Budget Update: September 2019

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 September 2019.

Monthly Budget Update: September 2019

In September, we…

• Paid $1,450 toward the student loan

A typical month means a typical student loan payment for us.

Of that $1,450, $187.50 went toward interest this month. That means $1,262.50 went toward the principal! I’m very much looking forward to November, when the interest rate is expected to go down.

Balance remaining: $33,366. 79!

• Stayed on budget during vacation !

This is significant because we had an unexpected additional expense during our trip to Newfoundland.

Hurricane Dorian moved through our region toward the end of our trip, which meant out flight home changed. Instead of a morning flight, we didn’t leave until about 7 p.m. Neither of us felt like making the four hour drive back home after the two hours on a plane so we booked a hotel.

Thankfully, through a combination of finding fun, free things to do during our trip and being smart with our spending, we had money left in our budget to cover this!

• Started Christmas shopping!

Finally! We ended up picking up several gifts for friends and family while in Newfoundland!

• Saved $75 on my hair appointment!

As I wrote about in this post on loyalty cards, I learned this year that I have not been using my Salon Rewards card to its full potential. Using the social media check-in program, I earned $75 that I used to pay for my hair appointment! Good thing, too: because I am working on going back to my natural colour after years of colouring it, it was a little more expensive than normal.

• Took steps to learn about my work pension

Remember when I said I wanted to learn about my work pension? This month, I actually took steps toward doing that. The company that manages our pension held its annual meeting in my city this year, so I went.

Did I understand everything? No. But I learned some of the basics and I definitely know more now than I did before I went. More on this later.

October 2019 Goals

Looking ahead, in October, we will…

• Make a bigger payment on the student loan!

October is a three pay month for me, which means we’ll be making larger payment on the student loan!

• Keep replenishing our emergency fund!

We used some money from our emergency fund to help pay for our trip. We did not put a lot back in September, but the goal for October is to put at least $500 back. It should be doable!

• Create budgets for first six months of 2019!

Now that we know what Jeff’s pay cheques look like after benefits, we can start planning for the new year. My plan is to create budgets in six month intervals. Looking forward to seeing what this will look like for us!

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

Photo by Sajjad Hussain M from Burst