February really snuck up on me! But I took a look at the budget quickly and decided my debt repayment goal is $1400. The regular minimum $900 plus a $500 extra payment I hope to achieve.
I also want to set aside the final $1000 for the bathroom renovation.
The spending budget for our Puerto Rico trip is $1737.70 (what we had left over of the $5000 budget after booking airfare and hotel). We'll be gone 6 days, so that's an average of $289 per day. I don't know what prices will be like in the resort or in San Juan, but this seems doable as long as we don't eat at high-end restaurants every meal and don't do a ton of expensive activities. I'm mainly interested in relaxing, soaking up the warmth and playing with the kids, so I don't think it'll be a problem. Some of last year's summer wear may be a bit loose since AS and I both lost weight since then, but I think we have enough to get by without buying too many new clothes. I may stop by a thrift store before we go to see if I can find shorts. And I probably need new flip-flops.
We'll also start shopping for birthdays in February, since all five occur in March. The budget is $800: $200 for gifts for each adult and $100 for each kid.
We may sign up for our first Ting phone this coming month too; NT only has about 90 minutes left on his prepaid phone. None of us use very many minutes, so they've lasted a really long time. I have over $300 saved up in the cellphone budget, which means it's been at least 6 months since any of us needed more minutes. As AS and I run out of minutes on our prepaids, we'll join him on a family plan. I'm cautiously excited about moving into the realm of smartphones, as long as our costs remain about the same as they have for prepaid.
I think those are the main financial things happening in February, besides the usual. I'll pay for my birthday party in March, taxes in April. We'll look at the Y schedule to sign the girls up for the next available swim lessons after our Puerto Rico trip, so that may be February or later.
February goals
January 31st, 2014 at 07:56 pm
January 31st, 2014 at 09:45 pm 1391204717
We don't have Ting service here but it's not reasonable to expect a much more sophisticated phone which delivers a great many more [Smart] services to cost the same as a basic cell phone. I suggest you look at the services you would most likely use and seek an unlocked phone that can be used on the Ting network. Some rates are so high because the phone selected is very expensive. They call it 'free' but of course the price is worked into the rate.
Some phones are bigger and awkward to put in a pocket for example. Blackberry has dropped so out of favour it's no longer on anyone's radar. I only use half the 2 pages of functions on my phone and I haven't even explored all the features. It's a giant learning curve. Just now we're being heavily marketed to use smart phone banking. Do I need it, Does it serve me? Would you follow your finances hourly on the phone? GPS to efficiently get to a location you've picked in an unfamiliar city? Would it be helpful in PR or is it more fun to stop at an interesting looking cafe or suggested by the taxi driver?
I'm still laughing because I've too often watched guys walk right into a light standard, oh so busy texting or reading someones Tweet...what a twit!
If you're planning to go/move to Europe can you just buy a new SIM card for full function?
February 1st, 2014 at 07:02 pm 1391281377
Have you thought about data usage? Does Ting include data or will you use your home internet and free wifi? If you get the phone before you go on o/s travels, make sure data roaming is turned off! Even with no apps, my hubby's phone records daily kb usage (we think it must be synching something but as he has a (low) data included we haven't worried about it too much).
Enjoy all the good things (even the reno which is good for the resale as well as future enjoyment) coming up!
February 1st, 2014 at 07:27 pm 1391282875
Our desired monthly spend for cellphone usage is $50. I have to do more research about surcharges and taxes, but if the three of us could keep to 101-500 talk minutes, 1-100 texts, and 101-500 MB of data, our bill would be $43 plus surcharges and tax. That would be pretty close to the ideal. https://ting.com/rates