“Why do we have too much money?”
Is not something often heard at the B household. And yet here we were, Mr.B and I, budget on one side, bank statements on the other, trying to figure out exactly why we had so much money left over.
Before I started the Saving to Disney course, I budgeted. Or, I thought I budgeted. I kept track of my accounts. Or, I thought I kept track of my accounts. Before Saving to Disney, If you had asked me how well I knew my financial situation, I would have replied something vague and assertive like, “Pretty well, I guess.” But oh man, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
The attention to detail that the Saving to Disney course teaches you to pay to your financial specifics may seem like a lot of work, at first. But that precise manner pays off pretty quickly. A few weeks into the course I started to notice spending patterns that could be tweaked, started noticing the small purchases that added up to a big chunk of money. And here I was, almost a year in, noticing that I had way more money than I was supposed to.
In the past I might have seen that surplus and thought, “Oh, a bill hasn’t gone through yet.” The money would have remained untouched, and eventually, with such a buffer in my account, I might have spent it on something I didn’t need or even really want.
This time, luckily, we cracked the case pretty quickly. When we moved in October we changed some of our financial details, but we forgot to change the settings on our auto-transfer. When I started working in the children’s room at the gym in exchange for a free membership, we had set up an auto-transfer to our Disney fund. Every month we deposited the amount of money I would have been spending at the gym, since it was budgeted for.
Guess how many months we hadn’t deposited that gym money into our Disney Fund?
Did you guess four? The answer is four! Our last gym deposit took place in September, which means we had literally hundreds of dollars just hanging out in our account. First world problems, amirite? This week’s fund gets a big boost thanks to some forgetfulness, complicated technology, Saving to Disney, and physical fitness.
I didn’t have any pictures of the gift cards or delayed deposits, but I do have this little muffin examining the value of a dollar.
Total Goal: $3500
Last Week: $1323.15
Total Deposit: $187.26
$160, from four months of gym membership overflow
$25, Visa Gift card, prize from a contest I entered
$2.26, rollover from Grocery Budget
Still Need: $1135.89
Look at those numbers! Exciting stuff. I’m only a few fund deposits away from the under $1000 mark! Six months to go until our 2018 Disney vacation. How are your funds coming along? Have you ever encountered the “too much money” problem? Tell me all about it in the comments!
Kristen B. is wife to the best Prince around, mama to the spunkiest little princesses, and lover of all things Disney. She started her savings journey three years ago and is now dedicated to making her family’s wishes come true one coupon at a time. She is so excited to take her love of saving to the next level and share her journey with you! Click here to catch up on Kristen’s Savings and join in on your own savings adventure!