a plan is essential

photo credit: i found it on my hard drive
as homework for our financial class we had to do a quickie budget, monthly cash flow plans, and some other stuff. i did the quickie and started the monthly cash flow, but it was HARD! I thought it would be easy because i've got a basic outline on good 'ole excel, but it wasn't and i couldn't finish it tonight. in the midst, i did find out that from 1/10/2010 - 2/17/2010 the Senator and I spent $452.85 on food WTF, right?! it was insane. tonight was the first night we talked about money w/o tension in the air. he said to me "when i look at our money on paper, i wonder, "where does all our money go?" I said confidently, "we eat out alot"... I had no idea! i feel like I cook all the time! N-T-way, sharing that has prompt me, so i'll just share with you what I have so far.

when you begin the class you and your spouse fill out what is called "Major Components of a Healthy Financial Plan". It's a to-do list of important items to complete and you decide on action dates. I love this kind of stuff... to give an example~

Action Needed Action Date
Written Cash Flow Plan (the hard task i tried to complete tonight) February 19, 2010
Will and/or Estate Plan March 17

you get the idea, right?

then you sign the statement at the bottom and carry on with life. we are so geeked... this is helping us so much! Next there is a Consumer Equity Sheet that tells you your networth. ***Be Prepared I'm about the break the mainstream habit and tell you our worth**** $227,281.96, not including our student loans.

The Quickie Budget
(These are our monthly necessities)

Giving: $343.00
Saving: $050.00*
Phone: $239.00
Gas/Oil: $150.00
Car Insurance: $201.00
Life Insurance: $078.00
Total necessities/mo: $1,061.00
*our goal is to save $1,000 ASAP to begin our emergency fund, then put away 3-6months of our monthly expenses. yesterday when I applied for the p/t patient register rep my application history said that they were sending it to the recruitment office, i checked it today and they said they were sending it to the hiring manger for the department. I took this is a good sign, i mean why else waste time sending me a notice and sending it to the hiring manager if I weren't being strongly considered, right? I'm thinking their going to give it to me. I'm going to prepare myself to receive it and think nothing less until they tell me i don't have it.

The Facts

Salary 1: $3433.3/month***
Bonus: this will be the income from my p/t job. since we already have things in place with just the Senator's salary, I figured it would be good to perfect that and do a "Lump Sum Payment Plan" with the income I'm claiming to be bringing in. I keep the money i get for my business in a separate account. I need to purchase some big office supplies and will be traveling in April, so I will need my business to pay for that, no need to disrupt the budget, right?

Lump Sum Payment Planning

we decided to move our vacation from May back to December. we've been passively deciding to go away for Christmas, just the two of us for about two years now. So we decided that we would plan for a fund for our anniversary and save the big-ness for Christmas time. We've got 8 birthdays between now and November, 1 anniversary (ours), and a vacation to plan for. here goes the breakdown~
Vacation: $2,000 ~ $200/monthly
Gifts (Christmas): $600 ~ $60/monthly
Birthdays: $400 ~ $40/monthly
if you're asking why the birthday budget is smaller than the Christmas budget, it's because the Senator's family is big, and i mean B-I-G on time together. more than likely, we will celebrate all 8 birthdays with some form of a family gathering/dinner which will take some pressure off of giving a gift.

Birthday Breakdown: (just in case you wanted to know)

02/2010: Justin, Cousin-Inlaw, Renee' (step-MIL)
04/2010: O
06/2010: Adrian & Sharita, Uncle and SIL
07/2010: the Senator, Duane (FIL)
08/2010: moi
10/2010: Kyle, BIL
11/2010: Karen, MIL
12/2010: Vincent, Step-FIL (Karen's Husband), Jasmine (step-SIL)

so with all this said, i still need to share with you the details. i promise i will once i figure out the forms. at least you know what we're up against and where my head is regarding the matter.