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I’ve written a few posts about how couples can stop fighting about money (here and here) .  I definitely speak from personal experience on this matter.  When I got involved with DF, he was a bit of a financial mess.  In fact, a few times I almost broke up with him early in the relationship because I didn’t like some of the money decisions I was seeing him make.  But, he was sweet so I stayed.  And I didn’t really find out about the extent of the money issues until about a year in, when it became clear that the reason he was living paycheck to paycheck was because of a whole giant mound of credit card debt he had acquired during college. (more…)

The end of September brought with it a large unexpected purchase  So we go into October with a small credit card balance.  We’re going to be getting a big check next month for our first paycheck (overtime for the DF and more hours for me) so hopefully we’ll do better.  Of course, it seems like I say that every month  But, heres the roundup: (more…)

This past weekend, our freezer broke  For us, having a freezer is a necessity not a luxury.  We raw feed our puppies, and since they go through about 60 pounds of meat a month between the two of them, it is essential that we buy in bulk when meat is very cheap or that we have a place to store meat we got for free from hunter friends.  I also like to cook a bunch of meals at one time and freeze them.  So, it wasn’t a question of whether we would buy a new freezer or not, it was more a question of “who can we buy a freezer from tonight at 7 PM on a Saturday that will deliver it tomorrow before all 500 pounds of food in our existing warm-box goes bad.”   (more…)

2 days late… but here it is, my breakdown of our spending and income thus far for the month of September. The grocery spending looks a little high because I’ve spent a lot of money at Walgreens lately with all the good deals.  The number is skewed because it doesn’t take into account the $30 of Register Rewards Sitting in my Wallet.  Also, I’ve decided that instead of deducting the anticipated rebates from the grocery spending (i.e. if I buy something at Walgreens that is going to give me money back next month) I will only deduct the rebates after they come.  If that happens to be in the next monthly period, then that amount will be deducted from there.  Its less confusing for me that way, although still not the clearest way of figuring out exactly how much this stuff costs me.  Does anyone else who does rebates and tracks their grocery spending have a better tip for how I should account for this?  Please leave comments if you do! (more…)

Well, I wasout of town for a labor day weekend (and only spent $10 the whole time!) and then I had some crazy catching up to do when I returned.  But, here is my August roundup, only 3 days late.  It was a pretty good month, except for some unexpected car expenses and our annual trip to the vet.  But, we still managed to pay off the credit card from last month, almost in full and to cut our grocery spending. Yay! (more…)

Its the middle of the month (almost) so I’m posting my mid-Month roundup of income and spending.  We’re doing well in income this month because my business has its first customer.  Our spending is not quite on track because of the broken car window.  But, its looking like we’re definitely going to end the month with the balance paid off on my credit card (more…)

Well, my July income & spending round-up just went up and it wasn’t pretty :(.  I have a credit card balance, for the first time in a LONG time.  So, here are my goals for August (let’s see if I accomplish them!)

• Reduce grocery spending from $198.99 to $125.00
• Reduce pet spending from $115.25 to $55
• Pay off card balance in full ($2259.01) thus eliminating interest fees ($43.99)

Well, we got a paycheck today. Yay. Unfortunately, it went right back out again (my student loan payment and a $1000 payment to attack the $3100 balance on my credit card). (more…)

I meant to do this on the 15th, and I was going to post updates on the 15th and the 30/31 of every month, but as usual life got in the way.  So, anywhere, here (for those who care to see) is a listing of my spending and my income thus far this month. (more…)

Mrs. Micah issued a challenge to her readers to “Find one step you can take to make your financial system better or more organized.” 

My step that I took was to set up a free account at mint.com.  I have tried out a lot of different money management software in the past, and I have never been happy with it, but Mint came highly recommended and so I decided to give it a go.   (more…)