August 2012 was a very good month for us financially. We have been blessed to have been given a sizable shovel to work with over the years but we were able to double that shovel in August (including payday coming up this Weds) with work bonuses, ebay sales and some Intellishop work. We're going to be able to use this last check to pay all of our monthly September bills and our mortgage due Oct 1 before September begins and that's always a great feeling.

I opened up a 529 plan for my granddaughter and since she's less than a year old hopefully down the road she isn't going to have to think twice about where she'll want to go for college.

We've been able to really simplify our budget over the past few years and it's become a well-oiled machine. There are a few things on our budget today that when we were in debt we certainly considered frivolous. Now that the only debt is our primary mortgage we've been able to relax a bit and enjoy life a lot more. The kids being out of the house and on their own (for the most part) has also lightened some of the everyday expenses that we had when they were under our roof.

So here comes September and it's looking pretty good. Hopefully there aren't too many Murphy's hiding in the bushes!

September 2012

Income
Paychecks (after 401k contributions): $11450

Expenses
Maids: $310 ($155/visit)
Netflix: $8
Electric: $360
Life Insurance: $147
Cable TV: $160
Everyday Expenses: $1000
Oct Mortgage: $2768

Total Expenses: $4753

Income - Expenses = $6697 for September.

EE is our cash spending categories like food, clothing, transportation, entertainment, electronics, pharmacy...basically the "out and about" spending.

That excess will be spread across the mortgage, savings and investments so we can continue to grow in multiple areas (I know DR would want it to go to the mortgage being on BS6 but we're happy with spreading it out across the friend with three hats (Save/Invest/Pay down mortgage.)