stick to a budget

Vet bills have destroyed any attempts at keeping up with a budget this month. :-(

Now that I’m paying my bills on time and mostly have my immediate scheduling/cleaning issues under control, it’s time to fine-tune my new and improved life. First thing: sticking to budget.

My bills are very reasonable, so I won’t bother trying to decrease them. My real problem is that when I have cash, it’s out the window, and when I use my credit card, then when I pay it off I have no money left so I have to use it again the next month.

I will now:

1) give myself a weekly cash allowance. I won’t try to break it down into what to spend it on, but when it’s gone it’s gone. I grocery shop on Saturdays, so that’s going to be a challenge.

2) I will not use credit cards at all unless I pay the cash to my credit company that very day. In fact, I won’t carry my cards with me; if I need to use them, I can take the time to go home and get them.

3) For the moment, I will not buy any music because it’s so easy and fun to overspend on iTunes!

4) I will try to cover the cost of my weekly allowance by selling plasma. That will give me some breathing room in my checking account the next month. However, if I don’t manage this, that’s okay, I have other top priorities.

So payday comes round, and I’m there with my wageslip, my pen and pad and my trusty calculator…
...I can make a budget, oh yes, I can do that BRILLIANTLY!
I just can’t stick to it…

WHY are all the sales on when you don’t have any money? WHY does awesome stuff go on offer as soon as you decide to be sensible with your money for a change? WHY do the shops and supermarkets seduce you with 25% off all wine if you buy 6 bottles and why then do you go and purchase said offer when you KNOW you can’t afford it and when the 6 bottles will only be drunk because they’re there…? (“I’ll save them for Christmas”, was the lie I believe I told myself and everyone within a 3 meter radius on my way to the checkout and home again).

They key is to just not take your wallet with you when you go out. If you know you’ll be needing to bus home or to buy a pint of milk or something, then fair enough, take a couple of quid. But no more!! And don’t go window shopping, it will only depress you. Just don’t even look at them. In fact, don’t even walk past them! Cross the road if you must!! Eyes glued to the floor at all times!!!

.......There must be a easier way?

I currently am trying to figure out a budget via spreadsheet, because, in my opinion, when it works out on paper, it can generally stick pretty well. Here’s what I got so far, it’s public – so if you think there’s a better way to spend, play with it :)

http://www.tinyurl.com/dx-budget

SRP has some great online tools to help manage your electricity bill and predict what next month’s bill will look like. it even has the option now to send you alerts whenever it seems like your bill is going to exceed your desired amount.

Finally got my student loans and will be starting my winter job. But now the challenge begins. Will follow advice from those that have accomplished this goal.

I’ve started working towards this goal by setting up an account on Mint.com to see not just how much I have income vs. expenses, but to see also where the money is going to know where to trim back and where I can afford to spend.

Right now it’s just more set up as a learning tool to see where the money has been going—at the start of November, I’m going to set a realistic budget for the month and see if I can do it. Then at the end of the month, I’ll evaluate my results and adjust my budget as necessary. I’ll need to consider that I’ll be spending money for winter holidays, but ultimately I’m trying to save more than I spend.

I write a new budget for my family before every paycheck, but we RARELY stick to it. Most of the time the fault is ours, for giving in to a fastfood urge, running out of new books or just boredom shopping. Sometimes it’s a force of nature (or karma…), like how this past month we had to replace the lawnmower and the vacuum, buy a new insurance policy, AND spend almost $900 having our car repaired. But I make the damn budgets for a REASON, and I’d like to get better at stickin’ to ‘em.

I want to get this started. I want to be able to buy a house and well not worry about money…

i dont even know where to start.. what categories to use? grr!

Started by listing my monthly income/expenses in a simple excel spreadsheet, then enlisted some help to estimate the household spending allowances.

Budget5000.com is helping with the accountability factor… it takes some work to set up the initial budget but it does most of the work for you afterwards and it features a daily spending tracker – every little thing really adds up. It’s hard to justify that pumpkin latte when the report says you’ve already spent $57.63 on coffee!