Iām issuing a challenge: Budgetober, which will run from October 1 - October 31 for the 7th year.
More to follow but you can sign up now!
The goal for budgetober is set and stick to your budget for the month of October. Itās also vaguely halloween themed. Also it has special forum badges and even a STICKER SHEET for people that complete the whole month.
Here are 2023ās stickers
Basic rules:
- You must establish a budget, a way to track it, and target amounts for the budget.
- Your categories can be as broad as you like, or as specific as you want. You can even just choose a single amount for the month, You can also track + limit one category if you prefer (i.e. grocery spending, restaurants, or stationary splurges.)
- Youāre allowed one week where you wave a magic wand and āre-castā your budget . This means if you go off the rails in a category, or something big comes up, you can set a new budget for the month. Donāt get discouraged just because you have an off week! Jump back on the budgeting haywagon! (I told you this was Halloween-themed).
- Each Saturday you use this thread to report how you did on your budget for the week. You can report on where youāre at, and what your biggest challenge and victories of the week were. Then, youāll put your predictions/goals down for the budget week ahead.
Who This Challenge is For
- Maybe youāre already great at sticking to your budget , but you want to try out adjustments to your categories or a low-spend month.
- Maybe you donāt currently do a budget , but feel like maybe your expenses are creeping up and want to use October as a chance to do a check-in and see how you are doing.
- Maybe you have a new normal - new job, new family member, new location and need to figure out your new baseline.
- Maybe youāve been spending a bit too much on take-away orders or planners , and want to dial it back a bit. One months seems doable!
- Maybe youāre tired of ācleaning upā categories the last week of the month - i.e. moving money from a too-full grocery budget into an overspent takeaway category. So the goal here is to change behavior or reset categories to more realistic amounts.
- Maybe youāve never budgeted before but it feels overwhelming to start. Perhaps one week at a time, for only a month, seems achievable! You donāt have to do it forever, just for October.
What do you get out of participating?
- Deep Satisfaction of trying to stick to a budget this October
- Community support for whatever your budget goals are for October!
- Budgetober success shout outs on the podcast
- A weekly CUTE halloween-themed forum badge for participating in the weekly check-in
- And if you do all 4 week check-ins, you get a STICKER mailed to you. Itās halloween, cat, and budget themed. I will mail these anywhere in the world.
If youāre in to participate (or on the fence and need encouragement), comment below with what youāre hoping to get out of Budgetober and your favorite thing about the halloween season.
Resource List for Budgeting
- List of budgeting software: September Budgeting App Games - SUBMIT YOUR REVIEWS by 10/1
- Livestream of OMD community Budgeting app reviews:
We tried every budgeting app so you donāt have to [2021] - YouTube - Budgeting with Money Fear and Anxiety - YouTube
- Money and Budgeting with ADHD - YouTube
- Oh My Dollar! episodes (most with transcripts) on Budgeting
- My personal favorite budgeting app (YNAB) which has a 34-day free trial
- Lillianās slide deck review of different budgeting apps to try out
- Oh My Dollar blog post: " A Budget Review Helps You Set & Keep Badass Resolutions "
- One last shameless plug: A Catās Guide to Money (Lillianās book which has 3 chapters on budgeting)
will edit my post with a more specific goal later on!