Okay, not going to try to track the pet category given that we’re trying to sort out kidney/arthritis/teeth problems there, but for my personal categories:
Groceries: $150 max
Restaurant: $100 max
Hobbies: $50 (want to actually spend some money here since I keep putting off some things I’d like to do)
Home Improvement: $50 max (since I keep picking up random things…need to finish some projects rather than starting new ones)
Charity: $1500 (planned)
Bills: $60 (some prepaid)
Auto: $30 (tank of gas and get recall fixed which should be $0)
Travel: $0…
First discovery of looking at the budget is that we have rather too much cash on hand. Some of that is the thing I already knew, we turned off some of the automation last year, which means that it has been accumulating and not moved over to investments in a regular ongoing basis. The shadowy one is going to give some more thought on whether this is something they can do, or if we ramp up the automation and take the MER hit.
We also have a 6 month emergency fund in case both of us lose our jobs. Much like when we dropped the life insurance, it seems like a concept we should revisit given our current situation.
Lol, first pet sitting payment of the month came in and I immediately threw it at this bill, as that still left me with the $1000+ buffer I like to keep in checking. So once that processes no more specifically credit card debt! Once I got that close I could not just let $100 or so sit in there unpaid, haha.
Budget-tober! First update:
I budget pretty loosely, generally. I have my fixed expenses (mortgage, utilities, cats and groceries), a fixed savings amount and then a discretionary spending amount ( which includes gas and transportation, ‘fun’ groceries and take out, gifts, clothing and general ‘wants’) that I keep slushy on purpose because I like manually transferring extra to savings at the end of the month.
The problem I have is that I have a tendency to not spend the discretionary money because I like to keep it in “reserve” as much as possible. I don’t need to do this, I just get cheap and miserly sometimes.
The first actual mindful bit of spending I am doing this month is planning to fill my car with gas( ~$30 at either end, so about $60 total), fill the leaky tire( ~$2?) with air, buy flowers (~$12) and go see my Mom on Sunday for her birthday. She and my Dad moved at the beginning of August and I have only seen their house on google street view. I wasn’t going to do this, I already sent my Mom a card and present for her birthday, but my sister ( who I haven’t seen since last christmas) asked me to, and since the contractor won’t start installing the floors on Monday as it turns out, I have some more time to spend on ceiling painting and don’t have to do it all weekend, which was my original plan.
I was struggling with whether to do this this month because I’m not financially in a place where I need to restrict spending much and not mentally in a place to deny myself conveniences & little luxuries.
I have a couple pretty easy goals:
Go back through CC statements and figure out how much left Greyman and I each have in our allocated “fun money lump sums”
Get Patreon donations back on track (they lapsed because my CC changed and then I just never bothered to go fix it)
Donate/spend $1000+ on donations to charities and purchases/sponsoring of independent creators\
Spend $100+ on clothing that fits me, especially bras.
Narrowing my focus because everything else is pretty fixed. Really going to focus on that grocery bill. Also, my partner and I both have individual “funny money” accounts. I don’t track mine-- I just keep my spending under the allowance and save whatever is leftover. I have an aversion to restriction so it’s how I get around my own psychology. Also, my misc budget line is already almost tapped - I ordered dog food in bulk and had to get some meds for our sweet dog.
Well, it’s Friday. It’s only two days in, so I don’t know that today really counts, but mine is easy so I’m reporting.
I was going to track all spending. We did not spend any money yesterday or today (I had to check the credit card statement to see if he bought gas yesterday, but he didn’t, so it’ll be on next week’s report for sure.)
Groceries - $2.76/$300
Block of tofu for dinner and some buttermilk for scones for tomorrow’s tea tasting class
Subscriptions - $15/$72
Patreon
Etc - $1.07/$50
Cute todo list app
Pets - $286/$300
The cat is fat and has bad teeth. I knew that already before I took her to her checkup. Haven’t gotten the test results back to see if she can get a dental
No other spending
Resisted buying snacks on my way to early work both days so far. Go me!
Well, I haven’t actually spent any money yet, but we have started using our air purifier (we got it during the last bout of bad smoke) and that has been a significant up in awesomeness, because suddenly I’m not waking up with a sore throat on bad air quality days! That’s definitely a nod towards “sometimes you should spend money to make your home nice.”
I think my first goal is going to be pricing out what it would cost to make my own nightstands instead of buying them.
Budgetober Food budget: $680 total ($275 food out, $405 groceries)
I usually have targets for food out vs. groceries, but I’m terrible and sticking to those and just track them together, especially because I buy a lot of my food with various combinations of my 3 housemates. So this month, I’m still going to budget them together BUT track separately so I can see how much I actually spend in each category.
Update 1:
*$25/$275 food out
*$190.90/$405 groceries
*$215.90/$680 total
I did a big grocery shop today which will hopefully last me a few weeks…plus my wine subscription
Rent: $650/$650
Groceries: $0/$200
PT: $0/$135
Bed: $0/$100
Internet: $0/$60
Auto Insurance: $0/$180
Renters Insurance: $0/$46
Gas: $0/$40
Supplements: $0/$40
Misc: $0/$50
Giving: $20/$20
Coffee (beans for home): $0/$30
Personal Care: $0/$20
Apple Music: $10/$10
Clothing: $65/$0- purchased a new hoody, this was not a planned expense this month, but a planned expense this year that I decided to do today
My biggest challenge this month will be groceries. I am going to attempt to go as far into Oct as possible before shopping, but I am mostly out of fresh veg, so I may just make a quick trip just for that.
First update
The only spending so far has been rent, car/renter’s insurance, and Patreon. All known and automatic payments. I also made a list of what I think I want for exercise equipment and did some research and pricing. Next step is to assess my savings account and what I actually need for my emergency fund to see what I can throw any towards these goals. After that I’ll decide what I need now vs later, given that it was 80F today and still plenty warm for an outside jog.
October Budget/Spending Monthly Bills
Mortgage - 1007
Phones - 56/56
Internet - 70 - Bumped out of promotional pricing
Electricity - 176 - Really hot!
Water & Sewer - 95
Life Insurance - 102
Propane - 20
Bank Fee - 1
Student Loan - 65
Food ----> These are the categories I need to watch closely
Groceries - 18/625 - baby food
Dining Out - 150
Kid
Formula, Diapers & Wipes - 150/190 - Subscribe & Save order
Kid Other - 9/100
Pet
Expense Budget - 104/104 - Subscribe & Save order
Save 75 for medical expenses
Everyday Expenses
Household - 52/150 ----> Also need to watch closely
Gas - 20
Subscriptions - 24
Irregular Expenses
Car Insurance: Spent 328/328 Save:33
Car Taxes: Save 34
Amazon Prime: 120; Save 10
Taxes: Save 10
Targeted Savings Contributions
House Maintenance: Save 567 (all leftover - hoping to build instead of spend here)
Auto Maintenance: Spend $85 - Need oil change
Out of Pocket Medical: Spend 523/523; save 69
Gifts & Birthdays: $60 - Likely spend all of it on birthday gift?
