Reflection on August Spending

I think August has to be our spendest month so far this year. As many, our spending came to nearly a complete halt earlier this year with less travel, eating out and shopping in stores. We did a little online shopping as usual. August was the month that found us traveling across the country to drop our youngest daughter off at college for her junior year. 

Our daughter was pretty well stocked with the necessities, but there are always things that need to be replenished. More shampoo and laundry, and a replacement razor for the one left at home. Because we drove our van, we had fuel, meals, snacks and hotel costs to cover. 

The biggest expense was tuition for our youngest daughter. We wrote a check (actually sent it electronically) for $9011.72. Most of that was from cash saved, including our tax return. We did take a little more out from her ESA (Educational Savings Account), too. Because of the way the school did billing for books and a couple other things we owe another $947 later this month.

Our cat was diagnosed late in July with reduced kidney function and was put on prescription food. She did not like that change, so we were buying other canned foods that were more kidney friendly to mix in to get her eating the prescription food. At this point, I think we have been pretty successful and may be able to return some cans of food we stocked up for a refund. We also had another vet visit to have her numbers checked. BUN returned to normal but Creatinine levels went up slightly. We go back again later this month to have them checked again. This is becoming a $150 increased cost to our budget each month.

We live in a hurricane prone areas of the country. Thus this time of year we always start stocking up. This month we decided to add a portable griddle to our household to create more self sufficiency. The griddle was $130 shipped. After using it on a plastic folding table and noticing some heat damage, we have now invested in a stand for it, another $85. We also bought some grilling tools that we didn't have on hand either for another $20. We actually may grill out more with this purchase than we originally thought when we bought it. It will serve at least two purposes this way. 

How was your August spending? Was it your most expensive month this year? 

POP Contributions August

 These are the contributions we made to our Pot of Possibilities (POP) in August.

8/1 Paycheck $320.00

8/15 Paycheck $320.00

Interest Earned $87.58

Pinecone Surveys $9.00

USAA Reward $3.00

US Bank Reward $3.29

Chase Rewards $3.64

Amex Rewards $79.28

August Total $805.79

YTD Total $6,219.51    

New Big Goal Total $78,303.44

Making progress! Quite thankful. 

August Interest Income

I make a point of tracking the interest we earn every month. This month I noticed that I had tracked interest here, but not in YNAB. YNAB stands for You Need a Budget and it is a financial software used for budgeting. I corrected that error of course! 

Our interest comes from three banks, FNBO Direct, Navy Federal Credit Union and USAA. Most of the money is in certificates of deposits (CDs) at NFCU.

Here is what we earned on our cash last month:

FNBO $15.71

NFCU $71.68

USAA $0.19

Total $87.58

Thankful for all interest earned...but yet still sad that rates have dropped so dramatically at the same time. 

Details Matter

I just saved myself some cash by being a bit more curious to look at the details. 

My left eye has been irritating me the last few days. Originally, I thought it was my contacts and allergies not agreeing with each other. This sometimes happens, so I wore my new glasses (haven't mentioned that expense from last month). However, the irritation on my left eye continued. 

I could tell it had been a bit irritated, but figured in another day it would feel better. In fact that didn't seem to be the case, it still felt like something on my lower lid was rubbing up against it. Multiple times during the day I was looking at my eye to try to figure it out. 

Finally, the light and the angle of my head aligned just right that I was able to observe that an eyelash was growing towards my eye and rubbing up against it! My poor eye. I sure wish I had seen it earlier. But it has been plucked from my face and my eye is still irritated, but it will heal very quickly now that it isn't being rubbed everytime I blink!

I was about to make an appointment with my eye doctor. The fee for her time would have come out of pocket for around $80. I saved myself from spending that money by being just a bit more curious and looking at the details of my eye. 

I share because this can translate to so many areas of life, including finances. I know that when we were in the midst of our debt payoff, that every dollar spent and earned related to how fast we could achieve our goal. One less dollar spent, was one dollar more we could put towards debt saving us future interest charges. And it's never a one and done look for those extra dollars. I found I was always looking for ways to cut expenses, that over time added up. I kept looking at the details of what we were doing with our money and how we could make a shift to keep more for debt payoff. 

The details matter. Keep looking and digging. Keep asking the questions to find the answers. It's very rewarding when the answers reward us in ways we weren't expecting! 

POP Contributions July

Contributions to our Pot of Possibilities (POP) for July! 

Paycheck 7 /1 $310    
Paycheck 7/15 $310
Total Interest $$97.87
US Bank $4.00
Chase Rewards $28.00
Amex Rewards $67.69
USAA ATM refund $3.00

July Total $820.56

YTD Total $5,413.72
New Big Goal Total $77,497.65

Interest was up slightly. Amex rewards were also up slightly. 

At the rate of $820/month, we will likely add another $4100 to the Pot by the end of the year, bringing our total to around $81,597. I might find some extra cash to round that to $82,000 or throw some other money in that could have been added earlier this year but didn't for various reasons. It's all in the same bank accounts, just a matter of how I am tracking it really. 

Did you find some extra funds to put towards debt or savings this month? 

July Interest Income

Interest rates are dropping, but the funds at NFCU are all in CDs locked in for another 11 months. I moved some cash sitting in a checking account to FNBO in June so that money is earning more interest. 

FNBO $26.06
NFCU $71.76
USAA $0.20
Total $97.87

Interest earned will be added to our Pot of Possibilities!

Side Hustles

I have been thinking about side hustles lately. I can just imagine as things change in our world, that the side hustle is going to be a help for many simply to survive. Making masks this spring was a side hustle for many people, however, I expect this will slow down over time. 

Reselling our household goods and clothing has been my primary side hustle since late 2001! Prior to that I did a few garage sales and the big seasonal consignment sales of children's clothing. I have no idea how much I sold. I tracked some of it at different times, but since I was reselling items for less than purchased I never tracked for tax purposes. I'm sure it has to be a few thousand dollars, as one year I made a goal to sell enough on eBay to cover our Christmas gifts which which we generally budget $600. I also had a goal for a few years to sell make an average of $100 on eBay sales. I never made it to the goal, but I did get close to $1000 one year. 

I sell on eBay much more sporadically and make an occasional FB Marketplace sale a few times a year. My guess is less than $150 per year at this point. I admit my efforts have lagged. The items we have to resell are also less, as the girls have grown. I would sell gently used clothes they outgrew, as well as toys, which are in high demand for young families. 

I plan to create a few more side hustles in the next few years as we transition out of the military. All sorts of things come to mind honestly, and it will probably take some trial and error to figure out which ones add value to our family and are worth the effort. As I write that I realize that is a bit of a luxury...to get to decide what side hustles to do, but at the same time, if it isn't lucrative and one needs the cash, that side hustle gets dropped in search of something else. 

I do admire people who have a knack for finding a side hustle that is lucrative. I see many on YouTube that seems to have built something that their family can live off of, yet, I know they work hard making it all come together too. 

Do you or someone you know have a side hustle for extra income? What is that side hustle? How much income does it bring in? How did you figure out it was right for you?