Financial Updates, Reworking the Budget & Revising Goals

Financial Updates:

• $100 was set aside for car fees.  I wasn't sure how much I would end up having to pay for transferring the plates to my new car or any other car related expenses.  It ended up only being $3.50 so I paid out of my spending money.
• Electric Bill is $349 and some change this month! So that extra $100 that I didn't need for the car fees will go towards electric.
• We received our $50 refund check from the insurance company since the new car is cheaper to insure.  The $50 was moved to our savings account.

Revising Goals for 2015

I wrote about my original goals for the year here.  But things change.  We recently purchased a new car for myself and our plan is to buy out Mr. R's lease.  Since both are cars are newer and under warranty we won't need to save as much towards car expenses and a new car but I want to pay extra on the cars to get them paid off sooner.

My car payment is $232 per month for a 75 month loan.  Payments start in March.  I know 75 months is a ridiculously long time to pay on a car so the plan is to pay it off way before then.  It's the most expensive car we have ever purchased but I absolutely love it.  I've never had a car that has driven this well on ice and snow before.  I love the features of the car, it's very comfortable and has plenty of room.  But the reason I love it so much is that I feel safe driving it in the bad weather.

I'm estimating that our payment to buy out Mr. R's car will be less than $200 per month.  My goal will be to pay Mr. R's car off first as it will be the smaller loan.

Reworking the Budget & Goals for 2015:

• Save $50 per month towards car repairs to cover:
• oil changes
• brakes
• tires
• Pay $530 per month in car payments: 
• $232 my minimum car payment
• $298 towards paying off Mr. R's car quicker
• Increase mortgage payments on rental property: Starting in April, we will have an extra $60 per month from our mortgage income.  When we purchased the condo, I pulled $500 out of each of Mr. R's and My personal savings accounts to put towards the down payment.  I have been paying our accounts back $30 each per month out of the rental income.  Our accounts will be completely paid back in March.  With the extra $60, we plan to:
• Save an extra $30 towards repairs
• Pay an extra $25 per month on the mortgage
• Bump water bill payment budget to $55 if needed.  Used to only budget $50 but this past month it was a little over that.
• Add $4000 to EF in 2015
• So far this year, we have already added $587 to the EF
• Vacation Savings: 
• There are some small trips that I would like to fund this year and then start saving for our 2016 family vacation.  So far we've saved $772 but part of that was to finish paying off our 2015 cruise.
• Winery weekend with some friends
• Put in Bay with the kids
• Family Camping weekend at Camp Tippecanoe 
• Taking the girls tent camping for a weekend
• At least 1 night away for Mr. R and my anniversary
• The money to fund these trips will come from:
• Extra projects that I pick up at work that I earn commissions on
• Mr. R's overtime/holiday pay
• Ebay Sales
• Ebates Checks
• 3 paycheck months