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End of the month wrap up

November 2nd, 2012 at 01:45 am

Well, we are now into november. I did ok in Oct. My daily budget for living monthly expenses was 9516. I spent 8167 so I am living within my budget for day to day living. However, my goal is to pay down debts and other non typical expensses. I was able to make progress in those areas. I was a month behind on all of my utilities. I made double payments and I am current on them. I am still 1 payment behind on the car and 2 on the house.
I do have a few non normal expenses this month so I won't be able to do anything for the debt other then make my normally scheduled payments. The motor went out on the heat pump in my house in Atlanta so I had to fork out 350 today. Also, the property tax was due 2 weeks ago. I was going to pay it yesterday but the heat pump killed that plan. The good news is that I will be able to pay it next week and the late fee will only be about 20 or so. I do owe the State of Va about 300 for car tags. Even though I moved out of state in May, they still send me a tag bill. I also have to get 2 tires and an oil change on my car. I also am going to pay about 200 on back medical bills. I think I owe about 800 or so, the wife will total them out this weekend. It does help with the wife working. I will make my kids each pay 250 rent so that will help a bit.
Now the bad news and this really sucks. My contract at my job is not going to be renewed. That means my last day of work is Dec 31st. I do have a few irons in the fire so I am not worried about not having a paycheck, I just need to figure out what option will work for me.
Option 1: work for another company in Tampa which will be a long term job. That sounds good except they are lowballing on pay. I normally make about 70 an hour, they want to pay 40. I told them if they could meet met half way, we can do something.
Option 2. Go back to my former consulting company. That pays 80 an hour but it may not be steady. They may offer me salary but it would not be at 80!
Option 3, go to Roanoke. I talked to this company back in April and they still have not filled the position.( I am very niched in what I do). I have an interview with them on Monday. Not sure how much they will pay but I suspect it will be 50-60. That is doable in Roanoke and my wife would be able to go back to her old company there.
Option 4 is to stay tampa based and be an 'on the road' consultant. that means being gone m-th and flying home for weekends. The wife would hate it but she at least would get to stay here, there would be no moving expenses and it would pay 80 an hour.
So, we will see how this plays out.
My stepson said he will stay in the house another year, that means I won't let the house go but I will have to work with the mortgage company to make up the 2 payments. I don't qualify for any of the new mortgage programs. I guess if you are totally poor you get food stamps, free medical and housing assistance, if you make some money or at one time had some money, you don't qualify for anything.
Any how it was fun making the budget and all last month but soon the numbers will all change.
The good news is that my total debt and stuff I need to spend money on list went down from 36800 to 34400. I do expect some 'unexpected' expenses to mess that up though.

6 Responses to “End of the month wrap up”

  1. Wino Says:
    1351962169

    It sounds like you're making progress. I think I would have asked the stepson to either tough it out for a month or to pay for the heat pump repairs himself. Atlanta in November isn't so bad that an extra blanket or sweater is too much to ask.

    I'd be wary of being behind on a car payment. It doesn't take much nowadays for the repo folks to be called out. Even though the house should be a priority, at least you have to be served before that can be an issue.

    You still must have a lot of unnecessary spending going on. $10K of disposable income is too much to be behind on anything at all, and not able to catch up nearly instantly.

  2. bikerjohn Says:
    1352046082

    The step son has a 2yr old so I really couldn't put the heater off. I can make up the behind car payment if I forgo doing a service / tire change on my car. I hate putting it off though as I should have gotten a tire and service months ago but then again I don't drive it often as I ride the bike to work most days.

  3. crazyliblady Says:
    1352146138

    I was looking back over your budget posted a little while back. I noticed that you spend quite a lot of money on eating out, cigarettes, snacks, coffee, and lunch. Are those items negotiable, like could you take a thermos of coffee to work instead of buying it somewhere? Could you eat out less and cook at home more? Cutting back on those kinds of things could help you have more money to get current, and paid off, on all debts.

  4. bikerjohn Says:
    1352422652

    I can cut back on some of the expenses but not all. The lunch money is for both my wife and myself so I don't think it is too bad. I did stop going to the coffee shop near my office. Now the only coffee I pay for is when my wife and I go together for date night. She may still buy some on occasion at work. We actually do eat at home most nights, we try to have a date night on fri night but the rest of the week we eat at home. Can't help with the cigarettes, we both smoke. We did start using the electronic cigarettes so we are smoking about 1/2 of what we used to but in Fla, cigarettes are expensive. Also, both of the kids started working so hopefully they won't cost me any more money.

  5. crazyliblady Says:
    1352482386

    I commend you for no longer going to the coffee shop near your work. You will probably find out that over time, that adds to a lot. And I understand that you and your wife going out to dinner may seem like a small cost, but you have to make choices about what is important to you. For example, is your wife buying coffee while she is at work really that important to her, or is having the mortgage and car loan up to date really important? The same with going out to eat. You could make a really nice, tasty meal at home inexpensively and use the money you would have used going out to eat to help pay off your debt.

  6. Wino Says:
    1352679474

    Are you date nights going to still be enjoyable if your car gets repossessed or the bank files a foreclosure on your house? You need to reevaluate your priorities at least until you get caught up on your bills.

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