Comments on: DD’s Monthly Expense Checkup – October 2008

By: DD’s Monthly Expenses - October 2009 - Halloween Party Edition :The Happy Rock

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:56:37 +0000

[...] Last October we spent $4211.94. [...]

By: Out with the Old, In with the New | The Happy Rock

Out with the Old, In with the New | The Happy Rock — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:41:30 +0000

[...] of the most common areas where readers say we could lower our expense was our “Phone & Internet” bill. We’ve been [...]

By: The Debt Defier

The Debt Defier — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:32:00 +0000

@ The Happy Rock – Budgets have never really worked for us, but luckily we stay afloat because we’re magicians. We don’t have $57 a month to set aside, but yet somehow for the past 4 years I’ve been able to pony up $675 for Life Insurance. Just like in April, I’ll have to cough up over $400 for auto insurance.

Magician is probably the wrong word, since we have no magic. I guess I’m more of a financial “juggler”. I might explain this further another day, but for now I’ll leave it that in the pay-check to pay check world that we live in, we’ve managed to not drop any of the important bowling pins that we’re constantly juggling.

Actually I just reviewed my daycare statement. I put up the wrong total, it should have been $771, not $701. (I just made an edit with the correct figures) Daycare costs $78 per week, per kid. Sept had 5 Monday, so that means five weeks. Add in monthly supply fees and subtract a vacation day and we get a total of $771. Oct’s bill will be lower due to there only being 4 Mondays.

@Tom – Interesting idea of leaving out the fixed costs while tracking our expenses. I like it, but at the same time I like seeing the total picture.

@celticbuffy, Tom, & Happy Rock – I agree that we’re probably paying too much for our phone service. After my wife’s final wedding of the season (early Jan) we’ll look into switching things up. Right now I’m with Qwest, our other option is the cable company (Midco). I have no desire for cable TV, but we’ll see if they can help us out with a better phone & internet package.

We tried Skype a couple of years ago, and didn’t care for it. But maybe it’s been improved.

By: The Happy Rock

The Happy Rock — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:40:37 +0000

On the cable and internet front, I pay $83 a month for VOIP phone, unlimited everywhere, cable internet, and standard cable.

Here is the post describing my how I save a bunch of money : Call Comcast and Save

By: celticbuffy

celticbuffy — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:33:33 +0000

We have our internet/phone as a package deal but the phone is local only. We have signed up with Skype and use that for our long distance phone calls. We had to purchase a head set but that was a minor expense for the overall savings. You can choose from pay as you go or $2.95/month for unlimited US/Canada calling. Since the majority of the family that we talk to is long distance (and I cut the cell phone) this is much cheaper in the long run than using the land line.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:46:50 +0000

When I’m tracking expenses, I leave out what I call fixed costs, in your case Mortage, Daycare, Life Insurance, etc. so your total would be about $1,950/month, even less if you leave out student loan. If you want to cut costs it would be a %percentage of 1,950. I’m not sure how it works in the US but your phone bill seems high. Skype or public phones may help reduce costs.

By: The Happy Rock

The Happy Rock — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:56:44 +0000

DD,

It looks like you guys need to start splitting up those irregular expenses, so that they don’t blow the monthly budget. For example, the Life Insurance should now become a $57 a month payment that is due each month, so that when a year rolls around you have the $675 when it is due. This goes for other none monthly expenses like car insurance, contacts, auto repair, etc. It will really help smooth out your spending.

As far as spending cash, I think something like the envelope system is were you will begin to see real savings, because it keeps you from ‘accidentally’ overspending.

One last question, how come daycare is still so high?