My Budget

[disneysteve]

I am not seeing my current resources as being too limited to help her out.

I agree. I think you have the means to help. You just need to adjust your priorities.

Dave Ramey's "The Total Money Makeover" is a book you and your husband might want to consider reading.

[hamchan]

The student loan debt I have is recent. One of them hasn't even entered into repayment yet. Maybe we do spend money on things you don't spend money on, but there are things we choose not to spend money on that most people do. So I don't think it's entirely fair to make a comparison.

[disneysteve]

I don't think it's entirely fair to make a comparison.

Agreed, but you're missing my point. It is all about mindset and priorities. If you put luxuries ahead of necessities, it makes it much harder to achieve your financial goals.

Good luck to you.

[snafu]

hamchan, I hope you understand that we are making suggestions hoping you will find something helpful; we are not attacking You personally, just pointing out options. I was watching for information about interest rates being charged. Personally, I try to avoid paying interest. I'd rather stand on the doorstep and burn $20. bills! If you can add up the total interest paid in 2012 in all your accounts that sum would have been more helpful in DD's 529 plan for example.

18 months or so before DD begins the process to apply for college, I suggest she begin researching all the thousands and thousands of grants, awards and scholarships she may qualify for. Hundreds of thousands of smaller awards are never even sought. It's all a matter of priorities, it takes time and effort to apply or time and effort to pay student loans if that's preferred. I wish parents would take the time to work out the costs of SLs and explain to their DKs how important it is to be extremely frugal with sums borrowed.

[hamchan]

Now that I think about it, most of the CC debt was also taken out while I was in school last year and most of it had zero percent into offers. Hence my recent big push to get it paid off. The amount left is still at zero percent for a couple more months. I know I wound up with some finance charges, but it wasn't much. If I had been more on top of things maybe I could have paid it off a bit quicker. I don't normally carry balances and don't plan to do so in the future. More than half of it was from an emergency vet bill that came a couple months before I graduated and depleted what was left of the savings.

Actually the biggest source of interest this year has been the private student loan (the one with the 110 payment). I want to say the interest is like 5.8 or 6.8 or something.

The biggest question mark right now is the hospital and ambulance bills as we haven't received them yet and don't know how much they will be. We have gotten one bill for $150 and I feel like we should just pay that one in it's entirety since more will be coming, but I also know that money would better serve us going to the IRS.

When I sit down and fiddle with the numbers on the spreadsheet I am seeing enough money to do what we want to do without resorting to cutting our own hair (I used to do that, and quite frankly, it looked like cut my own hair). From a strictly financial standpoint I can see the point in cutting out most or all luxuries in order to avoid paying any interest. It does make sense to me. But from a psychological standpoint, if keeping some of those luxuries means the budget is sustainable for us in the longer term, then that interest I am paying does have some value. The value of interest for me is time and options. Two things I wouldn't have had without the ability to borrow money. Does it mean that in the long run I won't have as much to save for college? Yeah. But it's a trade off I am willing to make in order to hang onto my sanity. I suppose everyone has a different threshold.

[hamchan]

BTW, I didn't at all intend that as a jab at you, Steve, I'm just not very good at cutting my own hair. Some good news is I got my hair cut today and my stylist says I can get at least four months out of the cut we did, not just three like I had planned for in the budget. So that will bring the haircut budget down some more.

[disneysteve]

Some good news is I got my hair cut today and my stylist says I can get at least four months out of the cut we did, not just three like I had planned for in the budget.

I'm confused. Your budget listed $60 per month for haircuts, not every 3 months.

How much do you spend to get your hair cut?
How much does your husband spend to get his hair cut?

[hamchan]

It was 60 a month for the whole family. DH gets his hair cut every two months for 45 and mine will be every four months for 70 which includes the tip. The salon we go to also does a free maintenance cut in between which I give her a tip for since she makes nothing off of the appointment itself. We've both gotten cheaper haircuts at other places and not been happy with the results. I guess we both have the hair type and texture that is tricky to cut right. We've been seeing the same person for a few years and I haven't found anyone who can do as good a job for less. Every time I have paid 25-40 for a cut I have just had to pay even more to get it redone somewhere else. Salon services are expensive here. Mid range salons charge 50 for someone right out of school to do your hair.

DD keeps hers long and just needs occasional trims which are simple to do so I take her to the beauty school a couple times a year which is 25 including the tip.

Anyway, I was able to trim 10 a month from the haircut budget because of that and because when I added it up the first time I had thought DH was paying 50.

[MonkeyMama]

Using the haircut as an example, there is also a lot of middle ground here. Though we took our kids to beauty school when like preschool aged, I personally would not go there - way too picky. (Also too picky to cut my own hair). BUT, I only spend about $20 per year on haircuts. How? I choose a low-maintenance flattering style that is easy to get done at any hair cutting chain. I like short hair, but have found it way too expensive to maintain over the years. So the obvious choice is more low maintenance hair.

The haircut is just one example, but I think its' more helpful to look for that middle ground.

For the gym, there are cheaper options. Etc., etc.

[hamchan]

Depending on the style I can get as much as six months out of a haircut, but right now I am growing it out from a very short style that had to be trimmed every three weeks. By next year I should he able to go longer between cuts. Right now it needs to be reshaped every so often.

DH hasn't been able to find a less expensive gym membership close by. If he was just doing cardio exercise then it wouldn't be an issue, but in order for him to be able to lift weights at home we would need at least 50 square feet more than we currently have, not to mention buying all the equipment and getting it here with no car. I wish it were feasible but it just isn't. We are cramped into a too small apartment as it is.

[Barclay]

Is your husband well insured? He sounds like his health is really failing. I would honestly try and make sure everything is taken care of just in case something terrible were to happen.

It sounds like you are content with your budget so I have no advice to offer in that regard.

stay the course and enjoy your family.

[hamchan]

Yes, he has life insurance, disability, and the best medical we can get. The annual out of pocket maximum is manageable so far. And so far we usually go at least a couple of years between major issues coming up that cost a lot of money. I almost wish it were more consistent so we could take better advantage of the FSA, but it the fact that it doesn't roll over limits our ability to use it without losing money.

[scfr]

Unless I'm missing something, it looks like you have mixed business and personal expenses in your budget? Those should be separated, as should the business and personal funds.

[MonkeyMama]

You change your priorities. You put saving ahead of spending, needs before wants, necessities before luxuries.

I totally understand that you don't agree with what some of us have posted, and I respect that, but that doesn't change the fact that there is fat in your budget that could be trimmed if you wanted to.

^ This.

I think OP missed the point of my last post. There are generally *always* opportunities to become more efficient with our finances. Instead of a lot of "I can't do this or that," I think it would be far more productive to just be thinking about what you can do to become more efficient.

I would personally go through every line item on the budget and see what I could improve upon. & I wouldn't do it all today. You improve one thing and then another and another. Well, I personally do better with "one at a time" changes. This is what we have *always* done and what we will always do. It would be very easy for us to say, "We have no room for improvement, so we won't try any more." Since we stretch our dollars *very far.* But the reality is it just becomes habit - the more efficient you get the more "room for improvement" stares you in the face every day. Hanging around a sight like this will give you neverending ideas. (I'd in particular recommend reading the blogs. I have been reading the blogs on this site for maybe 6 years and still get new ideas almost every week).

& maybe you are getting this. It's totally fair to say, "I am not budging on this or that." You are prioritizing. I saw your cell phone post, and that is a great start to making some changes. This is the idea - budget changes don't have to effect your quality of life, but you can be paying less for mostly the same things.

[hamchan]

Unless I'm missing something, it looks like you have mixed business and personal expenses in your budget? Those should be separated, as should the business and personal funds.

If you are referring to the massage studio, I have use of it two evenings a week, but I do not make a profit off of it. I use it to work on a few people I know, do trades with other therapists, work on my family, etc. It typically pays for itself, but not much more than that. I don't have a business license and don't need one for it. The insurance, license renewals, and continuing ed are required for me to do my job, but I'm an employee at the airport.