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 June 2020.
Monthly Budget Update: June 2020
In June, we…
- Saved $745 toward the student loan
As I have mentioned, we are currently not making actual payments on our loan due to the interest-free payment suspension.
We are still putting aside the money for the payments each month, with a goal of making a large lump sum payment to the principal in the fall.
Currently, this account sits at $3,225.
- Added $1,155 to the future house fund
Now that our emergency fund is refilled, we are turning attention to one of our other goals for 2020: the future homeownership goal. The idea here is to save $8K in 2020, and we are well on our way.
This account sits at $3,988.21.
- Used (and was grateful for) my PC Optimum points
Like I mentioned in my recap of spending for June, we ended up spending a little more than usual on groceries in June after an almost 40-hour power outage. Due to the length of the outage, we had to toss a lot of items from our fridge — both groceries we just purchased and some items we normally would not have to replace so quickly.
Thankfully, I saved my PC Optimum points and was able to cash them in to help with the restock. Not the most fun way to use your points, but I was SO grateful to have them. PC Optimum is seriously my favourite program ever.
- Froze our gym membership until the fall
Our gym reopened closer to the end of June.
There have been changes introduced to help it meet public health standards, which is great but…I still don’t really feel comfortable going back yet. Plus I’m not sure how to make it fit my schedule right now. Instead of cancelling, I took advantage of the option to freeze our membership for a few more months. We can reassess in October.
- Used my overtime at work
Not strictly “budget” related, but it’s kind of related? During the early days of pandemic response, I racked up some OT at work. My job doesn’t have an option to be paid out for OT, but rather, it’s given as time in lieu. So, in June, I took an extra long weekend to burn off the remainder. After a crazy spring, it was nice to have a break.
July 2020 Goals
Looking ahead, in July, we will…
- Complete blog maintenance
As I mentioned off the top, I’m going to be taking a bit of time off in July to do some “behind the scenes” work on the site. I like to do this about once a year or so and July felt like a good time to get it done.
- Buy new sandals!
My Birkenstocks have…seen better days, to say the least. I’m overdue for a new pair, so in July, I’ll dip into my savings and buy a new pair. I bought these ones last time and I loved them so much, I’m planning to get the exact same ones this time. Obsessed!
- Take some vacation time
I ended up deciding to use some of vacation days this summer to create a few additional long weekends. Paired with the holidays, I have it set up in such a way that I’ll get a long weekend basically every other week. Not too bad! We don’t have big plans for time off this summer, but that’s OK. It’ll be nice to just have some downtime (especially since who knows what’s going to happen in the fall).
Your turn! How did June turn out for you? What are your goals for July?
Photo by Matthew Henry from Burst
Our June was also rather uneventful. But yours was will interesting to read about! Wow about the 40 hour power outage. What a shame about the food waste. 🙁
I like the once-a-year blog maintenance break. July is a good time since it seems to be a slow traffic time for blogs anyway. I’ll miss your posts, but will be here waiting when you get back to it!
It was rough. I mean, I didn’t mind the slower pace — we were definitely forced to slow down a bit, which is likely not a bad thing. But tossing the fridge? Hurt my soul a little. Thankfully, we have only had two very short power outages since then!
And awe, thanks! Much appreciated. I have made a list of things I want to get to over the next month and OY VEY. It’s going to be busy. I don’t know if I will be able to get all of it done but if I can get a good chunk complete, I’ll be happy. Added bonus if I can uh, make some notes about things I had to spend a lot of time fixing so maybe I can stop doing them in the future…we’ll see haha.
Great minds think alike, I’ve been doing some back end stuff as well lately. It takes so much time and it is definitely not intuitive.
Have a great restful July!
Right?! There is NOTHING about back end maintenance that is user-friendly. Ugh. I have made some progress, though…but there is SO much left. That said, it appears I am in good company with many others who are using some time this month to do this kind of work. I do think it might take longer than I expected, though.
Good luck with all your back end work!
Ooh, what sorts of blog maintenance things are you doing? I’d be interested in a blog post about it! (Or you can just email me, if you don’t think that would be interesting to the masses, haha.)
I have some “use or lose” PTO that I need to schedule before mid-August, so I think I’m going to schedule a few long weekends myself!
Actually, I’d be interested to know as well!
I have a list of things I want to get through but the big things have to do with making adjustments to the structure of the site (ie. making sure my categories make sense and are optimized accordingly), fixing tags, adjusting and updating text on old posts and, the biggest project, redoing all my images to adhere to my brand standards document. It’s…a lot lol. I don’t blog about blogging a lot but I’ll likely do a post about it in the fall. It’s really all those things I should have done back when I started the blog instead of waiting until I was 200 posts deep. Live and learn, right?
Wow, that IS a lot! But all of us have things like that to get to… it’s just that few of us actually set the time aside to do it like you’re doing! Best of luck with everything. I look forward to your return.
I’m a little ways in and I know it is going to take a lot longer than a month to do. Hopefully I can get into a system of uh…doing things right the first time in the future!
I did add on thing to my list that I’m a little terrified about — apparently my site needs a PHP update and I am SO not tech savvy on that level so I’m a bit afraid of breaking the site! Ugh. Why does tech have to be such a pain?!
Hey Tara—I also had to do a PHP update recently, and was also terrified! If you call your web host, they can guide you through it and help to troubleshoot if any issues arise.
I didn’t realize my host could help me with this until it randomly came up in an unrelated tech support call. They were so supportive. It was so reassuring to know they were there to jump in if things went sideways!
Well glad I am not the only one who is terrified haha! I installed the plugin to check compatibility already and it looks like things are good. I think I am going to finish the maintenance I’m doing first (mostly so I can make a backup) then I’ll connect with my host and get them to help, as suggested! The super back-end tech stuff is the worst part of blogging, honestly lol.
Blog maintenance has been a combination of a lot of things — tweaking and adjusting site structure (primarily categories), revising posts and adjusting for SEO (something I did not really know much or care much about when I started), updating some older posts to reflect changes/newer information and, my biggest project ATM, going through and adjusting images on posts to adhere to the brand standards doc from my redesign. It’s…a lot. I’ll likely do some kind of post about it in the fall.
On the topic of blog maintenance, though — LOVE your new layout! It’s so pretty!
Long weekends are the best 🙂 Especially where we won’t be going far this summer, I feel like it was the best way to get a bit of fun in this summer. Anything in particular you’d want to do with a long weekend? Or just chill at home (nothing wrong with that, btw — I love time off just to chill!)
I’m with you on returning to the gym. My membership is frozen and I’m not sure I’m going to renew. I feel so terrible for the owners because they’re struggling to survive (like so many), but I’m not sure it’s worth it. I miss my gym a bit though. In other ways, I’m kind of used to the new normal.
Great job building! I’m really impressed (and surprised) by your student loan account. It’s amazing how quickly that money builds.
Looking forward to seeing you in August!
That is the awkward thing about the gym right now for me, too. Our gym is a big chain, but I really like the people at our local club…I’m just not really sure I see myself going the way I might have before in this new normal. Especially where it’s entirely possible the new normal is…well, normal for a few years. I don’t know. I am glad for the opportunity to freeze for the time being. It will give me time to decide what to do.
Thanks, friend! It really does add up fast (although it’s not going to progress as much this month sadly thanks to a $700+ car bill! Ugh.) I’m going to try to be in comments a bit while I do my work, but admittedly, it’s been challenging. The fact that I basically have two hours every night to get things done doesn’t help matters. Adulting is hard lol.
One thing I’ve found is that having that well stocked emergency fund removes a lot of the worries that other people presumably have. We don’t have to worry about how to pay the bills or buy food etc if for whatever reason I stop getting paid, and it means we can remain calmer and not as stressed about the situation, financially at least.
Yup, I totally get that! It’s why I don’t think I could ever do the $1K emergency fund, honestly — there’s just way too much uncertainty in the world right now, you know? A $5K fund is still pretty modest, in my opinion, but I do feel better with it there (and having the extra student loan payments there as a “just in case” for the last few months has certainly helped).