Budget Questions

**BMEPhDinCO** · 07-09-2012, 01:20 PM

So basically, you have $3,000 per month to work with. Three things that struck me...

Metro might be a little low - online, it is $230 for 28 days unlimited use - or a little high for bus only ($16*4). If you have been used to being a student, it goes up.

If you are paying every month for a flight, maybe you and SO could trade off? And then you'd have a bit more for the EF every other month... you need to get that up to $12,500 or so as fast as you can.

Finally, your math isn't adding up. You have put in $3617.17 every month - even if your 401k comes out before taxes (and thus, isn't included in that $3k net you have), you are still over by $317.17. So that's the biggest issue I see, the other two above are after that.

Good job working out a spending plan, just try and keep it at or below $3k to give yourself a bit of wiggle room.

**sblatner** · 07-09-2012, 02:58 PM

I show that income and expenses equal - expenses total $3,617.17 and income is $3,618.70.

What are your savings?

Otherwise, I think you look pretty good. It is usually difficult to stick to a budget so you will need to give it a try for a few months to see if your numbers are really true. It would be good to keep track of your spending in Quicken or Mint.com so you can see if you are on budget or not.

**Aurora** · 07-10-2012, 11:46 AM

Thank you both!

BMEPhDinCO - I added everything up again, and I think it's okay. But thanks for checking. And I'll make sure to increase my savings immediately. I have about 5 k in there right now, but I want to add.

sblatner - Thanks! My savings are actually below the rest of it. It's about 400 in the Roth IRA , 300 in the 401 k and 400 in regular savings. But you're right... let's see if I can stick to it!

**sblatner** · 07-10-2012, 12:40 PM

Aurora - are those your savings account totals as of 6/30/12 or are those the amounts you are putting into your savings each month?

**scubatim84** · 07-10-2012, 02:46 PM

Originally posted by sblatner View Post

I show that income and expenses equal - expenses total $3,617.17 and income is $3,618.70.

What are your savings?

Otherwise, I think you look pretty good. It is usually difficult to stick to a budget so you will need to give it a try for a few months to see if your numbers are really true. It would be good to keep track of your spending in Quicken or Mint.com so you can see if you are on budget or not.

Actually, if you want to use personal finance software to track a budget, I would strongly recommend against using Quicken. I've used Quicken for years, and it's a great program for everything else, but it just plain sucks at tracking a budget.

**witchkizzle** · 07-10-2012, 03:41 PM

Originally posted by scubatim84 View Post

Actually, if you want to use personal finance software to track a budget, I would strongly recommend against using Quicken. I've used Quicken for years, and it's a great program for everything else, but it just plain sucks at tracking a budget.

Does anyone else here use YNAB?

It costs up front, but it works so well.

I can second the vote against using Quicken. My father-in-law and mother-in-law used it for years to "track" spending. It was a poor choice for that goal. I turned them on to YNAB and they love it now.

*disclaimer - not paid to endorse YNAB*

**Gailete** · 07-12-2012, 06:05 AM

Okay here. I'm old (almost 60) and have a few years of life experiences under my belt. One it is a lovely budget, but you are budgeting for the perfect month where nothing goes wrong. There are always bumps in the road. Is your home already completely furnished? If not, that is a cost. Are you responsible for your appliances, they can break down. Most of your savings is going into retirement accounts that shouldn't be touched in the event of an emergency and $400 a month doesn't seem like much to be adding to an emergency savings account, especially since you are single and if you lose your job in three months (it happens) you won't have much of a cushion until you get another one. Having $400 a month for fun seems great but I think it is too much. Your food budget is only $75 a week. Do you cook and eat all your meals in? That is just about the only way to maintain that budget these days. Where in your budget is the money for cleaning aids, toilet paper, etc. If it is mixed in with food (we tend to look at those items as grocery items)you have even less for food. I would dearly love utilities of $100/month but haven't had those that low in years. Maybe that is what you are running now but they will go up. You have a metro cost down and I don't see that you have a car. Do you need to get the occasional taxi for grocery shopping, etc.? I see nothing in your budget for clothes or shoes (for walking to the metro). Even more thoughts, like a couple weeks on the job and they take up a collection for so and so and then a couple weeks later another collection, ad nauseum. Do you have a philosophy on this. Do you want to earmark any charitable giving?

Just things to think about as costs flucuate. Things sound good until reality hits you. But I hope all goes really well for you!

**bjl584** · 07-12-2012, 06:13 AM

Here is a good place to start:

The 50/30/20 Rule of Thumb

Looking at your budget, I think that you spend too much on food. And, I think you and your SO need to split the cost of travelling to see each other, unless this is already the case. And, like others, you need to bump up your EF more. Good job on fully contributing to a Roth and a 401K up to the match at such a young age.

**scubatim84** · 07-12-2012, 12:54 PM

Originally posted by witchkizzle View Post

Does anyone else here use YNAB?

It costs up front, but it works so well.

I can second the vote against using Quicken. My father-in-law and mother-in-law used it for years to "track" spending. It was a poor choice for that goal. I turned them on to YNAB and they love it now.

*disclaimer - not paid to endorse YNAB*

Actually, I was just saying the budget function is terrible. The spending tracking, spending graphics, etc. is fantastic. I love being able to view where my money is going this month, last month, trailing 30 days, etc. It's a fantastic tool to tell you what categories your money is going into. The budget function is a separate "feature" in Quicken where you tell it what you have earmarked for each category for each month and then it proceeds to neither record it correctly nor update the budget amounts.

Originally posted by Gailete View Post

Okay here. I'm old (almost 60) and have a few years of life experiences under my belt. One it is a lovely budget, but you are budgeting for the perfect month where nothing goes wrong. There are always bumps in the road. Is your home already completely furnished? If not, that is a cost. Are you responsible for your appliances, they can break down. Most of your savings is going into retirement accounts that shouldn't be touched in the event of an emergency and $400 a month doesn't seem like much to be adding to an emergency savings account, especially since you are single and if you lose your job in three months (it happens) you won't have much of a cushion until you get another one. Having $400 a month for fun seems great but I think it is too much. Your food budget is only $75 a week. Do you cook and eat all your meals in? That is just about the only way to maintain that budget these days. Where in your budget is the money for cleaning aids, toilet paper, etc. If it is mixed in with food (we tend to look at those items as grocery items)you have even less for food. I would dearly love utilities of $100/month but haven't had those that low in years. Maybe that is what you are running now but they will go up. You have a metro cost down and I don't see that you have a car. Do you need to get the occasional taxi for grocery shopping, etc.? I see nothing in your budget for clothes or shoes (for walking to the metro). Even more thoughts, like a couple weeks on the job and they take up a collection for so and so and then a couple weeks later another collection, ad nauseum. Do you have a philosophy on this. Do you want to earmark any charitable giving?

Just things to think about as costs flucuate. Things sound good until reality hits you. But I hope all goes really well for you!

This. I can promise you, from personal experience in the last 6 months, that anything that can go wrong will as far as unexpected expenses goes. It never seems like something breaks or comes up one at a time...it seems like multiple things always come in bursts. This is why you'll want to have a healthy amount budgeted for miscellaneous expenses each month.

Budget Questions