This is the 3rd budget I have made for me and my hubby and its like he doesn't care and then we scramble to pay bills and then he tells me to make a budget. Grrr On top of this I am not getting as many hours in at work and we don't have as much spending cash. I am going to try one more time. It just frustrates me!
So Much for a Budget!
January 28th, 2007 at 04:15 am
January 28th, 2007 at 01:37 pm 1169991457
I tried that make one / didn't work thing for years before I understood that a budget is a living breathing organism and it changes from month to month.
Sure I have goals for how much I'd like my bills to be under but I can't always lock them in stone.
Enter - the spending plan. If you are computer minded, look at places like Mvelopes, Budget Map, or my fav Jesse's YouNeedABudget.com. If you are low-tech you can do this with a pencil and piece of paper. Before you spend a dime out of the next paycheck sit down and make a zero based budget/spending plan.
Start at the top w/the income.
Then start subtracting out the set-in-stone payments such as rent, electric bills, etc. Then you come down to the more 'fudgeable' items...groceries this paycheck may have to be smaller because of a big light bill, you may have to buy less household goods this payperiod, etc.
It looks like this.
INCOME.................3000.00
Rent -1000.00.........2000.00
Electric -75.00........1925.00
Groceries -250.00...1675.00
on down to zero.
Try to list a category for all kinds of things that you can anticipate needing covered in a YEARLY budget, which will include car tags, driver's license renewals, property taxes if you own a home, car insurance, car repairs, exterminating, lawn care.
Along w/all the other necessities like clothes, water, gasoline, and the like.
Most people forget about the big once yearlies and it bites them later.
At first you will have fewer categories because you'll likely forget some of them.
Here's the deal -- IT"S OKAY!! Just add it to the list of categories on the next pay period and start funding it. That's the beauty of thinking of budgeting/spending plans as something that can and does change over
time.
Think about it, depending on your age, do you have the same financial footprint today that you did say four years ago? Not likely. You'll add some categories and others will drop off, and find that budgeting is not a one time thing.
Hope this helps some.
January 28th, 2007 at 03:28 pm 1169998131
January 28th, 2007 at 08:21 pm 1170015673