Anne_in_VA
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Post by Anne_in_VA on Jun 14, 2011 12:56:31 GMT -5
doxie, - I think what QQ is saying is to keep one separate checking account for all of the housing costs (mortgage, taxes and insurance). You know what the costs are for these are every month (or every xx months for the insurance, every xx months for the taxes) and total those up. Once you have that total, divide it by 12 and have that amount direct deposited into that separate account each month. If you get paid twice a month, then have 1/2 of that amount direct deposited into that separate account.
Than when your mortgage is due, you just write a check from that separate account. Do the same thing with the taxes and insurance - when you get those bills, you've got the money already there and can pay those bills without scrambling to find the money.
I agree with all the other people, you are living too close to the edge to prepay any of your fixed expenses like car loans. I'd pay off the CC to help free up some extra money.
You should also look at sroo's suggestion about using a spreadsheet for your budget and saving it then adding another tab for each succeeding month. In a year you'll have a full year's information and can better allocate your money according to what the projected costs and income will be.
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qofcc
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Post by qofcc on Jun 14, 2011 13:03:14 GMT -5
Qo- i use to do something like that and i ended up with like 10 different accounts across three banks. Its easier for me to do one checking, one savings, one ef, and then dh and the kids have savings attached to my checking.
Well, I wouldn't advise 10 accounts over 3 banks, I'm just suggesting dividing your checking account into 2 buckets (at the same bank that you keep your regular checking and you can access online). Take your house and car loans and insurance & taxes (which are pretty much fixed expenses) and put them on auto pilot. Then manage your fluctuating expenses in your regular checking account.
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doxieluvr
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Post by doxieluvr on Jun 14, 2011 13:03:55 GMT -5
My budget is based on paychecks, like the first paycheck goes towards x,y,z, the second goes to a,bc. Wwbg, i dont know the exact costs of my triple play. Its on one bill with the cell phobes. To simplify it, its all one to me.
The child support is fixed, and included in the total income. Its not much but i do get it regularly.
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doxieluvr
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Post by doxieluvr on Jun 14, 2011 13:06:54 GMT -5
Sroo, i think i do what you describe. Please if you dobt mibd, i would love to see your spreadsheet. My email should be in my profile
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doxieluvr
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Post by doxieluvr on Jun 14, 2011 13:23:42 GMT -5
I zero out at the end of each month, and every dollar goes someehwre based on the dave ramsey principle i picked up years ago
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8 Bit WWBG
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Post by 8 Bit WWBG on Jun 14, 2011 14:07:51 GMT -5
...:::"Wwbg, i dont know the exact costs of my triple play. Its on one bill with the cell phobes. To simplify it, its all one to me.":::...
OK, this is helpful. I will update post 21.
...:::"I zero out at the end of each month, and every dollar goes someehwre based on the dave ramsey principle i picked up years ago.":::...
Nothing you are doing resembles any of Dave Ramsey's principles. You are so far off him for everything from your attitude about cars, to housing, to debt...
I am also VERY curious as to how someone who wings it as you do, knows that you spend $600 on groceries. What is your ACTUAL spend? I would bet money that you are spending MORE than your budgeted amounts.
DF and I keep a list on our fridge of each grocery trip and how much we spent. I think such an exercise will help you get an accurate picture of what you spend, and help you be accountable to yourselves to do better. You said you WANT to get it down to $500, but what have you done to advance that goal?
...:::"Actually, I may start with May and June and plug in WWBG's numbers...":::...
I have updated post 21 so that it is categorized by fixed and variable.
Doxie, PLEASE help me and sroo fill in some holes. If we can get post 21 to be complete and accurate, sroo can put it in her spreadsheet, and then you'll have a foundation on which to build a tool that will help you see just where your money is going.
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Anne_in_VA
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Post by Anne_in_VA on Jun 14, 2011 14:37:36 GMT -5
I am very impressed WWBG! You've done an incredible job of laying all this out and putting it in a format we can make sense of!
Karma to you for taking the time to recap it all!
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doxieluvr
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Post by doxieluvr on Jun 14, 2011 14:40:32 GMT -5
Wwbg- i use a spreadsheet that tracks every penny of our mobthly money. When i go to the store, i subtract it from my check register and enter it in my spreadsheet. So i do know exactly what gets spent in each category.
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8 Bit WWBG
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Post by 8 Bit WWBG on Jun 14, 2011 15:38:35 GMT -5
...:::"Wwbg- i use a spreadsheet that tracks every penny of our mobthly money. When i go to the store, i subtract it from my check register and enter it in my spreadsheet. So i do know exactly what gets spent in each category.":::...
Does your spreadsheet include JUST the "shopping" type expenses (groceries, clothing, gas fillups...) or does it also include each and every transaction you make -- mortgage, taxes, water... EVERYTHING? If you already have all this data, then why not plug these things into a monthly budget, and then a yearly budget? How long have you been tracking this? Why are we just hearing about it now?!?!?!
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doxieluvr
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Post by doxieluvr on Jun 14, 2011 17:17:58 GMT -5
Of course i keep a spreadsheet and track all our expenses in a spreadsheet. thats why I said i was working on may and junes budget. I base it on the min we will bring home that month, and its all expenses from our net income. I have been using the same spreadsheet for years. I only look at the monthly expenses for the current month. It does show on a yearly sheet once the expenses are on the sheet for the month.
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suesinfl
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Post by suesinfl on Jun 14, 2011 18:00:32 GMT -5
My budget is based? on paychecks, like the first paycheck goes towards x,y,z, the second goes to a,bc. Wwbg, i dont know the exact costs of my triple play. Its on one bill with the cell phobes. To simplify it, its all one to me. The child support is fixed, and included in the total income. Its not much but i do get it regularly. Umm, don't count on that child support even if it is court ordered. Trust me I know. You never, never count on something until you receive it. He may be paying it faithfully, but if he loses his job, where will he get the money to pay you? If he has other obligations, you should bet that they will come first, no matter how much he loves his child. Been there, done that, still going through that.
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doxieluvr
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Post by doxieluvr on Jun 14, 2011 18:03:32 GMT -5
I am lucky with the child support. His wages are garnished and his boss is my brother. Its safe bet that we always get cs.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Jun 14, 2011 19:03:42 GMT -5
It sounds like you did get lucky with the chlid support, and it's unlikely you'll lose it - but you still need to be prepared for that possibility. That is all anyone is saying. There was a thread about CS just a few weeks ago - and every.single.poster (many of them females receiving CS) said that you should never, never DEPEND on it to pay your bills. You should never depend on anything that is not outside your immediate control. Because you cannot control other people.
It's fine that you depend on it today, and tomorrow, or even six months from now - but you need to work on getting enough breathing room in your budget that if you lose the CS, or something else happens - it won't sink you. Not saying "Oh, that won't happen" and ignoring it.
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suesinfl
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Post by suesinfl on Jun 14, 2011 20:52:43 GMT -5
mid, thank you, thank you. I never depended on it to pay for my fixed expenses (mortgage, elec. water, ins, etc.) I used it for the minimal cable, extra school expenses, etc. things that I could cut if needed which I have done. I make enough to keep our needs met, but the extras are what I used the CS to pay for the kids' extras wants. When it stopped, so did the extras. It's not easy to have to say "no" I don't have it, but you do what you have to do.
I've been bad that when the kids ask for money or other things, I say "ask your father". Wrong, but they know the situation and it makes them think, or so I hope.
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doxieluvr
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Post by doxieluvr on Jun 15, 2011 7:43:16 GMT -5
Child support is a very trivial amount of our income. If i averaged it out, it comes to $72 a month. Not a huge sum to miss if it disappeared.
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Jun 15, 2011 7:45:12 GMT -5
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8 Bit WWBG
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Post by 8 Bit WWBG on Jun 15, 2011 8:14:18 GMT -5
...:::"Some of my numbers didn't work out the same as WWBGs, I may have been double counting some things. If nothing else we can all take a look and Doxie can update where things are not correct.":::...
My math was fine initially, but I revised a lot of the estimates as more information came out, and may not have updated the totals.
...:::"Of course i keep a spreadsheet and track all our expenses in a spreadsheet. thats why I said i was working on may and junes budget. I base it on the min we will bring home that month, and its all expenses from our net income. I have been using the same spreadsheet for years. I only look at the monthly expenses for the current month. It does show on a yearly sheet once the expenses are on the sheet for the month.":::...
But then I read this and wondered why it took a cumulative 100+ pages and 3 months for this little nugget to come out.
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doxieluvr
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Post by doxieluvr on Jun 15, 2011 8:33:45 GMT -5
Wwbg- you never asked
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Colleenz
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Post by Colleenz on Jun 15, 2011 8:52:30 GMT -5
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muttleynfelix
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Post by muttleynfelix on Jun 15, 2011 9:26:14 GMT -5
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Jun 15, 2011 9:34:22 GMT -5
Well, that last post tells me everything I need to know. I'm out!
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Jun 15, 2011 9:39:50 GMT -5
If you make out a grocery list at least a week in advance and shop one time, you can cut grocery bills BIG TIME. I could feed a family of 4 very healthy for less than a hundred a week. If I wanted to do 2 cheaper meals or even 3, I could do it for a LOT less. Buy a big package of chicken leg quarters and put them into individual gallon freezer bags with some Italian dressing added in. As they defrost, they marinate and the house smells yummy while you are baking or grilling them and they taste delicious and its cheap, maybe 39-49 cents a pound. Usually 10 pound bags.
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doxieluvr
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Post by doxieluvr on Jun 15, 2011 9:43:03 GMT -5
Zib, i have been shopping sales and couponing. I go to 3 close grocery stores. Dh is the cook. I would eat cereal every night if it was up to me.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2011 10:07:00 GMT -5
Doxie, post 83 was kinda rude. My southern manners dictate that when someone is putting a lot of effort into trying to help me, I don't give them flip one-liners.
If you don't want to participate in trying to get your finances together, just tell WWBG that. Then he can keep coming up with "what could happen if doxie cooperated scenarios" for his own entertainment, or he could move on to something else.
I only wish I had gotten this kind of support and advice FOR FREE before I went over the cliff a few years ago.
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Jun 15, 2011 10:13:40 GMT -5
If you don't want to participate in trying to get your finances together, just tell WWBG that. Then he can keep coming up with "what could happen if doxie cooperated scenarios" for his own entertainment, or he could move on to something else. Or someone else. Because I'm kinda wishing I had the guts to post DH's and my spreadsheets and get some help in making sense of them...
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RoadToRiches
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Post by RoadToRiches on Jun 15, 2011 10:13:42 GMT -5
I can't believe this thing has a second thread now lol WOW
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2011 10:18:36 GMT -5
WWBG, how 'bout it? Care to switch it up and take on the Wisconsin Beth project?
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Jun 15, 2011 10:45:57 GMT -5
sroo, I really like that. I'm going to try to edit this with my stuff and see how it plays out. Karma for you when I recharge. And WWBG after that for starting this thread.
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Plain Old Petunia
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Post by Plain Old Petunia on Jun 15, 2011 10:58:09 GMT -5
Doxie, if you have several years of past expenses on a spreadsheet, then why are you getting caught short? Is the information not summarized in a useful way?
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Jun 15, 2011 11:20:15 GMT -5
Beth... the last tab "Do Not Delete" is the source for the drop down categories. If you want add or change some of them do it there, and then you can just pick from the list. (Yes I was being kind of a dork the day I created this !) What does DELTA mean in column G?
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