I usually just keep our cash savings in one big pot, but I do track short-term and mid-term cash.  (Long-term money is invested).  Now I've got a bunch of new buckets popping up that I need to keep track of.

I've added a separate tracker for college start up costs.  Which is probably extra complicated because most of that cash is in MM(17)'s bank accounts.  But maybe all the more reason I need to keep track of that somehow.   

Not too much has changed since I reported the 'college start up costs' plan.   I did redeem my credit card reward already, it ended up being $800. 

My SIL also gave MM(17) $100. 

So here is the current tally: 

MH's Family:  $780

Credit Card Reward: $800

Target Gift Cards: $300

Grand Total:  $1,880

Most of that will be going towards a laptop, the rest for dorm set up expenses.  At this point, I think we are well covered.  

The other bucket is crowdfunding for MH's movie.  It's a long story...  Someone picked up his script and was going to produce it last year.  Just before the pandemic.  Which is pretty much the story of MH's life.  It's not the first time things far beyond our control have yanked the rug out from under him.

Anyway, he's been really anxious to move forward but everyone has been flakey and it's just been drama.  He's just kind of whatever, will do it himself.  I don't know that he particularly wants to self-produce and self-fund, but he's been looking forward to making this movie for so long and is the only way it will get done.

This is a non-financial investment *I* want to make, with stimulus money that fell from the sky.  But I don't know if MH will ever agree.  In the end, he did raise $1,000, and most of that was not from family.  It was mostly from people he has worked with and met in the industry, as well as finding enough people willing to do everything for no pay.  (His dream goal was a few thousand dollars, so that he could pay everyone).  

I am glad he did the crowdfunding because it was so interesting.  Maybe especially because we have always covered everything re: starving artist friends.  We are more apt to treat if we get together for a meal, to pay for script software costs and contest submissions, stuff like that.  Everyone always acts like it's the end of the world to spend $20 on collaborative software (that makes your life 100 times easier).  So I was absolutely dumbfounded when the same people largely gave us $50 or $100.  ???  I admit some of them probably felt like they owed us.  But I really wasn't expecting much from the starving artist crowd. 

{As an aside, MH was invited out to lunch by his biggest donor, someone he didn't really know on a personal level.  Turns out he was very young retiree.  Probably around 50 now but retired a while ago.  It's pretty normal for our long-term friends and family to be financially independent, but might be the first time we met a young retiree out in the wild.  😁  MH is meeting a bigger variety of people in his current professional group, I think a couple of others are probably independently wealthy just based on what we know about them.  I can see how things would sway to either extreme.}

MH's relatives also gave him some money.  A bit of a gimme, being the first time he has ever asked for money for a passion project.

Last we discussed, MH was just going to keep the budget to what he could crowdfund.  $1,000 is plenty.  If everyone works for free, we can make it work.  But I am still earmarking a few thousand and won't sweat it if we do need it to get this project completed.  The hard part will probably be convincing MH, if it comes to that. It sounds like most likely he may want an extra $500-$1000.  He wouldn't pay anyone unless he got funding or was able to make money on the project.

In other news, looks like we won't be touching our savings this month.  I have no idea how that happened.  Mostly expecting to find an error in my math at some point.  I pre-paid some health insurance and double checked and triple checked I got that part right.  I usually wouldn't pay that until August.  That's really the only part I could have got wrong, so I am still finding it hard to believe.  (I use accounting software, so it's difficult to "forget something" or to make a math error.  Impossible might be the better word.  It's impossible.  So I am confused but confident in my numbers).

The major thing working to our favor is that we had a really low grocery month.  Came in about $300 below budget.  Phew!   We were treated to a few meals out, plus vacationed 3 full days with food provided.  MH has gone back to more careful food shopping (with things normalizing) and MM(17) is done with track.  <----That last part is the most of it.  MM(17) did also received some free meals at work.  I guess it all added up.  This was an extremely rare occurence, to have so much grocery money left over.

I still don't entirely understand how we cash flowed the following: printer paper & ink,  blender, pest control, medical expenses.

I did fund vacation expenses and a dental cleaning with short-term funds.

I had a dental crown done but was able to cash flow with that $800 credit card reward.  Just kicking that can down the road, for now.  Will need to deduct that $800 when we pay for MM's new laptop.

While thinking about expenses, I looked up where our medical bills stood and we are up to $500 (that's due in July; will charge and pay off in August).  It's at least trickling in slowly. 

June expenses (charges) will be paid in July, so I have a pretty good estimate through July.   August may be our last one-income month, and we won't pay those expenses until September anyway. 

July might be our last one-income month then (July charges paid in August).   I don't really know what to expect.  I can see that our energy will probably be largely focused on spending down these buckets.  But that's money I don't otherwise have to come up with.  MH & MM will be in Florida for a week, so we might get away with an extra low grocery month again.  Florida is mostly paid for already, their only expense will probably be food.  Is another bucket (short-term funds earmarked for vacation spending) that we will just be spending down.  

In the end, MM(17) finally ordered his college laptop (will take about 6 weeks to ship) and MH spent his first $150 on technology and props for his film.