I quit my job in July and am currently living off savings and some part time substitute teaching. I worked really hard to be able to have this time off for my health, but it is definitely making my budget different than it used to be.
Iām planning to track groceries, eating out, gas, gifts/fun purchases, and roth savings since those are my somewhat flexible categories. Health spending is also a variable category but not really in my control since my new insurance has a 10% coinsurance.
An additional goal: I want to see if I can find space in the budget for house cleaning. We had cleaners come last month and I want to make it a regular thing. But I donāt know how much they charged. My husband says he paid them but I canāt find the transaction.
Iām in! I want to pay off one credit card and save for a program iām starting next fall. Favorite thing about fall is the spooky podcasts that come out in October.
I have decided to stick to a budget of $100 for the month for my solo junk food eating. Thatās an average of about $3 a day.
This encompasses treats I buy to eat when Iām by myself. It includes any dessert-y drinks. It doesnāt include treats or dessert bought to be eaten with my family or friends (reasonable quantities) or on a business trip (again, reasonable quantities). I can eat down my existing stockpile, I can accept freebies (reasonable quantities), I can bake my own treats if I get desperate enough. I canāt behave in any way to massively circumvent the intentions of this goal, which is to eat less junk food and spend less money on it. No stocking up on September 30 because the challenge starts tomorrow.
I am in for Budgetober because I really need to have a low spend month where I actually stick to my budget. This year has been expensive with applying to medical school and everything that comes with that, and has also had a lot of retail therapy and plant spending as well. Iāve also been so busy that Iāve been buying more convenience type foods which has increased my grocery budget quite a bit. I feel ok about it though because I donāt eat food out very often. But still, itās been high! And Iāve had a lot of fun! But, I am ready to get my budget back on track because I have a lot of big expenses that Iām going to have to deal with over the next few months (medical and home expenses)
Goals:
Grocery budget under $450
No clothing shopping except for 1 white blouse I need for an upcoming interview
NO PLANTS. I have so many plants. And so many plant projects I can do this month! No need to add more right now
home spending under $50. I need to buy one shelf at Costco that is about $40 to store a bunch of my soil and other plant stuff on my patio, but thatās it.
I have no savings goals this month because I have some big medical bills, and I just found termites in my living room. So Iāll likely be pulling from sinking funds/savings to help with some of that. Just trying to not ADD to the money stress with any fun spending
Hopping back on the forum after literal years to join this challenge. I need to see how low I can get my discretionary spending this month because with the govt shutdown looming Iām likely to be working without pay
I also need to budget for Halloween costumes because I always forget those and I have tickets to a great party this year. Say $100 for couple costumes and $50 for other fun money?
I have come up with some goals! My problem areas are impulse/spur of the moment spending, especially when it relates to our daughter (AKA spending that I believe will temporarily restore my sanity: hot chocolate! a new-to-her toy! etc). I am a SAHM to a two year old and feel that my sanity is in short supply.
Goal part 1: Cheap (and prepaid) thrills!
Choose activities that either have already been paid for (zoo membership, exercise class, playplace gift card) or are free/low cost (playdates with a friend, library, park, etc)
Track spending on entertainment and kid activity categories. Goal is to keep both categories under $25.
Goal part 2: Plan ahead!
Spend minimal time in grocery stores and money-spending environments. I will aim to grocery shop 4x this month, plus ONE (1) Costco trip that is going to be necessary soon.
Adapt recipes to use what we have. Do not go to the grocery store for one ingredient.
Stockpile ready-to-go snacks for outings and snack attacksāboth for daughter and me.
Track spending on groceries and eating out. Goal is to keep groceries under $500 and eating out to almost nothing, under $50.
Goal part 3: Pay a bill!
I have a medical bill from a few months ago that our dumb insurance doesnāt cover. Itās about $600 and we wonāt be able to pay it without dipping into savings.
If I find myself with extra spoons (ha), I can contact insurance and argue about it.
Overall goal: Spend under $4000 this month.
I will consider this month a success if I can keep my spending under this number. This is on the lower end of the average of what I typically spend in a month. Without the $600 bill I would probably have an easy time achieving this but this is going to be a pretty ambitious challenge. It leaves room for all the essentials and not much else.
Maybe I will be successful in some of my sub-goals but not the overall one. We shall see.
Because I feel the need to over-explain: my household certainly spends more than $4000 in a month, but I donāt track or have access to my husbandās spending, so I am only tracking my own. His spending is mostly on stuff that is just for him (takeout, haircuts, his cell phoneā¦) and my spending is more on family and child stuff.
Change of plans, I will not be in another country, so I might as well be in.
Food (groceries+dining out): $250
This is the main thing I want to keep low since I way overspent on travel prep (admittedly I lump things like non-prescription travel medication in with food since I get it all at the grocery store, and a lot had expired since my last big trip, but still), and while my fridge is currently empty, my pantry is very much not.
Travel: 80% trip cost refunded
Slightly weird since this category should go negative, but I need to work through the list of things that got cancelled for either refunds or travel insurance claims. I have no idea how thatās going to go since Iām pretty sure āgovernment dissolvedā qualifies as a force majeure event, but while Iām just fine with the money I wired into the country for local accommodation/transport/etc. staying there to help who it can, the international airlines and tour companies are a different thing.
Sports/hobbies: $100
This one is more inventorying and figuring out why every month has been over for the year when I wasnāt able to do much for two full monthsā¦might need to recalculate for next year, but need to watch what Iām including.
September was a budget disaster. We had many unplanned expenses:
A pricy vet visit for a heart murmur
A whole year of after-school clubs in one payment
Lego advent calendars unexpectedly appearing at Costco (this is 100% on me)
An airshow that my husband (who doesnāt pay attention to what anything costs BEFORE he buys it) attended with my kids, but without me.
My October goals:
Personal responsibility - Stay within or below the allotted budget in the following categories that I am primarily responsible for:
My own spontaneous spending
My own eating out
āKid expensesā, because I buy all the clothes and shoes and Halloween costumes. Itās so hard to not buy fun kid things just because theyāre fun and I know theyāll love them.
Groceries (if at all possible, DH does occasionally go by himself)
Home supplies (this is everything from toiletries and light bulbs to new art)
Eating out - Reduce our family fast food/takeout spending for the month.
DH and the kids eat out on Tuesdays when I do trivia, but we have 3 other days / week that are currently iffy due to sports, dance, and swim lessons. Iāll do my best to have leftovers or really quick meals planned, because if thereās ANY hang-ups, everyone else in my family would rather have takeout OTOH, itās my 40th birthday this month, so I might exclude that single occasion.
Pay off my car loan! - Weāve had the money set aside in Ally for a little over a year now after receiving a windfall, because itās on a 2.5% loan, but itās less than a year from maturity and I really really want to be free from everything but our mortgage.
Savings - October is a 3-paycheck month for my husband, and I want to shove 85% of that extra paycheck into savings. About 10% goes into a bucket for him to spend on whatever he wants, and the other 5% is budget padding, because weāve never in our lives underspent for a whole month.
ETA - Crafting - Finish projects that I already have the materials for! I have a skirt Iāve been trying to refresh literally all year that Iād love to wear as part of a costume, so I should work on that. Also Iāve used a gift certificate from last Christmas to sign up for a 3-weekend āLearn to Crochetā class which includes needles and yarn for the project, so thatās even more crafts for theoretically $0 (except that itās inside a really cute, independently-owned yarn store called Lambspun which will tempt me at every turn).
I donāt want to budget money, not because thatās not important, but because there is something more important right now: meals, and sleep
The goal: eat three dang meals a day and sleep (or be in bed) 8 hours a night. The sleep especially will be really hard I think? So maybe my initial goal is 80% success rate, and reassess after a week or two.
As a chronically distracted individual who doesnāt remember to eat and who doesnāt get enough sleep, these are the top priority for October.
(But also, stick to a craft budget of $0 + the cost of 3 very specific items I have been planning for a while, because my spontaneous craft spending the past few months has been absolutely out of control. So. No *unplanned * craft spending.
Spooky Season likes? Pumpkin Pie. Itās the reason for the season. Also pumpkin bread. And pumpkin muffins. And pumpkin curry. And pumpkin soup. (You would never guess I have a problem remembering to eat.)
Thank-you! . I decided to forego the fancy planners and use a weekly one from Dollarama this year. The extra expenses in this category are for some Cash Envelope System supplies. I find, now Iām retired, a daily planner is overkill, and I just end up writing the same items over and over again. I also prefer seeing my week at a glance.
My major concern with these numbers are the Biz numbers. I can do better. But I did buy crafting supplies for the next 5 years. Plus Iām actually selling supplies now. Mostly de-stashing. That only started in March.
Iām in. After some weird years financially arising from tough years personally, Iām needing to look at my discretionary spending - (non-grocery) shopping, socializing, and eating out.
OTOH, itās my 40th birthday this month, so I might exclude that single occasion.
. I decided to forego the fancy planners and use a weekly one from Dollarama this year. The extra expenses in this category are for some Cash Envelope System supplies. I find, now Iām retired, a daily planner is overkill, and I just end up writing the same items over and over again. I also prefer seeing my week at a glance.