We got a new garage door opener! Woo-hoo!
The Final Tally: $115.00
The Home Warranty came through (with a little help from Josh The Garage Door Fixer Guy) 
and covered the replacement of the opener instead of just the stripped gear. Aside from the $70 service call, we are also paying $45 to replace the keypad, which the Home Warranty considers a “luxury” item and therefore does not cover.
I will not rant on Home Warranties today I will not rant on Home Warranties today I will not rant on Home Warranties today.
I include this repair cost in the Budget Busters because, really, we should be setting aside a set amount each month just for home repair. I’m not sure we will, though, until our consumer debt is paid: Because we are able to pay so much toward our debt snowball, it just seems to make sense to pay for these repairs as they come up rather than setting money aside that otherwise could be getting us out of (consumer) debt that much faster.
Anyway.
Other Budget Busters: Mailing Packages
This, I should have planned for. After all, I’ve had a stack of Erin’s cookbooks since just before Christmas, waiting to be sent out.
And just a moment’s pause would have allowed me to consider that I would probably be sending something to The Hubs quite soon as well, no matter that he just left: He has his hands more than full of government-issue stuff when he travels to a deployment and inevitably has a box’s-worth of stuff ready to ship before he even walks out the door.
Total: $33.36
That whole cash envelope, Thang?
Yea. Walked out of the house and went to the store without my cash again. And yes, I bought my groceries anyway. (I used my debit card.)
I did stay in budget, so there’s that. But it came out of the checking account while the cash stayed in the envelope — I’ll be rolling that over into next month. (In the meantime, I will try really, really hard to ignore it calling my name.)
Total: $50.39
All told – One week’s worth of Budget Busters totaled $198.75.
Not bad. (Insert sarcasm.)
That amount will be reducing what we ultimately pay toward our debt snowball this month. I really, really want to be able to write the final check for that next month. We’ll see…
My how quickly the months roll by! Might as well keep rolling that debt snowball along with them, eh? (Who’s with me?)
* Clarification: I consider “Budget Busters” to be those things that I could have planned for in the budget, but didn’t: I either neglected to include them in the budget by choice (such as home repair issues that come up); or I completely forgot about them altogether (like mailing the packages). My hope is that, by listing them here, I will become better at creating realistic budgets in the future. It’s not just about saving money, after all — it’s about how we choose to spend the money we do have.
Related posts:
- Budget-Busters: The Final Tally
- Update on the Garage Door! (Y’all can get off those pins and needles now.)
- A debt update. And the de-throning of cash.
- A Deployment’s First Casualty on the Home Front: Anyone Know How to Fix an Automatic Garage Door?
- Cash is The Way to Go, People. (Now I just need to convince myself of that.)
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the heads up about budget busters. We just started Dave Ramsey’s FPU this month. I guess I need to set a line item for that in the zero budget.
Taking cash has been great for me because I think a lot more before buying things! Hope next month works out better for you!
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jolyn Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
I would be really interested to know what you guys think of FPU!
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I agree with Our Lives. I’ve been using Mary Hunt’s system for about 8 years now and our Freedom acct has saved my tail more times than I can count. Don’t be discouraged by her call to have $10,000 in your emergency fund. I’ve been on her system for 8 years and I’ve never come close to that amount because STUFF HAPPENS and I have to dip into that account (just recently $800 at Christmas time for a car repair). I think the key is to just keep making regular deposits into that account and to keep paying down the debt at the same time.
Ultimately if you aren’t adding to your debt load when emergencies come up, it doesn’t realy matter which system you use KWIM?
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jolyn Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Exactly!
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Great job- it’s so hard to plan for the things like car repairs and house stuff. I know I’m going to have to do something with my car windshield this month but have no idea how much it will cost. Oh, well. The adventure of life!
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If you forget your cash….can you take the cash out of the envelope and deposit into the account you used to pay for your items? That way, you are still using the money ear-marked for the item, vs rolling it until next month?
(or, don’t listen to me….I don’t have my act together.
)
Hope the new garage door is working just great!
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Budgets are the New Black Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 8:44 am
I was wondering whether someone would bring up that very obvious point! We bank w/USAA, which is an excellent institution for military members: no fees, great service, etc — but no banking centers, thus, no cash deposits.
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Kelleigh @ Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
But, you can put the $$ in NEXT month’s envelope, right?
Aw, Jolyn, so sorry this happened!! I love that you are transparent about it, though, because you really made me stop and think about those little “should have been ready for it” funds. For the record, I like your idea of putting EVERYTHING toward your snowball. Of course, I’m married to an insurance agent (aka conservative dude) so he wants the micro accounts. It works for us, though, so I can’t complain!
And, GOOD GRIEF, girl! Go get a new wallet and keep your envelopes with you!! LOL!
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jolyn Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
I’m afraid if I carry my cash around with me it’ll catch fire!
(and burn a hole, get it?)
I got a lot out of reading Mary Hunt’s books before being introduced to Dave Ramsey’s Zero Balance method. One thing she said that stays with me all these time is “money is for us to manage first before spending it” (or something like that), I had the freedom accounts method for years and I loved it. I had them for property tax, car insurance, car repair, Homeschool expense and Christmas. The reason I switched to Dave’s method was because Mary would suggest you to save up at least $10,000 in the contingency fund account while you are getting out of debt. it was hard as we do not have a huge income but big size of debt. With Dave’s baby emergency fund idea, it seems more doable and more motivational. I will go back to the freedom accounts once the debt is paid off though. I can’t wait.
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jolyn Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 8:47 am
We, too, had a freedom account for a few years. I think it is an excellent system to use, but I agree: I think debt should take precedence over a fully funded emergency account.
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