As some other people have already done, it’s time for the first excercise of Budgetober:
predict your spending for the month (or the week, if you’re doing week-at-a-time).
As mentioned, you can track categories/spending in whatever method you like. You can do just one category, all categories, and you can use a paper tracker, an app, spreadsheet or the envelope system. Whatever works for you!
Things to include in your first prediction/goal post:
What your goal is with the challenge
Your budget categories and target amounts for the week (or month)
What your biggest challenge will be this week
What’s your fav thing about the beginning of autumn (or spring if you’re in the Southern hemisphere)
I’ll go:
I track using YNAB!
This is the budget for my whole month! I am hoping to reign in spending and rebuild some savings after traveling abroad for 11 weeks of this year. My usual spending, including travel, is $1400 average a month, I’m hoping to keep it below $1,100 this month.
My biggest challenges will be meal planning + not just running to trader joe’s to get unhealthy overpriced snacks for dinner. And the fact that I have been very brutal with getting rid of holey tights and now I own only 2 pairs but I live in tights in the fall.
Fav thing about fall is definitely opening the sweater drawer.
Spending budget: $1,040
Household & Insurance – $721
Rent: $615
Water, Commons, Garbage, Sewer: $32.50
Electricity: $33.00
Trash: $7.50
Household Items (detergent, TP, toothpaste): $10
*Internet at Home: $0
Transport/Bikes $10 (have $43 in category though, may need brakes worked on)
Without hijacking this entire thread - I’m in my late 40s, behind on savings given my age, and I really want to retire as soon as I can. Having to conform to a schedule is increasingly chafing at me, exhausting me, and harming my mental health. So, what will I do with the money? Stop working. Morality doesn’t really enter into it, just my increasing anger and frustration about having to say no to things I’d like to do, due to either 9-5 butt in seat schedule or exhaustion from work.
(I also tried self employment for a while so that I could set my own schedule. It ended badly. As in lost-our-condo badly.)
But, as I mentioned upthread, spending zero on anything other than needs has proven to be unsustainable for me. So to bring this back on topic, I think I am going to start with some simple goals and answer your questions:
Goal is.to minimize spending so that I can pay off Obscene Travel Charges.
Budget categories/goals:
keep grocery budget under $80/paycheck, so $160/month. I’m paid every 2 weeks. This is just me, while there is so overlap, Boyfriend and I have very different diets and he’s responsible for, like, getting his own meat since I’m vegetarian.
Eating out: pay for no more than 2 meals and spend no more than $100 total. Boyfriend and I take turns paying for dinners out, so this works out to eating out once a week. Typical spend is $50 for both of us including booze and tip.
Non-bill, non-food spending: … meh. I’m going to set this at $100 and see how that feels. See if giving myself permission to spend makes any difference in my actual spending. Because it’s Halloween season and setting this to zero will just be setting myself up for failure and probably whining . This category includes everything from fun to a bottle of wine to be consumed at home to the rare coffee out to “oh shit, I’m out of contact lens solution.”
Biggest challenge this week: Probably the fact that we’re entering a PAINFULLY slow period at work. When I am bored at work and needing to invent ways to look busy, I want to do two things: eat and shop. I find myself running out to Whole Foods at lunchtime to buy snacks after I have already consumed my brought-from-home breakfast and lunch, or buying crap out of the vending machine at the office because it is there.
I use a spreadsheet in google sheets. My goal is to spend less on going out to eat. I’m trying to go just once a week, not three or four times, and keep it to $60 or less each time (occasionally I like going to a nicer sit-down place so I’m using $60 as the upper end of my once-a-week number).
I am also trying to build savings and pay down a personal loan before November 2020. My biggest challenge is not giving in to temptation and going out to eat more than once a week.
The thing I like about the beginning of fall? Cooler, but not cold, temps (once it actually does cool down around the end of October) and Halloween.
Here’s my monthly budget:
Groceries/Household Supplies: $460
Gas: $240
Student Loans: $434
Savings: $100
Life Ins: $21
CC’s (no-interest): $80
CC’s (interest-bearing): $205
HSA: $80
Gym: $45
Personal loan: $191.38 ($111.38 regular payment + $80 extra to pay it off by next November)
Car: $370
Car insurance: $40 for my part
2nd personal loan: $80
Health Insurance: $208.70
Cell phone: $57
Internet: $15
Medicine:$40
Out-to-eat: $240
Once-yearly property taxes/tag fees/inspections for both cars: ~$240 (I have $210 of this put aside, just need to take another $30 out of one October paycheck for this)
Total: $3,148, but in several categories I budget more than I think I’ll need as a just-in-case thing.
My goal is to do the stuff that is good for me instead of constantly deferring it until some mythical future date that will be more auspicious. I will also get take out and go out to eat less.
My budget categories and target amounts for the week (or month)
Get two massages
go to physio
get the house cleaned twice
go to therapy twice
go to the gym or yoga three times a week or more
This week
Make appointments for massage, physio, and house cleaning
Go to therapy
Go to the gym or yoga three times
Eat out or get take out twice or less
I like the smell of leaves and going to a showing of Rocky Horror in the fall.
I’m undoubtedly forgetting stuff, as I have a fever. I will come back and edit when my brain starts working again.
I am FIREd and living in a MCOL-LCOL area. Spouse still works. Our money is separate. I haven’t budgeted per se (determined how much to spend in every category in advance), but it saved my ass when I was in university and after when I got my first (low paying) job and had all the bills.
Groceries: Average this year is $220/mo
Goal is stay at this level
Eat out: Average this year is $88/mo
Goal is $75
Gas: Average is 1 tank/mo when not traveling (~$30-$35)
Goal is stay at this level
Utilities: Varies a lot due to weather extremes
Goal is $120 (Gas & Electric)
Miscellaneous: I’ll add $100 here (may be a charitable donation, or donation to a candidate)
Other payments are set and not variable, so I will ignore those (car payment, insurance (car, house, medical, life)
ETA:
Biggest challenge - staying aware at the proper level (not obsessive and not ignoring)
Favorite thing about fall - Fall Colors! Cooler temps - a nice chilly day to walk the dog (hoodie weather).
Biggest challenge this week will be meal planning/figuring out groceries without a car. My preferred grocery stores are a little farther out of my usual commute, and I want to avoid lazy tech week grocery store takeout dinners.
My favorite thing about fall: getting the thick wool socks out! Also candles/fire.
My goal is to reign in our grocery spending. I’m not tracking our whole budget, this is the area I think could use most improvement.
Budget is $150/wk for all food
Biggest challenges this week will be to stick to our meal plan because I’m trying two new meals. Hopefully the recipes turn out! We also have to travel for a wedding this weekend so I’m hoping we can pack snacks to minimize restaurant spending.
My favorite thing about autumn is everything. Walking in the cooler weather with Bobbin and pup, fall fashion, early mornings on the crisp porch with hot coffee, I could go on and on. Fall is my season.
This seems like a very smart decision, and has reminded me of a thing I’ve been wondering about since I started wearing contacts daily for the first time in over a decade:
WHY IS CONTACT SOLUTION SO EXPENSIVE? It seems very expensive for being saline water. Are there, like, tips for reducing costs?
Hello! This is my first post here: I’ve been listening to the podcast for a few months and was inspired to actually join the forum by Budgetober.
For the past 3 months I’ve been budgeting in the sense of tracking income, fixed expenses, savings, and other more major purchases, but I have NOT yet started breaking the rest down into categories like “groceries”, “dog stuff”, “eating out”, “shopping” - so my goal for Budgetober is to take a stab at that. I track my budget in a google sheets document.
My categories are:
Rent + utilities: $780
Consumer debt: $800 minimum - this one the more I spend in it, the better.
Fitness classes: $50
Groceries: $150 (partner covers greater share)
Eating out: $100 - I wanted to make this more of a zero category but have a couple plans related to my partner’s birthday)
Emergency savings: at least $100
IRA: at least $100
Transportation: $100 - We need an oil change
Money I can spend on whatever can only come from pet sitting cash tips or going under budget in groceries, eating out, or fitness categories.
My income can be a little variable; I usually estimate the low end at $1900/month but it’s usually closer to $2200. I have some extra shifts this month so I’m pretty confident I’ll earn at least the $2180 projected here. I guess I want to really be strict this month about any extra going into emergency savings, my IRA, or paying toward the highest interest credit cards rather than letting that float off into new workout clothes, fancy vegan snacks, absurd dog toys, beer!
My biggest challenge this week, and likely for the whole month, will likely be managing cash flow. I’ve done well the past few months in making actual headway against my debt (however small my progress feels) and sloooooowly growing emergency and retirement savings, but I keep messing up or almost messing up the timing of my withdrawals and transfers, occasionally triggering low balance or overdraft fees as a result. I need to get a better handle on when payments will post, and maybe hold off on transferring to savings until the bills have paid.
My favorite things (things plural, as I have many!) about the beginning of fall are ideal running weather, ideal walking weather for my picky dog, being able to wear hoodies again, not having to run the AC or the heat, birthday season for most of my favorite people, pets wearing costumes, free candy at work but most of it not being vegan so I get free candy but actually only eat a reasonable amount.
I am so glad that someone else has this issue/“solution”. As a kid I used to store up the chocolate/other non-vegan candy during holidays, wait two weeks til everyone had eaten all of theirs, and then pull out the candy from the back of my desk to resell/trade.
Glad to see you’ve been lured into joining the forums! I hope you like it here! Don’t hesitate to reach out if we can help in any way. <3
I might have a backup pair somewhere. I also need shoes and boots that are easier to get on an off, but I might be able to figure out something with what I have. I need to spend time on these things. Just as soon as I can sit up without crazy pain.
Goal: to actually track my spending all month, and come in under budget! Just keeping it in front of mind like this will probably make a discernable difference.
Budget: posted above
Biggest challenge: this coming weekend I’ll be in San Francisco. $$$ for food and transit and god help me if there’s merch
Best thing about fall: seeing the leaves change colors. This was not a thing that happened where I grew up and I’m still not used to how fucking majestic it is
OK I’m in. My biggest challenges are my grocery budget, because I’m terrible at meal planning; and planning ahead and anticipating things in general. So maybe this will force me to meal plan and look ahead. I’m also going to estimate other categories that I find difficult to estimate. I track expenses so I’ve looked back to a year ago (to find surprises) and my average for things so far this year. I’m limiting this to discretionary, non-fixed spending.
Groceries: $275 stretch, $325 more realistic.
Gas: $55
Eating Out / Entertainment: $75
Household: $75
Supplements: $60
Cat: $60
Therapy: $300
Massage: $120
Lawn & Garden: $40
Blinds: $300
Bus pass: $20
Gas & Electric: $5 (saver’s switch credit drops this month, yay)
Other goals:
-Get an estimate on flooring upgrades downstairs (This is work I don’t think I can do on my own). I may pull the trigger on this work in October
-Estmate upstairs flooring costs (this I can do, I’m projecting a max of $3500 depending on what I select and what other ‘details’ I figure out are required) Maybe I will start this project in October if I am really ambitious
-Get an avatar instead of an initial
I feel guilty posting the massages since I usually think of them as a luxury item. I have a lot of knots / trigger points in my upper back, I have done a lot of things to deal with the upper back muscle and occassional pain problems but still the knots remain. I’m giving massage a try (continuing with chiropractic, yoga, appropriate exercise, therapy balls, better posture, etc.).
I use an app called expense tracker.
My favorite thing about Fall is cooler weather. I am over the heat.
I’m going to try this week-by-week. Things are going to be tricky for the next couple of weeks as I pay rent and my security deposit. I have the savings and am getting my last security deposit back, so should come out okay.
Goals: Actually stick to a budget, keep food spending low, save 10% of income
Challenges: I’m out of the house a lot, so have to plan ahead to not spend too much on eating out
My favorite fall thing is the perfect cool temperature plus warm sunshine
Week One Budget: $2202
Basic Needs – $1950
Rent: $885
Security Deposit: $935*
Electric: $20
Internet: $20
Transit Pass: $90
*I’m getting my security deposit from last year’s lease back this week, so it’s an “expense” that will be reimbursed in a way
Debt Payments – $67
Credit card payment: $67
Medical – $50
Two appointment copays: $50
Just for Fun – $135
Dance tuition: $55
Voice lesson: $80
No food spending this week, my pantry is full and I’ve done meal prepping.
I feel embarrassed at how much I’m spending, especially on non-necessary things. Oh well, this is what I’ve chosen.
ETA: Adjusted budget because I just realized my student loan payment will fall in the second week this month.
I’ve been using dollarbird to budget for about two years now.
My initial goals are to save an extra $500 this month and also pay off $500 extra in debt payments.
My biggest challenges will be not going out to eat, besides my short trip, and also not splurge on gifts for myself as my birthday is at the end of the month. Last month I spent over $150 on going out to eat and I want to keep this under $50.
Goal: Set a new baseline budget now that we’re homeowners
Budget categories, all for the month:
Groceries $260
Clothes $35
Date money $50
Miscellaneous $80 (this will include a breakout of my spending on decorating my spider plants as spiders for Halloween)
Plants $20
Biggest challenge this week: Dealing with rainy day blahs/earlier sunsets without using money/food/alcohol to self-medicate
Favorite thing about beginning of autumn: The feeling of fall mornings, especially if there’s sunshine
Not gonna lie, my goal is to get a cool forum badge, and maybe a sticker.
Budget and target: hmm. Well, we don’t budget. We keep an eye on what we have spent and adjust if needed. Things that don’t go in the spending were limiting: rent on his apartment at $700 a month, and utilities on both homes ( we own the house free and clear and I don’t usually do a sinking fund for taxes since 1. We don’t budget and 2. It’s only $1400 annually). If we want to keep spending under $2k for the month, that’s 64.50 a day or about $450 a week. I don’t really break things down that way since we’re both paid monthly (him year round, me for ten months out of the year).
Biggest challenge: fuel prices going up because of the Saudi refinery attack. Or whatever comes next. He’s not going to quit coming home on weekends, and I’m not going to quit going to him at the end of the week when I’m done on campus. After income tax, and that apartment rent, fuel is our biggest monthly expense.
Fall - I have faith that fall may indeed come some day, but there’s no hint of it here with highs in the upper 90s and lows in the mid 70s day after day after day. And it’s cooler here than grad school city. The leaves are turning, but they’re turning brown due to drought.
For Budgetober, I need to spend less on takeout/restaurant food when I’m alone! I treat myself to takeout or grab fast food when I’m sad, and that is a habit I’d really like to break for both my budget and continuing to fit into my favorite dresses. I already have a careful budget and MANY pages of spreadsheets for every last money thing I do, but every month all my extra cash (not including savings/retirement) ends up in takeout food.
I’m ok with spending money to go out with my friends and eat a special meal or get a lovely drink, but I want that “going out” money to support my relationships.
My goal for the month is to only use my “going out” budget for seeing friends and getting a special coffee or sandwich once in a while in the mornings, which doesn’t have the same defeated feelings attached to it as getting takeout in the evening. I want to not exceed my set amount for the first time in probably a couple years.
And my favorite halloween themed creature is my cat when I put his stupid wizard hat on him!
Morality doesn’t really enter into it, just my increasing anger and frustration about having to say no to things I’d like to do, due to either 9-5 butt in seat schedule or exhaustion from work.
. This category includes everything from fun to a bottle of wine to be consumed at home to the rare coffee out to “oh shit, I’m out of contact lens solution.”
