stick to a budget

I did a fair job of this in 2007 and have kind of created a budget for 2008. I start a new job in a week so I’m not certain about how my checks will look. I created a budget based on what I think I’ll be making. Also, I’ll get a raise in 3 months so I’ll have to adjust it again (which most people do every month anyhow, I know). I have the habit of writing down how I want to spend the bulk of my money before I even deposit a check. It makes me feel more in control, even when I don’t like what I’ve agreed to do. I recommend this act to all.

I ordered QuickBooks for my house. I’m quite excited about the idea of having my own accounting software. Yea!

Earlier this week, I updated the totals of my subaccounts and balanaced the overall account to my checkbook.

Nov- I had to work hard on a budget. I had to totally redue things because (1) I no longer have to pay Citibank for my credit card through them, (2) Christmas is approaching, (3) I’m saving money for car work. But, paycheck one is budgeted.

I ordered QuickBooks for my house. I’m quite excited about the idea of having my own accounting software. Yea!

Earlier this week, I updated the totals of my subaccounts and balanaced the overall account to my checkbook.

Nov- I had to work hard on a budget. I had to totally redue things because (1) I no longer have to pay Citibank for my credit card through them, (2) Christmas is approaching, (3) I’m saving money for car work. But, paycheck one is budgeted.

It’s time for me to start thinking about my 2008 budget, as well as what I’m doing with the rest of this year. I have some categories with lots of cash, areas in which I’m not spending my allotted funds. That’s a tell tell sign that I can decrease those amounts for next year. It’s also allowing me to decrease them for the remainder of this year. Life changes have also decreased fundings for some things and are temporarily discontinuing allotments for others. Next, I need to think about how much I plan to spend at Christmas so I can fully fund my gift sub-account before the season fully hits. With confidence I say, I finally got this budgeting thing. Things aren’t perfect and I sometimes stray, but I feel like I get it. Mostly.

I half-way did my grocery store habit last night. I went to the store with a list… but I didn’t estimate how much it would cost ahead of time to make sure I could afford it all. I did write down what things were costing as I shopped so I wouldn’t be terribly surprised at the registrar. I spent $79; I had $81. Close call… and I didn’t even buy everything that I wanted. I’m planning to make a southwestern vegetarian chili this weekend. I meant to take the cookbook to the store with me instead of writing down all of the ingredients. I forgot the book. I remembered some of the items but forgot other things like beans (go figure). This money shortage made me think—something has to give or this won’t work. I bought organic tomatoes & apples—did they push me over the edge? It generally seems to me that I spend more money whenever I decide to cook, particularly vegetarian dishes, because of all of the produce I buy. Shall I stop cooking healthy meals? I also bought 6 frozen dinners last night. How many times have I said that processed foods are killing me? Perhaps they’re killing my budget as well? My thought is, something really does have to give. I can cook real food and buy fresh, even organic produce, but I’ll have to buy less processed junk. Or I can do the opposite. This made me think of the choice some people make to go organic at the expense of buying less meat. This isn’t just a decision to go organic though. Making that change means committing to cooking more and freezing more food. It’s a total and complete lifestyle change, giving up the easy meals to which I am accustomed. Am I ready for that change? BTW- it would be easier to simply add to my eating habits. This change would require sacrifices in order for me to STAY WITHIN MY BUDGET.

BTW, I’m doing pretty good at this. I’m supposed to shop for groceries and basic needs in cash. I don’t always do that. Sometimes I’m out and near a store so I stop. I say, “I’ll simply deposit the cash for this.” I don’t think it’s worked out that way yet. This weekend, I finally found all my baggies with left over money in them and counted it up—over $250 since Feb. I looked at my Excel sheets—I went over by less than $3. Yes!!!!!!!!!! The shortage (over spending) I thought I had in my groceries category is false. Look who shopped within her means even if she didn’t do a good job tracking it. Yes!

Okay. $3 over is still over, right? Well (1) I have a flex fund that makes up for small overages like that and (2) I clearly spent some of the money from the baggies on non-food items, like parking, because I needed some cash. Really, I was within my means.

muah! Happy budgeting to you all (happy? yeah right).

I’m not sure how to track this goal. I have a budget. I think I mostly follow it. Sometimes. Spending on eating out and hanging out is my weakess category and I know that. I have an “unforeseen” line that I’m bad about tracking. I know that. All-n-all, I think I’m mostly on track.

Anyhow, I’m stepping up the intensity on tracking my spending. I am now recording spending on my computer in an Excel file so I can always know whether or not my “subaccounts” balance to what the bank says I have. Manually deducting things was my biggest weakness of all.

Last, I rewrote my budget. I added a line for health insurance so I can save for a policy, increased my savings, decreased my debt payoff, and made some other minor adjustments. This new budget will be in effect until Jan. 2008.

Two days ago, I created a get out of debt plan for my mom. Actually, she’ll be debt free and have more than 3 months of expenses saved by the end of next year. I was quite proud of the plan. She’s excited. I’m excited. Two of my aunts want me to do the same for them. One has an appointment with me this week and is buying me lunch. Yum.

I’m “good” for a while then I just spend, spend, spend. One of my biggest challenges is not going to the bank immediately to get cash and then spending at will on my debit. Today I was wondering if it would work if I altered my budget once every 4 months. Right now, probably 12-13% of my income is used to pay debt. Maybe I can skim some of what I send to credit card companies to do something else that I want to do. I feel like all of my money is scheduled to go somewhere so I can’t do something just because I want to (though truthfully, $100 is put aside as flex funds each month). Maybe I can arrange an extra $50 every 4 months or so. Maybe that could be like a reward for behaving myself. On the other hand, I’d no longer be paying off debt at the rate I’d like if I do that. Something to ponder, I guess. Today, I guess, I’m wondering how important it is to pay off the bills as I’m seeking to do. Especially my card with Target. It’s closed. I can’t use it. What difference does it make to me if I pay them off in 2 years or 10 years? I guess there is that extra interest I’d be paying. Still, they become less important to me with each passing day.

This sucks! It’s about as much fun as being on a diet. errrg! I guess it is kind of like a financial diet. I’ve used all of my spending money for my 2 week period in 1 week. Actually, I’m $10 in the hole; I cheated and paid for something with my debit. I’ve had things to do after work almost every day this week and therefore have purchased food each day. This is painful.

On a brighter note, my Feb. bank statement was only 1 page long. I hadn’t thought about that perk of going to cash. Sweet. I can deal with that, thank you.