Back in the Green! | November Beers & Budgeting

Hello everybody. We are here for a chilly frosty November budget review. Our beers [clears throat] and budgeting. We're cold. There is snow outside, but we're still going to drink a beer. And I wonder what are we going to be drinking today while we look over our monthly income and expenses. >> My turn. >> Yes, you. >> Oh, >> you. >> Uh, so focus. Oh, I think I got a first shot. Nice. So, this is a a holiday cheer from Shinerbach. They put it out every year or just from Shiner. Shiner Bach is the one that they're most known for. But it's a brewery in Texas, I think. And it's a festive beer. I get it every year and it's a Yeah, we're going to drink it. So, yeah. >> Cool. Cheers. >> M. >> It's got a lot more spices in it and stuff. I guess that's the holiday part. >> The Christmas part. >> There you go. >> Okay. So, [snorts] we are going to be hopping into the November monthly budget. Thank you so much to those who commented on the community post about us talking about beers and budgeting and the fate of it. We have been doing a monthly budget review of our real income, what we actually bring in, and our real expenses, what we're actually spending for years. We've been documenting this on the channel. And so, I wanted your feedback. Are you still into it? And for the 400 plus people who voted, they were like, "Yes, keep making these videos." So, we absolutely are. >> I voted yes if anyone cares. >> Yes. Uh, he did. [laughter] I am kind of deciding on maybe some format changes, but in any sense, you will still get to see our real numbers because the point of this series is to show you exactly what we're doing with our money to give you inspiration to hopefully give you some info to continue to work on your own budget and talk with your partner if you have one about what's going on from month to month with how you are managing your money. Without further ado though, I want to hop into our budget to show you what exactly happened for November. >> All right, so we plan on bringing in 13,000. We got nats. Anyways, we plan on bringing in 13,000. We actually brought in way more than that somehow. 17,000 shy of 300. Uh giving us almost five grand left over. I don't believe this for a second. >> Yeah. So, you actually had some work payout reimbursements happen. Remember the last time that we were doing our budget, there was a negative number and then in October, we actually had a little money left over, but in November, you had some reimbursements come through. So, I don't know if those reimbursements just came in late or what. I think at so my company at the end of our fiscal year we they pay out whatever remaining comp time you have. >> So for November I have all of our fixed expenses outlined here. So these are all of our planned line items including preschool for about $1,100 electricity for 152. We continue to go on with our mortgage, which is actually located in the debt table because we still owe about $500,000 on our mortgage. >> How is that not below half a million yet? [laughter] I am so upset about this. >> Yes. So, we bought our home in June of 2024. Our monthly payment is $3,400. We have a 7% flat interest rate. [sighs] It is a lot. It is a lot. So hopefully as the interest rates go down, maybe we'll want to refy later on down the road, but >> we got to figure out that break even point. >> They haven't come down far enough yet. And then when you redo that, you have to be like, "Okay, we're going to live in this house for so many more years." And >> yeah, >> all that stuff. So >> So we're not there yet. >> Yeah. >> Just giving you some food for thought if you are deciding to to buy a home or if you have a similar interest rate to ours. One thing that we did really well on for November is we only spent $850, sorry, $842 on groceries and we had a planned budget for $1,000. So $157 left over, which I thought was pretty dang good. >> No, it's not. [laughter] If you go back to like prepandemic times, the same amount of food that we we would have bought would have been half that. It's not like in the past four years we've started buying, you know, prime rib steaks every night. Like >> $842 for two adults and two kids under five. It's crazy. >> Yeah. >> But at least we stayed under a,000. >> Yeah. I'm really really happy we stayed under a thousand. >> I hate saying that out loud. I think what helped with this is we had I've been doing more weekly grocery runs to Aldi's. Aldi's is my jam. >> We've been doing more Crock-Pot stuff, too. >> Crock-pots have also really helped. Yeah, I agree. Sundays and Mondays, we've been doing Crock-Pot meals, and that has really helped. I actually was just talking to a coaching client through my one-on-one private coaching program and they are also doing crock-pot meals and they said that's really saved them especially on eating out which also we did really well out of a $400 monthly budget for restaurants. We only spent $258. So >> I feel like we didn't really go out that much in the month of November. Mostly cuz like I was gone for a while then you were gone for a while and so people I don't know it's a lot more difficult to go to a restaurant with two kids by yourself. >> That's true. >> So did did you take the dinner for your mom's birthday out of restaurants then too? >> Let's see where that came from >> cuz that that we went for sushi and that was like 105 by itself. >> Yeah that was in restaurants. >> Huh. So yeah, we just really didn't hardly eat out. >> There we go. >> Okay, I'll take it. >> Yeah, I am in the negative for my clothing budget though. Negative $121. Mainly because >> I'll loan you some money at a 7% interest rate [laughter] at mine. >> Okay. Yeah, Mr. $500 surplus. So, I had to buy a bridesmaid's dress, get alterations, grab shoes, and the whole nine yards for my sister's wedding that I just got back from that she had in Spain. So, I spent a week in Spain. And part of the money that I spent in Spain, plus part of the money that you spent taking a trip to Florida in November, is reflected from our vacation fund. So, we have a vacation fund sitting at about $4,600. And between Kyle's about 5day trip to Florida and my week-long trip in Spain together, we spent about $730 bucks. So, not bad. >> But that doesn't include your plane ticket. >> No. So, the plane ticket, I think, was about $1,200. >> Yeah. That was actually spent from money last year when we were supposed to go to Spain last year, but I was very pregnant and couldn't make the trip. >> I'm glad we didn't do that. >> Me, too. >> You were You were not >> I was not physically well at all, but I was able to take that credit and apply it for this trip. So, we had money coming out. Any of the red numbers that you see here come out of a syncing fund. So instead of just doing a planned number or planned amount for a particular fun money expense like shopping and then just spending it, we say, "All right, no matter what, we're going to put $350 per month into a shopping syncing fund." And then that goes into a syncing fund every single month. And then what we actually spend could be more or less depending on the month. and then it gets deducted from the syncing fund instead of deducted from our regular monthly budget. Let me know if you want me to make a video on how syncing funds work by commenting below to show you how that could work for your specific situation. But doing one for shopping, I find has been really helpful for us. So, we have about $1,700 set up in a shopping syncing fund. And out of that, we spent $459 on shopping for November. Hold on. Well, you're talking so fast. Go back. I want to talk about this. >> Yeah. I'm going to show you exactly what we spent money on >> because I'm looking at between shopping and gifts. We spent almost $1,000. >> Yeah. >> I don't remember getting any gifts in the last month. >> It's not your birthday month. >> Scroll down. Let's take a look. >> Let's take a look. All right. So, we had a couple of different things going on for gifts. Gifts and Christmas actually get lumped together for us. So, we included things like wedding related expenses for my sister. I also included some Christmas stuff. Uh the jingle java I put inside of the Christmas budget cuz it's Christmas related, but I could move that. It's coffee by the way, really good coffee. I could move that to just groceries. I don't care. [clears throat] >> Okay, we had two three different birthdays that we spent money for. And then if I go down to shopping, some of the biggest line items included, >> what are oil sheets? >> Oil like oil for your face. >> I'm such a guy. I was like, oil sheets for the car. >> Oil blotting sheets. You guys know the ones, right? the ones from Target. They're so good. Uh so that was included along with some makeup items in preparation for Spain and just to refill all my makeup supplies. And it looks like the bulk of that was your new desk, desk chair, and a rug. >> Yeah. But I redid Oh, I finished an office upstairs in our house. Was that last year? A year ago? >> And it has I just had a simple desk and a chair in there. Nothing else. Uh, like it's probably time to like make this feel more cozy, livable. Uh, I want to go back to the oil sheets cuz the oil sheets reminded me of the oil that we had changed in our Kia that ended up all over our garage floor. >> Oh, yeah. >> So, Justine leaves to go to Spain. I wake up the next morning, go to take the kid to to prek, and there's oil all over our garage floor. And I'm like, "Oh no." We' gotten our oil changed actually a week before and it there was a gasket on the filter that had slowly just leaked oil out and for it finally like ruptured, busted, whatever you want to slipped off >> and all oil came out of the filter and it was just all over our garage floor. >> So with that said, one of the things that I learned about our car is that it has it doesn't have a low oil light. It has a no oil light. >> Oh. So, if our car ever shows an oil light, the mechanic was like, "Pull over immediately." Like, as fast as you can, get that car turned off. >> Oh my. >> Yeah. So, luckily that never came on. So, I I saw it. I put some extra oil in it. It wasn't actively leaking. I drove it. It was fine. I checked oil levels, all that kind of stuff. But, just know how the oil in your car works. is it if there is no oil in your engine, you will ruin your car super fast. If you're not getting your oil changed, you will ruin your car super flat fast. And a car is a huge depreciating asset. It's a huge waste of money. As much as like having a nice car is nice, uh it's not a good financial investment. So, the car you have is the cheapest car you can buy. And that was on the Kia Tellyide, which if you've been following the channel for a while, you know that we purchased that car about a year ago. >> Yeah. >> So, that happened on the newer car and not the Subaru. And we've had the Subaru for about 9 8 years now. >> Yeah. >> So, and that one is going in for an oil change tomorrow. >> So, they're kind of the Kia and the Subaru are kind of on the same schedule. >> Yeah. >> But that'll be that'll be done tomorrow. I want to hear about your uh mechanic fiasco or car fiasco. I know there's a lot of stories out there. I would like to hear about those in the comments and just make me feel a little better about my own. So, this is a selfish ask. >> Uh please, I need it. >> But the car is fine. The guy didn't charge me. He was like, "Here's what to do. Here's what happened. We fixed it. We filled it up. No charge. Here's some stuff to clean up the oil. Sorry for the inconvenience." >> So, was it a mechanic? a mechanic's error or >> Yeah. So, when you put that filter ring on, you're supposed to take some oil and put it around the thing. And he's like, because it didn't pop off immediately, it tells me we put oil on it, but to on the gasket, but not enough. And then it it slowly slipped off. >> Oh, I see. Okay, cool. Well, they made it right. >> Yeah. >> So, I will continue to do business with them. >> Yeah. They have a good reputation. >> They do. They do. So, always I I always feel like going to the mom and pop mechanics are so much better than a dealership. Dealership is just going to rip you off. >> They call them stealerships for a reason. >> Stealerships, guys. Don't be feeding into that. Look up Google reviews of your best mechanics in your area. You'll find them. Okay. So, we addressed those two things. >> Mhm. We addressed the vacation fund. We addressed my clothing fund. Fun money. We didn't really address. Do we want to talk about that? >> Where is it? >> Right here. Spent $281 out of fun money. Why was it so much? >> Lelay nails piercing. >> Yeah, piercing. Zumba, that was all $200. Oh, yeah. The wedding. The wedding again. Attending weddings is expensive, guys. >> Yep. [laughter] >> Kyle didn't even get to go to this wedding. >> Don't get me started. He stayed behind with the girls. So, we didn't want to bring our kiddos on a 10 plus hour flight to Spain, plus dealing with young children in a foreign country and time zones. Just >> I swear the wedding industry is propping up like 10% of the economy. >> Yeah. between like all the major bachelorette parties, the like flying of things, the buying of things, like the the the cost to do stuff, employ people to do it all. That's a it's a wild industry. >> It's so much money. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, that's pretty much everything. We're we're sitting at an extra 5K for the month. Thank you very much. >> No, no problem. Happy to do it. >> [laughter] >> We got to figure out what we want to do with the leftover money for December. We have obviously Christmas. We celebrate Christmas. So, >> we got to get on the ball for that. I do want to go ahead and order our Christmas cards. >> I I want I want to ask the audience one more thing. >> So, we are going to go to New York City. That's our gift to each other. Yeah. >> Is that we are going to New York City together. We like New York City. We're going to get into the cheesy Christmas crap. We're just going to go see it all. be dumb. You know, typical tourists, which I usually don't like, but this is the one time that I'm like, I'll be one of those guys. >> They'll be all right. >> Yeah. I'll get to the top of the escalator at the airport and just stand there, you know, knock it out of the way. Be like, where are we? >> Anyways, you know who I'm talking about. >> Uh, so I want to know, what would you do in New York City? We're staying in Manhattan. We're not leaving Manhattan. We're going to stay down there and do all the Christmas crap. So, let's hear your Christmas crap recommendations. Bring it on, guys. Um, I'm not wearing an elf costume, so you can not put that in the comments, >> okay? >> But I'd like to hear more about that. That's our Christmas gift. We're going back to our old selves of like, hey, let's do an experience together as a gift rather than, you know, here's a bucket of makeup and here's a bucket of golf balls. So, you know. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It's exciting. I'm looking forward to it. >> And and we were being very budget friendly with it because Kyle had a whole bunch of points on Southwest. So, we use that to book our flights and then we had a ton of points using our Chase Sapphire credit card and we use that to book a really nice hotel right there in Manhattan. So, we're really looking forward to that with those two big those are two big expenses >> in any vacation that we were really smart about using points with. So, >> find your airline, find your credit card, and really go all in. People who continue to chase bonus point offers for different cards end up racking up points, but they're all separated into seven different cards. Whereas, if you do go all in on one, you can really capitalize on that by putting the bulk of your purchases on one card, really increasing the amount of points that you can obtain in a very short amount of time. >> Yeah. For example, I had a over a half million Southwest points. So, I haven't paid for a flight in a long time because I just keep burning down those points. >> Yep. What should we do with the extra money left over from the month? >> Landscaping. The water mitigation problem outside. That's going to be a big bill. And I think that that's pretty much going to cover it. >> Landscaping. >> Yeah. When I say landscaping, it's like the same thing. It's the way that the house is made. They just didn't grade the dirt away from the house at all. And so we've got to have it regraded, put rock in, move the sprinklers, have it done correctly. Like it's it's obviously that's the reason why our basement flooded this past summer. So instead of patching it, I'm trying to fix the problem permanently. >> If you want to pick up this exact same template that we use every single month to track our monthly budget, you can do so by using the super budget template link below. So you can pick this up, purchase once and use it for life. And we will catch you in the next episode. See you. You know what? We forgot to do my intro. >> Oh >> yeah. Here. Sup. [music] See you next time.