Visualize your budget -- It may help!

**FrugalDad123** · 08-20-2010, 02:12 PM

Cool. I'll check it out. I'm probably not as fancy as that software. I'm just free. I'm just offering to help people for free when I have time.

**buildmybudget** · 08-20-2010, 02:37 PM

I like your thinking, FrugalDad. The BuildMyBudget method of budgeting is all about being able to see where you are headed financially, dollar-for-dollar. Knowing where you are headed is the key to creating a solid financial foundation that will allow one to achieve their goals.

**FrugalDad123** · 08-20-2010, 03:05 PM

Thank you both. I used Excel to see where I am headed. I love Excel (nerd laugh). I loved my Excel file so much that I wanted to share it with the world for free. So... I picked up a bunch of books at Borders and over a few years I created an online version of it (another nerd laugh). Alas, there are much fancier tools available out there than mine. Mine is only small, simple, useful, buggy and free. Just trying to help people foresee. Over time it (my online thingy) will get better and better, but it can already do for people what I've dreamed. Enough about that. Back to SavingAdvice and helping people. Anybody want to visualize a future? Let me know.

**FrugalDad123** · 08-21-2010, 12:09 PM

A friend of mine e-mailed this to me. I'll paste it here. It's a hypothetical budget. When I find time, I'll create a chart for her.

**** **** **** ****
Starting point:
Say on 2/14/2010, I had 1000.00

Weekly Income/Expenses:
-35.00 for gas. Last time was 8/16/2010.
-37.27 for SubwaySandwiches. Last time was 8/19/2010.
-4.20 for RedBox Movies. Last time was 8/18/2010.
-180 for FoodGroceries. Last time was 8/13/2010

Bi-Weekly Income/Expenses:
1324 for paycheck. Last time was 8/19/2010.

Monthly Income/Expenses:
-140 for cellPhoneATT. Last time was 8/4/2010.
-1924 for mortgage. Last time was 8/16/2010.

Quarterly Income/Expenses:
-80 for garbage. Last time was 6/15/2010.
-42 for computer paper. Last time was 8/14/2010.
-38 for nonFoodGroceries. Last time was 7/11/2010.

Semi Annually Income/Expenses:
-370 for carInsurance. Last time was 8/4/2010.

One-timer Income/Expenses:
-520 for mini-vacay. on 8/1/2010.

**** **** **** ****

**FrugalDad123** · 08-22-2010, 10:23 AM

on my way to a family picnic... here you go... have a nice day.

**personalbudgetstuff** · 08-25-2010, 06:56 PM

Hey this is excellent thanks for that and thanks for the app.

**FrugalDad123** · 08-27-2010, 03:07 PM

Originally posted by personalbudgetstuff View Post

Hey this is excellent thanks for that and thanks for the app.

You're welcome! I'm here.

**FrugalDad123** · 08-27-2010, 03:08 PM

Originally posted by Personal Finance Fleur

Great application!! very professional. Ill do something like this in managing my personal finances

Thank you. This makes my day. Let me know if you want me to geek-out and create any charts for you. I'm here.

**FrugalDad123** · 08-30-2010, 10:53 AM

Visualizing a hypothetical scenario

Visualize the budget for MrPaseo's first year of retirement... Say I'm 50 around October 2022. Say I position myself to have $21,700 of liquid available to me on October 15, 2022:

And, let's see... from the post that he wrote...

Originally posted by mrpaseo View Post

...Minus the $2,000 retirement income and I need an additional $400 from an alternate source.

Here is the breakdown:

Mortgage/Rent (Taxes): $150.00
Water: $50.00
Electric: $150.00
Cell Phone: $175.00
Charter Cable Internet: $130.00
Daughters Allowance: $100.00
Trash Monthly: $18.00
Life Ins: $21.00
Health/Dental: $300.00
Car Ins:$120.00
Netflix: $20.00
Christmas: $100.00
Vacation: $100.00
Vehicle Maintenance: $75.00
Vehicle Fuel: $150.00
House Maintenance: $100.00
Food: $600.00
Entertainment: For Month: $400.00
Clothing: $100.00
Wife spending money: $140.00
My spending money: $140.00
...

So, I plugged all of the above into my personal budget tracker. Well, I actually plugged in things like "Vehicle Fuel" as a weekly instead of monthly transaction. "Vehicle insurance" as a semi-annually transaction. I used different days of the month and different intervals (like weekly, quarterly, semi-annually, etc.) ... like this:

I cannot predict when I'll need to replace the roof or the HVAC, so if I make a leaping assumption that I would be proactive about those two items, then I can plan for them. so:

And all of the above produced a chart like this:

Click here to go back to MrPaseo's post.

Just thinking,
FrugalDad123

Visualize your budget -- It may help!