Learning to Budget

[moniqued57]

Re: Learning to Budget

i have just joined and i am very impressed by all the advice. i am now trying to start my life over after a terrible divorce 2 years ago. i have sold my house to the bank which means i got nothing and because i am so scared to buy a house again i am about to lease a home w/ my current boyfriend. i am a police officer he owns his own construction Co. i know he is not the best with money and i really need to buget, its just hard when we are starting over. i dont want to be a nag about money, and he does know where i stand with our finances. how can we share the responsiblities without me sounding like i want control over all money. any advice is appreciated thanks again..desiree

[bjl584]

Re: Learning to Budget

To get started you may want to write down every dime that you spend for the next few weeks or for the next month. At the end you will be amazed at how much you spend on things that you could most likely do without. Then you can formulate a strategy to start "trimming the fat." You may have to cut back on fun, but as the old saying goes, "you had your fun, now it's time to pay the piper." You'll probably want to cut down on things like eating out, shopping at the mall, cable tv, etc. until you can get ahead of the game. All of the extra money you save can be used to pay down old debt or invested in an account. Either way, I'd say that you first need to find out where your money is going. Just write down everything that you spend money on. Bills, gas, entertainment, everything.

[vsjhoc]

Re: Learning to Budget

I have a basic savings account for this. I've heard someone refer to it as a slush fund. I've picked a dollar amount to put into the slush fund each month and have it auto transfered to savings. It is just like any other bill to us.

I do the same. I was glad it was there when I lost my job and had no income for 5 months. I was glad it was there when I decided to start a small business. I was glad it was there when my never-had-any-trouble car suddenly needed a $1100 repair. The account doesn't have a lot of money in it now, but I am auto transferring a small amount monthly to build it back up.

[vsjhoc]

Re: Learning to Budget

i have just joined and i am very impressed by all the advice. i am now trying to start my life over after a terrible divorce 2 years ago. i have sold my house to the bank which means i got nothing and because i am so scared to buy a house again i am about to lease a home w/ my current boyfriend. i am a police officer he owns his own construction Co. i know he is not the best with money and i really need to buget, its just hard when we are starting over. i dont want to be a nag about money, and he does know where i stand with our finances. how can we share the responsiblities without me sounding like i want control over all money. any advice is appreciated thanks again..desiree

Welcome! And congrats on starting over. A lot of us have been there.

You probably won't like this advice, but ... please think really really hard about leasing with the BF. Are you both going to sign the lease? Can you afford to pay the entire rent if he can't come up with his portion since "he is not the best with money"? Can you afford to pay the entire rent if you break up or he moves out suddenly? If you can't pay the rent, do you understand how that affects your credit and your ability to rent in the future? Do you hear me saying "don't do it"? Just my $0.02.

[bjl584]

Re: Learning to Budget

I agree. Unless you are certain that you can make it on your own, I would say that signing a lease with your boyfriend is a bad idea.

[LuxLiving]

Re: Learning to Budget

Uhhh, sadly I have to agree with the other posters and say, either one of you sign the lease, but not both!!! Then, you might want to try Jesse's 'You Need A Budget' at youneedabudget.com or start using mvelopes.com's software. Get yourself some kind of planning system for deciding BEFORE YOU SPEND what the month's expenses look like, and then follow your plan. Good luck!

[jmjj215]

Re: Learning to Budget

I would also like to interject that before you make a decision to mingle your funds (even if only w/ obligations), you should have some serious, frank, heart-to-heart discussions about your stance with money, his stance with money, and how it's going to work when you two come together.

[LuxLiving]

Re: Learning to Budget

Monique - how is it going??? Did you guys get the lease signed?