One of my favorite parts of blogging about our journey to become debt-free is our monthly progress reports. My idea of “making personal finance public” holds me accountable. I love tying up loose ends by crunching the numbers, categorizing the purchases, and analyzing where we put our money. Of course, the best part is to see the debt getting smaller.
We didn’t quite make the $3,000 that we were aiming at for our big fat goal, but we did pay $2,300 toward those pesky student loans.
INCOME (see details of our typical income here)
Regular: $3083 (after taxes)
Etsy: $614 This is not quite as much as last month, but still up from the $400 average.
Ebay: $68 I sold several things. The most notable was a Maya Wrap that auctioned for $46 that I found new at the thrift store for $1.75.
Balloons: $45 Balloon twisting is one of my random hidden talents with potential to make money. A friend invited me to twist balloons at a fundraiser for the library. I volunteered a couple hours of time, but also made some tips.
SPENDING
| Category | Budget | Spent | Notes |
| Tithing | $350 | $381 | We pay a full 10% tithe on our income. This is a category we never skimp on. |
| Rent/Mortagage | $0 | $0 | Our little basement apartment, has the perk of no rent, but it does mean a high gas budget. |
| Gas | $500 | $502 | We are on the high end of our gas budget. Having to pick our kindergartner up from school each day means I’m driving every day. Of course most of the gas budget is devoted to getting Mr. SixFiguresUnder to work. |
| Utilities | $0 | $0 | Included in our free rent. |
| Groceries | $300 | $189 | Besides our normal once a month grocery shopping, I bought 125 lbs of pears from a local orchard for $.20/lb. We canned lots of pear sauce, pear halves, and pear juice. |
| Gifts | $25 | $3 | I bought a set of 6 American Girl books at the thrift store for my daughter for Christmas. |
| Clothing | $30 | $25 | Most of that went to dry cleaning. |
| Home & Office Supplies | $40 | $91 | Includes new toner for the printer and some other things I can’t remember. I seem to have misplaced a few receipts. |
| Health Insurance | $453 | $453 | Premium for our high deductible plan. |
| Dental | $22 | $968 | We pay $22 per month for a dental discount plan. We got it specifically because several months ago my husband lost a filling and knew he would need to get things taken care of. We waited several months (choosing a discount plan, finding a dentist, etc). He finally went in this month and it was bad. He got a root canal and temporary crown this month. Next month is the permanent crown and a filling in a different tooth. Yikes! We will be using our emergency fund to pay for this dental work. |
| Lawyer Marketing | $450 | $701 | In addition to the monthly print ad, Mr. SixFiguresUnder joined a professional association (which has already proven to be a good referral source) and we ordered promotional magnets. |
| Lawyer Marketing Food | $25 | $30 | There were five Tuesdays this month, thus five networking breakfast meetings instead of the normal four. |
| Other | $57 | Oil and fluids for the car. |
How did you do in October?
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I was recently thinking the same thing…blogging about our journey holds me accountable to staying on track! 🙂 I don’t know if I have missed it somewhere on your blog; what do you sell on Etsy?
I sell banners, cupcake toppers, and other handmade party supplies for birthdays and baby showers in my etsy shop SimpleSensations.