I’m probably just here for moral support honestly 
I haven’t decided if I’ll participate at all, but I’m rooting you all on! 
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Same. I’m too lazy to budget or track, but I can be a cheerleader.
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Me three, I can’t meaningfully restrict my budget when there are still a lot of things I need to replace at the new house. But I do covet that cute sticker!
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I want a stickerrrr but I will be paying for many wedding things very soon so I don’t think this is my year (or month, anyway).
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You don’t have to make wedding part of your budget! Or you can set budget for wedding things! It’s a budget challenge, not a frugal challenge!
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That is a good point. I do have a wedding budget but, I also have no idea what to expect (despite extensive research!!), so I have been off by thousands of dollars in both directions already lol
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Today I’m going to choose a budgeting system from the list @anomalily kindly gave me. And then… make a budget?
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You don’t have to restrict your budget - you can just track it! It’s not meant to be a restriction challenge, just a way to try out budgeting or try a new thing.
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I forgot we’re going to be away for 8 days in October on a trip, so I’m going to make the grocery budget $300 for the month. I believe!
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I guess I could just look at the 7-month average (in this new house) of my categories so far and just see if I go over or under (ie how lose is the average to the actual). I have been tracking since 2017, but don’t budget per se (I just track into categories and keep track of the totals and averages; very occasionally if a month is ridiculous I might restrict a bit the next month, but not really, it’s more just for the data.)
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OK, I decided to go for it and try this, while leaving wedding stuff out of it!
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I signed up last year, but then Things happened and I fell off the wagon and did not earn my sticker. This year I will prevail!
I’m a super intense and enthusiastic budgeter with a modest income and a flamboyant, multi-page excel document tracking everything since I graduated from college 7 years ago. But lately I WAY overspend on groceries every month.
My partner and I just moved to the the ‘burbs and have access to costco now, which should make things cheaper overall but I think will also make some months expensive and other months cheap. I don’t know how to budget for costco shopping!
So my goal is to figure it out. My grocery budget has been $300 for a long time and I’m going to keep it there, but I’m going to track my grocery spending more closely keeping a new spreadsheet page of each trip, where we went, and what we spent (my half anyway). Try to do some light meal planning too if I find things creeping up too fast.
My favorite thing about Halloween is EVERYTHING! Spooky season is life!
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Ohh if you like spreadsheets, do you want my intense grocery tracking spreadsheet by category? We did it for a few months to get settled into figuring out how groceries were gonna work when we started living together.
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Yes please!! That would be awesome.
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Thank you @LadyDuck <3 This is helpful guidance.
I’m now thinking a two-fold approach: 1) making a food budget (groceries & dining out) for the month of October; 2) making a specific vacation budget for the week that I’m away.
I appreciate your help!
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Due to various life circumstances, my routine has been out of whack, leading to more fast food spending than I care for. My goal for Budgetober is to eat fast food no more than three times and to spend no more than $20. (I’m going to put a $20 bill in my wallet and, when it’s gone, no more Taco Bell.)
When I look at this, it feels like such a tiny goal, but I think meeting it will feel like a big accomplishment because it will require thought and planning and will likely lead to eating more healthily.
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I love the simplicity of this. It’s the cash envelope for just one category, and you have a concrete motivation behind it. <3 Do you need to plan for having snacks/energy bars/easy to eat meals around in order to help with having other choices?
For me, it’s usually when life gets hectic that I can’t plan ahead for food and then I end up eating whatever’s available. If I at least have nuts at my desk, a clif bar in my workout bag, or a frozen dinner in the freezer, I usually can avoid the panicked buying.
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I have created my budget with the help of Meowkins. Let’s do this!
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I rely on routine and even the tiniest changes can really throw me for a loop. We started back at the office at the beginning of August - I’m doing 3 days at the office and 2 at home - and it’s been difficult to adjust. Throw in a week of vacation and a week of non-COVID plague and I’m a ball of dissociating anxiety. (Not as dramatic as it sounds…)
There will definitely have to be planning - mostly making sure that I have breakfast and lunch for the three days I’m in the office. I don’t get fast food while I’m at the office but I haven’t been bringing enough to eat during the day, so all the fast food places I drive past to get home are awfully tempting. Kind bars and a jug of cashews will likely make their way into my office drawer.
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OK I need to do Budgetober this year! I have been spending more than I would like on take out. This October I have 2 goals:
- Pack my lunch for work every day except for one; special takeout day TBD
- Spend $100 at most on treats/takeout, including fancy coffee
How will I do this?
-Track in my planner
-Take out $100 in cash this Friday and when it’s gone, no more treats
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