Budget Update: October 2018

Our monthly budget 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 October 2018.

Monthly Budget Update: October 2018

In October, we…

• Reached sub-$1K on our credit line! 

As of October 31, 2018, we owe $997 on our line of credit! When we started paying this loan back at the end of April (after paying off our car loan 14 months early), we owed about $8.3K.  On November 15, the balance will be zero. I still cannot believe it, honestly.

• Got a raise! 

This time, it was Jeff! This technically happened in September, but we didn’t start to see the benefit of this raise until October. Hard work pays off!

• Organized our important files 

I listed this as one of my October goals on Instagram and I’m excited to put a big ol’ check mark next to it! Here’s a little before and after for you:

(oh hey there, Nala cat!)

Having all these files in a central, easy to navigate place will make life easier (plus it just…looks better).

• Actually used our emergency fund

Our 10-year-old microwave kicked the bucket mid-October because of course it did. We eat a lot of leftovers, which means not having a microwave is not an option. We ended up finding one at WalMart for about $90 taxes in.

Then, near the end of October, we found out we’re going to need new winter tires. I honestly did not think this is an expense we’d have to deal with this year, but here we are.  This isn’t really an optional expense for us (winter in Atlantic Canada is serious business) and it could run anywhere from $500-$800.

But while these are annoying (admittedly, first world) problems, I think it makes a solid case for keeping a robust emergency fund. If our emergency fund only had $1K in it, as is the recommendation with the baby steps, we would be screwed. This situation is exactly why I keep ours at $5K instead.

• Received and started using a new credit card

As I mentioned before, we decided to trial a new credit card. This is our first month using it and for the most part, it’s been pretty good? I did have some questions about how timing re: posting transactions but the bank cleared those up for me and so far, it has been smooth sailing. I’ll likely share more about this new card sometime in the near future.

November 2018 Goals

Looking ahead, in November we will…

• PAY OFF OUR CREDIT LINE FINALLY

Yes – all caps. That is how excited I am about this. I cannot believe how close we are to crossing this debt off our list.

• Shop for new winter tires 

I anticipate we will pay for this out of our emergency fund and I have already started adjusting the budget to reimburse that money.

I would have preferred to have this expense come out of our car sinking fund – and in the future, I anticipate it will – but I thought we would get at least one more year our of our current tires. Apparently not. Annoying as this is, though, safety will always trump money for me.

• Start – and substantially complete – our Christmas shopping 

I used to be so much more on the ball with Christmas shopping – we’re talking substantially complete in like September. I’ve mellowed out a bit over the years, but ideally, I would like to have a good handle on our shopping by the end of November.  We’ll see how it turns out.

Your turn! How did October turn out for you? What are your goals for November?

Photo by Sajjad Hussain M from Burst