Monthly Budget

I don't know where to start with this post because there' s so much information, but here we go:

This month is the first month that I actually started using a real budget plan. I started following Dave Ramsey http://www.daveramsey.com/ and it is working like a miracle! You should really check it out, his monthly cash flow plan and debt snowball is amazing! I have to say that I am quite uptight and am really sticking to only buying what I planned for and not splurging on anything, nothing, zip, zero, zilch. If it wasn't in the budget I don't buy it, unless of course it's an emergency or something I forgot to plan but absolutely have to pay for. I start planning my monthly budget about half way through the previous month, so I have time to update it or make changes before the month actually starts. My budget will usually get posted at the first of the month, but late is better than never, right?! So, here is my breakdown:

Grocery Budget: 200.00; my household consists of my husband, my daughter (1yr) and myself

Special Occassions/Presents Budget: 345.00; now this month isn't typical of all months, it's my daughters birthday, my husbands birthday, my daughter's best friends birthday, and Valentine's Day (see my post for my exciting plans!), so the budget was bigger here for this month

Childcare budget: 120.00; my in-laws watch my daughter two days a week and my sister in law watches her one day a week (we pay my sister-in-law $60/day) I am home the other days

Hygiene/Target/Baby Budget: 30.00; I didn't need diapers this month because of a previous stock up, so the budget is a little smaller than normal

Savings budget: 20.00; We have created our 1000 dollar emergency fund (Dave Ramsey babystep 1) and are now working on paying off our debt (Babystep 2) but we still put 5.00 in savings every Monday while we are using most of our excess for paying off debt

Car budget: 217.00; Grr, we need oil changes in both cars, tires rotated in both (but one is free), and my husband has to renew his licences so the budget is bigger this month, but it also includes our car insurance payment 120.53/mo

Gas budget: Based on previous months I have budgeted 150.00

Mortgage/House budget: 1,133.18; I know, our mortage is outrageous, but there's nothing I can do about it right now

Pets budget: 40.00; we usually have one dog and one cat but we are currently boarding my mom's cat, the dog needs food this month

Utilities budget: 250.00; gas is higher right now, no water or trash bill this month

Debt budget: 488.27; we are currently paying off two credit cards, only 400.00 left on one and 1200.00 on the other, so not too bad, we have student loans and a car payment

Medical/Health budget: 0.00, nothing necessary this month, no one takes monthly medications

Entertainment/Restaurants budget: 0.00, this is included in Vday for this month

Blow Money budget: 0.00 didn't plan any this month due to party, present, vday plans and it's killing me from getting my sweet teas and coffees from McDonalds

Clothing budget: 0.00 no one needs anything and I am saving for my daughter's spring wardrobe next month

Unexpected/Forgot to plan budget: 0.00, obviously, because it's unplanned, hopefully this will remain as close to zero as possible