budgeting,  mom

2020 Budget Goals

January 10, 2020 /

Each year, at the start of the year I revisit our budget, make adjustments and outline some goals. This year, with a new tool in hand (my Budget by Paycheck workbook, see this post and this post) and a somewhat of a new budget, here are my adjustments and goals.

Food budget

These 4 boys of mine can eat! While my husband travels out of town 4 days of week, I still go through groceries quickly. Yogurts and snacks disappear quickly and sometimes meals don’t leave any leftovers. So I adjusted my grocery/household budget from $600 to $700. I will still strive from $600 but I will not beat myself up if it is closer to $700. We do host a lot of the family’s get together and while others bring food too, we tend to serve the main meat dish. I will continue to shop the Kroger sales and do the majority of my shopping at Aldi since it seems to be working!

2020 Christmas sinking fund and tire sinking fund

I am putting aside $50 for Christmas gifts each month as well as $50 for tires for my husband’s car. With all of his traveling, his tires do not last much more than 18 months.

Savings and Vacation Savings

This year will hopefully be the first of many years where we can add to our savings. I am looking at what is left in my budget after my bills and all the necessary costs of living. I am allowing for miscellaneous purchases that inevitably happen each month as boys’ clothes need to be replaced, an unplanned outing, a clothing purchase for myself. After these allotements, the rest will be put into savings and vacation savings. Earning more money should not mean spending more money. I also plan to add to the boys’ saving account periodically throughout the year.

Tracking my credit card use

I have alloted $500 in my budget for credit card purchases. That amound includes recurring gym membership, lawn care and any Amazon or other miscellaneous purchases. I do not carry a credit card with me but I very often exceed my budget in this area, so I am going to be tracking my credit card use just like I would a debit card/check purchase. It adds up quickly and I do not want to be surprised or disappointed when I receive my bill. This next bill is already a bust but there are many more months this year and I will improve!!

So there you have it, 2020 will hopefully be a year of self control in certain areas to allow some fun vacations. I will be sharing my travel goals for 2020 update next Wednesday. I have made some adjustments to travel plans as different circumstances have changed.

A bientôt!

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26 Comments

    • mimifce

      January 10, 2020 at 7:22 am

      Thanks, Nancy! You too! When I wrote that travel goal post, I realized that we might be busy this year if they all come to fruition!

    • mimifce

      January 10, 2020 at 1:49 pm

      Yikes, no it is for the month for our family of 2 adults and 4 kids (ages 2 to 13). That does also include toiletries and paper products which is why I bumped it up a little.

  • Ellibelle

    January 10, 2020 at 11:05 am

    Groceries have gotten so expensive! We rarely eat out (or takeout), so shopping at Aldi is definitely something I like to do as well. Good luck with vacation planning. I hope to plan a trip to Germany to visit my family this summer, but haven’t looked at airline ticket prices yet…hope they are not too expensive!!
    Ellibelle’s Corner

    • mimifce

      January 10, 2020 at 1:51 pm

      So far prices for plane tickets have been higher than I am used to! My parents want to go to France for their 50th anniversary and the prices are higher , much higher than when we went last year. Hope you find a good deal.

  • Lazy Budget Chef

    January 10, 2020 at 12:09 pm

    Those are great goals! Have you considered making your own yogurt? I started making yogurt when my dog’s vet told us to add a bit to her meals. We flavor the plain yogurt I make (with Aldi milk) with jam if her humans want to eat it.

    • mimifce

      January 10, 2020 at 1:48 pm

      I was making my own yogurt for a while but lately have been buying more of the $1.79 whole milk yogurt 32 oz tubs at Kroger. I realized that my cost wasn’t that much less with the recipe I was using. We do lke to add jam too!

  • Amy Johnson

    January 11, 2020 at 9:49 am

    That’s so great that you have a budget! I take out the same amount of cash every week, so that’s my budget I guess. But if I need to spend more, the credit card comes out. But I always pay it off in full every month.

    • mimifce

      January 11, 2020 at 9:50 am

      Yes, as long as you are able to able it off every month, you know you are not going overboard. The main goal for my budget is to increase the amount I can save.

  • Lisa notes

    January 11, 2020 at 9:04 pm

    Making a budget is such a wise thing to do. I remember many years of keeping up with every penny and I have no regrets about it. Blessings to you as you live with your budget this year!

  • Mica

    January 11, 2020 at 10:32 pm

    These are great goals to have! I have to say I’m impressed with the credit card budget you have! I put everything on my credit card, so the bill is usually quite large at the end of the month! It has subscription things as well as the everyday purchases on it. it’s certainly more than $500! But because I use it so much (and pay it all off every month I should add) we get a lot of points which I usually convert once a year into credit on the card. it’s not as economical as turning the points into gift cards, but it is nice having a bill paid each month a year from shopping the other months of the year, haha! 🙂

    Hope that you are having a lovely weekend 🙂 It’s rainy here but the rain is so welcome!

    • mimifce

      January 13, 2020 at 8:51 am

      I have a couple of friends that do the same as you with the credit card. I could do that and get a lot of points back as credit or gift cards but right now this works for me. I think it is because I like the bills spread out accross the month.

    • mimifce

      January 13, 2020 at 8:48 am

      I have done much better when shopping the meat sales and stocking up. Right now I have lots of leftover ham in the freezer so planning meals around that.

  • Chrissy

    January 15, 2020 at 7:35 am

    Groceries can be crazy. How funny that I was chatting about expenditures on the gram yesterday. This explains your quick tips because you’re working on similar goals. My grocery bill was CRAZY over the summer. We had tons of boys, guests etc coming in and out. I was easily spending $1000. Then I brought that down to $800 (Florida is expensive!). Let’s see how I do now! Thanks for sharing and I hope to share mine as well soon. 🙂

    • mimifce

      January 15, 2020 at 9:06 am

      Awesome! I love to see your stories and see what you do. Since your kids are older, I gives me an idea to see what will happen in the coming years! I do think that them not having free access to the pantry is saving me a little! And I do make muffins a couple times a week typically so that is one day or 2 they don’t ramsack the snacks. And we keep lots of yogurt on hand.

  • Shelbee on the Edge

    January 15, 2020 at 10:38 am

    The grocery budget is what kills us every month! That and the unexpected car, kids’ clothing, and kids’ activities expenses. I think we spend about $600-700 per month on groceries as well and we only have 2 kids. I am afraid what it will look like when they are teenagers. Thanks for sharing this and linking up.

    Shelbee
    http://www.shelbeeontheedge.com

    • mimifce

      January 15, 2020 at 3:27 pm

      Thanks, Shelbee! The unexpected expense are not fun. There was a month, I think November I ended up with $1000 of car and lawn stuff. My oldest keep needing new clothes, he is now in adult M for a lot of his clothes so I just shopped Old Navy clearance and got hime 6 things for $65. I just got him all new clothes in October and I still need to pick him up a new pair of jeans and khakis in the next month or so. I feel one of the area I can control is groceries so that is usually where I concentrate my efforts. And not clicking on Amazon, lol! I do have 2 of the boys with birthdays in the next 30 days but have a budget in mind. My main thing with the boys is to control their access to the snacks so they eat better at dinner and only snack at designated times. Making snacks is a big money saver too when I feel like it.