This is fantastic!! 
These sound like solid goals 
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A 40th wedding anniversary is a big deal! I think it’s fine to make an exception for it, perhaps with some parameters that you establish ahead of time. Dollar limit, or only an entree and one beverage? Maybe a requirement to journal in some format about your expectations of the experience ahead of time, and then about your actual experience after? I think this is in a completely different category from eating out because you’re tired or going out with friends every week or whatever.
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I like this, especially the journalling bit – I think that I will hook that on no matter what.
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Agree!!
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I think I’d just say $0 except for this one thing. And if you want to set an overall budget goal for that night (less than $50 for your portion or something) that’s fine, but if you just want to say “here’s this exception”. You can also put it in the “gift/special occasions” category which is how I track birthday dinners for people when I have a social obligation to go out.
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I also really like @daffodil2001’s suggestions. I don’t know your responses to restriction, but I know that for myself, if I had an “off-budget week” without specific parameters, it would turn into “oh fuck it month.” So allowing yourself grace and options but but with structure and reflection seems like it could be a good plan.
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cough cough an oh my dollar episode on this:
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Yup. I’ve listened to that one, but it might be time to revisit…
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Ok, here we go!
My full budget is below, but my main goal with Budgetober is to begin tracking expenses to see if I’m really spending in the ballpark of what I think I spend, and then start developing ideas for areas where I can cut back (up until now, I’ve never really broken out a lot of costs by month–some were surprisingly high!).
My biggest challenge this week will be remembering to input expenses + honing my method for doing so (right now I’m using a spreadsheet).
Fave thing about fall? TEA! I’m a huge drinker of all kinds of caffeinated tea – I’ll even drink hot tea in the summer, but it’s much more cozy to snuggle up with a cup and book and blanket as temps get cooler 
| TOTAL | $3,123.43 |
|---|---|
| Mortgage | $842.64 |
| Roth IRA | $500.00 |
| Internet | $45 |
| Cable | $21.50 |
| ComEd | $12.50 |
| Travelers’ Insurance | $22.00 |
| Storage Space | $58.80 |
| Dental Insurance | $28.53 |
| United Explorer card fee | $8.25 |
| Southwest card fee | $5.00 |
| Amazon Prime | $4.95 |
| CLEAR | $9.08 |
| Dropbox | $11.99 |
| iTunes | $2.99 |
| $2.11 | |
| Microsoft | $7.43 |
| Ancestry | $21.79 |
| Blackblaze | $6 |
| Adobe | $10.61 |
| Flickr | $4.16 |
| Spotify and Hulu | $10.89 |
| Netflix | $8.71 |
| New York Times | $24 |
| New Yorker | $12.50 |
| New York Magazine | $5 |
| Cup of Ambition e-newsletter | $7 |
| Fees associated w/past project | $20 |
| Groceries | $200 |
| Coffee Shops | $150 |
| Restaurants | $200 |
| Travel | $200 |
| Clothing and Shoes | $100 |
| Books | $30 |
| Doctor’s visits and copays (anything out of pocket that insurance doesn’t cover) | $50 |
| Sports and Fitness (race entry fees, running shoes) | $50 |
| Health and Wellness (haircuts, massage) | $50 |
| Donations (charity, campaigns) | $100 |
| Transit (subway, Lyfts) | $100 |
| Birthday and Holiday Presents | $50 |
| House Improvements and Supplies | $50 |
| Random Stuff | $50 |
| Tax Prep CPA cost | $35 |
Luckily I don’t have to pay a cell phone bill, and starting this month I’m on my partner’s health insurance! (so I only need to cover dental).
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Tracking your spending is such a key step - congratulations on taking the plunge! I use a spreadsheet too (Numbers) and have since 2014. I find it easy - though i’m Not sure my initial set up was optimal, but I keep going with it to have consistent info.
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Well I got my personal property tax bill for my cars in and I was only $1.22 off! It’s $241.22 due by the end of October. I only need to take $31.22 out of my next check and I’m set. So that’s good news for staying on track with the budget.
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Thanks for starting this.
I’m hoping to save and donate more this month.
Jack-o-lantern mushroom is festive though toxic
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Gah, OK, I did my budget a day early for the sake of this challenge and it’s already making me anxious! whee! The big expenses this month are mostly smoothed out by using sinking funds, but not 100%, and things are feeling tight at the moment.
I also use YNAB! Using emojis in my category names makes me feel less anxious. Sometimes. 
Goal: Remain within budget on the following categories!
Budget categories (not counting fixed ones like mortgage and internet, or ones that I budgeted to but don’t expect to spend from, like phone replacement):
Utilities - 355.67 (only a little over 300 will actually leave our account, but I’m budgeting the same amount to this category every month to smooth out the much higher winter bills with the lower summer ones)
Food - 761.90 (higher than usual to allow space for my birthday dinner tomorrow–my parents are babysitting so no babysitting expense!–and also meal prep for NaNoWriMo, so hopefully food costs will be lower in November to compensate)
Transportation (gas for car) - 37.81
Household - 37.99
The wiggler - 0 but I reserve the right to freely move “household” funds into this category
Car insurance - 450 (due this month)
Cousin wedding - 20 (new category this month–I don’t expect to spend anything but I wanted to make sure I started saving)
Pet - 200 (I just hope this will be enough to cover the vet appointment that I really ought to make)
YNAB - 45 (due this month)
Family Fun & Festivals - 60.96 (expect to only spend 27 for D’s final Renaissance Festival ticket)
Fun money - 20 each
My biggest challenge this week: not buying any more Halloween decorations. We’ve already gotten a few new ones this year, though we need to finish putting them up. We just… love Halloween so much…
Favorite thing about the beginning of autumn: My birthday is tomorrow, is that beginning enough? Though honestly the leaves changing might actually take first place. It makes me so happy.
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I’ve been thinking about how to make this meaningful for myself. Particularly since my birthday is in October, and we start Christmas travel&gift planning, so I don’t want this to be “clamp-down” month. So…I’m going to try budgeting weekly. Sat-Fri, because I have a better idea about weekend plans by then, and my paychecks come weekly, Thursdays. It’s less an exercise in saving money, and more in predicting behavior…
Excluded: fixed expenses (rent, utilities, insurance, subscriptions, etc); travel expenses, holiday expenses. Loophole: anything on bf’s card(s) since I have no way of tracking it. 🤷 On the other hand, I haven’t actively involved him so he could blow my grocery predictions. Risk! Intrigue!
Included: grocery, food/coffee out, household stuff, durable stuff (for me/us). Kind of cheating this week since I already know what happened 2.5 days…
Grocery: ~100 so far + 25 new, just in case
Food: 5 so far + 45 new (2 work lunch + 3-4 coffee, breakfast)
HH stuff: 30 (tissues and new cheapo pillows for allergies)
Other stuff: none planned.
Total: 205
(Note: by quick estimate, should stay below 315 to meet savings goals after fixed expenses, for typical month)
My favorite things about Fall are the foliage, cooler temps, and caramel. In LA we get 1/3, and usually 90F+ heat wave in October. 
Oh also it’s my bday season, which I like. Unless it’s 90F+! 
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Hey everyone! I’m excited to start Budgetober, since last month was a crazy spending month for me. I decided to go on a last minute trip to Spain that my siblings sprang on my family as a birthday celebration for my mom. Definitely glad that I went (and I worked a lot of OT to cover expenses haha), but I’d like to be more mindful of my spending going forward, and actually sticking to my budget. I was using Every Dollar, but decided to switch to Mint to give myself some automation for this budget.
This is my budget for October:
What I’d like to get out of Budgetober is a chance to reset my budget, be more consistent/vigilant of my spending habits, and to put a debt payoff plan into place (currently looking at student loan debt and a bit of credit card debt). I’d also like to start some sinking funds back up that I put on pause last month (Christmas/plane ticket to see my family during the holidays is a big one).
I’m going to track everything, as a way to keep myself accountable to my budget. 
I think my biggest challenge this week will be the day-to-day tracking, and being able to track my progress from week to week. I’m someone who will track expenses, but not do any further digging into where to cut back on spending.
My favorite Halloween creatures are… zombies! 
What I love most about Fall is the stunning colors on the leaves, apple cider, apple donuts, pumpkin everything, and the general spookiness of Fall. I love that Halloween is coming, and that Fall festivals are abound this time of year. I moved to the south last year, so I miss out on the crisp fall mornings and the colorful leaves, which makes me a little sad. But there are so many fall goodies to eat around this time. 
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I think the rest of my budget got cut off. But the last category is “Emergency Savings” and a goal amount of $189.85 to even out that balance to $1,200 in savings. The total amount for all categories comes out to $1,884.72.
Best of luck for everyone participating in Budgetober. Let’s get it! 
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Welcome to the forums @danielasuarez and - wow, holy kittens, getting a trip to spain sprung on you last minute is a real shocker! Glad to have you here 
You just gave me a very large craving for apple donuts.
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I’m in! My budgeting has not been happening since I went on Maternity leave with Puglet. That was in April! I really have no idea how I’ve been doing, I assume OK since my networth is still going up but I’m sure I could improve in some areas. I will eventually get around to updating my sheets with my spending for the last few months. Until then I’m setting my budget for October as $2,000.
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- To start tracking our finances again.
- Fortnightly wages, so monthly budgeting is weird, but we have some regular payments that are required and some that are monthly. So I’ve got to nut out a new spreadsheet of what and where for the month. Generally it’s $2200 a month on rent, $450 mortgage, $300 a week on groceries, $90 a fortnight on fuel, $410 a fortnight on childcare plus a bunch of other stuff.
- Biggest challenge for this week will be to juggle insurance payment for our house that is rented out so that I don’t breach the mortgage requirement of having insurance. Just can’t afford a yearly payment of $2500, so have a call pencilled in to the insurer to work out a monthly or fortnightly payment going forward.
- Best thing about Spring is the flowers, especially the bulbs. Tulips, Daffodils, Grape Hyacinths, Ixias, Friesias.
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I can already tell that my challenge is going to be deciding whether I can use my spending money. Since I have all spending in one bucket, what if I buy something frivolous now, but then later in the month something else comes up? Like running out of some toiletry that I need.
Or - I didn’t even think about this when putting my plan together - Lyfts. I don’t have a car. I try very hard to force myself to use public transport at all times no matter what, but sometimes I will cave if it’s freezing cold or thunderstorming (ETA: or if the route is completely shut down, which seems to be happening a lot lately due to, I’m sorry to say,
tw suicide
people committing suicide on the tracks
). Or, I’m ashamed to admit, it’s simply late and I’m tired or not mentally up for fending off some of the folks who ride public transport late at night - who, yes, I KNOW have mental illnesses so I should be compassionate but sometimes I just cannot handle being screamed at by a stranger, you know?
Hm. What do? Separate Lyft budget? Am I even going anywhere this month that would require a Lyft?
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