It's been a long time since I've given a spending or net worth update. The primary reason for this is that we had to go through a financial transition that briefly made our financial life super complicated. Let me explain. Accounting is boring. I was an econ major, not an accounting major. I made that decision on purpose. Alas, some things come back to bite us in the ass. We have 1 Million Accounts!Rob and I really need to spend money 4 different ways. We have our family spending. We have my self employment spending (fully deductible or partially depending on the situation). We have our rental property (fully deductible). We have our rented out portion of our personal home spending (deductible depending on the circumstances). Yikes! This year, we missed out on some deductions because we cross contaminated our spending. When it comes to the IRS, I say better safe than sorry. Alas, I'm not a very good patriot- giving the government more money than they deserve. So, over the last few months, we've started opening credit cards and checking accounts like mad to figure out what works best for us. We're still figuring out the rental property stuff (I think we need one more credit card beyond what we have). Nonetheless, things are cleaning up a bit. So I can now give you a clean idea of our family's spending habits. For the sake of clarity, I will include all spending not associated with our rental property. Trying out TillerAs a result of all my family's new financial organization, I'm getting excited about making new spreadsheets. I just downloaded our free 30 day trial for Tiller. It helps automate spreadsheets. Depending on how fancy my spreadsheet becomes, I might manage to convince Tiller to give me a year for free in exchange for my template. #Bartering #WillNOTReportToIRS I'll certainly let you know how it goes. How did we spend so much on groceries when we didn't eat?And now onto the spending report. We didn't spend a lot, but what we did spend was on food. We didn't even eat for 3 days. A virus tore through our family. It left us consuming a lot of Lysol and little else. Nasty! How did we spend so much more than we used to on groceries? The top driver is an increase in meat and dairy purchases. I read a book called The Case Against Sugar. I don't recommend it unless you're already convinced that sugar is killing you. Anyways, I'm back on a healthy eating kick which means no alcohol, little sugar and fewer carbs. You've got to get those cals somehow, which means meat. Ideally, it means more fats which are financially efficient, but I don't like many high fat foods that aren't also high in sugar. Total Spending for the month was $2223.81. Grocery spending accounted for $594 of our total spending. Notice anything else about our spending? Astute readers will notice that we're still spending $165 on childcare. I'm also very pleased to spend $45 each month for a gym membership. Want to know more about that? Check out this post. We also spent a measly $191 on home improvement. Rob installed new shelves in the closets. We have two major and three minor projects before our remodel is complete. Nobody knows when these will be complete. We didn't have any lumpy bills in January which kept spending low. As usual, I excluded charitable giving from our spending report. I do this because I think that each person should, "Give as he has decided in his heart to give. Not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." Still, I encourage you to give generously. Net Worth $542KOur net worth inched up to $542K this month. Our net worth growth is slow and steady... primarily because we're cash heavy right now. We're saving for a rental property, but we haven't found any great deals yet. We plan to buy our future property in cash. This means beefing up the kitty and scouring listings (and non listings) in search of a deal.
My kids are screaming, so you don't get a net worth graph today. For now, I'm just happy to be writing again.
7 Comments
2/7/2017 06:55:12 pm
Welcome back!
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We keep track of 501(c)3 cash donations since we itemize. Gifts given to individuals just get absorbed into our budget (grocery or household goods usually).
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2/14/2017 08:09:56 am
That's exciting that you're saving for another rental property! We have yet to take the leap but it's a frequent discussion around here.
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I love falafel, but otherwise don't do much with legumes. We get lots of inexpensive chicken, but I also eat red meat which is tough to find inexpensively.
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About HannahI'm a wife, a mom, an employee, and a personal finance nerd who is devoted to spreadsheeting my way through life. Archives
July 2017
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