End of February Update
I hate to make this post because I know I will be bashed for failing at my budget. But I tried. I will look where I failed, adjust and try it again until I succeed. But I know the vultures will come out criticizing me, like they did earlier in this post. So with that in mind, I'm making this end of month update.
Financial
Budget
We tried to live on a budget. Keyword is tried. We went over our budget unfortunately. I just didn't allot the right amount of money to certain things. So I will adjust the expenses and what goes into each category, and I will try again the first 2 weeks of March. This one will be really, really tight as we have to use nearly all of our double paycheck to pay rent. But we did a budget, and we've already done a budget for the first 2 weeks of March.
Credit Cards
I am almost embarrassed to say I only made 1 extra payment to my credit card. It was just $25, so really not worth it in my opinion. But I did it. However, I did look at my statements to see what I'd pay off if just making minimal payments. And I didn't use either CC a single time over the month. I didn't have any payments due over the last 2 weeks of February, but I will have them due the first week of March. So will make payments there. Maybe throw in an extra $5-$10 if I have it leftover after doing our budget.
Emergency Fund
Our goal is to get a $1k emergency fund going. We did put $400 into an EF on our last pay day, but we had to dip into it some throughout this week to buy groceries. Still had about half leftover, and that'll help this set of 2 weeks since we have rent due.
Eating Out
Still doing pretty well with this one. We budget for one night on the weekend and then Sunday after church. We ate out Sunday afternoon and we were able to make 4 meals out of that. The office paid for my lunch Monday and Tuesday. I got asked to go out today for lunch (would've had to buy my own), but I had brought a lunch. So decided to stay in and save that $10. Sad to say I was the only one left at the office, so I felt bad about not taking part.
Personal
Weight Loss
Not a good week. I went from 276.1 to 275.8. So only 1/3 of a pound. Again, down is better than up. But I just can't lose weight. Not sure what else I can do. I'm trying to eat more at home, exercise and move around more. I will keep at it though.
Exercise
This one's tough because I don't have support at home. I have to do it by myself since she doesn't like to do it. I have started walking 2 laps around our street. One lap is 2/3 of a mile. On Sunday, I worked in the yard then did my walk. Walked my street and the street next to us. Went 1 lap, then I decided to push myself and went another lap (I paid for it Monday as I was SORE!!!!) The next street over is equally as long. So, I walked 2-1/2 miles. I was shocked and so excited. Got home, told the wife and she said just rub it in my face. On Monday I worked on our backyard fence after work, so I didn't walk because it was dark. But I went 1-1/2 miles Tuesday, 1-1/2 miles Wednesday (in 40 degree weather) and 1-3/4 miles today, again in 45 degree weather. Today, I walked after eating my lunch at work. So spent 30 minutes eating lunch and 30 minutes walking.
March Goals
- Adjust our budget to where we don't overspend. I did a budget for the first time for the last 2 weeks of February and we went over it. So I need to adjust our categories and the amount of dollars in those categories to where we don't overspend;
- Continue exercising daily, if possible. At minimum, walk at least 1-1/2 miles per day 5 days per week. Also start some sort of regiment of pushups/sit-ups;
- Hit 10k steps in a day. The only time we hit 1k steps in a day is at Disney. Now that I'm tracking my daily steps, I've gotten to 9k (on Sunday when I mowed then did the 2-1/2 mile walk);
- Put money towards an emergency fund and make our budget work to where we don't have to draw from it at the end of a paycheck; and
- Pay more than our minimum payment on credit cards (maybe $25 over the minimum). It's frustrating because even though we're not using them, they don't seem to be going down at all.