Monday, March 13, 2017

February 2017 Income & Expenses


The amounts below are cash amounts and are net of taxes, insurance, 401k contributions, HSA, etc. In other words, the amounts are what get deposited and withdrawn from my accounts.

Day job (take home pay) --- $9633.76
Dividends/Interest ---  $170.01

Total net income --- $9803.77

Expenses --- $3994 (Taken from Mint)

Savings  $ --- Rate  59.26%

THAT is more like it!!! I went from a -59% savings rate in January to a 59% in February!!

How did I do that?? I spent less...

In all seriousness, I took a piece of paper and wrote the number $4,000 on the top and then numbers 1-28 below. Each day I listed each and every single expense throughout the month and told my girlfriend that when the total reaches $4,000 be prepared to eat whatever is in the pantry.....This is NO FUCKING joke.

I'm not going to say things went super smoothly, but I noticed when pizza was desired we found take out specials for $6.99 not high dollar gourmet shit totalling $50. The crock pot was dusted off and used exhaustively. When we hit the pub, we to Molly's and took advantage of Big Beer Thursdays. $3 for a big ass mug of draft beer. That was a bitch on my end cause I love bottled beer! Like I said, this was a sacrifice for all parties involved including me!!

March is starting off a little rocky as we have a birthday party seemingly every Saturday and Sunday this month! No problem. We are going to regroup and tighten things up at the halfway mark!!

Also my girl's insurance career is starting to take off so I'm really excited about that for her. Empire building is in progress!!

By any means necessary!

11 comments:

  1. You really rocked that savings rate for the month. It can be tough at times when you want to stick to a straight, hardcore budget but when you and your partner are on the same page it makes it that much easier. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. DivHut,

      It has been a fun experience trying to keep the car between the lines the last couple of months! I think we are both much more aware of stupid shit that we sometimes buy for no good reason. I also made it pretty clear that I am spending X amount of money each month and I don't keep care what the money is spent on. When the limit is reached the valve closes. We each are thinking twice before blowing money knowing what we are buying now could mean not buying something essential in the following week.

      We're still learning, but it's been fun!

      MDP

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  2. Excellent savings rate, and to top it off cheap beer for $3... dang, I'm jealous. All the best for March, keep the savings rate up!

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    1. BHL,

      Cheap beer is a blessing, but I do like premium beer as well. Maybe in April I'll have this shit down well enough to drink some higher quality beer. LMAO!

      MDP

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  3. MDP -

    BOOM!!!! 60% you fricken hit it. Now.. if the $4k was achievable, see if you can hit it 2 or 3x in a 2-5 month window, then drop that to $3,750... think that's possible? What was the biggest piece to saving this month?

    -Lanny

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    Replies
    1. Lanny,

      I like your thinking! $3750 would be awesome! I'm still optimistic I can hold the line at $4000 this month so $3750 is definitely realistic!!

      I think my girlfriend and her daughter seeing me document everything helped a lot. They hated whenever I would logon to my account and start heading to the Budget Board!

      MDP

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    2. Haha - hilarious. Pretty sure the girlfriend is not liking how frugal I am, but luckily she's on the spectrum of frugal, so thankful for that.

      -Lanny

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  4. Mdp,
    Love the blog and Espically live when you give us a little insight to your personal life. It humanizes yout and makes this blog more than just recent buys and financial updates. Great post...

    ReplyDelete
  5. LT,

    I'm glad you like it! I need to put more personal touches on it, but I sometimes have some pretty fucking radical thoughts. LOL

    MDP

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  6. Found your blog looking for tips on long term dividend investing. Thanks for the insight.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous,

      No problem at all! I'm glad you enjoy it.

      MDP

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