In savings this month, we saved our normal $500, banked $380 from our federal tax return, and earned $3.04 in interest…but, we transferred $4,900 to cover our credit card bill. It was a rough month.
We spent $103 at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not in Atlantic City and $113 at Friendly’s for our daughters 7th birthday.
We had to pay $450 for our oldest daughters college tuition.
We bought the clarinet and trombone our oldest two have been playing under a trial rental period. They are doing great at them.
We spent $1,500 paying the balance to get our fireplace in working condition.
We had a $455 repair on our van.
We spent $102 at Olive Garden for our wedding anniversary.
We spent $114 at JC Penny for kids pictures.
We spent $170 for a couple of the kids to go to parkour.
And we spent $135 going to the Natural History Museum while I was off the week after Christmas.
That’s not counting all the nickle and dime expenses under $100.
In vacation, we saved our normal $300 and earned $.72 in interest…but, we transferred $500 to pay the $5,449 credit card bill for the money we spent taking the kids to Great Wold Lodge in the Poconos for a couple of nights.
Like the stock market, our bank account had a bad month. This time of year is expensive. In the first 3 months we have an anniversary, Valentines Day, and 4 birthdays. Those are about the only occasions we eat out for.
Just on Valentines Day, we spent close to $80 at KFC on Beyond Chicken Nuggets, mashed potatoes (sans gravy), and cole slaw. But that will be on next months bill.
This month will be our last birthday until June, so we are going to see if we can manage to keep our credit card bill under control until then. If we can’t we talked about possibly getting rid of it.
I’m okay with it because I’m a lunatic and when I’m into something, in this case finances and anti debt, I go full throttle into it. Christy is more level headed than I am, so it may not be as easy for her. We will see.
| Savings | $17,250 |
| Vacation | $4,301 |