Our goal for 2016 is to reduce our yearly expenses to $50,000. That means keeping our expenses at $4,166 per month. And what’s a goal without a plan and accountability?? Monthly expenses check-in to the rescue!
Oh March. In like a lion, out like a lamb with a gaggle of other animals mixed in-between. Highlights of this month include attending the Telluride film festival on tour in our city, partying like we were Irish on March 14th, saying goodbye to a loved one, traipsing around with dinosaurs at a state park & …::: drum roll please :::… buying a condo!! Or rather preparing to buy a condo! A very new, exciting, scary adventure for us, but one we have met head on with various spreadsheets and sound logic (or so we hope!). More to come on the condo buying process and reasons we decided to buy. Here’s the skinny on March money out of our pockets:
This is the first month we are over our monthly budget. We attribute this to one-off home expenses, 6 months of car insurance, and 12 months of homeowners insurance. Looking at the numbers, this should even itself out over the year. Some months are higher than others, but as a whole I believe we are still on track to meet our yearly goal.
Back to the fun stuff… 🙂
Who knew dinosaurs liked to hang out in Texas?? Well at least they did 65.5 million years ago. They left tracks to prove it! We took a day with friends and checked out Dinosaur Valley State Park. The crazy dinos left footprints in the mud at the edge of what used to be an ancient ocean. When the river is low enough you can see the tracks. We’ll be back during drought season to see the famous footprints!
Mrs. Doodlepop took an abrupt trip home to be with family after hearing her Grandma passed away. This was another reinforcement of the importance of having an emergency fund (and airline miles from credit card churning!). A flight was booked within 12 hours and Mrs. Dpop was sitting on the tarmac within 24. It really is true that life is unpredictable; it is of great comfort to have the funds to cover unexpected events. You can’t prepare for everything, but having options and keeping perspective throughout everything is a huge part of appreciating this thing called life. In the words of a very wise Grandma:
We took advantage of many events around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex this month including a film festival, free IMAX movie, and St. Patrick’s Day parade. If you are ever looking for inspiration and an incredible wave of emotions, go attend a film festival. The range of feelings one goes through in ~120 minutes is overwhelming, yet insanely eye-opening. It leaves you craving more and so ready for adventure. Telluride may or may not be the reason the Grand Canyon jumped up a few spots on our to-do list.
We also hosted 3 sets of Airbnb guests this month! Yay for extra income and helping people have an amazing time in our city.
What’s coming up:
April will be filled with one pesky (yet promising!) Professional Engineering exam for Mrs. Doodlepop, many mortgage monsters, and some cathartic camping. We are ready to jump into this real estate thing and see what it is all about.
So far this year we are $698 over budget, but still believe we are on track to our yearly spend goal of $50,000:
March = $5,270