Do you budget? I've just completed mine for 2011, then emailed it off to Sarah with comments for her to peruse and adjust. We normally use the budget more as a rough guide than a strict law, but looking at the figures I think we need to be stricter this year.
Sarah and I have
sanity money an allowance of $10/week each which we can spend on whatever we want. But if we buy gifts for each other it comes out of our allowance (which accumulates if not spent). Other things that come out of our allowance include eating out, and buying non essential food items like Coca-cola and Doritos (My mild OCD comes out when I split up our grocery bill into food, non-essential food coming from allowance, house supplies, personal supplies).
What else would you be interested to know?
It is expensive to own a car. Costs $20/wk just to get the car on the road, not including repairs or fuel. This year we spent $31/wk on gas (That's LPG, not an Americanism). Hoping to cut that to $27/wk with a bit more walking to college and a few less trips to the grocery store.
As I make it, we can meet all our financial obligations for about 29K. Seems like a lot, but there's only two of us. I am thankful to God for Centrelink Student Payments, for Fee-Help loans to cover college fees and for a paying job this year which will cover the shortfall.
Not only do I budget, I also work writing budgeting software.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of crazy when you first sit down and figure out how much you actually spend - it can be kind of scary, and plenty of people just look at the numbers and give up instead of facing them.
Sounds like you've got stuff mostly figured out though :)
Can I (a random blog reader you've never met in person) make a small suggestion? Try and put aside a small amount each month that is purely for the unexpected things that always turn up - then you won't be wiped out if something crazy turns up.
Firstly, that software looks amazing. I have gradually designed a rudimentary version of your software using excel. It isn't fancy but I've got it to the point where everything adds up itself, shows me weekly and yearly totals and averages, compares to my budget for weekly and yearly. I have my "income" (which I feel needs to be put in inverted commas) do the same and compare to the expenditure.
ReplyDeleteWhat I haven't done is link this in to my bank account to show overall savings, but that is because I delete the file every year so I don't waste time comparing too much information. Also in light of reading your welcome page I'm going to add a couple of sums to help me better see how much I need to have in the bank to cover upcoming expenses.
Btw, don't tell anyone, but I think secretly I love all this stuff. Crunching numbers, designing excel spreadsheets. It's like doing the washing up. In my world where progress is hard to measure, I sometimes long for the simple task list that can be ticked off, the pleasure of working with numbers which simply add up.
As for your suggestion, it sounds good. Unfortunately with both Sarah and I as students, at the moment that 'little extra' means dipping into savings rather than into what I've put aside. But I do budget for car repairs and health expenses a little, which is where we usually expect the unexpected to come from.
But gee whiz I love this stuff. What does that make me?
You aren't that crazy to love it - there are plenty of people on our forums who love playing with the numbers - I'm one of them too :)
ReplyDeleteIf you're planning on car repairs/medical stuff, it sounds like you've pretty much covered what I was talking about there. Having read your blog, and knowing a bit about the situation you're in, I'm also sure that should anything crazy happen, there would be plenty of people around to help you out (gotta love that Christian community!)
You might be interested in the book my boss (feels weird calling him that, he's like a year older than I am) wrote. It's free and online, and he did all this stuff while he was in a similar situation to you guys.
Man, I feel like a shill for the company right now, but there really is a lot of good stuff there, even if you aren't buying the software :)
Thanks mate. Will have a look.
ReplyDeleteMust be a budgeting time of year - Andrew (my husband) and I have also started thinking through our budget for next year.
ReplyDeleteI imagine for most people its a combination of the New Year around the corner, plus a bit of guilt about the almost inevitable Christmas splurge.
ReplyDeleteBudget? No.
ReplyDeleteps. I got your face in the mail today. Pretty.
Straight onto the tree I hope
ReplyDelete:)