Thanks to my wife, February was strong income month and a low spending month (click on spreadsheet below).

In addition to our regular paychecks, my wife received a $3,000 ($1,217.53 net) quarterly bonus. My paycheck was also a bit higher because my company gave everyone another salary increase. My wife received a $110 company reimbursement for internet and phone service, we earned $75 in credit card cash back rewards, and we received a $50 rebate.

Our expenses this month were only $4,930.82, within $200 of our monthly budget. I was on business travel for 7 days, which probably helped save us some money.

March should be a pretty typical income month, but may be a large expense month, depending on how our taxes come out.

January was another strong income month and an okay spending month (click on spreadsheet below).

Our incomes dipped a bit in January with my 15% 401(k) contribution kicking in, reducing my paychecks from $1,818.76 to $1,668.40. We certainly felt the missing $300 this month, but the sacrifice is worth it and we’ll get used to it. In addition to my wife’s $110 company reimbursement for internet and cell phone, we earned a $50 Chase credit card cash back reward and $62.44 Citi credit card cash back reward.

Our expenses totaled $5,792.05, which isn’t horrible. A couple of large expenses included: $455.48 traveling out of state and $233.50 for 6 months of life insurance. I was happy to learn that my new gym is allowing me to pay month-to-month, but giving me the 12 month prepayment rate. This kept us from having to pull a large chuck of change out of savings.

February looks like it may be a great income month and low expense month. My wife should be receiving her quarterly bonus that may be as much as $3,000 gross (~$1,500 net). I will be out of town on business for 1 week next month, hopefully saving us a few bucks on food and gasoline.

December was another strong income month and low spending month too (click on spreadsheet below).

In addition to our regular paychecks, I received a 3rd “extra” check and my wife received $330 in reimbursements from her company (3 months worth).

Our expenses totaled $5,174.03, a bit over our budget of $4,724.98/month, but not bad.

Not much else to report. The new year has begun and January looks like it may be an expensive month for us. We took a trip our of state from 12/30-1/2, we have payments due for our 6 months of life insurance, and I have a large 12 month gym membership bill due. We’re also going to see a bit of a drop because my 401(k) contribution increase from 7% to 15% begins in January.

November was a strong income month and reasonable spending month (click on spreadsheet below).

Our expenses totaled $8,434.66, but $2,925.74 of that was to pay off our auto loan. That brings us down to $5,508.92 in other expenses. Not to shabby when you consider we purchased Christmas gifts, took a road trip to see my family, and went over budget in our “Goceries” and “Household Items”.

The big boost in income in November came from a $4,872 ($2,255.97 net) quarterly bonus my wife received. In other good news, my company increased my salary another 2.1%. We also earned $75.00 in credit card cash back rewards and $0.63 in interest income from our online savings account.

December is here already and it’s an “extra” check month for me. Plus, we’ll be receiving $330 worth of reimbursements that my wife is due. Our expenses should be pretty normal, with the exception of a trip out of state planned at the end of December.

Our income in October was a bit above average and we did an good job keeping our expenses down (click on spreadsheet below).

For the 3rd month in a row, my company increased my salary 1%. In addition to our paychecks, my wife received her $110 company reimbursements, I sold my old gym membership for $480, and we earned $85.89 in credit card cash back rewards. We also earned $0.95 in interest income from our online savings account.

If you pull out the extra $1,150 we paid to our auto loan, our total expenses were only $5,266.53. That includes being dinged with a $342.50 towed bill. I was out of town 2-1/2 weeks of the month, so my wife gets credit for keeping expenses down.

Next month brings more good news. My wife may receive her quarterly bonus (early) and my company will be increasing my pay again.

We had a pretty average income and expense month in September (click on spreadsheet below).

Our largest expense for the month was our amazing 6 day vacation to Hawaii that cost $1,787.69 (not too bad, huh?).

Here’s a breakdown of our vacation costs:

Flights: Free thanks to frequent flyer miles

Hotel: $773.70 (wife found a good deal)

Rental Car: $244.55 (wife found a good deal)

Food & Entertainment: $769.44

Other large expenses for September include an extra $1,900 payment to our auto loan and $116.75 at the shooting range.

Our income for the month consisted of our regular salaries and my wife’s $110 company reimbursement. My company bumped everyone’s salaries up again, resulting in another 1% increase to my salary (it was also increased 1% last month). We also earned $1.48 in interest income from our online savings account.

Next month, there are no large expenses planned, other than continuing to pay down our auto loan at an accelerated rate with a goal of having it paid off by the end of the year.

Our income statement spreadsheet (click on spreadsheet below) for August shows total expenses of $12,685!

While that number is startling, August was, in fact, a pretty reasonable spending month. If you subtract $6250 in extra auto loan payments and $850 for a boat tower, our expenses only totaled $5,585. That’s pretty close to our $4,919.55 budget.

In addition to our regular salaries, we earned $111.35 in credit card rewards and my wife received a $896 ($480.84 net) quarterly bonus and her $110 company reimbursements. We also earned $4.26 in interest income from our online savings account. My wife’s 15% 401(k) contribution (increased from 5%) kicked in her 2nd check in August.

Next month, there are no large expenses planned, but our net income will be less because we increased my wife’s 401(k) contribution from 5% to 15%.

We did a great job of keeping our spending down and bringing money in this month (click on spreadsheet below), that’s $1,200 less than last month.

We only spent $5,214.45 this month. That includes $233.50 for 6 months prepaid life insurance for my wife and I, $120.09 on gifts, $149.34 for the 4^th of July, and $47.88 on a new tire (pro-rated).

In addition to our regular salaries, I received a third “extra” check, my wife received her $110 company internet and cell phone reimbursements, our old insurance company gave us a $371 refund, and we earned $25.00 in credit card rewards. We also earned $6.50 in interest income from our online savings account.

Next month should be a pretty standard income month, but we may have a couple of large expenses.

Last month I said we’d tighten our belts in June, and I’m happy to report that we did pretty good controlling our expenses this month (click on spreadsheet below).

We spent just over $6,444.45 this month. This was our first full month of living in our rental unit, which helped reduce our costs of living. One large unexpected bill, we do to switching insurance companies in June. We had to pay a total of $1,296.70 for 12 months of auto and renters insurance. We also had to have my wife’s wedding ring appraised for insurance purposes, costing us $135.94. If you subtract out the large insurance related costs, our expenses for the June drop to $5,011.81.

In addition to our regular salaries, my wife received her $110 company internet and cell phone reimbursements and we received a total of $131.02 in credit card rewards. We’ve both been charging a lot of business expenses to our rewards credit cards. Since we are both reimburse for these expenses, the credit card rewards are truly free money.

Next month should be another very reasonable month for expenses. Incomewise, I will receive a third “extra” paycheck next month but my take home per check will drop slightly because my 3% contribution increase to my 401(k) will kick in. We should also receive a small prorated refund from our old insurance company.

As I outlined in my May Net Worth post, it’s been a crazy month (click on spreadsheet below).

As far as income goes, it’s actually been a above average. In additional to our regular salaries, my wife received an unexpected $1,000 bonus ($536.65 net), $110 in reimbursements, and we received $125 is credit card rewards. Pretty good.

It terms of expenses, money absolutely flew out of our accounts in May. We spent ~$9,500 with our short sale and move. In addition, we spent $980.46 for a new bedroom set, $204.79 for my Wife’s medical bill, and $270 for our dog’s annual shots and teeth cleaning. Since we were blowing through money, it was easy to get a bunch of misc little things too that added up to a few hundred dollars.

Next month, we tighten our belts.