Budget with Me on a Teacher Salary | October 2019 (Part 1 of 2)
As I’m typing this, I think of how I should be asleep. Spent the weekend (and Monday) nursing a sick toddler only to return to work today with a sore throat and the onset of my menstrual cycle. Too much information? Possibly so, but again this is my blog…so yeah…
So what has me so restless tonight? Money. I’m trying my best to live within my means but boy is it tough. Last month I’d decided to cease the use of credit cards and rely solely on my income. But before you give me a round of applause, please understand ya girl has some debt. However, I’m saving that story for another post. I want to keep this series focused on what I do with my take home pay every two weeks.
If you’re an avid reader of the blog (or smart about putting together context clues), you can easily estimate a ballpark salary for me. I, however, will not be telling you exact numbers. Instead I will use percents. One reason being I don’t feel comfortable with telling all my damn business and two I believe percents will provide me with another view of where my money goes. I am striving to be a better stewardess of my money and there’s nothing like putting it all out there on the Internet for accountability purposes.
My income will come from my teacher salary as well as two other sources I will discuss in a bit. Also please take into consideration the following: (1) I have temporarily suspended contributing to my 403(b) retirement plan until the start of the new year, (2) I have also placed my student loans into deferment until the start of the new year, (3) I would like to increase my savings to 10 percent in 2020 and (4) I would like to resume tithing 10 percent of my income in 2020.
Let’s begin.
My first paycheck (net pay) of October 2019 was “X” amount of dollars:
27.8 percent is then reserved for my HOA fees. I own a condominium. I couldn’t avoid it. The fees cover water, sewage, trash, cable service and pest control so that’s a plus.
15.2 percent is withdrawn in cash for groceries for the next two weeks. I split this amount evenly into two.
11.4 percent is automatically deposited into another bank account as this amount is one-half of my monthly car payment. And before you go judging, I’d had my 2004 Nissan Sentra for 14 years before I had to let ol’ girl go. I now drive a Kia Soul that I purchased at book value. Trust me when I say I’m responsible in the car department.
9.8 percent pays for my car insurance of the previous month.
9.5 percent is reserved for my (estimated) electricity bill due at the end of this month.
4.6 percent is placed into a savings account.
4.2 percent pays for my internet service for this month.
4.2 percent is reserved for cell phone bill due at the end of this month.
3.4 percent was used to pay off my PayPal Credit bill. I’d purchased some picture frames. Next month this money will be used for either savings or spending money.
3 percent is reserved for gas for the next two weeks. Like groceries, I also split this amount evenly into two.
1.9 percent is for a payment plan an outstanding medical bill. It’s quite a large bill and I will be on this payment plan for sometime. I’d rather this than for it to go to collections and damage my credit score.
1.9 percent is manually deposited in my personal checking account for spending money.
1.9 percent is manually deposited into my daughter’s checking account for spending money.
1.2 percent pays for this website. :-)
I also receive the first of two biweekly child support payments in the amount of “y” dollars
I also receive the first of two biweekly dependent care reimbursement from my flexible spending account in the amount of “y” dollars
Combined these two payments for the first half of the month equal “Y” dollars:
93.2 percent of this amount covers my daughter’s daycare for the first two weeks of the month.
6.8 percent of this amount is reserved for a loan repayment plan. I plan to talk about this in another post as well as to how I borrowed money from myself to pay off an outstanding debt. Normally it is advised not to take this route but I had good (mathematical) reasons to do so.