First, let’s do a recap of how things went in February.
February 2020 Budget Recap
Where I overspent:
| Groceries | Budgeted Amount: $200 | Actual Spent: $221 |
Where I spent less than allocated:
| Auto Gas | Budgeted Amount: $150 | Actual Spent: $0 |
| Dry Cleaning/Shoe Repair | Budgeted Amount: $90 | Actual Spent: $60 |
| Pocket Change | Budgeted Amount: $120 | Actual Spent: $114 |
| Orthodontist | Budgeted Amount: $425 | Actual Spent: $230 |
| Ooma | Budgeted Amount: $17 | Actual Spent: $16.55 |
A couple of notes on where I overspent and spent less than allocated:
- Auto Gas: The way I managed to not spend a penny on gas for this month was that: (1) someone filled my tank for me and (2) I haven’t really been going anywhere. I had some gas left over from January, which carried into February. Then, Jameson took me out in February and, without any solicitation on my part, filled up my tank for me. Since I’ve been working from home for the most part, and working with clients who don’t require in-person meetings, the gas that he put in the car for me lasted for the remainder of the month. Nice, right?!
- Orthodontist: I hadn’t been to the orthodontist in 5 years. I’ve been using the same retainers I’ve had for all of that time. Recently, my bottom retainer cracked. So, I finally made an appointment to see my orthodontist, have him look at my retainers, and get me a new bottom (and possibly top) retainer. The amount I budgeted contemplated me getting 2 new retainers. At my visit, he said I only needed to replace the bottom one that had split.
- Ooma: Yes, I still have a home phone. I don’t trust these cell phones completely. I need back up.
I’ve written here about what I do with what I don’t spend in each budget category. What I plan to do this month, however, is to finally address the water heater issue I discovered months ago. My water heater is on its last leg and has been so for awhile. With the $8,600 HOA assessment I had to pay recently, I decided to wait on getting a new water heater installed until I crossed the bridge of the HOA assessment. With the money that I put into a sinking fund for home repairs (including the HOA assessment), and the excess funds that have been accumulating in my checking account (when I underspend in budget categories), I am able to pay for the water heater this month.
March Budget Breakdown
Like I did with February, I’ve based the March budget on income of $9,000.
I use Dave Ramsey’s EveryDollar software to do my monthly budgeting. Instead of using the premium version (EveryDollar Plus), I use the free version. The free version doesn’t connect with your bank and credit accounts, so this forces me to manually capture every single amount spent each month. I really want to connect with my numbers, instead of being able to simply drag and drop imported expenditures.
According to the summary of spending that appears in EveryDollar, here’s how the percentages of planned spending breaks down for the month:
You’ll see that:
- 18% of the budget is going toward giving (tithe) and savings
- 16% is going toward housing
- 44% is going toward debt
The debt percentage isn’t completely accurate, since my 2 mortgages that appear in the housing category are debt.
In the health, wellness and grooming category, the largest expense is a projected dentist visit. I’m due for my semi-annual cleaning and I also will purchase more whitening solution. My teeth are a big deal to me, so, every 2 years or so, I buy more whitening solution for the whitening trays I bought about 5 years ago.
I just made the second half of the payment due for that beast of an HOA assessment. So, now I’ve got those funds I was saving each month (between $1,000 and $1,500) to apply to my budget. I view this as money that should now go to my debt snowball. If I was able to find that kind of money in the budget in order to pay for the HOA assessment, why can’t I find it in order to “pay myself” in my freedom journey?
This month, I increased the amount I’m saving toward my 2020 taxes. Last month, I allocated $500. For March, I’ve increased that to $700. Again, this is me being proactive in preparing to address the tax bill that I’m likely to have for my 2020 tax liability.
I’ve stated that I pay myself from my business via two different forms of income – W-2 employee income and owner distributions. With the W-2 employee income, taxes are automatically withheld through the payroll system I use (ADP). The distributions, however, don’t include withholding. So, I need to be prepared to pay whatever taxes I owe when it’s tax filing time.
I’m glad to have that HOA assessment out of the way and that I can now allocate more funds to my debt snowball.
How are things looking for you for March?