Archives

All posts for the month December, 2015

Man, 2015 was a crazy year! God blessed us insanely. WE BOUGHT A FREAKIN HOUSE!!!

Just like last year, here is a breakdown of this year compared to last year!

2014 2015 Difference Comments
Income $73,500 Income $82,325 $8,825 Huge jump from last year! My amazing wife became a Supervisor at Costco which is where 99% of this came from.
Auto & Transport: Auto Insurance $829 Auto & Transport: Auto Insurance $1,165 $336 The reason for the large jump had to do with switching from month to month to every 6 months. We did this switch late in the year so part of it will roll into next year.
Auto & Transport: Gas & Fuel $3,543 Auto & Transport: Gas & Fuel $2,374 $-1,169 Woot! Lowered gas prices and not driving to Seattle as much as last year helped this out.
Auto & Transport: New Car $200 Auto & Transport: New Car $600 $400 In 2014, we started saving up for used car but then decided to use the money to pay off debt. This year, the $600 actually went towards investing in Elio which I hope pays off in the long run :)
Auto & Transport: Service & Parts $1,138 Auto & Transport: Service & Parts $2,706 $1,568 This year we did a lot of upkeep on our cars that we have been putting off due to lack of funds. That and my wife’s car broke down a few times…
Bills & Utilities: Internet $760 Bills & Utilities: Internet $538 $-222 We went the last two months without any internet. And we almost died. This will probably go back up close to what it was in 2014 since we had to switch internet providers and this one is a little more expensive.
Bills & Utilities: Mobile Phone $759 Bills & Utilities: Mobile Phone $760 $1 Still keeping things low here. My wife is still on Republic Wireless but I have switch to Google Fi. More on this later…
Bills & Utilities: Television $1,055 Bills & Utilities: Television $1,490 $435 I need to watch this more… This increase was due to forgetting to cancel a sports package that I only needed for 2 months and also all the moving of the my dish that our apartment complex made me do. I should write up a blog post about that soon.
Bills & Utilities: Utilities $1,196 Bills & Utilities: Utilities $1,348 $152 Now that we are out of the apartment, I am hoping this starts to go down. Last year for December, we had an electricity bill close to $300 due to the apartment having leaks everywhere and super old baseboard heaters. This last month our bill was just over $70. I like that.
Bills & Utilities: Web Hosting $132 Bills & Utilities: Web Hosting $120 $12 I think the difference was due to a domain name purchase.
Business Services: Mick Business $0 Business Services: Mick Business $488 $488 A new category this year for some of my side hustles. Sadly, I have very little to show for this. I used it to buy some products to resell and am still trying to resell them…
Education: Student Loan $6,705 Education: Student Loan $3,816 $-2,889 We were paying double on this last year. This year, we were only paying a little more than we needed to.
Entertainment: Apps $155 Entertainment: Apps $85 $-70 I switch providers for one of my monthly apps. Saved a butt load!
Entertainment: Dates $1,277 Entertainment: Dates $1,400 $123 I’m ok with spending more to hang out with my wife :)
Entertainment: Furniture $222 Entertainment: Furniture $829 $607 We bought new couches and a chair!
Entertainment: General Expenses $2,036 Entertainment: General Expenses $1,188 $-848 Last year I said “Ouch… we need to do better about this next year.” and we did, woots!
Entertainment: Lindy allowance $769 Entertainment: Lindy allowance $605 $-164 She had less time to work some of her side hustles this year.
Entertainment: Mick Allowance $2,974 Entertainment: Mick Allowance $655 $-2,319 I can’t remember if I got one bonus check this year or none, either way that lowered this a lot. On top of that, I was done selling things for my parents on eBay.
Entertainment: Rodeo $176 Entertainment: Rodeo $80 $-96 Haha! We bought that tickets super early, but didn’t end up going. Instead we rented a car with a buddy of mine and drove to Idaho for a few hours to see an awesome wedding and then drove straight back. Crazy but awesome.
Entertainment: Sporting Events $2,892 Entertainment: Sporting Events $2,908 $16 About the same as last year.
Financial: Debt Killer $917 Financial: Debt Killer $0 $-917 Boom. A full year with no Credit Cards or personal loans.
Financial: General Savings $2,107 Financial: General Savings $3,060 $953 Much better on the savings side. However, most of this went to paying our taxes…
Financial: Lindy’s Ring $572 Financial: Lindy’s Ring $0 $-572 Paid off her wedding band last year. Woots.
Financial: Prosper Loans $5,993 Financial: Prosper Loans $2,112 $-3,881 My goal at the end of last year was to have this paid off by 2016. We paid it off before June of 2015!
Financial: Prosper Investing $0 Financial: Prosper Investing $175 $175 Because we paid off our Prosper Loans, I started to invest in Prosper. Helping people out and making money. I’m down with that!
Financial: Roth IRA $120 Financial: Roth IRA $195 $75 I really want to increase this more in 2016.
Financial: Standard Stocks $10 Financial: Standard Stocks $195 $185 Bumped this up a bit from last year. Hope to increase it a little more next year
Financial: Tithe $7,044 Financial: Tithe $7,056 $12 Same ole Same ole
Food & Dining: Alcohol & Bars $360 Food & Dining: Alcohol & Bars $135 $-225 Bought less scotch this year… But I also found The Knot which is amazing.
Food & Dining: All Food/Coffee $1,290 Food & Dining: All Food/Coffee $1,399 $109 Not too bad compared to last year. I still need to eat out less…
Food & Dining: Stims $266 Food & Dining: Stims $249 $-17 Zipfizz and Lindy’s coffee budget. Not too bad.
Food & Dining: Groceries $5,023 Food & Dining: Groceries $4,596 $-427 Spent less on groceries this year. Woots?
Food & Dining: Mick’s Groceries $401 Food & Dining: Mick’s Groceries $307 $-94 Even I spent less on the groceries I buy when it’s my nights to cook!
Food & Dining: Take People Out $448 Food & Dining: Take People Out $618 $170 Looks like we got out of the house more this year and interacted with people…
Gifts & Donations: Charity $456 Gifts & Donations: Charity $481 $25 This is Lindy’s Compassion child she has been sponsoring for a long time.
Gifts & Donations: Christmas Gifts $618 Gifts & Donations: Christmas Gifts $797 $179 Christmas is expensive yo.
Gifts & Donations: Gift $1,299 Gifts & Donations: Gift $1,844 $545 Fewer weddings means fewer wedding gifts :)
Gifts & Donations: Trusting Jesus $1,761 Gifts & Donations: Trusting Jesus $2,637 $876 Yeah! I like seeing this go up each year. Even though we aren’t increasing this each month like we use to, we also don’t worry if we go over our set amount each month. God’s got our back.
Health & Fitness: Dentist $70 Health & Fitness: Dentist $0 $-70 Stopped budgeting for this since we opened my HSA.
Health & Fitness: Doctor $12 Health & Fitness: Doctor $3,238 $3,226 I highly recommend not tearing your ACL and Meniscus…
Health & Fitness: Eyecare $43 Health & Fitness: Eyecare $0 $-43 Same with the dentist, we stopped saving for this due to having an HSA
Health & Fitness: Gym $0 Health & Fitness: Gym $334 $334 We got a gym membership at the end of this year and then promptly got a house right afterwards. I have only been able to go a handful of times, but that will change once we are done with the holidays.
Home: Mick’s Furniture $65 Home: Mick’s Furniture $105 $40 This is mostly electronic goodies.
Home: Home Insurance $231 Home: Home Insurance $308 $77 This only went up a smidge.
Home: House – General $0 Home: House – General $846 $846 We have a house now! And since we didn’t have a mortgage this month, we used a chunk of that money for things we needed around the house.
Home: House – Lindy -$0 Home: House – Lindy -$405 $405 Budging out things we personally want for the house. My wife got an extra check from work that went towards this budget also.
Home: House – Mick $0 Home: House – Mick $308 $308 My cut of the pie. Mostly spent on Christmas decorations
Home: House Savings $0 Home: House Savings $3,358 $3,358 More like home spending, am I right?
Home: Mortgage & Rent $11,230 Home: Mortgage & Rent $11,338 $108 This number will go up more next year but it will be a mortgage instead of rent!
Shopping: Clothing $511 Shopping: Clothing $655 $144 I’m told we need this.
Shopping: Cosmetics/Toiletries $555 Shopping: Cosmetics/Toiletries $629 $74 And we need this too.
Shopping: Electronics & Software $34 Shopping: Electronics & Software $0 $-34 Canceled Xbox Live :(
Travel: Vacation $2,811 Travel: Vacation $3,019 $208 Not too bad of an increase.

And that’s a wrap!

How did 2015 treat you?