Personal and Business Spending

Health:

Breakfast: Pancakes (Kodiak cakes) and coffee
2nd breakfast: none
Lunch: Peanut butter sandwich on 1 slice of bread
Dinner: At my parent’s home Garbanzo beans soup, white rice, cuban crackers, peach pie(I try to eat smaller amounts during the day because my mom serves so much food at dinner).
Extra food:a glass of wine

Dinner menu for next week:
Saturday: BBQ chicken (I may take this to the church pot-luck)
Sunday: Spaghetti and sausage w/garlic bread
Monday: Dinner at my parents
Tuesday: Rice w/red beans and cornbread
Wednesday: Crab cakes with potatoes and green beans
Thursday: Chicken tenders w/potato wedges and corn
Friday: Dinner at my parents

Financials:
Personal income – Payday (DH’s day job)
Personal spending - Amazon.com 126 for replacement of PCB assembly for our stove (thermostat board). The 5.99 credit was applied. The burners are running hot and aren’t turning off. My DH will install. 

Business spending –
1. Renewed our workman’s compensation exemption for DH and myself $102.
2. Paid DS1 for August side gig $585 (he did most of the work this month)
Business income:
1. Received two checks from one of our clients equaling 80.
2. I expect a check any day now from another client for 752.49 (the 2.49 was materials reimbursement) So total for the month of August is 830.00 (I’m not counting the reimbursement). 

August Side Biz recap: 830 income - 687 expenses = 143 profit

Fun fact about my DH’s side gig: When he does an inspection of a car for a bidder, he sometimes finds some really neat stuff. He usually finds music CDs to add to our collection. Recently he found a top-quality mid-size flashlight (www.maglite.com). Would you call these ‘snowflakes’?

For my side gig for today, I had to reschedule due to the weather. I got an assignment from one of the clients that is very easy to do and I will do it tomorrow.

Upcoming Weekend Trip

Well, Hermine came and went. Our household is fortunate that our power only blinked. We woke up to a windy day. DH and I have the day off so a four day weekend.  My prayers for those in its path as it goes north. Sorry she had to come to ruin your holiday weekend :(

Health yesterday:
Breakfast: Overnight Oats and coffee
2nd breakfast: none!
Lunch: Greek salad and apple
Dinner: Chicken pot pie
Extra food: Plain low-fat greek yogurt with frozen blueberries, cheese, a glass of wine.
Workout: 30 minutes cardio on bike and personal trainer workout (arms).

Financial: No spend day.

Weekend Trip:
In a couple of weeks I will be going to Miami and Naples, Florida with my parents for a three day visit. DF will stay home as this isn’t really a pleasure trip. We are going to see my aunts and uncles, one who has Alzheimer’s.

My dad said he would pay for everything. I offered to pay for our meals and he conceded (thankfully). We are going by Amtrak (www.amtrak.com). So he’ll pay for transportation and lodging and I will take care of our meals.  At least the hotel has complimentary breakfast so lunch and dinner is all I need to worry about.

I don’t think we will need a rental car as my aunt will be available to drive us wherever we need to go. If for some reason we do need a rental car, I think I can get a little compact car to bop around in.  I need to budget carefully.  My rule of thumb is to set a budget and then add 10%.

Her Name is Hermine

We are still under tropical storm watch even though Hurricane Hermine hasn’t made landfall yet. We are making basic preps. We do not know yet if schools will close tomorrow and whether or not DH and I need to report to work. Though we are located at the southern end of the storm when it passes through, the possible impact on our area could be tornados, intense rain and flash flooding. I understand that Hawaii is getting a double hurricane at the same time. Louisiana is still reeling weeks after their storm. Pray for all those impacted by these storms.


Health yesterday:
Breakfast: Overnight Oats and coffee
2nd breakfast: cheese omelet on 1 slice of toast
Lunch: Greek salad and apple
Dinner: ‘Brown Dinner’ (Salisbury steak with mushrooms, onions, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans)
Extra food: banana and 3-2-1 brownie (http://www.duncanhines.com/recipes/cakes/patti40/3-2-1-microwave-cake/) 

Snowflake: Amazon credit of 5.99 for selecting no-rush shipping (for Prime members). Promotional credit expires on December 7th so I need to remember to order something else on Amazon before then.

I got this for ordering my dad’s Christmas gift yesterday.


Financial Goals:

I’m following Dave Ramsey and working on baby step #1 – save $1,000.  I'm already a third of the way there!


At the same time, I am working at paying off my debt but I am thinking that perhaps I should pay the minimums and become more aggressive with savings deposits in order to reach $1,000 by December 31st.  The last quarter of 2016 I will devote to doing this. I have some money crunching to do but I think I may be able to achieve this in four months. 


Come January, I will devote 2017 with baby step #2 – paying off debt as aggressively as I can.  My smallest debt also carries the largest interest rate, so I may just go with the debt avalanche method. Dave Ramsey’s method is the debt snowball.


I am so glad I started this blog. This has helped me tremendously these last few days in getting my financial perspective together. 

Her Name is Hermine

We are still under tropical storm watch even though Hurricane Hermine hasn’t made landfall yet. We are making basic preps. We do not know yet if schools will close tomorrow and whether or not DH and I need to report to work. Though we are located at the southern end of the storm when it passes through, the possible impact on our area could be tornados, intense rain and flash flooding. I understand that Hawaii is getting a double hurricane at the same time. Louisiana is still reeling weeks after their storm. Pray for all those impacted by these storms.


Health yesterday:
Breakfast: Overnight Oats and coffee
2nd breakfast: cheese omelet on 1 slice of toast
Lunch: Greek salad and apple
Dinner: ‘Brown Dinner’ (Salisbury steak with mushrooms, onions, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans)
Extra food: banana and 3-2-1 brownie (http://www.duncanhines.com/recipes/cakes/patti40/3-2-1-microwave-cake/) 

Snowflake: Amazon credit of 5.99 for selecting no-rush shipping (for Prime members). Promotional credit expires on December 7th so I need to remember to order something else on Amazon before then.

I got this for ordering my dad’s Christmas gift yesterday.


Financial Goals:

I’m following Dave Ramsey and working on baby step #1 – save $1,000.  I'm already a third of the way there!


At the same time, I am working at paying off my debt but I am thinking that perhaps I should pay the minimums and become more aggressive with savings deposits in order to reach $1,000 by December 31st.  The last quarter of 2016 I will devote to doing this. I have some money crunching to do but I think I may be able to achieve this in four months. 


Come January, I will devote 2017 with baby step #2 – paying off debt as aggressively as I can.  My smallest debt also carries the largest interest rate, so I may just go with the debt avalanche method. Dave Ramsey’s method is the debt snowball.


I am so glad I started this blog. This has helped me tremendously these last few days in getting my financial perspective together. 

I Didn't Plan Very Well

If you read that long essay from yesterday, thank you! Now that I'm caught up, here is my daily ...

Yesterday:
Breakfast: Overnight Oats and coffee

Mid-morning (I might as well call this 2^nd breakfast): breakfast burrito

Lunch: Greek salad and apple

Dinner: Taco salad

Extra food: none

Personal training at the gym: 30 min cardio warm up on treadmill and bike and full body workout with personal trainer.

My car is running low on gas. I put in the 20 that my dad gave me on Friday when I took him to the doctor. The fuel lasted nearly five days at just over half a tank.  I am also running a low on funds because I paid more on CC1 than usual and that brought my remaining spending money way down. I have no idea what I was thinking so my ‘no spending’ willpower will need to take over until next payday which isn’t until September 9th.


Anyway, I asked my DH for a loan from his side gig slush money for gas until payday. I needed enough for this week and next week. With the loan I picked up some things at the grocery store: eggs (75 cents per dozen mediums!), bread (BOGO), bananas, and water (we are under tropical storm watch). I put the change in my change jar and updated my financial progress page (dresser).