Off Grid Budget with Kay

Spring is almost here friends!  We are hitting a big milestone this month and finally paying off our trailer. It took us about a year, throwing as much extra cash we had at it. Following are our fixed expenses for March: Cell Phone: $130 Car Payments: $1140 Trailer: $160 **PAID OFF Insurance (i.e., car, medical, etc.): $350 Waste Management: $47 Internet: $120 Subscriptions (i.e., streaming services, etc.): $52  Total: $1999 Paying off the trailer is huge, and means we'll have $1000 to put somewhere else next month. This month, after paying the $160 owed (that interest will get you every time!), I had $840 left over. $40 got diverted to my garden savings account, and $800 will go to the home improvement variable expense to help with permits. I'm not sure where I'll put the $1000 next month... leave a comment below where you would use an extra $1000 each month!  Accounting for the additional monies from the trailer payoff, below is my new list of variable expenses: Laundro...

Hi there friends! Being the short month of February, I was beyond hopeful we wouldn't break our budget again. Well.... as the title suggests, we overspent this month, thanks to the emergency purchase of a new bed for our trailer and the inevitable building permit fees for our new home build. Unforeseen expenses seem to be our weakness, but we have a decent emergency fund so the expenses aren't causing too much of a burden. More of an inconvenience I guess. If you've been following the Off Grid Budget, you may recall my list of  fixed expenses,  which stay the same for us, no matter the weather or usage: Cell Phone: $130 Car Payments: $1140 Trailer: $1000 *Paid off next month!! Insurance (i.e., car, medical, etc.): $350 Waste Management: $47 Internet: $120 Subscriptions (i.e., streaming services, etc.): $52  Total: $2839 Our  variable expenses  are more volatile, based on weather and use.  Following is my list of expected variable expenses for February: Laun...

  Welcome back friends! I decided to take a quick break from my survey app for the rest of February. It was a grind this month, and brought in $55 total again. I'm averaging above $55 each month, which isn't too bad. However, I anticipate it to drop off spring/summer as outdoor projects take priority. I should still reach my $400 goal by the end of the year!   If you do online surveys, check out my FREE  30 Deposits Survey App Challenge . This tracker is an absolute motivator to get those surveys done! Let's Roll As you may remember, I don't have dice at home, so I use this free dice simulator for my rolls:  https://www.calculator.net/dice-roller.html   Starting with the  $25  dollars ($55-$30), I'm going extreme and rolling a D12 and each challenge will get the number rolled. Here is my tally for the games: #1: $7 = $7 #2: Pending new challenge #3:  $5, $8 = $13  #4: $4 = $4 *will start here next time. Challenge 1 gets $7 dollars, ...

Welcome back friends! The survey app I use has been going crazy with bonuses these past few weeks! I made roughly $30 in a little under two weeks, and I'm still in the middle of a promo (additional $10 if completed). I don't remember having access to so many bonuses in the past and I'm starting to wonder if invitations are based on usage.  If you do online surveys, check out my FREE  30 Deposits Survey App Challenge . This tracker has been a game changer for me! Let's Roll As you may remember, I don't have dice at home, so I use this free dice simulator for my rolls:  https://www.calculator.net/dice-roller.html   Starting with the  $30  dollars, I'm rolling a D3 and each challenge will get the amount rolled. Here is my tally for the games: #1: $1, $1, $1, $1 = $4 #2: $1, $1, $2, $3 = $7 #3: $3, $3, $1, $2 = $9 *started here, will start here again. #4: $2, $3, $2, $3 = $10 Challenge 1 gets $4 dollars, so I'll color in 2 full dots, and leave the 0.5 rain...

  Alright friends!  I am so excited to post my FREEBIE FRIDAY the 13th savings challenge available at my Ko-fi shop:  @offgridbudgetwithkay ! This was one of the first challenges I made using my photography. It was taken during a pause in a rainstorm we were having on our property, hence the raindrops with dollar amounts. It was a fun project to remember our first winter rainstorm on the homestead. What did one raindrop say to the other? Two's company, three's a cloud! Catch those raindrops and save $65 with this mini savings challenge, available as a FREE PDF DOWNLOAD at my Ko-fi shop:  https://ko-fi.com/offgridbudgetwithkay I recently started a handful of saving challenges this month with money earned from completing online surveys. This specific challenge is for our bulk store membership renewal, which is due at the end of the year (plenty of time to complete!).  Hope you enjoy this Freebie Friday savings challenge! This post and savings challenge are for en...

  Well friends, out with January and in with February!  Sticking with a zero-based budget, I've split my budget plan into two categories: Fixed expenses and Variable expenses. My  fixed expenses  are costs that stay the same, no matter the weather or usage. Will and I decided to cancel one of our streaming services, which will save us roughly $6/month. Following is my list of fixed expenses: Cell Phone: $130 Car Payments: $1140 Trailer: $1000 Insurance (i.e., car, medical, etc.): $350 Waste Management: $47 Internet: $120 Subscriptions (i.e., streaming services, etc.): $52  Total: $2839 My  variable expenses  include the expenses that do change based on weather and usage. Last month, I totally forgot to account for online orders and pet expenses (oops!), so those two categories are now included.  Additionally, we decided to purchase a cheap clothing dryer rather than driving to the laundromat. We're hoping this is more cost effective in the long r...