February Cash Flow Overview

So I did an analysis on how much we spent in the month of February. We have to keep in mind a few things though. February is a short month. This means expenses are less than usual yet we still get 2 paychecks during this month so this shouldn't be an accurate portrayal of our money for the rest of the year. I'm not sure if March will be very accurate either since we will be getting 3 paychecks in March! Speaking of 3 paychecks, for those of you who have a monthly budget based on 2 paychecks per month (like Mikey and I do), during the month of March, it's a good idea to live off 2 paychecks just like every other month and sock away your 3rd paycheck.

Anyway, here's what February looked like:

Now, there's nothing we can do about our mortgage. Our mistake was purchasing a house that was more than what we needed. I absolutely love our house but it really takes a chunk out of our paychecks that we could otherwise be using to invest and make more money with. Our next biggest expense is Gifts. Well, February was a big month for us. It was Mikey's birthday AND it was Valentine's day. So we had to buy each other gifts and ok, maybe getting Mikey a new gaming PC was a bit extravagant but he was going to eventually get it anyway! The areas where we really can trim the fat are Entertainment/Shopping and Dining out. That will be our goal for March.

Right now, we are spending more than we are saving/investing. This visual kinda hurts but it's actually not too bad because a big chunk of our expenses are going into our mortgage.

Goals for March:
1) Cut dining out to below $500
2) Cut entertainment/shopping to below $300
3) Put something into the Brokerage account.

Let's see if we can keep our goals!

-Mel