2019 Controlled Spend/No Spend

[Blonde Granny]

2019.....I'm hoping for a positive spending year.

[3catslady]

Starting 2019 owing $700 for 2018 bills that are still due.  It's not a pretty start but it's not the end of the world.

[moneysquirrel]

2019:
Extraordinary Planned Expenses:
*Starting this year with car payments for the first time in over a decade.  Want to get this paid off asap
*Also have a major trip planned.  Most of this has been paid for -- only need to put some aside for things like taxis, a few meals not covered by the tour and any small purchases.  Have money in my travel budget to cover this but want more of a cushion.
*Also putting money aside for my annual craft retreat -- most of this has been saved and I continue to squeeze out some each month.  Still need to pay for plane fare and trying to have the hotel estimate in place to just pay the bill when it will come in.Hopefully, once I cover the trip cost some of these savings goals will go toward paying additionally on the principal on the car.  Currently planning to do some of that but would like to add more to get it paid off earlier and to cut back on interest.
*Possible expense -- additional work on the house.  -- This needs to be done but will not even get the estimates until later this year.

Normal Expenses:
*Monthly expenses -- Utilities, groceries, gas, lawn service
*Replacement expenses -- clothing and shoes as needed, home items as they break, craft supplies as needed with a coupon if possible
*Other -- rare lunches out with friends, entertainment expenses

On the whole things should be in control this year bearing any emergencies.  I will be trying to keep the normal expenses under budget as much as I can so that those extraordinary expenses will not be coming out of my major savings account. I have about half of what I own on the car in an account for it  but don't want to deplete it at this time as I want to have it available for an immediate emergency.

[imanangel]

I am going to join this thread this year. Our debt has gotten out of control this year due to me resigning from a very toxic and traumatic job experience. I am now working part time, trying to find another full time position. My part time job pays once a month. My husband retired from the military and so his base pay has been cut in half. He is supposed to start getting 100% disability (it is supposed to start January 1st),  and he also got another job.  All of his paychecks are once a month paychecks, so I have to figure out how to juggle our bills with only getting once a month pay checks.

We do have enough money every month to pay our bills with some left over, but I have noticed that we are overspending by a lot. 
This month I plan to stop our weekend brunch date. I can make him breakfast at home for much cheaper. 
I also plan to take all credit cards out of our wallets and just live on a monthly cash allowance that we will both get after all the bills are paid. 
We do not have any planned expenses other than our regular monthly bills. 
We will do our grocery shopping once a week and hopefully fill out our gas tanks then as well. 

[Blonde Granny]

Angel, I' ve found over the past few years that absolutely the easiest way to control my spending has been to use YNAB. MPL uses it also as do a few others on here. Last I recall, they will give you a 30 day trial as no cost.

All the best......

BG

[imanangel]

I am very proud of myself!  I have not spent any money in the last 2 days other than budgeted bills! 
Now, I will spend some money today because it is our romantic hotel room night. It was already planned and booked before I joined the challenge. I do plan to limit my spending though. 

[sheilaincali]

I need to get back into the zone with this. Years ago I did the NS/CS thing for years and did great at it. We've completely fallen off the wagon and need to get back on track.

Mostly we eat out too much and make more amazon prime purchases than anyone should. I just found myself trolling the daily deals knowing full well there isn't a darn thing that I need.

With the Boy off to college out of state it's just the Hubs and I at home so hopefully it'll be easy to get him on board. I'm considering going back to giving him a cash allowance- he's so used to just swiping his debit card that I don't think he really pays attention to what he's spending. He's not a jerk about it, I think it's just so common that he doesn't focus on how much is actually being spent on snacks at the gas station or lunches out or at the game store, etc.

I've got to give some thought to what monthly goals I want/need to set for myself. But first things first I don't want to order anything off amazon for at least a week.

[imanangel]

sheilaincali I am also really bad about buying off Amazon Prime. I am not going to lie, it is usually something for my grand son. He is so freaking cute, I can't resist buying him stuff. BUT, I will resist for the next few months! 

[sheilaincali]

imanangel it's just so stinking convenient!  If the Boy tells me "I need a pair of dress pants for a presentation" I can order him a pair and have them shipped directly to him. Re-doing the downstairs bathroom and DH says "we need a curtain for the bathroom window" I can order it and have it here in two days.  I'm going to have to force myself to just stay away from Amazon until I have a legit need for an item I can't easily purchase locally, in person. 

[3catslady]

January 2nd and I haven't spent any money.  My work check will be direct deposited at 2 am.  Tomorrow I will see what expenses I can pay.

[Blonde Granny]

Since yesterday wasn't the happy day I was hoping for, I called and made an appt. for a pedicure. Total cost was $50 including the tip. Worth every penny.

[shanendoah]

I intend to be back this year. The new mortgage is considerably more than that old mortgage, and I just need to be on track with our spending.
That said, we are in a spend phase right now with the new house. I don't think I can count the number of trips to home depot we've had in the last week or so, as a number of our "closets" had nothing in them. We had a pantry closet that was just an empty space, and we built shelves for that. Our master closet was completely empty, so we bought a closet organizer system for that and installed it. Our coat closet was empty, so we installed a shelf and rod. We installed a shelf over where the washer and dryer will go when they arrive tomorrow. In order to do all of that, we bought a drill and an impact driver and the bit kits for them.
We still need to buy a new couch. (We're likely going to go with the $1800 CostCo sectional that isn't exactly what I want, because in order to get exactly what I want, we can spend $3k at Ikea for a couch that isn't super comfortable, or $5k from a custom place.)
We also still need curtains for the secondary bedrooms and a curtain rod and curtains for the living room.
We've gotten a little over $11k back from the sale of the old house, that is funding this spending.

So I think, as least for the first couple of months, I am going to have No Spend, Controlled Spend, House Spend, and Spend categories. Not all of the house expenditures will be planned in advance, because sometimes you're in the middle of a project and realize you're missing something, or that it's not going to work the way you thought and you have to readjust. Controlled Spends will focus on planned spending (not for house stuff).

I'll be back later with some form of plan/grid for tracking.

[countrygirl2]

That's where hubs spends all his money Lowes or Menards. I swear he makes a trip daily or more then one, so the rest of his money goes in the gas tank.

[Blonde Granny]

I have an eye Dr. appt. this morning. I had decided I wanted new glasses this year.....even stopped at Wmt. too see what was available. What I liked was very similar to what I already have, and my other ones have hardly been worn.

Decision made: No new glasses for me this year, saving me about $350.

[sheilaincali]

OH don't even get me started on Lowes and Home Depot. We are mid remodel/redesign of our kitchen and our son's bathroom. We are such regulars at HD that they know our name and we have a favorite associate that tracks us down whenever we are in the store

So far this year we've been doing ok. Home Depot yesterday to get more grout and some caulk- that "should" be the last of it- I think, hope, pray, etc. I also picked up DH's meds from Target but it was only one of his meds and the co pay is less than $5.

We haven't eaten out yet but will probably eat out or do pizza tonight.  I've stayed strong on the Amazon and so has DH except for the stupid episodes he buys. He gets enamored with the most random shows and buys episodes one at a time rather than the entire season (which is cheaper per episode). So I'll need to talk to him about that and see if he's willing to narrow it down to only one show at a time he binge watches and remind him to be entire seasons rather than individual episodes.

[moneysquirrel]

I want to welcome back both imanangel and sheilaincali.  I remember you both back in the old MSN days. Many years have passed and I read that The Boy is now in college.  

Well I did break down and ordered the supplies that I will need for my class.  Wanted to get them ordered so that I will be home when it will be delivered.  Have been putting this order off for a while now but my class will be starting up soon and I know that I will be needing these items. 

Other than the grocery and a lunch out with friends this is the only spending that I have done this year thus far.  Of course the weather has helped a lot since today is the first day in weeks that the sun is out and not covered by low dark rainy clouds.


Blonde Granny -- Sometimes you have to treat yourself.

[sheilaincali]

Thanks moneysquirrel  I took a break for a few years there, honestly I found myself making snarky comments on YM posts and I didn't like that about myself. I do have a lot of fond memories of conversations and threads through.  Angel mentioned jumping back into this thread and it seemed like a great idea.

The Boy is amazing. He's home on winter break for a couple more days, sadly he'll leave on Wednesday to go back to Ohio. He'll visit at Easter to renew his driver's license (and visit) but than won't likely be back until next Winter Break.  He has a full time internship lined up this summer as part of his research assistant gig so he won't be home at all this summer.  Fortunately we have family in his general area (a great aunt lives in his college town, his cousin and his family live 2 hours south and his aunt lives 4 hours south of him). 

[imanangel]

Thanks moneysquirrel! I also took a break from the boards because I didn't like how snarky I was getting to some of the posters. When people on a computer can get that kind of response out of me, well....that isn't who I am so I know I needed a break.

It is the 6th of the month, and I am stressing over the budget. We still have not received Goose's disability check and it is a huge part of our monthly income. I will have to pay bills out of savings. 

We haven't been doing so hot at not spending money. We have spent LESS money, but we are still bleeding. Goose wanted ANOTHER pair of Levi jeans last night. I got really stressed out about him spending $60 for a pair of pants....I told him that we have to stop spending money. Then I remembered that I had $65 in Kohl's cash he could use for the pants. So, he got the pants and we didn't spend any additional money at Kohl's. 

Today we have to grocery shop. I hope I can get him to stick to a really strict list. A HUGE part of our grocery bill is for different kinds of drinks for him. Not alcoholic, but he buys energy drinks, a lot of flavored sparkling water, Naked juices...etc. It really adds up. I do have enough food in my house to prepare dinner for 4 nights without having to buy anything extra. 

What tricks or tips do you all have to help control spending?

[Blonde Granny]

# 1: Become absolutely committed to not allowing any unnecessary spending (unless the house is on fire) Everything else is fair game for the answer of no.

# 2: It's easier if you actually have a written down spending plan, also called a budget.  YNAB is a great one, easy to use and doesn't let you cheat.  It's simple solution is that every dollar has         to have a job.  There has to be a category for everything you spend.  MY late DH was a CFO of a large computer company.  He didn't allow the category misc. as said it made it too                   easy to skew what you were spending money on.

# 3: You both have to agree on doing this or it simply won't work.  You can't have one of you going through the grocery store buying stuff like the world is coming to an end, and the other one         price checking to see which peanut butter is $.05 cheaper.  It's either both all in or don't waste your time.

# 4:  It's a lot easier if you're single.

[moneysquirrel]

Jan 6, 2019 16:03:31 GMT -5 Blonde Granny said:

# 1: Become absolutely committed to allowing any unnecessary spending (unless the house is on fire) Everything else is fair game for the answer of no.

# 2: It's easier if you actually have a written down spending plan, also called a budget.  YNAB is a great one, easy to use and doesn't let you cheat.  It's simple solution is that every dollar has         to have a job.  There has to be a category for everything you spend.  MY late DH was a CFO of a large computer company.  He didn't allow the category misc. as said it made it too                   easy to skew what you were spending money on.

# 3: You both have to agree on doing this or it simply won't work.  You can't have one of you going through the grocery store buying stuff like the world is coming to an end, and the other one         price checking to see which peanut butter is $.05 cheaper.  It's either both all in or don't waste your time.

# 4:  It's a lot easier if you're single.

I just use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my spending plan.

#5: I also try to shop with a list and only shop when there is a need for something.   I tend to see if something else can be used if I need or think I need an item.  Sometimes one can substitute something that is already on hand for something we think we must have.  I know that there are times when this is not possible but if I can reuse or recycle something that is my first option.  I have enough craft supplies on hand to keep me busy and I try to keep any cash I make doing craft shows to replenish those supplies as I need something.

#6: I don't go to the mall just to go.  I must have a need for something to require me to go.  (However I will check out the closing sales at Sears and Kmart this coming month.)

#7: I keep a list of expected yearly expenses -- insurance, maintenance, doctor appointments, etc. I refer to this list on a regular basis.  I also keep a note of the previous year expenses for these expenses. It gives me an idea of what the minimum I will need for the current year.

*8: I "pay myself first" by putting money aside for these yearly expenses once any money comes in.  I leave only a little extra for fun once all of the monthly expenses are accounted for.

#9: For upcoming fun experiences that involve an expense, I try to put aside a little at a time to have money available for that experience.

   

[3catslady]

I paid 2 expenses and got groceries.  My check is gone except for about $35 which I'll hold onto until I get this check.  Then I'll see what I can pay.

[imanangel]

Jan 6, 2019 16:03:31 GMT -5 Blonde Granny said:

# 1: Become absolutely committed to not allowing any unnecessary spending (unless the house is on fire) Everything else is fair game for the answer of no.

# 2: It's easier if you actually have a written down spending plan, also called a budget.  YNAB is a great one, easy to use and doesn't let you cheat.  It's simple solution is that every dollar has         to have a job.  There has to be a category for everything you spend.  MY late DH was a CFO of a large computer company.  He didn't allow the category misc. as said it made it too                   easy to skew what you were spending money on.

# 3: You both have to agree on doing this or it simply won't work.  You can't have one of you going through the grocery store buying stuff like the world is coming to an end, and the other one         price checking to see which peanut butter is $.05 cheaper.  It's either both all in or don't waste your time.

# 4:  It's a lot easier if you're single.

I signed up for YNAB, but I find it very confusing. I don't budget the way they want me to. I know, that is probably the problem, but I don't know how much our home owner's insurance is. It is just part of my house payment. So, I guess I just find it all very time consuming. UGH. 
Also, it takes all of my available cash balances into account, and there isn't any place for me to add what our monthly income is. Some of the accounts I don't spend money from to pay bills, but YNAB says that is money that I need to assign in my budget.  
I will have to really play with this when I am not so frustrated. Right now it is just making my head hurt.


Thanks for the tips.

[imanangel]

Jan 6, 2019 16:40:24 GMT -5 moneysquirrel said:

Jan 6, 2019 16:03:31 GMT -5 Blonde Granny said:

# 1: Become absolutely committed to allowing any unnecessary spending (unless the house is on fire) Everything else is fair game for the answer of no.

# 2: It's easier if you actually have a written down spending plan, also called a budget.  YNAB is a great one, easy to use and doesn't let you cheat.  It's simple solution is that every dollar has         to have a job.  There has to be a category for everything you spend.  MY late DH was a CFO of a large computer company.  He didn't allow the category misc. as said it made it too                   easy to skew what you were spending money on.

# 3: You both have to agree on doing this or it simply won't work.  You can't have one of you going through the grocery store buying stuff like the world is coming to an end, and the other one         price checking to see which peanut butter is $.05 cheaper.  It's either both all in or don't waste your time.

# 4:  It's a lot easier if you're single.

I just use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my spending plan.

#5: I also try to shop with a list and only shop when there is a need for something.   I tend to see if something else can be used if I need or think I need an item.  Sometimes one can substitute something that is already on hand for something we think we must have.  I know that there are times when this is not possible but if I can reuse or recycle something that is my first option.  I have enough craft supplies on hand to keep me busy and I try to keep any cash I make doing craft shows to replenish those supplies as I need something.

#6: I don't go to the mall just to go.  I must have a need for something to require me to go.  (However I will check out the closing sales at Sears and Kmart this coming month.)

#7: I keep a list of expected yearly expenses -- insurance, maintenance, doctor appointments, etc. I refer to this list on a regular basis.  I also keep a note of the previous year expenses for these expenses. It gives me an idea of what the minimum I will need for the current year.

*8: I "pay myself first" by putting money aside for these yearly expenses once any money comes in.  I leave only a little extra for fun once all of the monthly expenses are accounted for.

#9: For upcoming fun experiences that involve an expense, I try to put aside a little at a time to have money available for that experience.

   

I actually HATE shopping. I would rather scrub toilets than go shopping at the mall. My weakness is Amazon though...I find too much stuff for my grandson. My husband is the shopper. That man has more clothes than any man I know.  Same with shoes. 

I always tell my husband that I hate grocery shopping. Then I had to face it, I don't hate grocery shopping so much, I hate grocery shopping with him. He refuses to stick to a list where food is concerned. He doesn't really look at prices or anything. If he wants it, it goes in our cart. Grocery shopping is so stressful to me. We spend well over $1,000 a month on groceries. 

[Blonde Granny]

It took me awhile to figure out how to get YNAB to work the way I wanted it to. I have no debt, car, house or credit cards so first I had to eliminate all those categories. I have a personal escrow account for all large yearly bills, so that doesn't get itemized, it simply falls under the heading of Escrow in monthly bills. I don't enter anything individual, it's already put in Escrow, in fact about 14 big items in escrow.

I recommend fooling around with it, save receipt, all of them until you find out the categories to track....then try to figure out how much you are actually spending each month.

It took me a couple months to get it the way I wanted, simply because I don't use it the way they say.  After the few years, I use mine as a simple way to track spending.

[laterbloomer]

I don't have a credit card line in my budget anymore, it was just messing me up. CC isn't a real category, the stuff I put on the CC was either household or entertainment or gas etc. Having a CC line just messed up my tracking, when I pay off the CC I put all the individual items on their expense lines. I also don't keep a balance anymore,

[Blonde Granny]

I don't use a CC line item either.  My point is how much did I spend in each category.  Lumping it all in CC doesn't show me what Ive spent where.

[imanangel]

My husband spent only $73 at the grocery store today! That is so AWESOME. We normally can't get out of there for less than $250 a week.  I still have enough food for breakfast and dinners for like 4 more days. I am sure there is enough for lunches too....I will just have to have sandwiches or something. 

I didn't spend any money today. Heck, I didn't even leave my house today or get out of pajamas!

[countrygirl2]

We didn't go to Indianapolis, I was planning on going to a couple of malls. We got up to late so went to the city near us. I also told hubs I would end up spending a bunch of money on clothes and don't need to do that.  I just got rid of bunches of stuff, why buy more?

So we used 2 gift cards son got us, $50 at Olive Garden and with tip for 3 of us added about $8 out of pocket.  I went to 3 grocers, one being Sams.  Spent $77 there, $13 at Fresh Thyme, and $66 at Kroger.  I had a list but added a few things. Shrimp, kielbasa, breakfast link sausages, rice vinegar, but I did pretty good I think.  I am trying to allocate $100 a week for groceries, hubs said you already blew that, yes, half of next weeks.  We have a huge stash of food back, this was filling in the blanks so to speak.


I saw yellow, red, and orange bell peppers, I love them in dishes, they were $2.50 each, not sure what has prompted that so got green $.99.


I have an account set aside where I am putting any unused dollars, hope to build it up and have a nice slush fund by year end.  Hope nothing derails that.  But it will  be there if needed for teeth, glasses, or whatever.

[Blonde Granny]

I was checking the YNAB this AM, and noticed another thing I do differently: All I want is to track spending for each month. YNAB wants us to carry over to the following month money left in category, i.e. you budget $100 for food and only spend $50, it rolls to next month so you have a $150 to spend. I don't care about it, so I don't bother with it. I simply balance to zero every month if there is money left in any category or there isn't any money left and I over spent.

I'm sure the way I use it would make some people to have hair that hurts......

[sheilaincali]

Fairly successful weekend. I tried to only buy things that were on the list and planned for- two curtain rods, caulk for the kitchen, etc. Did buy some clearance drawer knobs for a dresser we have that we are refinishing. That wasn't planned but our Lowe's is closing and I got them for 70% off- so like $9 for 12 really nice knobs.

Downside is we ate out way too much this weekend, breakfast Saturday, Lunch Sunday, dinner Sunday. We've been re-doing the kitchen and were moving new appliances in yesterday. That's a whole other mess- with the Lowe's closing we were able to buy appliances at 35% off a few weeks ago. I redeemed all of my corporate cc points into Lowe's Gift cards ($2,000 in gift cards) so my appliances only cost me about $200 out of pocket. Unfortunately we didn't realize that the plug for the oven was missing- so we stole the one off the old stove and have to buy a new one since that's getting donated to a charity. The microwave didn't come with the mounting brackets so I had to order those on line (microwave is currently sitting on the floor in the corner). Fridge is 3/4 of an inch too tall and 1/2 an inch too wide. I have a handyman coming on Wednesday to price modifying the 70 year of cabinets and quoting the countertop install. Fingers crossed he is reasonably priced.

The Boy leaves on Wednesday