I had a hard time deciding if I was going to give specific values, but I decided I am going to. I hate to talk about money, and although this might give you a relative idea of how much I earn, I'm not including earnings (plus this month is weird because I have a $2,000 school deposit, and three paychecks because I get paid bi-weekly, and my bonus, so everything this month is a little skewed).
Wow! Good thing I started my budget this month, because it is going to be abnormally expensive! It's also a good thing that I have a little money set aside, I had no idea this month was going to be this expensive!
Okay, I'm a little embarrassed to be putting all this personal financial information out there for ya'll to see, kind of tacky, but it's for the sake of accountability. So we'll see how it goes..., I think posting the actual budgeting numbers will help me be honest and stay on track.
Okay, I'm a little embarrassed to be putting all this personal financial information out there for ya'll to see, kind of tacky, but it's for the sake of accountability. So we'll see how it goes..., I think posting the actual budgeting numbers will help me be honest and stay on track.
So here it is my budget (a few things to keep in mind I split rent, and because he likes to be the provider the PBF prefers that we don't split electric, also b/c he is a chef he usually does the meal planning and grocery buying so those bills are either non existent or abnormally low. Also, I'm committed to no new clothes this month, there's nothing I need, it's still in the 80's -90's here in Austin so I don't even have the change of seasons as an excuse!):
Car register - $85
Credit Card - $65
Entertainment - $15
FSA Medical - $50 paid $25 on 10-1-09
Fuel - $65
Gifts - $50
Goceries -$50
Insurance -$125
PCM medical -$25
Personal Care -$7
Pets/pet care - $20
Rent -$550
Eating out -$10 (enough for one happy hour or a few McDonald's trips)
Service Fees -$2 auto bill pay fee
School Deposit - $2,000
Phone - $60
Tithe - $390
Savings - $1,000
Student Loan -$130
Unexpected -$100
Total -$4,799 (assuming I did the math right).
Anyone have any tips or tricks to staying on budget or setting a budget?
The gift budget this month is going to my sister's b-day gift! I love to go above and beyond for gifts and have hemmed and hawed over this because I know this is my last year to go overboard for a while, but I also know that every penny saved right now will keep me out of a dollars worth of debt down the road... so we'll see if I stick to the $50 budget and find some great things, or if I go above and beyond like usual.
2 comments:
The best way that I stay on budget is by putting in my receipts every single day. That way, I know exactly when my limit has been reached. Since you're doing yours with BoA, I don't know how that will work, but that is really what helped me the most :-)
I am on a budget too and it is so hard!
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