February Spending Report
Each month we're going to track and categorize our spending so you can see what we spend, how we try to save money in the various categories, and how we are able to meet our goals both financially or otherwise by creating a budget and sticking to it. Knowing that we're going to be sharing this you has been helpful in keeping us accountable, which means we're reaching financial goals even faster than we thought! Finally, we hope that these spending reports will motivate you to track your spending and see where you could improve and where you doing great. It really is eye opening!
The above categories are what we've decided to highlight each month. If there are different spending categories you'd like to see please let us know!
Tithing & Offerings
February we paid $1,025.08 to tithing and offerings ($10 for fast offering). Last year we paid our tithing based on our net paychecks, so when we received our tax refund this year, we also paid tithing on those funds.
Mortgage
Last spring we had escrow released to our management and had our home reappraised to remove PMI. Our Mortgage payment is solely for the mortgage and nothing else. We paid $883.83.
With house values rising right now it might be a good time to have your home reappraised to have your PMI removed. At the very least, you can contact your mortgage holder and ask them what the process is for getting PMI removed.
Utilities
This includes our phone bill ($97.92) we paid off Ben's phone this month so we're only paying for service now.
Power Bill ($106.32) We were on equal payments but have decided to remove the equal payment plan and just pay for what we use. Since we've been on the equal payment plan, our bill has gone up every time they evaluate our usage (about every 6 months). I think because we're not seeing how much we're using each month we've gotten lazy about turning off lights and keeping things on. This is the last bill of the equal payments. March's bill should be at least $30 less.
Natural Gas: $116.72 Starting the downward trend of Spring Yay!
Water Bill: $69.80. This bill includes our sewer and trash as well.
Internet: $79.80. We also have basic basic cable which makes our bill slightly lower than just having internet. This still seems high though, I need to call and negotiate a lower bill.
Debt
We crushed it this month! We put $5,591.70 to debt!!! That was payments to student loans, phone, car, credit card, and the windows. It helped that we had tax returns but they really only accounted for 1/3 of the debt payments we made. 2/3 was from not spending a lot of money and Ben working extra, picking up call, etc to increase our income. We were able to finish paying off Ben's student loans, and started paying extra to the car. The car will be paid off in March as we're down to only $580 left!!
Sinking Funds
Our sinking funds include car insurance ($139.62), car registration ($24), life insurance ($42.78), and escrow ($140). Escrow covers our property taxes which are due in September.
Food
The food category includes our groceries (which actually includes more than just food - it includes paper products, baby items, beauty, cleaning supplies), eating out, and Ben's breakfasts at work.
Ben's breakfasts came to $17.13 We tried to keep that down by preparing breakfast items for Ben at home and packaging leftovers for him to take.
We spent $90.10 at restaurants, mostly pizza and fast food. We actually went out on a date and went to Applebees! That was our largest restaurant bill and it was only for 2 of us; it's almost half of the restaurant spending this month! It was nice to go out just the 2 of us though.
Gasoline
$254.57. We budgeted $250 in February for gas and we were almost right on!
One thing we do to try and keep gas costs down is by buying our groceries at Smith's which offers Fuel Rewards. But only if the price is good! For example, if I can buy milk at grocery store X or at Smith's for the same price, then I'll buy it at Smith's for the extra savings on gas. Smith's also has surveys you can take once a week at the bottom of the store receipts for an extra 50 points towards fuel rewards.
We try to maximize the fuel rewards we do receive by filling up both cars at the same time. You can use the fuel rewards UP TO 35 gallons. We use the full 35 by filling up the cars together
School Applications
Ben is applying to grad schools and with that comes applications fees and travel expenses. We spent $7.85 mailing out another application. The application fee for this school hasn't cleared our bank account yet, it'll probably show up on our March spending report.
Kid's Activities
$8.35 I purchased e-files from Evan-Moor with a $10 off coupon code (Valentine's and famous Americans activities), parking at our last field trip in SLC, and something else for 2.12 that I can't remember 😜!
Clothing
$14.09. This is all kids underwear and socks from Target on clearance. They probably still have some at 70% off-look for the yellow clearance signs! I was able to get 4 packs of underwear for around $3 each. Each package had between 9-10 pairs of underwear, and at 6-8 pairs of socks.
Underwear & socks is one clothing item that you can't get hand-me-down, thrifting, or yardsale-ing. Taking advantage of clearance sales and storing for when you need it is another way to save.
Gifts & Entertainment
Nada. I'm planning on paying for gifts through the different reward programs I'm a part of. You can see the ones that are worth your time HERE.
Miscellaneous
The miscellaneous category covers anything that doesn't fit the other categories. This month that includes:
Our allowance ($80) We each get $20 a paycheck
A speeding ticket (ugh) $120
Chicken feed & straw for the coop $40.42
Home projects $341.32 We purchased wood to complete window frames & boxes. You can see those gorgeous windows HERE and HERE. We also purchased more wood to build another dining table. Here's the table Ben built last summer. We bought light bulbs from Costco for our whole house. We really like THESE lightbulbs. The light isn't too cool or warm, they're LED, and the lighting in our house is now consistent from room to room. I don't know why they're so expensive online vs in the warehouse though. We got them for $10 per 4 bulbs.
Pet food $20.34 We buy our cat food at Costco. This bag should last 2-3 months.
Printer toner $11.85 We ran out of cyan and the printer wouldn't even do black and white printing without replacing the cartridge. A Dell branded toner would've cost around $70. I found a compatible non-branded toner on Amazon for $10.99! I read that non-branded toners may not be worth the money because they're only half full. If that's true, we'll still come out ahead over spending $70 on toner!
