I came out with a negative cash flow for the month of May and ended up
$707.46 in the red. The main part of this was paying for some classes that I
will be taking over the summer in order to further my career.I did not have
to dip into my savings to pay for these classes and did not go further into
debt as I was able to pay for the additional costs with advertising money,
loan repayments and refunds that I got over the course of the month.
I was able to reach my $1000 emergency fund goal in May and will now focus
on paying down debt, while only putting $20 a month into the emergency fund
in ING.
I made a few snowflake payments for the month from additional money that I
got in from advertising on the blog
I paid $3 to get the newspaper for the month and redeemed $8.79 in coupons,
giving me a net of $5.79 for the month in coupon gains.
Year to date coupon purchases: $15.00
Year to date coupon redemption: $59.01
Year to date coupon net: $44.01
This is an excellent return in my estimation and I will continue to buy the first Sunday paper for the month
to maximize my coupon returns.
I managed to stay under my food budget for the month by $29.30 but went over
my other shopping budget by $32.15. I hit all other budgeted areas and
managed to hit my savings goals as well.
I know that June will be a high gas month and possibly a high electric month
as I have to travel out of town for work for two weeks but then get to stay
home for the next two weeks so the fan will be running all day because it is
so hot. I might even put on the air conditioning for a few hours so I will
be reaping the benefits of the last few low electric bills.
I should be able to keep a lower food budget for the month so I will have to
funnel that money into the electric bill as well because when the
temperature gets right up there I do not want to go crazy.
Dear LuLuGal,
Your comment form wasn’t working for me, and I’d like to contact you because my distance learning organization, eCollegeFinder.org, would like to recognize your efforts in financial mentoring. Could you please contact me at MaryFrancesS [AT] dmipartners [DOT] com? Thanks very much.
Best,
Mary Frances Stotler
It’s time for the air conditioning to come out! That’s how you know summer’s right around the corner!
Well summer is already here where I live judging by the temperatures…..and if this is just the precursor to summer then I don’t want summer to get here because the heat will be traumatic….and so will my electric bill.
It’s really nice to read your articles..I am going to subscribe your blog..let’s see how you can do in June
I think the problems start when you are in the red every month. That’s when you can start worrying 🙂
I think the problems start when you are in the red every month.
Don’t worry about being in the red – like you said you had classes to pay for which will be beneficial in the long run 🙂