I’m issuing a challenge: Budgetober, which will run from October 1 - October 31.
The goal for budgetober is set and stick to your budget for the month of October. It’s also vaguely halloween themed. Also it has special forum badges and even a STICKER SHEET for people that complete the whole month.
The sticker was designed by aliasxahna and it’s adorable as usual. Here’s a preview (with bits obscured)
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.)
You’re allowed one week where you wave a magic wand and “re-cast” 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. Don’t get discouraged just because you have an off week! Jump back on the budgeting haywagon! (I told you this was halloween themed).
Each Friday you use this thread to report how you did on your budget for the week. You can report on where you’re at, and what your biggest challenge and victories of the week were. Then, you’ll put your predictions/goals down for the budget week ahead.
Who This Challenge is For
Maybe you’re already great at sticking to your budget , but you want to try out adjustments to your categories or a low-spend month.
Maybe you don’t 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 pandemic paycut or furlough and need to live on less money for awhile.
Maybe you have a new normal - new job, new family member, new location and need to figure out your new baseline.
Maybe you’ve 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 you’re tired of “cleaning up” 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 you’ve never budgeted before but it feels overwhelming to start. Perhaps one week at a time, for only a month, seems achievable! You don’t 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. It’s halloween, cat, and budget themed. I will mail these anywhere in the world.
If you’re in to participate (or on the fence and need encouragement), comment below with what you’re hoping to get out of Budgetober and your favorite thing about the halloween season.
I love the spirit of Boogetober, but I have to admit that it’s not the right thing for me this year. We are doing a 9 day vacay with both sets of parents and siblings and I have basically no idea what to expect, expense wise.
I think I will use the challenge spirit to do a time or movement challenge on my journal, but I’ll follow along and cheer on the boodgeters!
Usually have had fun Halloween things at work, but once again we shall have Covid instead, so forum fun it is.
I’ll figure out what we’ve been spending on groceries and see if we want to regulate that more. Fuel we mostly can’t control, but I’ll check to see if fuel to get husband to work costs more than he makes (possible, but we won’t change it if so because the hope is he’s hired full time as soon as our hiring freeze ends). Not going to budget puppy costs, because not skimping there. Not sure what sort of budget to set for online shopping; any holiday gifts had better be ordered no later than early October if we want a chance of getting them. I can set a budget of $50 for us for takeout/eating out and be sure we won’t go over; we did spend nearly $40 this month on one pizza to take to an outdoor gathering and one lunch with friends eaten on a restaurant patio.
Those are all of our variable expenses, I think. We’re unlikely to need to heat the house in October, but if we do, not skimping there either- I’m too old and too arthritic to be cold all the time.
I have been thinking about separating out my Food budget category into regular food and stuff from the local coffee shop and bakery, as I suspect that’s where we are often overspending. I’ll have to take a look at how much we’ve spent at those two shops and set a goal for October.
I’ve never been good at proactively budgeting rather than tracking expenses after the fact, and I’m even less into obsessing over that these days. I think a pleasantly interesting and engaging job and lower anxiety are contributing which is nice! Plus now I’m making $$$ instead of $$ and arbitrarily restricting spending feels kind of annoying and silly.
So if anyone can suggest a category to do so I can get that freaking adorable sticker please let me know!
I’m in! I love how excited my kid gets around big community events, so that’s my favourite thing about Halloween. I participated for the very first time last year because a 3 year old begging to be dressed as a witch is hard to say no to.
I want to plan my month. I’m sick of messing with budget categories and would like to write out what actually happens in a month before it starts instead of being surprised halfway through that we go to the cafe twice a week and that hey, turns out it’s more expensive with 2 adults and a kid all getting something!
I am in, I try to cash flow 2 expensive items in October:
I am exited to have an expensive ticket for the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra in the Hamburger Elbphilharmie and I preordered the iPhone 13 for me.
The concert will come up with fuel to the car as well, I can stay with BFF so need no hotel.
I will also go on my first business trip since March 2020, but I will get reimbursed so I exclude that of the budget. (Reimbursement with my company is a fast process, when I am back from the week in Amsterdam and have uploaded all receipts it will only be 5 days until the money is in my account.)
In and already have my usual budget spreadsheet, but need to look at little closer at what needs to be tracked. Offhand probably food since I tend to swing back and forth on cooking vs grabbing something quick, hobbies since this month I paid for my ski pass for the year which is always worth it but enough $ that I should be careful for a bit, and home since I’m once again building up a bunch of half-finished projects, but need to confirm and set up some actual numbers.
Our grocery spending keeps ballooning, and we have so much food in the house that it’s entirely possible for us to spend less. I’m going to try to keep October grocery spending at $400 or under with a stretch goal of $300.
I’m in too! I have not been following a budget since baby came along last July and my paycheck is a lot smaller than pre baby so I need to find out what our new baseline is. Also, I’m looking forward to this Halloween as even though we don’t really celebrate it in Australia, it’s a good excuse to dress up as a family of three! I have been telling husband for months that we will be the Beastie Boys.
Yes yes. October is going to be super hectic for me but my food spending has been off the charts and if I can reign it in even a little that would be a huge win. I have actual dollars in mind here, but I may only post percentages, because I am SO embarrassed about it.
My favorite thing about this season is the free pass to wear costumes basically all month long. I love seeing folks in costume!
I’m in! I want a sticker! Also, my food spending is wildly out of control, and I don’t even know what I’m spending it on. My goal is $300 on all food spending. The twist is that I will be traveling for half the month, which should drop the grocery half, but probably increase the restaurant/eating out half of things. I’ll track via my credit card/YNAB.
of Boogetober, but I have to admit that it’s not the right thing for me this year. We are doing a 9 day vacay with both sets of parents and siblings and I have basically no idea what to expect, expense wise.
