Hmmm…I clicked post, but the entry didn't show up on my page. Fortunately, I wrote most of it in Word so I didn’t have to re-write most of the below post--but if it shows as being posted twice on your screen, I apologize!

First some good news—we got a good deal on husband’s computer, which only cost $422 (we couldn’t just get the most basic, since he uses it for programming and stuff). I was hoping to keep this under $500, and it was! And since it’s a Lenovo, we’re hoping it lasts through the end of grad school. Also, our car repair ended up only costing $95—the struts didn’t need to be replaced, it was just something with the suspension! Since unexpected expense only totals $517 we won’t need to go into my buffer or the EF. Yay !

So now on to our budget—I’m super motivated to find at least a TIIINY bit that we can put towards retirement. Of course, what really needs to happen is I need to get a job (had a phone interview last week, and will hopefully be scheduling an in-person interview in couple days—fingers crossed!)

1769 Monthly income—husband is a grad student, I’m not working right now
-790 Rent—included in our rent is internet and all utilities but electricity
-40 Electric bill—this is usually upper 20s unless we use the AC, but I prefer to round up the budget to be safe
-332 Groceries—this is budgeted at 75 a week, but we’re usually closer to 65. Fortunately (for our budget), we don’t have any little mouths to feed (not for a couple more years, at least!), so it’s just the two of us.
-80 Eating out—in case we feel like going out! We’ll spend this at one go in special months like anniversary if we do a day trip. Other times we go out a couple times a month with friends or on date nights. I think we could cut back here…
-30 Gasoline—we have an old Saturn so it doesn’t take much gas(since it is basically made of plastic). We also don’t have to drive much—mostly just weekends for outings and groceries. Husband buses/walks to work depending on weather
-8 Netflix—we don’t have cable and like to watch movies! I’d really rather not cut this.
-50 Cell phones—we each have a cell phone…we consider this a necessary expense
-25 Laundry—coin-op in our building, we aren’t allowed to have a machine in our apt
-86 Personal spending—we each get 10 a week for whatever we want. Husband uses his b/c he likes to go out to lunch sometimes—I don’t usually use mine
-10 Cleaning supplies and toiletries
-118 Debt payments (student loan and dentist)
-65 Car, renters, and dental insurance
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130 (usually closer to 200, depending on other expenses that come up)

Since I’m not working now, I just let this overage accumulate to pay for periodic expenses I’m not sure how to plan for like gifts and various necessary costs (like car repair, new computer, clothes)…but this builds up more than necessary. Somebody commented on my previous post about what a difference just $50 a month makes over time…so I think starting this month (June!) we’re going to try that. We have my buffer fund and an emergency fund, but for some reason it’s tough for me psychologically to have us cut it so close at the end of each month.

Anyhow, if you have any advice/suggestions, feel free to comment! The husband does NOT enjoy financial discussions, and any conversation I try to start about our budget and financial goals gets met with him saying he trusts me to figure it out and that he’ll go along with whatever. Ugh. I love the man, but he can be so frustrating sometimes.