I don't really do a regular budget post because, well, our weekly budget is fairly boring. But today is an exclusion :) Not that it's any less boring, I'm just writing about it, lol.
We received our tax return last Thursday. It was the quickest return we've ever received (just six days!!!), and we already bought a couch. I want to dress it up a bit before I share any pictures with you :) And I also ordered the green house and can't wait for it to arrive! The weather has been so beautiful lately that it's obvious, gardening season will be here before I know it! The rest of the money is sitting in checking for now, until we decide what we want to do with it. I'm still leaning towards buying a new mattress but we'll see. And I hope to be able to put at least $200 into savings.
Talking about savings, you might remember that we had a very ambitious savings goal for 2014. I don't know if it is going to end up being realistic but so far we saved $1700 and I hope to add another $300 at least to this number in March. It might not be much but it is for us, and I'm glad to see that we are right on track. It will slow down a bit as we get closer to summer because we are yet to have any vacation plans, even if it's a small, local trip. I don't really care where we go (well, I do but where I want to go we can't afford anyway...sigh), I just need a change of scenery. Maybe, visit another state or something :)
We also need to start thinking of Christmas (I know, who wants to think of it when we still have snow in places, right?). We've been putting aside $20 a month but it's not going to be much when the time comes. I definitely need some sort of a plan here...
Did you start thinking of Christmas yet? Or, maybe, you are planning a fun vacation instead? Or both? :) Do share, please!
Good morning Lena, Our refund went for a new dishwasher and the rest went into the savings....Once the kids are grown you loose all those child credits but the fact we didn't have to pay was a blessing and that we had enough to purchase a new dishwasher....
ReplyDeleteI am thinking of Christmas and things to make this summer... Our family is getting bigger so I must be better with Christmas planning...
2014 has been expensive for us.. But we have been able to buy everything with cash because of a budget.... Our budget is boring for us to... it works for us and I love going over the numbers to see how I keep everything in line.... I do have to hold Russ back at times but we went back to our allowances and that seems to have helped.... Now we are concentrating on recouping everything we spent..... We feel blessed this year....
Have a wonderful day, Lisa
We are starting to talk about vacation plans for the next few months. Money is not the problem with the plans we have so far, it's getting the time off from work. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteA friend and I are considering a cruise around Greece this Christmas as our kids are grown and Christmas just isn't the same anymore. Whether it transpires or not remains to be seen but its nice to dream. I'd love to take Kazi too but as she's just starting her job she likely won't have too many days off over Christmas.
ReplyDeleteHeck ya, I am already saving for Christmas and Vacation!! I have been working on some handmade Christmas gifts of and on. I'm still kicking around ideas for other handmade gifts. We are planning a big vacation this year with the whole family, need to bump the savings up more to be on track. Congrats on that tax refund, glad you were able to have a few extra treats for the family
ReplyDeleteWe have some planned vacations but I keep my "travelling" category alive in the budget :) I started my budget in October last year and I save only EUR50 every month for that. Thinking about prices in Europe, it is not much but hey, it is always better than nothing, right? ;)
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