Stupid $#@%&#* Budget
I put myself on a strict budget. My car is a 1996 and very soon I will need to replace it. By the time the car dealers are trying to unload the 2006 models-September/October, right?-I want to be able to buy one with a really hefty down payment. So I have to be a good girl and stop spending. It's making me cranky.
Very cranky. I'm used to buying whatever I want, whenever I want. I am spoiled. I have spoiled myself. I am my own worst enemy. *sigh*
So, who else is sharing my pain? Anyone else on a tight budget? Are you saving for something specific, or just trying to get debt free? Any tips? Hints? Are there any websites out there to help? Easy websites. I have tried to do Microsoft Money before but seriously it felt like I was balancing my checkbook twice a month. I gave it a shot, but gradually stopped because to me it was a major hassle. I think the last time I opened the software was two years ago, if not longer.
Share my pain, people. Give me inspiration. Budgeters of Blogland, unite!
posted by yvonne at Sunday, January 29, 2006
33 Comments:
Count me in as a depressed one. I hate my budget. Hate it. But, DH is in desperate need of a new car in the next couple of months and I want to be as close to debt free as I can get by the end of 2006. Add to that the fact that our credit isn't exactly perfect and I have set some goals for us this year.
BUT...in order to keep myself from getting all whiney and pissy and angry at my budget (and myself and DH), I've set aside $50 every paycheck that I can play with. Some weeks I use it, other weeks I don't. And if I don't use it, then it goes toward bills and such. But at least I get to choose. That way it's not quite so painful.
Live for today. Buy what you want and don't worry about it later.
So sayeth the Supes. Amen.
I share in your pain, sistah. I have tried very hard to keep my spending down this year. For the most part I have done fairly well. I'm terrible at saving money so I don't expect much there. I would be happy if I could cut down on some of my debt this year though. I've asked Michelle to help me budget but that just leads to fights so we don't go there anymore. I'm too lazy to go to any websites so I just have to rely on discipline. Of which I have none. So it's sort of like spitting in the wind.
Right there with you. The funny thing is that honestly, I really do not like to shop. However, I find myself doing it, compulsively. And the more I make and work extra to make, the more I spend.
Granted, some of the things I have bought are needed, but a lot is not.
I suck at personal budgeting.
I couldn't do this, but some people always round up the entries in their checkbook register.
Budgeters of blogland is a dorky thing to say, Augie.
Count me in as sharing your pain Augie. My car is a '98 with over 200000kms on it. Dave's truck is a '93 with about the same kms. Both run great but soon we're going to have to replace at least one of them. I just hate the thought of adding a car payment to our monthly payments again.
I've used Money for about 4 years now and would be lost without it. I don't use the budget feature, I just use it as a place to keep my accounts up to date. I update every week or two and like that I can see, at a glance, what progress I'm making on paying down my debt.
We're in a "period of fiscal restraint" at the moment and I'm very serious about getting it paid off. I set up an automatic transfer to my savings account every Friday so that I have a cushion for emergencies. It works well for me because I love seeing it grow and I'm very reluctant to make withdrawls from that account.
Good luck Augie. It's worth it in the long run.
Maybe if it had been Budgeteers of Blogland, Monsty would have approved.
Momma? didn't you buy DH a truck for Xmas?
I'm very lucky. I'm due for a new vehicle too. I have a '95 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 157K on it. Recently, we applied for a home equity loan and rolled together Mr. Nutz's truck payment, the trailer payment and our last credit card, plus took enough money to get me a new vehicle. I'm just waiting to find the right one.
Lucky us, I won't have another car payment and won't have to carry full coverage. If we didn't have so much equity in our house, I'd be scrimping along with you. I feel your pain as I've been there before.
Just keep thinking of that new car everytime you feel like spending. Perhaps you can put a picture of what you plan to get on the bathroom mirror or somewhere you'll see it often to remind you!
*smooch*
No treally helpful on saving for a car but what really works for us to get extra cash is to keep all change.
Pay cash as much as possible. When something comes to $1.30 for example, pay with $2.00 or whatever and keep all the silver. Don't use exact change. Put it all in a big old jar or tub and cash out!
Oh and one of the best deals for a car is to buy a 1 or 2 year old car. Still pretty new but not as expensive.
No treally helpful on saving for a car but what really works for us to get extra cash is to keep all change.
Pay cash as much as possible. When something comes to $1.30 for example, pay with $2.00 or whatever and keep all the silver. Don't use exact change. Put it all in a big old jar or tub and cash out!
Oh and one of the best deals for a car is to buy a 1 or 2 year old car. Still pretty new but not as expensive.
Isn't a Budgeteer a parakeet or something?
I think if I had said "budgeteers" as opposed to "budgeters" Monsty still would have called a dork.
Monsty's day isn't complete until she has made fun of me.
:-)
And Monsty? Today's FV was Fred.
Just so you know Augie, you are so dear to me that I would give you all of my Gazoo FVs.
Now about that budget. I say slash Bravie's prezzie fund.
If I claim to budgeteer, can I be in the budgeteer club and get to wear those cool ears and everything?
Monsty? Just so you know, I know how to read.
Yup! I won't get a paycheck again until June ... and that's only if my academy doesn't cancel the class that they say that they want me to teach this summer. They cancelled me the last time we had a contract for me to teach in the summer.
Budgies are what the British call a kind of parakeets. It's short for something longer like budgedier? They're bigger than parakeets but way smaller than parrots.
I'm married to an CPA/MBA in finance. He does all kinds of budget tracking and planning and forcasting and predicting. I figure it's his job to anticipate my needs. But we do tend to drive our cars into the ground. He does it to be frugal; I do it because I get used to a car and I don't like change. In cars, anyway.
Money is a big issue with me, especially right now. When I was laid off I choose to go back to school, and now live off of my scholarships, grants, and a monthly stipend of...well lets say it's less than what most people make in a week. When you are a single mother, it makes you get creative.
I get two good size checks every semester, one at the beginning and one near the middle. I pay everything ahead, and buy whatever Ryan needs, like clothes, because he grows out of his jeans so fast. We live off of the little stipend that I get for being a displaced worker. It is not much at all and right now it makes it hard with trying to help with the wedding, baby stuff and the normal things a household needs.
Our bank offers a keep the change feature that rounds up your purchases automatically and sends the change to your savings account. When I was working I also had the bank automatically take out a set amount for savings, and I just never used it. That got me through the first two years of school.
Good luck. It can be depressing sometimes, but keep thinking a new car is a reward in itself.
When I went through university, I worked for 4 months and then went to school for 4 months, so I had to live off 4 months salary for 8 months. Therefore, I had to budget or I would starve in the last month.
Budgeting then was actually pretty easy. Food, rent, bus pass, bills and $50-100/ month for everything else. I remember reading that you were considered below poverty if you spent more than 25% of your income on rent and utilities. Sooooo funny.
Being broke through school really wasn't a big deal. All our friends were also broke so we always did cheap or free things. (Brewed our own beer and some excelllent wine (cough, cough))
Anyhow, I find using cash for everything special helps. Rent, food, bills goes on debit card or cheque. Coffee, dinners, beer, clothes etc comes out of a cash fund that I withdraw at the beginning of the month. (I think I might change to weekly) Please note that as I type this, I have 2 dollars in my wallet.
Make that $1. I just bought some granola.
Nolay & I, as you may know, picked up pt jobs to start throwing money at bills. We have lots of credit card debt & keep making minimum payments. Time to squash it!
We tried to stick to a tight budget last year & did really well for exactly two months. Then we got really cranky about not being able to go out for drinks or dinner pretty much ever. We strayed from the budget & lapsed back into old spending routines.
We did well at not incurring new debt (other than the new damn plow).
Thus, if we couldn't live comfortably & happily with our salaries, we realized we needed more income to squash old debt to loosen up the budget.
Stay tuned for 2007 to see how we did. :-)
Well, I have a daughter who will be going to college in the fall, so we will be having major lifstyle changes.
We've haven't had to live with a budget for quite a while. Unfortunately, my DW is an all or nothing type. Either she thinks we're flat broke and won't spend $2 to buy herself lunch, or she'll think we're loaded and can afford to goon every trip she's ever dreamed of.
Both ways get tiresome. And my car needs replacing now too. I know I can't wait four years until DD is done with college!
If you REALLY want to change your financial life around, talk to Cygnus. He and ladycub are doing things the right way!
Because we're watching our weight, we've saved a lot of money by not going out for lunch, buying, snacks, or going out for dinner as often.
I save an enormous amount of money at the market, watching the sale ads and using coupons.
I am not very good at budgeting, which is particularly unfortunate while living on a graduate student stipend and can make things like computer deaths that require buying a new laptop a little catastrophic. But...I manage it. Somehow.
You're dead to me.
I'm going off to find Tkit and I'm going to see if she wants to come over here and smut the place up with me. *glare*
Carey, you just dumped me for Star Jones, didn't you? She is your new sistah, isn't she?
See the gratitude I get for trying to make my sistah Carey happy?
Sheesh.
And!!!! Thank you everyone for the great tips and hints and commiseration on the nasty budget thing I am currently suffering through.
Great ideas! Tomorrow is payday so I will put to use some of your tips. Thanks!
*big smooches to the smaht bloggy people*
The automatic transfer into a savings account is a great idea.
Do you normally buy lunch or bring something from home? I've been making sandwiches more often these days. It adds up.
Stay away from the home shopping networks LOL.
*smooooooooooooch* Hang in there sweetie.
We are so friggin' broke it's not funny. Like, had to choose which child to buy diapers for broke (Beeloop won.. there was only one left). I haven't spent any money on myself for months and months, not even a haircut. Still, I shouldn't complain, because this is not normal; we've had issues about receiving the parental benefits, and it should clear up this week, but it still sucks calculating just how far thirty dollars can go.
Normally, we are pretty broke though. Neither one of us is good with money, and we tend to forget things like tax bills and car repairs; when they come along, we're screwed, to put it mildly. Our goal this year is to remember to factor in for all eventualities, and start budgeting correctly. THEN we'll reduce our debt.
We also do what Zombs does with the change, though not as efficiently.
Oh, and Bob's "excellent wine"? Has been used to disinfect camping latrines.
Should she argue, I say to her: BEER SEDIMENT.
Nyah.
Again, I know, but we eat what is on sale almost exclusively. If it costs more than about $5 a pound (meat) I do not buy it. Working part-time means I have the time to get all the specials at the different grocery stores.
If you'll come down to Balltimore and drive me around town in your new car sometime this fall ... well, there will be a cheesecake in it for you! (And a fun peep meet too.)
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