An August Journey

While we don't plan to be too personal on this site, our blog is about personal finance. As such, I thought it would be interesting to share our financial goals for August and then let you know how we did at the end of this month.

As a youth minister, August is an interesting month. There are still youth activities going on (which require money), but, then, the young people go back to school. In other words, life gets back to "normal" (whatever that is!).

Here are some of our goals:

1. Only spend money in our envelopes for those expenses. Nothing extra!!!
2. Buy materials (or begin saving for them) for a minor bathroom remodel, and get prices for a couple of other upgrades to our house (do-it-yourself stuff--not professionally done).
3. Pay at least $500 extra on our debt (above the required amounts).
4. Compare our electric bills before CFLs and finish installing them in all lights.

These may not be huge goals, but they are what we are trying to accomplish this month. Money will be tight. We will be going to Tennessee in August for the birth of our niece (yeah!!), and we have a youth trip planned later in the month. Also, beginning today, we'll eat out at lunch with the youth group for 3 days in a row. These things add up and make it harder to stay on budget, but we're going to do it!

Or, at least, we'll do our best!