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  • Writer's pictureGrace

Our Current Budget

Last week I wrote a series of posts about our life and financial history that brought you up to date with where we are now. I thought I would write out what our current budget is looking like. There are quite a few changes from the last budget I posted so I thought an update was in order.



Giving $600

Truck Payment $700

Phone/Internet $146

Credit Card $200

Storage Unit $137

Rent $300

Electric $200

W/S/G $100

Vehicle Insurance $118

Food/Household $500

Gas $250

Personal Spending $200

Misc $100

Chores $34

Health/Medical $100

Pets $75

Car Repair/maintenance $150

Clothing $150

Christmas/Gifts $100

School $75

Vacations $100

Home $100


As I mentioned before, we now have a car loan. We are paying extra (the amount above is the payment plus the extra we are paying each month) and we hope to pay it off as soon as we can.


There is only one phone and internet provider for our area and we have the cheapest plan. There is no lowering that at this point.


We have a little bit of debt on a credit card with moving expenses. We should have that paid off really soon.


We still have a storage unit from when we moved all our stuff into storage in February. My husband has some meat processing equipment in there that he bought last year. We need to get that listed and sold so that we can get rid of the storage unit.


The company my husband works for owns the house we rent and they have given us a very good deal. We are very thankful for this home and the low cost of living.


Electric varies each month but I budget $200 for it. This last bill was $178. I let the extra build up to go towards higher bills in the winter.


Our w/s/g runs $95-$99/mo. We are watering our yard and garden so I'm sure that makes it more expensive right now.


We have full coverage insurance on our truck so it is more expensive than what we were previously paying. Our other car is still on our policy but is temporarily suspended as our vehicle is still at the mechanics.


We increased our food and household budget from $400 to $500/mo when we moved. Food is much more expensive here at our little grocery store and I no longer have Bountiful Baskets close by. I order staples and bulk items from Sam's and we go to Walmart every few weeks to keep it within budget. I'm going to be tweaking this soon to see if I can just get all our groceries here and not make the drive to Walmart any more.


Our gas is a bit more too. Our truck doesn't get as good gas mileage as our car did and we are driving much more than we did on the Reservation. We do a lot more with friends here and church is 20 minutes away. It all adds up but I don't even mind. Friends are worth it. :)


My husband and I both give ourselves $100/mo for personal spending. I've mostly saved mine up and then purchased things I want for the home. This is our guilt free spending to be used for whatever we want. What a treat!


We budget $100/mo for misc items that come up during the month that we may not have foreseen. We do not spend this much however and the amount rolls over from month to month. It is really nice to have when you have unexpected needs come up and don't know where to put them in the budget. This category saves our budget from getting busted.


I've talked before about the kids chores so I think this category is self explanatory. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have though.


We have begun putting aside $100/mo for health/medical. This is to go for co-pays and dental cleanings. We have dental insurance and it pays for some of our cleanings but not all of them. I would like to increase what we set aside in this category eventually but I'm happy with this for now.


The pets category is pretty straight forward. It just goes for pet needs and food and the extra rolls over in case of a vet bill.


We are currently putting $150 a month into car repair. How thankful I was for this when we hit a deer this spring and had to pay our insurance deductible!


We are putting aside $150/mo in clothing. I typically only buy clothes twice a year unless I need something for a special occasion. This adds up over time and then I have the money sitting there when it's time to buy all our clothes at once for the next season.


The Christmas/gift fund saves so much stress to have that money set aside throughout the year and not have to try to figure out your Christmas budget the month before. We have done this for quite a few years and I just love having the money sitting there waiting to purchase gifts when the time comes! I also use this for birthday gifts, anniversary, Mother's/Father's Day gifts, etc.


The school category is to purchase school curriculum once a year, school supplies we need during the year, and books that we read throughout the year.


We just started putting money aside for vacations since we moved this spring. We have never had an actual vacation fund before. It was so nice to have the money set aside to use when we took our long weekend over the 4th of July and not have to worry about it.


Our home category goes for things needed for the house and yard. We used this to buy a weed sprayer and building supplies for the chicken coop. When we first moved, we had to put much more into this category but now $100/mo seems more than sufficient after getting most of the large purchases done. We had to replace shower heads and bathtub handles, buy a couple new towel racks, and buy softener salt for the water softener. All of those kinds of things come out of this category. I take household cleaners, toiletries, trash bags, etc, from our grocery budget. This home budget is essentially a home maintenance budget, I suppose.


The rest of our income is going towards savings and debt right now. We have our emergency fund almost fully funded again after the move. We are saving 14% of our income and the rest is going to pay off debt.


Throughout these last few years, my belief has been strengthened in the fact that it is hard to live with debt. After experiencing both sides of debt, I can honestly say that nothing sucks your income dry faster than payments. There would have been no way that we could have lived in West Virginia and survived on such little income if we had debt payments. Even now with our income where it is, our debt payments take up so much and it makes me sick to pay that much each month and fuels my determination to make quick work of it. I don't regret buying the truck or using the credit cards for expenses during our transition as it was what we needed to do at the time, but golly, I cannot wait for our income to be OURS again and not be going to debt repayment!


As always, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them in the comments or messages.

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