Day 6 of Year 1

Most of the snow has melted from winter storm Hercules and it's actually pretty warm today.  46 degrees.  I'll take it.  Tomorrow is going to be a high of 12.  I'll take it.  No choice.

I'll be making a trip to Target during lunch to pick up some diapers.  So far, my miscellaneous budget is looking good.  I still have a lot left in it but then again, it is only day 6.  My wife and her sister is throwing a baby sprinkle for their oldest sister.  Going to eat a good chunk of the miscellaneous fund but if we stay focused, we shouldn't go over our miscellaneous fund for January.




We've used up about $40 dollars of our grocery budget.  But to date, we have $510 in our envelope.  A surplus!  How is this possible?  Well, there's a Korean tradition on New Year's day when children bow to their parents wishing them a Happy New year (sebae).  In return, the parents give their children gift money.  My wife, son and I, received a total of $50.00 in cash.  So we decided to put that in our grocery budget envelope.  When I was younger and bowing to my grand parents, parents, aunt and uncles, I used to net at least $300-$400 for that day.  Boy do I miss those days.

Anyway, I decided to list all my debt in the right hand column with its original amount, current amount and paid amount.  It will give you and I a visual idea on how we're doing on our journey to become debt-free. Need to search the web to see if there are any good Blogger gadgets for personal finance and debt management.

So it's day 6 and our Mint budget is looking good.  Haven't gone over any of them yet. I guess the good thing is, most of our budgets are fixed expenses (mortgage and utilities) and what really helps is knowing when each bill is due. This allows me to make sure I have enough money in my account to pay for the bill. I've been using Level Money along with Mint to help keep track of my finances. I like how it shows me my recurring bills and when each is drafted from my checking account.

For the new year, I was thinking of ways on how we can cut down on our expenses. One of the ways I cut down approximately $100/month was to get rid of my personal smartphone and get a corporate device. So I got the iPhone 5s which my company pays for saving me around $1,500 per year.  Another way i'm looking to cut down on expenses is to do the yard work/maintenance myself. In 2013, I hired landscapers to cut, edge, and blow my lawn.  Doing it myself, I'll be able to save approximately $2,500 per year. So that's almost $4,000 saved per year. I will need to spend some money on purchasing the lawn equipment and will  look around for some good deals. 

Only day 6 of 3,287 days to becoming debt-free.

The journey continues...