dividendfamilyguy at gmail dot com.