Wrapping Up A Thrifty February

February turned out to be a great month.  I had budget extra money for gas in January because my daughter had two out of town dance competitions to attend.  I filled my tank on my car at the end of January and miraculously managed to make it last the entire month!  I also had $91 left in my checking account so I was able to add that to my paycheck on the 5th which included an extra day on it as well as quite a bit of overtime.  I definitely felt I was starting out the month with a good footing.

I was super thrifty with my fuel

With my first paycheck I took care of all the savings goals I had budgeted for as well as paid the usual monthly expenses - heat bill, car payment, medical bills and groceries.  With my second paycheck I hit the savings goals once again, paid our mortgage well ahead of schedule and the water bill.

I received my state refund already and deposited it into my savings account

I filed my income tax returns at the end of last month and received my state refund which I deposited right into my savings account.  I also received a refund from my daughter's doctor's office for an overpayment and I deposited it back into our emergency fund.  Now I am eagerly waiting for my federal tax refund to arrive as I have pretty big plans for what I'm doing with that money.

I feel like I have made a lot of really good financial decisions so far this year

Additionally I received a pay raise at work which is a long time coming and is going to make a huge difference for me financially.  I am very much looking forward to restructuring my budget and financial goals once that comes into play beginning in March.

I sold some old inventory I've been storing in our garage

To earn more income the girls and I have been very busy listing items to sell on eBay.  I pulled a large amount of old inventory from our garage and began grouping items together, taking loads of pictures and listing them for sale.  Most of what I've posted to sell has sold too.  We are planning to continue doing this to earn extra money and get our medical bills from the prior year paid off.

The girls have been going through their toys and making some decisions

So while the month of February may have the fewest days we did really well making each one of those days count.  I am absolutely thrilled with the progress we have made so far and excited to see what happens next month.