My Debt Reduction Blog » Expenses http://www.mydrblog.com/blog Our road down debt reduction to elimination, and living without a budget Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:27:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 Had to pay car insurance today http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/10/03/had-to-pay-car-insurance-today/ http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/10/03/had-to-pay-car-insurance-today/#comments Thu, 04 Oct 2007 01:28:22 +0000 Chad http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/10/03/had-to-pay-car-insurance-today/ We use Progressive to insure both our vehicles and I pay it every six months. My car has only liability but our mini-van has full coverage. What was nice was that our 6 month total was $12 cheaper than our last bill.

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]]> http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/10/03/had-to-pay-car-insurance-today/feed/ 0 Would you cancel phone service to save $44 a month? http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/31/would-you-cancel-phone-service-to-save-44-a-month/ http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/31/would-you-cancel-phone-service-to-save-44-a-month/#comments Fri, 31 Aug 2007 15:43:03 +0000 Chad http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/31/would-you-cancel-phone-service-to-save-44-a-month/ Earlier this year we decided that we would cancel our home phone service, which we hardly ever use, and that would reduce our monthly expenses by over $43. We decided we would wait til the school year was over and then over the summer figure out everywhere that has our home number and update them with cell numbers. Well we never did that and the school year is about to kick off again so I’m debated holding off again. But in all honesty we just don’t use our home phone and the savings could help expedite debt reduction. So I don’t know what to do.

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]]> http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/31/would-you-cancel-phone-service-to-save-44-a-month/feed/ 0 Oh Great! Daycare Rates Are Going Up http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/22/oh-great-daycare-rates-are-going-up/ http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/22/oh-great-daycare-rates-are-going-up/#comments Thu, 23 Aug 2007 00:34:25 +0000 Chad http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/22/oh-great-daycare-rates-are-going-up/ Our biggest monthly expense is getting bigger at the end of the month. Our 2 girls who are currently age 4, have to go another year of day care before they can start kindergarten. Today I just received noticed that the fees are increasing. Right now it costs us $275/week and staring the first week of September, it will cost us $304/week. This is a pretty big jump. Not mention reading through the Kiddie Kare policy book makes me feel like we’re dealing with the mafia with all the rules and additional fee’s. Ugh!

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]]> http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/22/oh-great-daycare-rates-are-going-up/feed/ 0 Going to be spending almost $1,000 this weekend http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/03/going-to-be-spending-almost-1000-this-weekend/ http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/03/going-to-be-spending-almost-1000-this-weekend/#comments Fri, 03 Aug 2007 13:15:12 +0000 Chad http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/03/going-to-be-spending-almost-1000-this-weekend/ This weekend we will be joining a local recreation facility. A one year membership for a family of 5 is just short of $1,000. My wife and I have been debating this since the beginning of the year. If we were going to join, we knew we’d be waiting until this weekend in August when they offer the only special they ever offer, which is 13 months for the price of 12. We’ve been members in the past, and this place is awesome. Some of their features are an aquatics center, field house, fitness center, indoor track, 2 full size ice rinks, lake with private beach, daycare, and quite a bit more.

Now we’ve been debating, because I think the $1,000 should put towards debt, but the wife says we’re suffering as a family because we have no life outside the house. Now, I know she’s right, and it would completely benefit every member of our family to have more activity in our life besides waking up, going to work/daycare, going to bed. I just feel now is a bad time to spend this money. We had our final discussion on it this morning and at this time we will be joining. Now that the decision has been made, I’m actually looking forward to it. The place is soo much fun and with the kids being older now, they can do more there as well.

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]]> http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/03/going-to-be-spending-almost-1000-this-weekend/feed/ 0 July totals are in http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/01/july-totals-are-in/ http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/01/july-totals-are-in/#comments Wed, 01 Aug 2007 22:36:06 +0000 Chad http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/01/july-totals-are-in/ As previously stated, July was the first time we’ve ever made an attempt to monitor every dollar. While this system isn’t perfect, I will refine it over the next couple of months and use the data to build a budget. Needless to say, there were some shockers in our spending. To my surprise, we spent less on groceries than I expected at just under $400. I really thought we’d be over $500 for groceries last month. Areas where we spent too much money was, at Sams club($223.65) and eating out($103.41). Another big expense area this month was at various dept stores where that subtotal was just over $290. But it is back-to-school season and my wife likes to stock up when she finds a good sale.

Overall, this has been an eyeopener for me. And I’m sure it will be for my wife when I review it with her tonight when she gets home. If we’re really serious about getting out of debt in a reasonable amount of time, I see plenty of areas where we need to make drastic changes.

Oh yeah, the real killer of expenses for us?!? Day care. For the month of July for our 3 kids, costs us $1550 (yes that is the correct number). That number is only about $150 shy of my wifes take home pay for the month.

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]]> http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/08/01/july-totals-are-in/feed/ 0 No more Netflix for us http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/07/05/no-more-netflix-for-us/ http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/07/05/no-more-netflix-for-us/#comments Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:12:13 +0000 Chad http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/07/05/no-more-netflix-for-us/ Over the last couple of years we’ve been trying to cut expenses where ever possible. However, one that we’ve held on to was our $18.99/month Netflix account. I’ve wanted to cancel it, but watching movies is the only really form of entertainment we have. I’ve tried going to their lesser plans, but it seems as though you don’t get your moneys worth as the turnaround time for waiting for, watching a couple of times, then returning a single movie was a little grueling. With the plan we’re on now, we always have something at home.

Well, in the name of debt reduction, that $18.99 should be going to a high interest credit card bill instead. So I’m allowing us to be forced to quit Netflix. The credit card associated with our account is expiring and Netflix let’s us know every time we log in to the site. When the card expires, our account will be suspended until we update our account with a new card. I have no plans to update the records. So I’m forcing ourselves to reduce expenses in this instance. Seems weird to have to be this drastic, but we really love Netflix.

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]]> http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/07/05/no-more-netflix-for-us/feed/ 0 How I spent my third paycheck http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/07/05/how-i-spent-my-third-paycheck/ http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/07/05/how-i-spent-my-third-paycheck/#comments Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:47:30 +0000 Chad http://www.mydrblog.com/blog/2007/07/05/how-i-spent-my-third-paycheck/ I get paid every other Friday, that means twice a year I receive 3 paychecks in a month and June was one of those months. I’ve aways considered this to be extra money(which I know is wrong). Even though we don’t have a budget, yet, we’ve based all our bill paying around me getting the two paychecks a month. While the money should go towards our debt reduction, it always seems some unexpected expenses occur around the time of this extra cash. This time wasn’t really any different. For example, now that school is out for the summer, our son has to go to a day-care 3 days a week. For the summer that is costing us an additional $91/week. I replaced the toilet in our house. I did all the labor, so the only cost was that for the new toilet and materials, which was just a bit over $150. Then, we placed a larger than normal MarketDay order since there won’t be another opportunity until the school year starts back up. And lastly, I bought an air compressor from Sears. This wasn’t a necessity, but a want. It was more for convenience with all the toys, bikes and other things around the house that use air, I was just getting tired of always have to go somewhere to fill up. So next thing you know, it’s all gone.

In the coming weeks, as we start creating a budget, hopefully the concept in my head of extra money will fade and we will be able to put our cash to better use.

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