Final Budget of 2020!

Hello all. Today I am writing about my proposed December budget. I have a lot of different things I have to take into account for December that I don’t normally have to account for. As you may have already read, my wife and I are both military but unfortunately stationed in different places. For my December budget my wife and son will be visiting so that changes my budget. I will need to add money to my grocery budget and fuel budget. Also, the holiday’s are upon us so I need to add money to my discretionary budget for gifts. So let’s get started...

 I will start with savings since I am committed to paying myself first. I contribute $962 monthly to my Thrift Savings Plan straight out of my pay check. That does not max my annual contributions but I plan to get there in 2021 since I apparently have sufficient room in my budget. Next, I normally contribute $500 per month to my Roth IRA but I already maxed out my allowed contributions for the year so that will be $0 this month. Finally, I have a taxable brokerage account where I will contribute $3,000 this month plus any extra money I have at the end of the month.  I also contribute $100 to our family emergency fund although it is already fully funded. Additionally, I have custodial account for my children and my wife and I both contribute $100 a month to that. 

Let’s move on to expenses. Until we sell our house in Maryland (which goes on the market December 5th) I have a mortgage to pay, it is $1,026 a month. I normally pay extra but have stopped that for December since we decided to sell the house. Next, I have rent here at the RV park which is $480 a month and includes utilities. Since we are back in lockdown I won’t have any day care costs this month so I have an extra $360. I also normally have to budget around $40 a month for haircuts. I am military and they are an expense required to maintain a neat, professional appearance. Since my wife will be here, she will cut my hair so that will be $0 as well. 

 For groceries I am budgeting extra this month since my wife and son will be spending the holidays with my daughter and I. So I have $400 budgeted for that. We also hope to drive up and visit Lincoln National Forrest and White Sands National Monument if they are open, so I budgeted $200 for fuel. Additionally, the holidays are upon us so I budgeted extra money for discretionary spending, totaling $200.

Beyond that, I have my monthly routine expenses of insurance, property taxes, and our cell phone plane at $421, $700, and $140 respectively. Yes the cell phone bill is high but that is my phone, my wife’s phone, both my parent’s phone, and my iPad. Notice we have no internet bill and because we use T-Mobile’s unlimited data plan here in the RV park. 

Total expenses and savings this month are $6,787. Mine is not a zero balance budget and I routinely have a surplus at the end of the month that I usually put in my brokerage account, pending any surprise expenses. So that’s it, my last proposed budget of 2020. I would love to hear what you all do for your monthly budgets so drop me a comment. Otherwise, until next time...