Iām in! I need a budget reset and this month seems as good as any to start over!
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Welcome back!!
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Me too! No idea what Iāll track yet, though.
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Iām in! Iāve been kind of winging it, but I need to rebuild my emergency savings. Iāve been trying to track my spending on paper, but I think I want to give YNAB another try so I think budgetober will be a good time to give that a try.
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Probably outā¦Iāll mostly be in another country with extremely limited internet access, and while Iāll definitely be tracking because things are mostly cash-only over there and thereās only so much I can take, I donāt figure Iāll be spending too much of my vacation doing check-ins or anything like that. Feels a little weird since this will be the first time Iām not participating, but so it goes, and good luck to everyone who is doing it.
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That is a good reason to skip.
If you get back from vacay and want to submit proof of tracking, I can probably arrange some sticker 
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Iām in! I want to cut back on takeout (again).
My goal is to pay for takeout with cash only for the month of October. My budget for takeout will be $300 for the month. (Listen, I live in a HCOL area and Iāll be super busy next month, ok?)
Looking forward to fresh apple cider from my CSA again!
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I sat down last night and this morning and tallied all my personal expenses and income for 2025, and figured the average out to the end of August. Itās okayā¦but not great. Iām in the black, but not as much as Iād like to be. I seriously need to think about revamping my budget and which areas to emphasize in October.
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That sounds like an excellent and massive goal
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Ok. My goals:
- Spend $850 or less on groceries
- Price out the lil bathroom makeover Iāve been considering (paint; shelf; TP stand; towel rack/hooks; hand towel ring; bathmat; stool(?); trash can that closes so baby canāt get into it(?))
As a note, all the things Iām considering for the upstairs (i.e. guest) bathroom are all things that donāt exist in the bathroom, excepting that it is painted (white). The toilet paper has been living on the back of the toilet, towels get hung on the door, and the trash can (which has no top) is living in the tub so the baby canāt get at it. Calling it a makeover is maybe a little disingeous lol.
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Iām in! Iāve been doing pretty well with my budgeting overall this year (I recently recalibrated and have been paying more attention to categories I tend to overspend on like eating out), but this is always a fun way to be more intentional. Some goals (TBD on the final formulation):
- Continuing to track eating out, spending no more than $50 a week in this category
- Rethinking/reprioritizing my next savings goals and how my sinking funds align with them
- Trying out a new budget category of $50 in philanthropic/mutual aid funds every month
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I think Iām in. I think my challenge will just be, like, actually stick to my budget and not go over in any category. Which will require me to get super realistic about what they all will be!
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Iām in! We had our budget set up pretty well, but then things got busy and we need to get back on track!
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Iām in! Iād like to do a low spend month in anticipation of spending more during the holidays.
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Welcome to the forums @hartsea ! Iām resetting for holiday expenses too. 
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I almost wasnāt going to participate and then got the email and remembered there are stickers on the line so here I am 
Grocery spend seems to be wild latelyāover $1k a month. So my goal for October is to keep it below $900. Iād also love to clear out the pantry somewhat, so those goals should support each other!
I will also try to keep up with YNAB a bit better, both entering transactions closer to when they happen (so Iām not entering a bunch of them every time I reconcile) and noticing when categories are overspent (though obviously the ideal would be to not overspend at all).
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Hi. Anyone out there who can ballpark me a cost for having a Lenovo laptop checked out and regular maintenance done on it? Iām computer illiterate and running Windows 10 atm. I received an email saying they were going to stop providing security updates for it? Iām thinking, rather than attempt to do anything myself, Iāll take it into someone who knows something about computers.
Trying to nail this down as a line item for my October budget.
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Plansssss:
- No eating out (other than while my parents are in town - their last day is October 3). Iām also not ruling out grabbing coffee or food with a friend, but ABSOLUTELY NONE OTHERWISE. So no weekday ordering out because we didnāt plan ahead, and no quick coffee runs on the way to the office for me. Crucially, I have my partnerās complete buy-in for this, which is important because heās the main eating-out instigator.
- Relatedly, eat up the freezer and pantry.
- Aiming for $600 grocery spend.
- Nonfood related, no gardening spend other than what I need to complete 3 very specific projects.
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Plan: Stay under 200 Euro
Exception: I am on holiday returning October 4th. As I am staying at a Hotel, I have to eat out for October 1st to 3rd. I will exclude these three days from the amount.
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Iām in a unique situation because I have two-ish weeks between when my daughter starts daycare and when Iām back to work. In the In Between, I need to do a full scale breakdown of what we are spending and where, because I might maybe quit my job after 2025 bonuses are paid outābut I want to be positive we wonāt be in for avoidable surprises (there are other surprises coming, Iām sure). There are certainly ways we can pare down spending in advance that will calm some nerves too
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