please post your!

oneheart10 · September 2015

I am 34, just now starting to get a hold of my finance. i have no idea where to begin. I am planning on getting a fresh start the beginning of October with trying to budget.I have been reading about envelope systems and a whole lot of other stuff that gave me a migraine (literally). so i turned to the pros! you all...will you all please post your monthly budgets for me just so i can get an idea of how one looks and how much you all save and budget for food, entertainment etc.. i know every ones financial situation will be different. I'm just looking for ideas.

als1982 · September 2015

Can you tell us more about you and your situation? Are you single or married? One income or two? Rent or own? How much and what kind of debt do you have? Live in a high or low cost of living area? Have kids and day care expenses?

oneheart10 · September 2015

i am single, i rent, and i live in a low cost living area. 2000.00 after taxes a month is my income.
rent 700
car note 205.95 owe 4800.00
electric 70.00
water 45.00
netflix 8.00
cell phone 45.00
car insurance 90.00
life insurance 15.00
american express- 500.00 (300.00 balance)
groceries- 200
gas 200.00
eat out 50.00
entertainment 50.00
savings 40

als1982 · September 2015

Your gas seems high, do you have a long commute or a gas guzzler? Same for your insurance. Is that for one month? What is your deductible? Are you contributing to retirement in any way? Do you have other savings, an emergency fund?

Also, are the American Express numbers right? Will that be paid off at the end of the month?

hoffse · September 2015

The AmEx should be easy enough to knock out. Once you're done with that I would move the $500/month to the car note. Your car payment is 10% of your take-home income, and that's really too high for transportation.

Then shift it to savings to build up some buffer there. What do you have set aside in savings right now?

If you carry a balance on credit cards, then you shouldn't use them going forward. Cut them and up and move to cash or debit cards where you can't carry a balance.

Gas seems extremely high. Right now H and I pay about half that per month for two cars. What kind of car do you have and what is your commute?

Other than that, it seems like you're on the right track here.

hoffse · September 2015

Also, when I add everything up I get $2219/month. Not $2000/month.

Where is that extra money coming from?

oneheart10 · September 2015

i'm always over. and sometimes something wont get paid.

lbonga1 · September 2015

Did you mean $3000 balance on the amex? If you really did mean $300 then you'll be able to knock that out next month, and it'll free up money for other things. Otherwise, you're going to need to cut to the minimum so you're not going over every month.

I would temporarily stop putting money in savings until the credit card is paid off, and probably until the car is paid off. Shop around for car insurance to see if you can get a lower rate. Can you carpool at all to save on gas?

If you really can't find other ways to bring your expenses down, you may just need to lower how much you're putting toward debt, and it'll take longer to pay off. But if you continue how you are, you'll just be digging yourself a deeper hole anyway.

Is there any way you can make some extra money? Selling things on Etsy, mystery shop, pet-sit or baby-sit, become a tutor either in person or online?

hoffse · September 2015

oneheart10 said:

i'm always over. and sometimes something wont get paid.

This is the first problem.

Go back through your expenses for the last few months and track how much you ACTUALLY spent in each of your categories. Budgets are no good if you don't track actual spending vs. your budget goals.

You probably need to scale back on the debt repayment if it means you can't pay your other bills. Try to pay CC debt off as aggressively as possible, but you don't want to sink deeper into debt for it.

If you're going over, you also need to cut out the eating out and entertainment. Or cut them both in half if you can't go cold turkey.

I'm also questioning the life insurance. If you aren't married and don't have kids, who is the life insurance benefiting?

als1982 · September 2015

lbonga1 said:
Did you mean $3000 balance on the amex? If you really did mean $300 then you'll be able to knock that out next month, and it'll free up money for other things. Otherwise, you're going to need to cut to the minimum so you're not going over every month.
I would temporarily stop putting money in savings until the credit card is paid off, and probably until the car is paid off. Shop around for car insurance to see if you can get a lower rate. Can you carpool at all to save on gas?
If you really can't find other ways to bring your expenses down, you may just need to lower how much you're putting toward debt, and it'll take longer to pay off. But if you continue how you are, you'll just be digging yourself a deeper hole anyway.
Is there any way you can make some extra money? Selling things on Etsy, mystery shop, pet-sit or baby-sit, become a tutor either in person or online?

I agree. I'd start thinking about creative ways to bring in some extra money. I use EasyShift, Field Agent, Gigwalk and Zappidy apps to find secret shopper gigs and have been making about $75-100 extra a month with little to no effort. I also do Swagbucks, but it's a lot slower to accumulate. Also, I know it sounds silly, but your electric seems a little on the high side too, you could save a few dollars a month by unplugging everything while it's not in use, microwave, TV, radio/cellphone chargers, etc.

brij2006 · September 2015

Grab your bank statements from August and July, and go through and categorize every purchase. That will give you a rough number on how much you spend in each. At that point is when you can see where you think you can cut. Whether that be on groceries, eating out, entertainment, etc.

A good tool to give you a financial plan is Dave Ramseys' Total Money Makeover. There are 7 steps to the plan, and it gives you good ideas on where to cut, what to cut, how to make extra money to get things paid off, etc. He does promote the envelope system, and it's a good way to help you stay within budget on each category.

vlagrl29 · September 2015

The first time I started a budget for DH and I was 5 years ago. I kept all receipts and at the end of the month I tracked every penny and put it in categories to see where our spending was. Then I saw where we could cut a bit and I revaluate every year all the categories. Still to this day I save all receipts and add up at the end of the month. That's the only way I really know if we are staying on track or not.

julieanne912 · September 2015

Hi. I am new here and this is my first post, although I've been lurking for a bit.

One suggestion, if you don't want to go through each bank invoice, is to set up an account on www.mint.com. It's free, and you can categorize all your purchases and expenses as they come out of your account. Then, after a month or so of doing that, you can figure out where your money is REALLY going, not just where you think it's going. Then after that, you can figure out a realistic budget, not an idealistic one.

MommyLiberty5013 · September 2015

Life insurance is harder to get sometimes. If you are in excellent health then perhaps consider cutting it. But, if you aren't or if you have an on-going health problem. I'd keep the LI policy and make your cuts elsewhere...

downgrading phone, cutting cable, shaving off fun money, not eating out, etc.

Sisugal · September 2015

Do you have anything you can sell -things you no longer need or use? - Craigslist, E-bay, consignment shop etc?
Consider looking for a second part time job - the holiday seasonal employment is beginning to start.
Take your lunch to work (leftovers, fruit &sandwich etc)
Really you do not need life insurance at this point. Any life insurance you do have should be TERM life insurance ONLY!!
WHY is your car insurance 90 a month? IF your FICO credit score is poor - that increases your car insurance premium as well .
You HAVE to STOP SPENDING MORE THAN YOU TAKE IN!
You either have to increase your income or cut - and you do not have much to cut -- in fact you have not included categories like clothing, gifts, vacation, haircuts, etc.

Ditto the recommendation for Dave Ramsey's book - Total Money Makeover --- highly motivating for getting out of debt. Another good book to read is Smart Women Finish Rich --- more about aligning your finances to meet your values & goals.

You can put a small tablet in your purse and write down every purchase as you make it -
When making a purchase ask yourself:
1) Is this a NECESSARY expense? If not - STOP. If needed - then the next question is:
2) can I get it for less money (buy use, on sale, clearance, or borrow it?)
STAY OUT of the Mall - and do NOT shop online.
Pre-plan your spendng - no impulse purchases.
SAVE for your purchases - then spend.
STOP using your credit card and go to cash or debit card.

This is not going to be easy for you, but it will get better as time goes on.
IF you want your financial life to change - YOU need to change.

Erikan73 · September 2015

One recommendation I have is to call around for quotes on insurance rates. Your insurance rates seem high, but depending on where you live, your driving record & the amount of coverage you have, it might not be high.

One thing that I have found that I like is good budget. It's a free online app, but depending on how many envelopes you have, you may need to pay an annual fee. For me it's worth it because it has helped us termendously with staying within our budget. We've gone from always being in the hole to now having money left over because I can better track where the money goes. It's like an envelop system, you make a catergory for each area you spend money on. Then you just enter what you spend & under what catergory the money was for. At the end of the month you can really see how much you have spent where.

For me I find that it helps to have a set day to work on my budget. Every Monday I bring all my mail with me and at lunch time, go through the bills and take care of them. Then I go through my bank account info & enter it all into my good budget app (also accessible online). Then I can see how much do I have left for fuel, food, dining out, etc for the rest of the month. With doing this every week, I've gone from having to spend 2-3 hours every other week (when we get paid) and being frustrated to spending 30 minutes every monday doing bills and I'm actually happy when I'm done.

It will take time for you to figure out exactley where all your money is going and where you can cut back on things. But tracking where your money is going exactley is the first big thing. When figuring out your monthly budget, don't forget any annual expenses. Like license plates, for those I figure out what the annual costs is (we have two cars) divide that by 12 and that is how much a month I put away for that. When they come due, I have the money already saved up. I'm not taking a big hit in one month, because both plates are due in the same month. For me to put away $10.00 a month isn't a big deal, but to get hit with a $120.00 charge in one month, would totally mess up my budget.

please post your!

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