So it's the new year and I hope to take a fresh look at our finances and see what we can do to cut costs.
Regular Income: 3200 net/month. This is after health insurance and 5% contribution to TSP (with 5% match)
Irregular Income: I work for a scoring company for probably 3 mos out of the year and probably earn about $3000 a year. We also had a farmer's market stand last year and grossed around $3500. A lot of that went to pay for baby pigs and feed for pigs which we only have March-August. Husband also cut 2 extra lawns last summer. He bought a new lawnmower to cut them so really there was no net income there but could be this year.
Budget:
Housing: $575 mortgage ($50 is extra principle)+80 insurance+$70 taxes=$725
Transportation: $480 gas (45 mile commute for DH)+$150 insurance+$20 title +15 oil change=$665
Farm expenses: $150 feed+ $200 farm related (tax deductible, but definitely add up. For example, we currently need new tractor tires)=$350
Charitable giving: $350 (we aim for around 10% of our income)
Groceries: $280 (Feeding 2 adults and 5 children from 17 down to 3, but also have a garden and home grown meat and venison)
Utilities: $300 electric+$70 internet+$120 cell phone=$490. This is an area I would like to cut, but am not sure where to start.
Gym Membership: $50 (includes Tae Kwon Do for 4 children and 1 stressed mother :)
Miscellaneous: This is around $200 and includes things like postage, life insurance, clothing, gifts, home repair and eating out.
Education: This is not a regular expense, but I usually pay this out of my part time income. We probably pay about $1500 a year to homeschool our 4 children. I reuse as much as possible, but the two older children take an outside (paid) class. We also have to buy some books and pay for testing at the end of the year.
Assets: House ($290,000) + retirement ($80,000)=$370,000
Liabilities: Mortgage ($109,000) + credit card ($3000) =$112,000
Net Worth: $258,000
We look pretty good on paper, but we are always short on cash and always feeling pressured to spend more. One big step I want to take is to sell one of our cars. We have 4. Even with teens, we just can't afford that many.
Any suggestions?