Outside of groceries I need to take a few things to the cleaners for cleaning and repairs and I feel like that’s always more expensive than I predict.
Gripe: I bought a pretty expensive dress and the first time I wore it a button fell off. They’re like these super fancy buttons and I have no idea how to reattach it myself!
DH and I will probably go out for dinner since we didn’t this week. Maybe Chinatown? It shouldn’t cost much. We will also probably get ice cream once because we live walking distance to an amazing place.
I can’t think of any other expenses I’ll have outside of transportation. A friend and I might go for food after climbing but I paid last time so
It’s interesting, writing out what I think I will spend on through the week is really having an impact. It makes me feel like I’ve already made all the decisions so I just have to follow the plan. It’s kind of a relief actually.
I like it so far! I was just thinking about ordering Indian food for dinner bc this week has been terrible and I love BUT I know shouldn’t. I have homemade arancini in the freezer that I can toss in my air fryer, and I have some green beans for an easy side. Presto, almost like not cooking, so perfect for my dgaf attitude rn!
Huh. I watched the YNAB expense tracking versus budgeting video. I’ve always considered myself a tracker not a budgeter. But I actually seem to fall more on the budgeting end (just… not that strict with myself maybe?) based on this video. Since I estimate at the beginning of the month, know where I’m at in each category before purchases, etc. I still consider myself a tracker, lol, but I thought the video would make me feel much more raked over the coals lol.
I might watch it, but I deliberately use it for tracking not budgeting since budgeting gave me stress I don’t need, but tracking lets me know where the money is.
Maybe you’re just reflecting the video, but this kind of sounds like one is better than the other and I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Some people do better with that structure, others have more of a “things I buy vs things I don’t” based on some criteria and it works out in the end. And as @LadyDuck pointed out, budgeting can be more stressful and feel controlling, restrictive, and triggering overall…
YNAB in particular seems to be geared towards people living paycheck to paycheck. In which case it is fairly important that you budget rather than track, either because you don’t predict your spending well or because your income is lower than your natural spending. It makes some of the features and advice not fit well for people with big buffers or who don’t need help spending less than their income.
That’s a really good point about YNAB’s audience. It was incredibly helpful for me and the only thing that “stuck” in the years I was drowning, but now that I’m on the other side of that income:spending hill it’s not as valuable a tool for me personally.
It would still be useful to me except for how it handles credit cards
Yeah I like it, but my “age of money” is way past 30 days, and I have a big enough slush fund every month that I’m not really held to what I said I’d spend at the beginning of the month. So there’s nothing but my own willpower keeping me from just adding more money to categories when I go over.
Money saving win for today: I got a coupon for 2 free cupcakes from my grocery store and was planning on going today to pick up the cupcakes and also do some light grocery shopping. After going through the fridge and pantry, I settled for making myself a milkshake and put off grocery shopping for at least a few more days.
Sudden insight: I generally do much better with a more identity based, good/bad or approved/undesirable approach to choices than a highly specific plan or an exact cutoff…
Like for vacations I definitely put preference on staying with family and/or seeing nature than doing a tour or cruise or resort. For clothes I don’t buy for label and brand, rather for fit and function (though I have found brands I like fit/quality of to get on ThredUp). I don’t buy electronics/gadgets/cars unless what I have no longer serves me. Husband had to buy me a new monitor for WFH because I was resistant.
Slightly Diety
For groceries, I have things to buy more/as much as needed of: produce under a dollar, chicken, fish*, basic grains/pasta, canned beans and tomatoes, cooking oil. There are also things that are good but pricey… Tomatoes, avocados, pricier fish/seafood, microgreens, fancy cheese, berries. And then things that are pricey and/or far less nutritious and definitely register as treats in one way or another… rotisserie chickens, frozen pizza, prosciutto, red meats, ice cream, beverages, takeout. We avoid nothing entirely, but having that rough good/bad spectrum helps lean toward the choices I want to be making more, without being a rigid constraint I will rebel against.
I am 100% being a complete pedant, so I apologize ahead of time, but I have to say that I find the framing of this a little curious. Why would saying that you are assigning x portion for [GREAT VAST UNNECESSARY EXPENSE] be creating artificial scarcity? It’s just a limit… and all of us have finite amount of money coming in per month anyway! If having a limit means it’s scarce, if anything, budgeting reminds one of the true “scarcity” of money LOL.
I think, also, that budgeting gives control freaks like me the understanding of what to expect in the coming years. IE, I know if I save $500 a month that goes straight to investments, I can expect to have X invested in Y years. So, you can decide to care about what that overall figure is or just assume that the excess of what you don’t spend is going to savings/investments (both being neutral in morality ofc, and only really relevant in situations where you need a certain figure to be hit, as in retirement).
BUT I know shouldn’t. I have homemade arancini in the freezer that I can toss in my air fryer, and I have some green beans for an easy side. Presto, almost like not cooking, so perfect for my dgaf attitude rn!
