Budget Budge-it Budget

[Gemini Cricket]

Does anyone have any good ideas about how to make your own household budget?
Any great formulas about how to pay down debt?
Money stuff drives me crazy.

[Alex]

Is it all credit card debt or do you have a significant form of some other debt as well?

[MouseWife]

Um, don't be like me.

Good to use only cash. Good not to buy things you really can't afford. If you are going to do so, try and get it on a plan where you don't have to pay interest {my son bought a t.v. for $1,800. and had 18 months interest free...of course, they only asked for a $10. a month payment...we've made him pay $100. a month...the accrued interest is almost $400., we'll get it paid off}.

Use coupons, when you can. Seriously. I don't use them much now, but, when I did, I saved so much.

Eat at home!!! Oh my gosh!! It is sooo expensive to eat out. That is one thing that really breaks our bank. And, it is more healthy for you, too.

Try and save something. This is really hard to do, I know, because I know I can't save sheit. But, it is good.

I wish I had the worksheet about how your money should go but it does save to save for all unexpected expenses. Like, for your auto, your medical, etc. Like, you know down the road you'll need a tune up, tires, etc. Put away for it so when it comes it isn't a big deal.

But, like I said. I suck at money management. I really loathe it. I'd done it for my dad for years when I was a teen but it was his money, and, ha, he had enough to pay his bills. LOL

Good luck, GC. I think the first step is the one you've taken~ knowing that you need to do it.

{I work and save all of my money to go on vacation.....real smart, eh?}

[innerSpaceman]

Here's my advice. As long as you can make ends meet, don't pay a lot of attention to your money situation. The more carefully you watch it and tend to it with an eye toward making it stretch and fit ... what you're really doing is keeping the thought active in your mind that you don't have enough money.

And sure enough, that's the feedback you will get from the universe. Not enough money.

You DO have enough money. You have a good job and a place to live and the means to eat, have some fun, pay the rent, and pay a little to your debt. Sweat the details less, with the confidence that you've got enough to go around ... and your universe feedback will be enough to go around.

If you master that process, and know you are bountiful ... then you will be.




* * * * *

More practically, get your credit card debt spread out among a few low interest "promotional" rates. Some of these are for the "life-of-the-loan," which is very advantageous even if you have to pay a hundred dollar transfer fee to get your debt there.

Then pick the highest rate card and pay that down with as much spare cash as you can, while paying only the minimum on the other cards charging less interest. When that first card is down to a balance you can pay half of in one shot, continue to pay half of that card's balance every month until that debt is gone.

Then attack the next highest rate loan in the same way.


Don't worry that your debt will not be gonig solely in one downward direction. Life goes on. Health expenses, automobile expenses, and yes - even the fun of life - often require a dip into your credit debt.

The more credit debt you take on and make payments on, the more companies will send you offers for credit. This is the key to sifting out those advantageous promotional offers that come along only once in a while.

Don't freak out that you have credit card debt. It's the American Way!

[Ghoulish Delight]

If you really want to budget, the best thing to do is simply track everything you spend for 3 months. It's a simple exercise, you can do it by hand, put it in a simple spreadsheet, use Excel to do some graphing for you, or you can get as complex as using Quicken or Microsoft Money. The 3 month part is important because that will you get an idea of what your constant spending vs. one-time expenditures are. Having it all in front of you like that makes it much easier to see where your money is going and where you've got room to alter your habits.

[innerSpaceman]

And, with all due respect, I don't think you need get even that complex. Do you really need a spreadsheet to tell you what your discretionary spending items are?

If money's tight, then the tiny part of your expenses that are discretionary are movies & entertainment, eating out, your Disneyland AP, and pleasure travel gasoline. These are the only things you can cut back on.

If you get a roommate, you'll save a lot of money. If you can find a way to do without a car altogether, you'll save a ton of money.

Outside of changing those fixed and expensive expenses, trimming your discretionaries is your only option. Keep in mind, that sacrificing all pleasures is NOT a good idea, no matter how much in hock it keeps you.

[3894]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

sacrificing all pleasures is NOT a good idea, no matter how much in hock in keeps you.

*holding lighter high* Preach it.

[MouseWife]

I agree with that, iSm. Like I've told people on food diets, if you cut out everything, make everything bad, you'll end up like the guy in 'Chocolate'. {but darn it, not everyone knows what I mean when I say that....}

GD~ I get the tracking thing. Similar to an eating diary. I doesn't have to be a big deal, but, keeping track for a while, it makes you aware of where your money goes. Lets you see where you might be blowing it without even noticing it.

Argh, the car. That is currently our biggest expense. New male driver in the house. Bought him an older truck but it was still a gigantic leap in our insurance payment.

Back when the company offered it to the Hubster, he took the trolley as they paid for the monthly pass. Now, they don't, but he has a free parking spot. He also had riden his bike to work, that was a great way to save money but the traffic was becoming so dangerous, well, he drives.

What you said, iSm, that is true. If you always think you don't have money, that isn't really a good thing, either. It can hold you back from accomplishing things or having something simple that you think is out of your reach. That is how I think and it really sucks. But, I do the bills. Sometimes I've gone out of that 'box'. That is how he now drives a new car {for the first time in his life} and we have purchased some new appliances.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by MouseWife

I agree with that, iSm. Like I've told people on food diets, if you cut out everything, make everything bad, you'll end up like the guy in 'Chocolate'. {but darn it, not everyone knows what I mean when I say that....}

I do!

Originally Posted by MouseWife

GD~ I get the tracking thing. Similar to an eating diary. I doesn't have to be a big deal, but, keeping track for a while, it makes you aware of where your money goes. Lets you see where you might be blowing it without even noticing it.

Yes, I've been hand tracking just my daily spending. I keep a notepad in my purse. It's amazing and quite an eye opener how much $$ can flow through your hands without even thinking of it. I'm budgeting too, GC, so I know what you are going through. Now that I am watching the cash flow, it's amazing how long a $20 can sit in the wallet. Of course, bringing lunch to work really helps too!

If you are trying to pare down your cc debt, simple rule of thumb that is working for me. Line up your cards by amount owed and by interest rate, pay on all of them, but on the lowest card, pay it off as fast as you can. Then, take the $$ you were paying on that card and apply it to the next one up on the list, and so on. I'm still a mess, but I've pared 20k of debt down in 2 years to 5k now. So it can be done.

Originally Posted by MouseWife

What you said, iSm, that is true. If you always think you don't have money, that isn't really a good thing, either. It can hold you back from accomplishing things or having something simple that you think is out of your reach. That is how I think and it really sucks.

Exactly, keep your mind in the land of plenty mode. But, I also do not use credit now unless I absolutely must (like the car thing earlier in the year). If I do not have the cash on hand, I'm not going to buy it. You do not have to sacrifice everything, simply not going to Starbucks once a day during the work week saves me $20 a week, which in turn allows me to go out to a movie and dinner if I want to or a lunch out with the gang at the office. A fair trade, to me.

I feel your pain and am rooting for you too! I can see the end of the tunnel when it comes to my cc debt, you can get there too. As the not always so wise Mr. Micawber said, "Annual income 20 pounds, annual expenditure 20 pounds, result misery, Annual income 20 pounds, annual income 19 pounds, result happiness" Of course, he didn't take that advice to heart, he only gave it to David Copperfield. It's advice I've been trying to take to heart.

[Gemini Cricket]

Thanks for the tips so far. Makes a lot of cents.

I think one of the big problems is that my apartment is too expensive for me right now. I mean, I can handle the rent payments but it doesn't leave a lot of loot left to pay down my debt. I'm in a year lease right now, so there's not much I can do about it. I was thinking a room mate would be the way to go, but it's a one bedroom. One of us would have to sleep in the living room. I think it would be kind of odd. Unless I can find someone who doesn't care about that.

I thought about the spreadsheet thing, but I can't commit myself to anything. I can't get myself to write a journal, I can't get myself to read a whole book... etc. I do know that I would save a lot by bringing a home lunch. But for me, leaving the office is important and buying a lunch is a reward for making it to lunch.

I have never been good with money. It feels like it disappears.

I do get what iSm is saying, too. The more I stress about it, the more it seems to be out of control. But I get the GD thing too that if you don't pay attention to where it's going it's harder to control.

I do the coupon thing when I actually buy something at the store I can use a coupon on. I don't buy a lot of items at the store usually. I eat out a lot.

I did buy a 50 lb bag of rice from Costco, though. It should take me a year to get through it.

I haven't been buying a lot of CDs and DVDs. I've been curbing my spending on those things. I even stopped myself from buying the new South Park Season on DVD. It'll have to wait.

Worst news of all, my AP expires on 9/4. As it stands right now, I won't be renewing it for a couple of months. I need to save up for it.

Ugh. I hate dealing with money. (Maybe that's the problem.)