I am struggling with this now, my phone is going on 7 years old and starting to have minor glitches.
I typically do not replace tech until it has stopped working completely but recently realized that we are going into the holidays and if this thing dies I will not be able to ship out my Amazon Handmade orders because they require 2 factor authorization to even see my orders and I can’t validate on a desktop computer. So being without a phone is Not Good at this time and would result in a panic purchase.
Usually someone in my circle has a shitty barely functional phone. Often it’s me, because I need to run Instagram for work and it’s been Instagram that couldn’t work on my last few phones when they got aged. So I put my SIM into a not good phone for calls and texts and then wait a few weeks for a good phone.
Twice or three time my husband bought me a phone. It was always a bad idea and he has no impulse control. Don’t let people buy you wrign phones.
I know - and this makes it even more unlikely for me to want a new one because This Does Not Happen and what if the next one is a lemon like everyone else seems to get…
I’m realizing that I really have no idea how to budget. I know how to Not Spend, but that isn’t the same thing. It was easier when I dealt in cash only for at least groceries, but I stopped doing that during covid and honestly it’s so much easier to track spending on cards. Plus, rewards.
I just got paid and I’m going to manage to save maybe $100 out of this check. This pay period was VERY spendy, in part because of our trip. I would like to do what I see others doing here and forecast my pay period’s spending, but, like, other than bills that I know will hit… I have no idea how to do that? There is always something we’ve overlooked or something that I end up urgently needing, like, I can’t just not buy contact cleaner this week.
How much historical data do you have, and is it by category?
By category as opposed to by retailer, when I first started looking at our finances I saw that we spent $800 in the past year on “Shopping” at Walmart/Target/Home Depot/Amazon. Shopping for what? Who the eff knows. A big part of my monthly book keeping is sorting those out to “Home Repair” or “Kiddo clothing” or “Meerkat clothing” or “Household” with a note about what specifically it was like a replacement lamp so that Household does not also become a black hole at the end of the year. It was kind of a horror show in the beginning but now it’s less of a problem even as “surprise” expenses come up.
I’m a very lax budgeter by this forum’s standards. I don’t track everything or even categorize all my spending. Maybe it’s because I’m not really a math or type A person? My strategy is to work backwards. I set a goal for how much I need/want to save from each paycheck. I know roughly what I spend on food each week and I know all my unchangeable bills (rent, meds, phone, etc.). Then I just take it week by week.
Since we’re in super saver mode DH and I are going over potential purchases a week in advance. You really only have to look that far to keep spending under control IMO. The key, I think, is to pay attention to what you have and how much and plan ahead and also to actually stop and take a few minutes to think deeply about what you need that week. Almost invariably when I ask husband (including this week) if he needs anything he says no immediately. So then I ask again like two hours later and he’ll be like, “Well actually I need soap and razors” and then I ask again like a day later, “I also need a gift for my mom and to donate for a thing at work.”
Frequent check-ins are really helpful and for me it makes spending decisions easier because they are all done in advance. I kind of want and could use a new skillet, for example, but that’s not on this week’s list so I’m not buying one. Decision is made for me.
I mean, I use cards for pretty much everything so it’s easy to see my history by retailer. But I don’t break down, like, X amount of this CVS trip was my prescriptions and Y amount was health/beauty and Z amount was some random household item we needed.
So, like, you keep a literal record of everything you buy at each store? I… am not sure I would consistently do that. But, probably should.
I also think the past year of overbuying because covid has skewed my perception of when I actually need to buy a thing.
I totally disagree. The best long term plan is a plan you can actually follow long term. I hope I don’t get kicked off OMD for this but…spreadsheets…for me they are just ok. I don’t love them. It’s not fun for me and I find it tedious. I have met literally 100% of my financial goals so far without itemized tracking. I think it’s perfectly fine to track to the final penny if that’s your jam and it motivates you, but there is no way I will ever do that. When I was much lower income the way I kept under budget was the envelope method, so even back then I didn’t write down literally every spend.
This is how I used to make financial decisions, up until COVID related disruptions, including the house and the sick dog. That makes it harder, since (fortunately we have this ability) if the dog is sick we’ll pay whatever that number is, or will pay what it takes to get rabbits out of the house, etc. A good reminder to get back into it!
@TrisPrior that tracking method is what I used for a long time, and for me it was pretty straightforward. I’d definitely estimate, so a Target purchase would be $50 from clothes and $25 from household goods, and it worked out. I would spend 5ish minutes at the start of the work day organizing any purchases from the day before. I know you’re a low spender so it probably won’t blow your mind, but it helped me save a big chunk of my salary when I was making a low nonprofit salary while still getting to do fun stuff.
And edit to agree with @AllHat that the best system is one that works for you long term.
So true, I should have added that we have a $10k cash emergency fund that I dip into as needed, so that’s how we pay for big one offs, like when we had to have all those car repairs and stuff.
Online shopping helps a TON with this because I can just open up another tab to separate things out or refer to the emails, but even just for CVS I’ll be like “Um, I bought hair dye and that’s, what, $15? And … I think the rest was snacks.” So I split the category as $15 for hair dye and the rest went to groceries. For Target I try to stash the physical receipt on my desk cause I can spend over $100 at Target without even trying. I’ll try to post some examples later when I can get at my other computer.
But - you don’t have to do it this way. This is just what works for me.
If you scan the Target app, it keeps track of your receipts for you and gives you 1% cash back to apply to future purchases. Plus all the Target circle coupons. I’m a big fan of the Target app.
Saving money has all gone to hell with the whole spending 10k on Luigi thing lately. Mint keeps “helpfully” pointing out how we are spending more than we are earning. It is stressful. I’m trying to rein things in for the holidays(no more decorations purchases, being creative on gifts).
I also accidentally invited our neighbors to join us for Thanksgiving so now have to purchase and prepare food for 2 extra adults and 3 kids that weren’t in the original plan. I’m leaning towards making a brown sugar glazed ham(not my usual bourbon glaze) and mashed potatoes. Leaning towards Mac and cheese as an additional side and asking them what they want to bring for sides(hoping for salads and greens).
I think it sounds great! Our T-day hosts don’t usually let us know what they want us to bring until we are basically on the way there so I for one would be appreciative of being steered in a particular direction of what to bring, with some notice to get it together.
OK my monthly routine is to download everything into Quicken but then I use the Quicken report to create a spreadsheet.
Cut for length
Top rows are total income amount, then income and interest from savings accounts (the interest is tiny and hardly worth tracking, really). Then total expenses amount, fixed recurring expenses (mortgage, internet, subscriptions, etc.), non-fixed recurring expenses (gas, groceries, etc.) then non-monthly expenses. Looking at December 2020 (not sure why the first line is bold):
$75
Toyota vehicle registration 2 years
$121
Honda new tire
$8
Kiddo clothes
$43
DVDs
$7
Eye doctor
$18
Hair dye, Avengers card
$112
Pet food/treats
$284
Video card
$55
Video games
$52
Charity (local homeless shelter)
$174
House painting, pavers, gravel, grass seed
$106
New grill, waffle plates
$83
3D print filament, charging cable, stamps, toilet rug
$204
All the Xmas gifts
Also last year I added new columns after December to average the cost for all the recurring stuff so it says (pretend numbers here). I don’t have a row for averaging how much we spend in the non-monthly expenses category on average but I could build that into my spreadsheet if I felt like that would provide useful data. My spreadsheet goes back to 2017 and I only did the monthly average thing last year for the first time.
Total Income:
$5,000
Total Expenses
$4,000
Fixed Monthly Expenses
Internet:
$75
Cell phone:
$100
Life insurance:
$50
Mortgage:
$1,200
Kid health insurance:
$200
Pandora:
$9
Netflix:
$15
Disney+
$8
Gym
$30
Variable Monthly Expenses
Gas:
$20
Utilities:
$200
Day care:
$200
Grooming:
$10
Credit card (charity):
$50
Food and Dining:
$800
You can also add categories for expenses like car insurance that gets paid twice a year or … uh, other examples I can’t think of right now that are predictable on an annual basis but maybe are surprises on the monthly basis. I think you were sort of doing this with your therapy bills at one point by building a sinking fund for it after a few surprise-but-not-surprise invoices pop up, so you’re already on the right track there.
And again, the level of itemizing behind the cut is entirely just for me. Or 90% for me and 10% for Mr. Meer. This takes me about two non-consecutive hours per month and I’m usually also watching tv while I do this.
Do what works for you. I’m curious how others get their forecasting numbers too.
I’m kinda surprised OMD even lets me in. Lol. I don’t even know how to make a spreadsheet much less use one, and I don’t budget. I also don’t spend much because I don’t need much. I’m a good saver for whatever I do want. I’ve only been making “good” (for me) money for the last 5 years or so, so I got good at not spending a lot.
I’m glad to have company! We were low income for most of our marriage until the last 3-4 years too, so I think that has definitely helped. Our lifestyle creep does come in if I stop watching though. I find just talking about our savings is enough to get husband and I back into save mode.
Until last year I meticulously tracked spending on alllll the categories. Groceries, clothes, take out, etc. Then I realized that I don’t give a shit and made a category called ‘stuff’. It’s where everything goes that isn’t a bill or somehow relevant to track. (meds are tracked separately for taxes, eg. Nobody on earth cares what my snack spending looks like)
It has made tracking spending much less onerous.
