HELP With Budgeting!

[doodles44]

Re: HELP With Budgeting!

Thanks for everyone's input. I want to send a shout-out to DisneySteve, who totally hit the nail on the head with the Jersey/Philly car insurance thing. I have less than a stellar record, unfortunately.

But let me explain a little bit more:

I pay for my insurance every six months (in full) and I like to have enough. If I spread out my payments across six months, they would be about $120... I am trying to do the $170 a month and put the extra cash (at the end of six months) towards my car payment or something. I think this month, I'll do the minimum.

Next, I'm going to say something that will make every one groan... I got a raise and spent more than I should have. I was going to have a little splurge month, and I got a little out of hand. Nothing to be concerned about, but things will be tight until I get sorted out and back on track. I am an emotional spender all the way - any tips on curbing this?

I went through this morning and reviewed my credit card statement. I did a cool spreadsheet but unfortunately forgot that at work, but here it is.. (from memory, things may be a little off).
Food- $190
(this is for two people for about a month - we split the bills and he pays me in cash which I use for the train).
Household/entertainment- $45
(Target, Ikea, books & Netflix)
Clothing- $225
(one pair of shoes put me over the edge).
B-Day Gifts- $159
Charity- $96

Obviously I need to save up for these little expenditures that pop up out of nowhere - b-days and charity are $250...

In the meantime, I'll try to get back on track and start looking for ways to cut my budget. I was doing well for so long and now I'm just feeling down because I feel I erased my good efforts. I will not have to dip into the EF though (that's OFF limits), so I guess it could be worse.

Thanks for all your help & comments. I'll be living like a college student again for a while. Getting hungry for ramen right now!

[disneysteve]

Re: HELP With Budgeting!

Clothing- $225
(one pair of shoes put me over the edge).

I don't think my wife has EVER spent more than $50 on a pair of shoes, and she won't generally go that high. I know because I'm usually with her when she shoe shops. This included when she was working in the corporate world as a media buyer for an advertising agency, when she was in retail management and now as an administrative assistant in an office.

You need to hit the outlets and the sales a lot more aggresively with your clothing allowance.

[disneysteve]

Re: HELP With Budgeting!

Clearly, you don't live in NJ, or Philadelphia, or lots of other major metropolitan areas. For a 98 Camry and a 00 Sienna, we pay over $200/month with clean driving records. When we lived in Philly, we paid nearly twice as much!

I wanted to give an exact number. We just got our bill. For 6 months, it is $1,138.80, or $189.80/month.

It was more than $200/month previously, but the rates have come down, probably due to the vehicles getting older and less valuable. I'd love to be paying $80/month.

[tinapbeana]

Re: HELP With Budgeting!

Next, I'm going to say something that will make every one groan... I got a raise and spent more than I should have. I was going to have a little splurge month, and I got a little out of hand. Nothing to be concerned about, but things will be tight until I get sorted out and back on track. I am an emotional spender all the way - any tips on curbing this?
...

Food- $190
(this is for two people for about a month - we split the bills and he pays me in cash which I use for the train).
Household/entertainment- $45
(Target, Ikea, books & Netflix)
Clothing- $225
(one pair of shoes put me over the edge).
B-Day Gifts- $159
Charity- $96

Hi Doodles! Sorry, just felt like that would be fun to type The emotional spending can be tough to crack, unless you're willing to take a serious look at what you get out of it (other than bags of stuff and receipts, of course)! I find window shopping pretty gratifying, actually. Or, if I'm thinking of something I really *want* to buy, I make myself comparison shop at several different places. and then go home and think about it. Takes some of the urgency out of it.

Food may or may not be easy to trim based on yoru lifestyle, but for gifts you could consider getting more creative with. Are you crafty or do you cook? Maybe go for more 'homemade and heartfelt' in the gift department. And for charities, maybe look into donating time rather than money. I worked for a crisisline for a while, and we needed "feets in the seats" more than we needed donations.

[doodles44]

Re: HELP With Budgeting!

Ok, I wanted to give an update to everyone on my status. This helps me to stay accountable.

This is what I did: I stopped using one of my credit cards. I really like my Discover, but went with the Mastercard because it's more universally accepted. Part of my problem was putting things on two different cards and not realizing how much I was spending overall. I have set aside my Discover for emergencies and perhaps large purchases like my car insurance.

My next statement from my Mastercard will be around $200-$220. My billing cycle ends on 11/10 and I'm sitting at $160 with groceries and perhaps another tank of gas to go. This is really good for me and I've tried to hold off on any unnecessary new purchases.

I'm going to try and save a little bit from each paycheck for unexpected purchases and gifts. I would like to make it a regular $20/month and see how I do. (I'll be starting this in December since things are a little tight this month).

So this month, after bills and savings, I will have $77 in "cash" in my bank account and I have $30 in my wallet. I always charge my regular expenses like groceries, gas and the like. The extra money is my fun money for eating out, drinking and other small expenses. I am going to try and keep this month's expenses as low as possible. Then next month, I'm back in business.

After paying my $200 credit card bill in December, I'll have extra money freed up for future purchases (like I usually like to do). It will just take a lot of discipline this month but I'm going with the goal in mind - today's the 2nd so it could be a long month!