Budget VENT!!

[agotta]

I appreciate everyone's help, being realistic really helps. But I do not appreciated judgement. Yes, our budget is very tight, but giving Dh and myself $100 a month, helps us stick to our budget. I don't need to give exact numbers, but we do have a large chunk that we try and set aside for the savings account, as well as around $100 a month for car expenses. Thank you again, for everyone's advice and encouragement. Dh and I are doing very well on our budget, we just had a couple set backs and needed to vent.

Also, we chose to buy into DVC because at the time I had a CM discount. I have had this debate before, and we chose to keep our DVC. In the long run, we know that is the best decision for us. We currently do not own a home, so we cut some costs there (utilities are included), and are working on paying off our credit cards (consolidated), DVC, student loans and car payments. We are also in the process of moving back to my home town where the cost of living is much cheaper and where my parents are letting us stay with them for 6 months, rent free. We have completely turned our finances around from a year ago. I will admit we have made mistakes in the past, but we are working on correcting them. Thank you again for all the help and for those that just listened to my vent.

 

[mudnuri]

I think the only way to set up a budget is to actually go month by month and write down what happens each month.

I know in August- I have 2 rigs to register, and inspect- thats $150
I know that in July I have to pre-buy my fuel, thats $1000 (easy)
I also know that in June and October, I have my DD's birthdays
April is my moms birthday
I also budget $10 a month for the kids friends birthdays- generally we only go to birthday parties of kids who they are close with- not those entire grade parties, and that $240 a year works fine. with plenty left over.
Tires, I have to buy 4 a year, sometimes its the blazer, sometimes its the passat, but regardless thats $800 a year, divided by 12 and accounted for

I take all the additional random expenses, and divide by 12, round up, and thats whats budgetted. The amount of money I need for the bills coming in that month goes into the checking account, the money I need for the randoms goes into a savings account, and then the little thats left is for groceries, and other stuff like gas etc.

I know some people use credit cards for everything and pay them off, but i've sworn off them. I wont use them, unless its an emergency, like i'm stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire...thats it, I have learned how to go without, because if I use a CC at walmart for groceries- the $100 for groceries turns into $150 and 50 of that is crap I didnt really need.

Brandy

 

[crisi]

One of the things that will be really wonderful when you have your savings accounts built is the the little emergencies that throw you over budget won't be killer. You'll have savings set aside to deal. It can be a real pain to build them, but you'll discover the freedom you gain is amazing. The trick is to keep the savings growing over time, even if it takes temporary dips for emergencies.

 

[Chicago526]

I appreciate everyone's help, being realistic really helps. But I do not appreciated judgement. Yes, our budget is very tight, but giving Dh and myself $100 a month, helps us stick to our budget. I don't need to give exact numbers, but we do have a large chunk that we try and set aside for the savings account, as well as around $100 a month for car expenses. Thank you again, for everyone's advice and encouragement. Dh and I are doing very well on our budget, we just had a couple set backs and needed to vent.

Also, we chose to buy into DVC because at the time I had a CM discount. I have had this debate before, and we chose to keep our DVC. In the long run, we know that is the best decision for us. We currently do not own a home, so we cut some costs there (utilities are included), and are working on paying off our credit cards (consolidated), DVC, student loans and car payments. We are also in the process of moving back to my home town where the cost of living is much cheaper and where my parents are letting us stay with them for 6 months, rent free. We have completely turned our finances around from a year ago. I will admit we have made mistakes in the past, but we are working on correcting them. Thank you again for all the help and for those that just listened to my vent.

I feel your pain! No matter how you plan, there always something you didn't anticipate, or some small anual bill that you just forget about until it comes in. Tight budgets suck, but if there is an end in sight, it's not too bad. Ours will be tight for the next two months until we are able to get rid of the storage unit and consolidate our two cell phone plans into one (DH's is under contract until December, mine is up already). After that, we should have all the "wiggle room" we need, the freed up money will be our "opps, we forgot about the car registration" or "the vacuum just died and we need $100 to buy a new one" type money (we have a good chunk of cash in our emergency savings but I hate to use it for "little" stuff). Actually we've included all those once a year type bills in the budget, but I can see how little bills (here in IL car tags are $78 a year, for instance, and it's not something people think about much) can slip by you when you sit down to write out a budget.

One poster said they'd averaged about $70 in unexpected "stuff". Why not budget $70 a month and lable it "Miscellanious"? If the unexpected doesn't happen one month, bank it incase the next month something really goes wrong. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it!

 

[dvcgirl]

I think the only way to set up a budget is to actually go month by month and write down what happens each month.

I know in August- I have 2 rigs to register, and inspect- thats $150
I know that in July I have to pre-buy my fuel, thats $1000 (easy)
I also know that in June and October, I have my DD's birthdays
April is my moms birthday
I also budget $10 a month for the kids friends birthdays- generally we only go to birthday parties of kids who they are close with- not those entire grade parties, and that $240 a year works fine. with plenty left over.
Tires, I have to buy 4 a year, sometimes its the blazer, sometimes its the passat, but regardless thats $800 a year, divided by 12 and accounted for

I take all the additional random expenses, and divide by 12, round up, and thats whats budgetted. The amount of money I need for the bills coming in that month goes into the checking account, the money I need for the randoms goes into a savings account, and then the little thats left is for groceries, and other stuff like gas etc.

I know some people use credit cards for everything and pay them off, but i've sworn off them. I wont use them, unless its an emergency, like i'm stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire...thats it, I have learned how to go without, because if I use a CC at walmart for groceries- the $100 for groceries turns into $150 and 50 of that is crap I didnt really need.

Brandy

We run our house on a monthly budget too. We think of every possible item that we can come up with that we think we'll spend money on over the course of the year. From utility bills to insurance, taxes to dog food....everything. We look at the yearly amounts and then divide by 12 to get that monthly figure. However, not everything breaks into monthly increments. For instance, we pay our car insurance twice a year...so two big bills. We pay our property taxes in one big bill. Our pest control is quarterly... On and on. And so we always keep a few thousand dollars cushion in our checking account for this reason. It always works out at the end of year, but it's important to have that cushion as different expenditures hit you at different times.

 

[tinaluis]

We have budgeted for increases in utilities, but it's very aggravating to be paying $198 a month on the budget plan for natural gas when we were paying just over 1/2 that two years ago. (My salary certainly hasn't doubled -- why has the gas bill? LOL) It's not going to make or break us, but it doesn't make it any less aggravating. What the gas company hasn't taken into consideration is that we had all of our windows and doors replaced since last winter. I'm going to compare this month's usage to last year's to see if there is a significant difference. If there is, I will contact the gas company and ask that the budget amount be lowered.

Like the OP, we don't have a lot of wiggle room in our budget and increasing our cash flow isn't an option right now. We do have an Emergency Fund and a substantial amount in savings, but for now, DH is a stay at home dad and we live on my income alone. That's our choice, I know, but simply saying that someone should increase their cash flow if their budget is so tight may not take several important factors into consideration. For us, it's most important that one of us be home with the kids. That means we live on one income until our youngest is in school full-time and then probably only one and a half incomes because of their school hours. For us, being with our kids is more important than all the $$$ in the world. We're able to manage on my salary alone and get all of our bills paid (without credit cards). We're also able save a little along the way for short-term and long-term goals. It may not work for others, but it definitely works for us and allows us to enjoy our family. To each their own.

 

[2plus2]

I heard Monday that my budget gas bill is going up $100, then today our insurance renewal came and our auto insurance is going up $120 month. My husbands family health at work is going up $800. Things are VERY tight!! Plus we are paing over $250 a month in gas to get to work. No way to carpool as I work in health care and never get out of work on time, and do call. I am very scared for what this winter will bring..

 

[2plus2]

How do you get you utility company to work with you ,mine just acts like TOUGH!! My budget is all paid up this month and the new budget amount starts december. and they are still raising it the $100.

 

[disneysteve]

How do you get you utility company to work with you ,mine just acts like TOUGH!! My budget is all paid up this month and the new budget amount starts december. and they are still raising it the $100.

If you think they are overbudgeting, or something has changed that they are not aware of (like new windows or a new furnace), call and ask them to lower your budgeted amount. Ask for a supervisor if necessary.

 

[HaleyB]

We have completely turned our finances around from a year ago. I will admit we have made mistakes in the past, but we are working on correcting them. Thank you again for all the help and for those that just listened to my vent.

Amanda, I wanted to say this: Good Job! Don't let the small set backs in your budget get you down too much. Just try to remember how much worse off you would be with no budget at all. I don't really believe that anyone gets their budget plan right from the very first. You learn as you go and after awhile all those unexpected things become expected.

 

[tlbwriter]

I heard Monday that my budget gas bill is going up $100, then today our insurance renewal came and our auto insurance is going up $120 month.

$120 a month??? That's pretty drastic. Do you know why it's going up so much?

 

[disneysteve]

$120 a month??? That's pretty drastic. Do you know why it's going up so much?

I was wondering the same thing. That's $1440 for the year. Did you have an accident or some other violation? If not, I would definitely be shopping for new auto insurance.

 

[agotta]

My insurance went up too! $100 a month thanks to DH's little fender bender. He barely tapped the car in front of him and the other woman insisted on calling the cops. She said, Oh we are luck to make it out alive. There wasn't a scratch on either car.

 

[2plus2]

A 16yr old boy was added, and my Husband had a ticket for under 10 over back last november nothing since. Called my company and they can take off $200 for a good student discount. Still too high . I shopped around yesterday and couldnt find anything cheaper. They say in 6 mo it will probably go down, but winter is the worst 6 mo to tough it out, with our gas bill rising as well.

 

[Debbie Jean]

A 16yr old boy was added, and my Husband had a ticket for under 10 over back last november nothing since. Called my company and they can take off $200 for a good student discount. Still too high . I shopped around yesterday and couldnt find anything cheaper. They say in 6 mo it will probably go down, but winter is the worst 6 mo to tough it out, with our gas bill rising as well.

I feel your pain. Until you've added a teenager to an automobile insurance policy, you don't know what "price increase" really means... mine went from $900 to $2500! It's for 2 cars but it's just me, 53 years old and DD, now 19. By the way, that's with perfectly clean driving records.

My father has a saying... "you can have a car or you can have money, but you can't have both".