June is halfway gone already! Hard to believe. Two of the three paychecks we’ll receive in June have arrived. I would have liked to have had a huge surplus from check #1, but that didn’t happen. Mostly the issue was that spending in the prior months was pretty unchecked, and I let a bunch of May bills trickle into early June, which used up a lot of that first check once the mortgage and other bills with due dates early in the month were paid. The Mr. deciding he needed new clothing NOW put a $250ish dent in the finances as well. I LOVE it when he gets new clothes (happens so infrequently) but again, our timing doesn’t always mesh! But he looks GOOD! 😀
June’s second check goes to the car payment, sewer/water/garbage/, internet/landline and a couple of small credit card payments. We have a couple of low-limit cards we used to use to budget spending…and I’m planning on paying them down a bunch and starting that up again in July or August. I also owe our cast fees for our show ($70), paid for drama camp ($125) and owe a $100 deposit on our ASU Gammage/Mesa Arts Center 2017/18 tickets.
If I can continue to keep grocery, food and other general spending as low as I have, I feel like we’ll be in really good shape by the next payday. I still feel that those are the categories where we REALLY can cut our expenses, as we already have this month. I am SOLD on Dollar Tree for paper towels and trash bags now! Yes, they are thinner but ya know what? They just get thrown out anyway and as long as you don’t drag the trash bags across concrete or try to scrub something rough with the paper towels, they work JUST as well and last just as long.
I’ve gotten off track with meals with our hectic show schedule…7 days till opening and 11 days till closing, so I’m devising a plan to feed us WITHOUT the multiple times per day fast food runs. I’m actually getting sick of fast food already!
I sold a piece of furnture for $150 and sold a few dolls for a total of $250, so my “income” has been $400. I spent $80 on a dresser that I’m flipping. I overpaid though, so I probably won’t make more than $20 on that one. I still have many more dolls to sell…all but a couple still need work so that may happen next month.
More future plans…
We planned a trip for Dakota’s 11th birthday. We have a water park Groupon already paid for, and were able book a couple nights at a nearby hotel for around $150. The trip plus breakfast at Waffle House and lunch at Peter Piper are his “main” gifts. He doesn’t really need or want anything else in particular, but I’m sure I’ll find a few small gifts for him to unwrap. This “expense” occurs in early-August, so I’ve got another six weeks to set aside some extra $$ for that. I also booked a room in Anaheim for three nights in November. Disneyland tickets for the four of us will be around $800 (2-day, single park per day through AAA) and I am setting aside $200 per month starting June to pay for the trip. The room is only $300 for all three nights. June-November @ $200/month = $1200 so that covers the room and tickets. The November entertainment and dining out budgets will cover gas (we’ll take our small 40mpg car), food and incidentals for the trip.
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