Michigan's minimum wage is being increased in several phases until it reaches it's full potential of $9.26 or so an hour by the year 2018. Starting next month this first increase will bring it from the $7.40 an hour and raise it to $8.15 an hour. This is great news actually for us as the employer hubby works for, never really raises the income of anyone......raises are tiny and far and few between! Now normally I would not do a life inflation increase but really our budget needs this increase just for the survival budget due to recent added expenses. This will give hubby approximately $540 take home pay every 2 weeks for a total of $1080 a month plus our additional $280 a month in child support I receive. A Grand total of $1360 a month.... no food stamps, but we will still have medicaid.
Before I get into the new budget I would like to take a moment to thank a reader for their recent donation... you know who you are and I am extremely grateful for your generous act of kindness! I also was able to sell our egg incubator yesterday.... these extras going to make up for loss of wages for hubby being too ill to go to work for 3 days recently! I also plan to continue selling items as I can to speed up decluttering our home and preparing to leave Michigan in 19 months! Woot can not wait!
Now on to the Budget........ I know you want to know how exactly we plan to pull all this off! So I will not keep you waiting any longer here it is!
Budget to finish out the year 2014
From hubby's pay checks and income of $1080 a month
Rent $475
Car payment $185
Phone/online $ 60
Electric $ 50
Car Insurance $105
Propane $ 75
X-box live $20
Netflix $9
Gas for van $100
From the $280 Child Support
Food $180
Emergency fund $100
Now this falls short on a couple like phone, electric and propane but it is still continuing to pay...... phone and electric will be perpetually falling behind but then can be caught up with either extra cash made ( preferable method ) or tax refund.
Propane we will need to earn extra money or well....... yeah. We need to raise extra cash no exceptions!
Now for clothes, moving costs, and extra things we need or a little bit of entertainment ....... we will find alternative methods for.
As far as holidays, well we have never put a big emphasis on holidays anyways so we will either not celebrate them or use extra money or alternative methods such as swagbucks or what ever. It is not uncommon for the kids to wait until tax refund time to go get a couple things they wanted for the holidays but we did not have the money at that time.
We look for ways all through the year to create special days when the opportunity arises, not when a calendar and advertisements tell us to do so, and it has worked just fine for us!
So there you have it, our new survival budget in place! :) Whew I feel so much better seeing it all written down!
How does your budgeting fair? Do budgets work for you? If not, what method does?
Before I get into the new budget I would like to take a moment to thank a reader for their recent donation... you know who you are and I am extremely grateful for your generous act of kindness! I also was able to sell our egg incubator yesterday.... these extras going to make up for loss of wages for hubby being too ill to go to work for 3 days recently! I also plan to continue selling items as I can to speed up decluttering our home and preparing to leave Michigan in 19 months! Woot can not wait!
Now on to the Budget........ I know you want to know how exactly we plan to pull all this off! So I will not keep you waiting any longer here it is!
Budget to finish out the year 2014
From hubby's pay checks and income of $1080 a month
Rent $475
Car payment $185
Phone/online $ 60
Electric $ 50
Car Insurance $105
Propane $ 75
X-box live $20
Netflix $9
Gas for van $100
From the $280 Child Support
Food $180
Emergency fund $100
Now this falls short on a couple like phone, electric and propane but it is still continuing to pay...... phone and electric will be perpetually falling behind but then can be caught up with either extra cash made ( preferable method ) or tax refund.
Propane we will need to earn extra money or well....... yeah. We need to raise extra cash no exceptions!
Now for clothes, moving costs, and extra things we need or a little bit of entertainment ....... we will find alternative methods for.
As far as holidays, well we have never put a big emphasis on holidays anyways so we will either not celebrate them or use extra money or alternative methods such as swagbucks or what ever. It is not uncommon for the kids to wait until tax refund time to go get a couple things they wanted for the holidays but we did not have the money at that time.
We look for ways all through the year to create special days when the opportunity arises, not when a calendar and advertisements tell us to do so, and it has worked just fine for us!
So there you have it, our new survival budget in place! :) Whew I feel so much better seeing it all written down!
How does your budgeting fair? Do budgets work for you? If not, what method does?
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