Posts by Becentsable:
- Two ways you can set money aside:
- Set a lump sum of money aside (the easiest way)
- Set up categories for these expenses (create categories like you did for your monthly expenses). This is more time consuming but you can track exactly where your money is going.
- Note – This is separate from your emergency fund! Most financial experts will recommend that you have 3-6 months of income in savings for emergencies.
- These types of expenses are not emergencies! These expenses are unexpected but not an emergency.
- My husband and I agreed to not touch our emergency fund unless he losses his job, a major medical expense, major home repair, etc.
- auto repairs
- home repairs
- veterinarian expenses
- medical bills (co-pays and prescriptions)
- Make a list of all unexpected expenses
- Estimate how much money you should have set aside for the year
- Take your total and divide by 12 (set this much aside each month)
- taxes
- clothing
- gifts
- vacation
- What events or activities we have coming up?
- Are we going to be driving more or less?
- Do we have any family dinners planned?
- Do we have gifts we need to buy?
- Here is a list of my categories:
- Auto – gasoline & oil changes
- Church and Charity – donations to church, charities or fundraisers
- Entertainment – Eating out, drinks, kids activities (dance class), and attractions. Anything fun ends up in the area. I even include birthday parties!
- Household – food, cleaning supplies, personal care, baby needs, over the counter medicine and office supplies. I also include anything else I would buy for the house, such as a rake or a new broom.
- Housing – house payment
- Gifts-gifts for birthdays, Christmas, showers, weddings, Father’s Day etc.
- Clothing-clothing, shoes and accessories (socks, purse, hats, gloves, jewelry)
- Insurance – auto and health-care insurance payments
- Savings – any money going to savings. Including saving for taxes, vacation, medical, retirement etc.
- Utilities – electric, gas, water, trash, phone, Internet and cable. (I also include my cell phone in this area.)
- Why you are doing a budget? Setting goals will give you motivation to stay focused and on budget. Something “real” to look forward to or achieve.
- Short term goals should be things you want to do within 6 months to 1 year
- example: pay off a credit card or save for your emergency fund
- Long term goals should be aimed for 2 or more years.
- example: pay for your children’s college, pay off your house
- Sit down with a pen and paper and list out all your dreams.
- What are your dreams?
- Making it through the month without stressing about the money?
- Paying all your bills this month?
- Having a savings or emergency fund?
- Paying for college? YES, it is possible!
- Traveling the world?
- Being financially free?
- Donating and serving others?
- Be understanding but realistic by asking, “Will you be able to do the things you listed at the rate you are going?”
BUDGETING – Session 5
January 25th, 2011Becentsable is discussing a series to help readers tackle the dreaded “B” word. BUDGETING!
The hardest part of budgeting for most people, including myself, is unexpected expenses. These may be unexpected expenses BUT you can still plan for them. You really CAN!
If you have a car, plan to have it repaired. The unknowns, when and how much, are the challenges but we have a PLAN! Set money aside ahead of time! I know you are thinking, “Easier said than done!” But stick with it and you can reduce your debt as well as lower your stress level!
Types of unexpected expenses:
How much money should you set aside?
The best way to figure how much to set aside is to sit down and remember all the unplanned expenses you had last year or ones you can predict. For example, I can predict that we will have to take the dog into the veterinarian at least 2 times a year for unexpected visits.
This might take you a bit to get enough money set aside. Keep working at this!
Once I got this down, budgeting became much easier!!! Now, I just put a set amount of money aside every month and if any unexpected expenses come up, we have the money and it does NOT ruin my budget!
Let’s tackle your budget and make it a word worth talking about!
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BUDGETING – Session 4
January 20th, 2011Becentsable is discussing a series to help readers tackle the dreaded “B” word. BUDGETING!
Another difficult area was our planned expenses that didn’t occur monthly:
I found it challenging to figure out how I would fit these expenses in my budget. You don’t want December to roll around and have to come up with a big amount of money to pay your taxes.
The easiest way for me to handle these expenses was to set money aside every month in our savings account. This way if I found a big sale on clothing, then I could stock up and not wreak havoc my budget. Setting aside money in our savings for these expenses took several months to “get a cushion” added to our account.
It doesn’t matter what system you use, you just need to have a plan for these expenses.
Don’t give up! It may take a while to figure it out but I believe in you. You can do it!
Thanks for tackling your budget with us and making the word “BUDGET” worth talking about! Join me next time as we talk about how to handle unexpected expenses!
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BUDGETING – Session 3
January 18th, 2011Becentsable is discussing a series to help readers tackle the dreaded “B” word. BUDGETING!
FRUSTRATED?! I was too. When I first started budgeting, I was very frustrated because our budget would not balance. I couldn’t understand WHY my budget didn’t balance. I had all my categories, with all of my set monthly expenses. It took a few months to figure out that I was making a big budgeting mistake.
The proverbial light bulb went off! I was using the same budget every month. BIG, HUGE mistake!
I learned every month was different and my budget needed to be adjusted every month. Gain CONTROL here!
I had the same expenses every month but the amounts needed to be adjusted. Therefore, my categories stayed the same but adjustments were made to the amount I would budget every month. DING, DING, DING!!!
For example, If we were having a birthday party that month, I needed to adjust the amount of money we would spend on “Entertainment” or if we were going to have a big family dinner, I might need to increase the “Household” portion of the budget.
The first thing I do when I sit down to do my budget is to look at the calendar and check to see:
If an area of my budget needed to increase, then another area would need to decrease. The budget process became much easier once I figured out this mystery.
Thanks for tackling your budget with us and making the word “BUDGET” worth talking about!
Keep tabs on all the hottest deals by subscribing to our FREE daily newsletter and follow us on Facebook!
BUDGETING – Session 2
January 13th, 2011Becentsable is discussing a series to help readers tackle the dreaded “B” word. BUDGETING!
Making categories helped me to make the budgeting process easier and quicker. I created a category for each of the areas we spend money or save money by grouping like items.
Tracking less categories makes it easier to budget.
I have one category for all my household items. Which includes all of my food, cleaning supplies, personal care, baby needs, over the counter medicine and office supplies. Therefore, I am tracking 1 category instead of 6 separate items.
There is no right or wrong way to budget, you just need to develop a plan and stick with your budget.
Make a list of all the things you spend money on and save money for. Once you have your list try to group items together.
Let’s tackle your budget and make it a word worth talking about!
Keep tabs on all the hottest deals by subscribing to our FREE daily newsletter and follow us on Facebook!
BUDGETING – Session 1
January 11th, 2011Becentsable is discussing a series to help readers tackle the dreaded “B” word. BUDGETING!
YOU can have a choice in where YOUR money goes and YOU do not have to be stressed about your finances!
When we first started working on a budget, my husband was willing to have a budget, but was not motivate to follow or participate.
The first strategy to create a successful budget is to determine:
When we set goals, my husband became very involved and excited. If we met our budget, he realized we would get to do everything we dreamed. Once we became motivated, we found ways to reach our goals!
Try to set both Short term and Long term goals.
If you are unmotivated, or have a unmotivated partner:
When we started our “Budget” journey over five years ago, I never thought we would be able to save so much money. YOU can too!
Let’s tackle your budget and make it a word worth talking about!
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