Our monthly budget update does not change much.
It is primarily fixed expenses, like rent, phone bills and car insurance, which remain the same month after month. Even the amount budgeted to our miscellaneous line (more on that here) stays the same most months.
So instead of giving a line-by-line breakdown for our monthly budget update, I do something a little different. Each month, I share five highlights from our budget, along with three goals for the month to come.
Here is the update for January 2021.
Monthly Budget Update: January 2021
In January, we…
- Paid $450 to the student loan
This is the minimum payment on the student loan. We are planning to do minimum payments on the student loan for the next little while; I wrote more about why here.
We are finally in a place where most of this money applies to the principal as opposed to interest!
Outstanding principal balance: $19,411.91
- Added $1,380 to our emergency fund
At a minimum, we keep at least $5K in this fund at any given time. In 2021, one of our main financial goals is to beef up this account. I shared more about why we’re doing that here.
Current EF balance is: $6,930.79
- Added $0 to the house fund
It feels weird to include not adding money to an account, but considering we spent time in 2020 building this account, I thought it was worth mentioning. We will likely resume adding some funds to this account at some point in 2021, but right now, our focus is on the emergency fund.
Current house fund balance: $6,014.15
- Added $250 to the RRSP
We still invest in retirement while we’re paying off debt. We don’t come anywhere close to investing the max, but I add a little to our RRSP every pay day. Looking forward to being able to invest more in the future!
- Started gathering our tax documents
This was on my January to-do list. So far, I’ve collected almost all our charity receipts, our main RRSP statement and the slip for the student loan. I’ve also been thinking about our work from home claims. I worked from home for about 60 days, so it makes sense for me to use the $2/day but Jeff is still working from home. We’ll have to do some math to determine if it makes more sense for him to do the detailed form.
February 2021 Goals
Looking ahead, in February, we will…
- Start our taxes!
I am one of those people who likes to start working on my taxes as soon as I possibly can. This year, in particular, I want to make sure I have the time I need to figure out the whole work from home piece. Plus, the sooner we file, the sooner we’ll have our return!
- Drop off donations
The decluttering continues! Over December and January, I made a lot of progress sorting out our closet situation. Through that process, I wound up with some items that are too nice to trash but that I also don’t have any interest in trying to sell. I’ve packed these items into boxes, which are currently in the trunk of the car to donate.
- Pay for my blog hosting
It’s that time of year again. February means hosting fees are due. Thankfully, through a combination of savings and cash-back from Rakuten, I have most of this money set aside already. Looking forward to another year blogging!
Your turn! How did January turn out for you? What are your goals for February?
Photo by Sarah Pflug from Burst
Hi Tara,
You are so organized! I always want to get started on our taxes early, but it rarely happens. Part of it is that we need to wait for different tax slips to arrive.
Some take longer than others, and I find it annoying to get the process started and have loose ends while waiting for the rest of the slips! So I mostly leave it until later, when I have nearly all the slips.
Yay to another year of Our Bill Pickle. I’ve also, so far, only committed a year at a time. But I may be ready to jump to a three-year plan next time. We will see…
Hi Chrissy! I do try to be at least a little organized. I think a big driver for me this year is that our taxes are going to look a little different than normal — for example, we usually have a few charity slips, but this year, we have a ton from trying to diversify our giving in response to the pandemic. And then there’s the element of figuring out the best way to claim the WFH credit. It makes sense for me to do the flat rate but it’s not as clear for Jeff where he’s been home basically since last March. One downside of starting early, though, is definitely having to wait on those other slips (like uh, our T4s haha).
I usually do a year at a time, too. I may eventually make the jump, too (since it would save some money!) but I’m not quite there yet, either.