Budget Update: September 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 September 2018.

Monthly Budget Update: September 2018

In September, we…

• Crushed our debt repayment goal for September! 

Have I mentioned we are almost finished paying off the credit line? I know I’ve talked about this a lot here over the last few posts but I am so freaking excited about it! Once this balance is cleared, all we have left is student loans! That’s crazy to think about.

Total paid in September: $1,218

Remaining Balance: $2,475

• Had an amazing, paid-in-full vacation to Prince Edward Island

We spent three wonderful days in a sweet geodesic dome and it was everything I wanted and more. Other highlights included biking in North Rustico, red sand beaches, dunes in Greenwich, Cows ice cream, and nightly hot-tubbing. It was seriously excellent…and even though we used a credit card during the trip, the balance has been paid in full through our vacation sinking fund!

• Signed up for Weight Watchers again

This happened over Labour Day weekend. There was an sale on the six month membership and even though I have a love-hate relationship with Weight Watchers, none of the knock-off apps are all that comparable, in my opinion. Am I excited to pay for this every month for the next six months? Not really. But the signup fee was waived and hey, I got $8 back through Rakuten* so…it is what it is.

*Link includes referral code. If you sign up with my referral code, we both get a bonus. If you’d prefer to sign up but not use a referral code, you can go to www.ebates.ca.

• Signed up for a new credit card

But Tara, don’t personal finance bloggers hate credit cards? Maybe, but I don’t.

I’m planning to write more about why I still use credit cards but this is something I have been thinking about for a little while now and I’m looking forward to checking out something new and seeing how it might work for our family.

• Started saving for Christmas 

The sinking fund has been launched! Looking forward to yet another debt-free Christmas season!

October 2018 Goals

Looking ahead, in October we will…

• Start Christmas planning 

I have picked up a couple gifts already, but this is the month where I will really start to plan. I also like to do a little DIY around Christmas time, usually little crafts to make our little apartment feel more festive.

• Buy a few cold-weather essentials 

I wish it wasn’t true, but this needs to happen this year. I need boots and a peacoat and I’m sure Jeff could also use a few things.  Thankfully, I tend to have a lot of luck with these items and get several seasons out of them (although I bet they would last longer if winter didn’t span an eternity here).

• Organize personal files

We currently have a rather large collection of files, stashed away in a…less than organized fashion. My goal this month is to go through them, decide what we need to keep and destroy anything we don’t need. I’m looking at you, power bills from almost six years ago…

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

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