So I'm over at MMM soaking up the financial wisdom and I have (again) come across the blurb that if you don't have $1000 saved for emergencies, your hair is on fire and it is an emergency to be dealt with by locking yourself in your house to prevent money spendage (yes I invent my own words) on ANYTHING besides peanut butter (yes I also am the queen of run on sentences; you can handle it). Okay I'm exaggerating a little about the peanut butter (but not my much).
As much as my financial nincompoop alter ego doesn't like that, he's right. I think drastic measures need to be taken.
My best idea is that for every purchase I want to make (ie my financial nincompoop self would normally make), I need to add that to a piece of paper. When the total gets to $10, I need to transfer that 10 over to savings. Or pulse it out! That way, the money we've been wasting all along will end up in the savings account instead of in someone else's bank account. Or at the least, just leave it in the account. But.....
I don't know how 'on board' my husband is with this idea, so leaving it in the account could be risky. I've mentioned it to him in passing but he's quiet and stoic and he doesn't really share what his thoughts are about everything. Plus he's stubborn, and if I nag him about something, he's guaranteed to do the opposite. So I have to tread carefully.
Can I link to MMM's blog? I think I can! (I'm new to this stuff.) Read the above referenced post by MMM here:
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Things We Do Already to Save Money (That You May Not Do Yet)
For the past several years, we've done the following which I feel saves money that maybe other people waste it on. Hey, if we can get along without it and not miss it, so can you!
Cleaning supplies. I just don't clean, so I never have to spend money on cleaning supplies! Ha, I'm just kiddin'. But I only buy window cleaner, Comet for bathroom counters/sinks/bathtubs, when they really need a good cleaning, and I'll admit it is NOT every week (I won't reveal myself further! LOL), Bon Ami (countertops), Dawn for dishes, Cascade for dishwasher. I've tried every ecologic and otherwise dishwashing soap and I can't live without my cascade. Everything else leaves film, no matter how little or much I used. Bleach, Ammonia for wiping grubby walls and cleaning grease, and vinegar and baking soda. I admit that I hate wiping toilets and I have in the past bought the clorox disinfecting wipes for that purpose. But I need to bite the bullet and use the nitrile latex gloves DH brings home from work with a bottle of bleach water, and quit whining how the bleach hurts my nose. I'll have to mix it weaker. I could probably also eliminate the Comet and Bon Ami. Maybe I'll try that once my current supplies run out, and just use the vinegar/baking soda and Ammonia. I should probably quit buying Windex, too, and just go with diluted vinegar. Look I just saved myself about twenty bucks right there, inspiring myself! Besides, I have to be accountable (and make my progress look as good as possible, too) so that will help.
Laundry: We have hard water, no softener, and currently we use our clothes dryer, so we haven't missed not using the dryer sheets. Besides, the fragrances are made out of petrol and chemicals which have never been studied for safety (and they irritate my nose and lungs!) so we are happy without them. Besides, did I mention they cost money? I'm about to go get a clothes drying rack, though, and see if I can cut way down on the clothes dryer usage. I figure I'll do one load ever three days, dry it on the rack, toss it in the dryer for five minutes on unheated to get the crunchy out. DH hates crunchy underwear and jeans and I can't say I blame him. Another thing is I rarely sort by colors. If I have enough, I'll separate darks and lights. I put reds in with darks. Haven't had a problem yet, as long as the reds have been washed a few times already. I rarely use stain removers; only on my favorite items or if I'm sure the item will be ruined if I don't. Oxyclean is my favorite. You can just use hydrogen peroxide though, too. Hmmm I feel some savings coming up.
We do about four loads of laundry every two weeks, six, if you count the DH's uniforms. He's supposed to have work do them, but they always fail to return at least half his clothes and that just doesn't work for him. Our laundry prevention techniques are as follows. My kids are terrible about ripping everything out of their drawers in a hurricane, wearing something for four hours, and throwing it in the dirty hamper. Ah, who am I kidding? They throw it on the floor and then I hound them to put it away, and THEN they throw the (clean) clothes into the dirty hamper.
So, I assign them three outfits and pack the rest away till they're really needed. Remember they have school uniforms.
Not washing extra clothes is a big time, money and energy saver. I myself have thrown out all of the clothes I have been hanging onto for years and years (and years!) because it's a waste of space and I never use them. What is the point of having stuff hanging around if you never use it? Its tying up your psychological energy and keeping you from moving forward. Think about it. I have one row of clothes, about four feet long, which is probably three feet still too many. I wear it for a day and rehang it up for another wear, until I detect odor or see a spot, then it goes in the hamper. Lots of people probably do something similar.
I also do one load at a time and put it away right away. Trying unsuccessfully to tackle mountain of laundry, failing, leaving it on the couch/bed (or floor, and then REWASHING IT....you know who you are!!) is NOT doing yourself any favors here. So just do one load at a time as you are able and move on. If you must, teach your nine year old to use the washer and dryer (it really is simple enough! I taught mine), and put each in charge of their own laundry. I've threatened to do this if I keep catching them putting cleans in the dirty pile. I also only wash the clothes that END UP in the hamper, too. That helps keep me from having to clean their room to find the dirty clothes when it's laundry time (bet you didn't know you were signing up for awesome responsibility-inducing child-rearing techniques when you clicked, did you?)
We have our own chickens, use some eggs, sell the extras, which covers the cost of their feed. Free breakfast/lunch and sometimes dinner, saves about $25/month (if you're buying the humane, healthy eggs at the store for $5/doz like we were).
We collect rainwater to water the garden (I'm not a great gardener yet, but we are doing wicking beds and hydroponics this year to try to beat the Texas heat, so maybe I'll be able to add that to my money saving repertoire!), and we built our beds out of stuff we already had so that saved a little.
We LOVE freecycle, a yahoo group (there are subgroups for your city) where you can get anything for free (and get rid of anything you don't want). We've gotten two good dishwashers and a microwave, and untold amount of other awesome stuff without paying a dime. It's always been safe and I've never had any bad experiences in the nine years we've been doing it.
We bathe as needed instead of daily (yes we are clean people!) and we probably save on shampoo and bath soap as a result. We also use foaming hand soap dispensers, dilute the soap, and save money that way. Too much soap dries my hands out anyways. We also dilute the bath soap if it's too thick.
Oh! I use Ecobutton for my computer. It plugs into your USB and you hit it when you walk away, putting your 'puter into sleep mode (easily awakened, has never malfunctioned), saving you a lot of money, and saving a lot of CO2 too. It tells you how much you've saved; let me go look: $633 over a few years. Not too shabby.
We don't water our lawn. That would be financially, humanitarian-wise and ecologically irresponsible. Just do a quick google search for how much drinking water people dump on their lawns, when there's a water shortage and distribution problem in the world. If you're going to spend money on water, please consider investing it in projects that bring it to people in the world who don't have any clean drinking water. Besides, the lawn gets brown sometimes but it ALWAYS comes back when it rains ;)
Food waste is taboo in my house. We eat alllll the leftovers, and feed the rest to the chickens if we must.
When I got my motorhome I was all excited about living it in one day, and began a de-cluttering spree, getting rid of and selling stuff that I wouldn't be able to, or want, to take with me (or store!) should we ever decide to live in it. I don't regret any of the purging. I feel simpler, freer, cleaner. I have a lot of stuff decorating the house that I can sell, too, when the time comes. So, sell stuff you aren't likely to use, and simplify your life, making money in the process. If it doesn't bring you utility and joy right now, purge it.
We have a great AquaSana water filter that saves me gas trips from having to go to the water store (and its cheaper) or buy bottled water.
This is getting long so I'll do another post if I come up with more. This is to document what we already do, and I know we will make more improvements as we go!
Cleaning supplies. I just don't clean, so I never have to spend money on cleaning supplies! Ha, I'm just kiddin'. But I only buy window cleaner, Comet for bathroom counters/sinks/bathtubs, when they really need a good cleaning, and I'll admit it is NOT every week (I won't reveal myself further! LOL), Bon Ami (countertops), Dawn for dishes, Cascade for dishwasher. I've tried every ecologic and otherwise dishwashing soap and I can't live without my cascade. Everything else leaves film, no matter how little or much I used. Bleach, Ammonia for wiping grubby walls and cleaning grease, and vinegar and baking soda. I admit that I hate wiping toilets and I have in the past bought the clorox disinfecting wipes for that purpose. But I need to bite the bullet and use the nitrile latex gloves DH brings home from work with a bottle of bleach water, and quit whining how the bleach hurts my nose. I'll have to mix it weaker. I could probably also eliminate the Comet and Bon Ami. Maybe I'll try that once my current supplies run out, and just use the vinegar/baking soda and Ammonia. I should probably quit buying Windex, too, and just go with diluted vinegar. Look I just saved myself about twenty bucks right there, inspiring myself! Besides, I have to be accountable (and make my progress look as good as possible, too) so that will help.
Laundry: We have hard water, no softener, and currently we use our clothes dryer, so we haven't missed not using the dryer sheets. Besides, the fragrances are made out of petrol and chemicals which have never been studied for safety (and they irritate my nose and lungs!) so we are happy without them. Besides, did I mention they cost money? I'm about to go get a clothes drying rack, though, and see if I can cut way down on the clothes dryer usage. I figure I'll do one load ever three days, dry it on the rack, toss it in the dryer for five minutes on unheated to get the crunchy out. DH hates crunchy underwear and jeans and I can't say I blame him. Another thing is I rarely sort by colors. If I have enough, I'll separate darks and lights. I put reds in with darks. Haven't had a problem yet, as long as the reds have been washed a few times already. I rarely use stain removers; only on my favorite items or if I'm sure the item will be ruined if I don't. Oxyclean is my favorite. You can just use hydrogen peroxide though, too. Hmmm I feel some savings coming up.
We do about four loads of laundry every two weeks, six, if you count the DH's uniforms. He's supposed to have work do them, but they always fail to return at least half his clothes and that just doesn't work for him. Our laundry prevention techniques are as follows. My kids are terrible about ripping everything out of their drawers in a hurricane, wearing something for four hours, and throwing it in the dirty hamper. Ah, who am I kidding? They throw it on the floor and then I hound them to put it away, and THEN they throw the (clean) clothes into the dirty hamper.
So, I assign them three outfits and pack the rest away till they're really needed. Remember they have school uniforms.
Not washing extra clothes is a big time, money and energy saver. I myself have thrown out all of the clothes I have been hanging onto for years and years (and years!) because it's a waste of space and I never use them. What is the point of having stuff hanging around if you never use it? Its tying up your psychological energy and keeping you from moving forward. Think about it. I have one row of clothes, about four feet long, which is probably three feet still too many. I wear it for a day and rehang it up for another wear, until I detect odor or see a spot, then it goes in the hamper. Lots of people probably do something similar.
I also do one load at a time and put it away right away. Trying unsuccessfully to tackle mountain of laundry, failing, leaving it on the couch/bed (or floor, and then REWASHING IT....you know who you are!!) is NOT doing yourself any favors here. So just do one load at a time as you are able and move on. If you must, teach your nine year old to use the washer and dryer (it really is simple enough! I taught mine), and put each in charge of their own laundry. I've threatened to do this if I keep catching them putting cleans in the dirty pile. I also only wash the clothes that END UP in the hamper, too. That helps keep me from having to clean their room to find the dirty clothes when it's laundry time (bet you didn't know you were signing up for awesome responsibility-inducing child-rearing techniques when you clicked, did you?)
We have our own chickens, use some eggs, sell the extras, which covers the cost of their feed. Free breakfast/lunch and sometimes dinner, saves about $25/month (if you're buying the humane, healthy eggs at the store for $5/doz like we were).
We collect rainwater to water the garden (I'm not a great gardener yet, but we are doing wicking beds and hydroponics this year to try to beat the Texas heat, so maybe I'll be able to add that to my money saving repertoire!), and we built our beds out of stuff we already had so that saved a little.
We LOVE freecycle, a yahoo group (there are subgroups for your city) where you can get anything for free (and get rid of anything you don't want). We've gotten two good dishwashers and a microwave, and untold amount of other awesome stuff without paying a dime. It's always been safe and I've never had any bad experiences in the nine years we've been doing it.
We bathe as needed instead of daily (yes we are clean people!) and we probably save on shampoo and bath soap as a result. We also use foaming hand soap dispensers, dilute the soap, and save money that way. Too much soap dries my hands out anyways. We also dilute the bath soap if it's too thick.
Oh! I use Ecobutton for my computer. It plugs into your USB and you hit it when you walk away, putting your 'puter into sleep mode (easily awakened, has never malfunctioned), saving you a lot of money, and saving a lot of CO2 too. It tells you how much you've saved; let me go look: $633 over a few years. Not too shabby.
We don't water our lawn. That would be financially, humanitarian-wise and ecologically irresponsible. Just do a quick google search for how much drinking water people dump on their lawns, when there's a water shortage and distribution problem in the world. If you're going to spend money on water, please consider investing it in projects that bring it to people in the world who don't have any clean drinking water. Besides, the lawn gets brown sometimes but it ALWAYS comes back when it rains ;)
Food waste is taboo in my house. We eat alllll the leftovers, and feed the rest to the chickens if we must.
When I got my motorhome I was all excited about living it in one day, and began a de-cluttering spree, getting rid of and selling stuff that I wouldn't be able to, or want, to take with me (or store!) should we ever decide to live in it. I don't regret any of the purging. I feel simpler, freer, cleaner. I have a lot of stuff decorating the house that I can sell, too, when the time comes. So, sell stuff you aren't likely to use, and simplify your life, making money in the process. If it doesn't bring you utility and joy right now, purge it.
We have a great AquaSana water filter that saves me gas trips from having to go to the water store (and its cheaper) or buy bottled water.
This is getting long so I'll do another post if I come up with more. This is to document what we already do, and I know we will make more improvements as we go!
Food Wars: The Ultimate Battleground
It's my blog and I'll post my viewpoint if I want to! (Sing to the old sixties song about crying at her birthday.)
Food for me, is pretty much no fun. All the yummy stuff, I'm not (and you either, for mostly the same reasons) supposed to eat. No soy because of my thyroid condition (curses to my husband for calling out my remaining allowance for soy sauce: I buy no more! Waaaah!). No wheat because it contains phytate (so do beans and seeds and nuts and legumes, if not fermented/soaked/cooked properly. Google Weston Price phytate article) which causes your body to be unable to absorb minerals (kind of a big deal!). No sugar (we all know why...it makes you inflamed which leads to chronic diseases and causes early aging, brittle skin hair and nails).
No canned food because the BPA inhibits the pathway your body uses to process and use B vitamins/folate. I also have MTHFR gene disorder (which there are two variations, and 30-70% of the population has a copy of this defective gene and don't know it! Get blood tested!) which prevents the B vitamins from being absorbed properly, which can result in the body not working right, and predispose it to ALL SORTS of diseases, which we know have been trending upwards in recent history. Google MTHFR for more info. No dairy (ok I cheat here) because casein is not well digested and can cause chronic subclinical (undetected) inflammation which nevertheless is causing your allergy/asthma/auto-immune disorders etc. (Our family struggles with allergies and asthma constantly.) Per my bloodwork, my health, hormones, thyroid, etc has been so out of balance for so long, that I can't even detox the simplest of things. For all I know my kids have this disorder too; I plan to have them tested before they hit puberty, which is when problems start to arise. So I have to be careful what we put in our bodies.
There's probably a thousand reasons to not eat meat (and I've educated myself on all of them) but I have to draw the line somewhere. Healthwise, the human physiology has evolved on meat so as long as its as natural as possible and in moderation I'm ok with that for now. So I try to do a sort of Paleo based diet although its not strict. I also try to buy some of the products more likely to be doused with antibiotics, hormone,s and pesticides (read: meat and dairy and thin-skinned fruits and veggies), and I avoid GMO, because I have many hours during the day to educate myself about the health-destroying properties of said products. I feel bad for those who do not have the time or inclination to also educate themselves, so consider this your affectionate 'kick in the pants' reminder to put it on your to-do list.
Anyways, I hate being hungry, and so do my kids, so I shop. My old M.O. was to wait for payday, kick up my heels with glee, and run to the grocery store, filling my cart with as much as it could hold with whatever looked good to me (within the parameters above) because surely that would last two weeks. On average, grocery trips like that (especially when other non-food items like Cascade and laundry soap needed to be replenished), the bill came to 325 per trip. that's 650/month.
Recently I started getting scolded for spending this much at the store, 'especially when there was still no food left to eat' afterwards. That comment comes from my husband who, God love him, contradicts himself regularly regarding the food situation. I think he is as conflicted about food as me and the rest of the country. He will eat fast food and corner store snacks (read: junk food and drink), then later he will poke his belly and say he wants to start eating healthier, less processed food etc.
But since he has not been living at his mom's house or single for the last 15 years, he has forgotten how to cook for himself and is loathe to even slice up a canteloupe, so to him, (remember this is my genuine heartfelt observation and perception, and I LOVE my husband, so anyone who knows us and happens to be reading this, please be merciful in your interpretations!!) when he sees a pantry with no Hamburger Helper or Lipton Cheesy Cheddar (I don't know if that's what they're really called but we used to buy them all the time), that requires prep/cooking and thus equals 'nothing to eat.' In his defense, he calls me from work and says, "What's for lunch" Which I hear as an affectionate "get in there, kitchen wench, and make me some grub!" which I am all too happy to do.
Anyways, back to getting scolded. I get scolded if I don't buy the food and there's 'nothing to eat.' I get scolded if I buy the food and I spend too much (or the food requires prep). What does this tell me? That it's time to get the management involved! This means documenting everything, making a meal plan sheet that everyone can agree on for each week, and keeping the DH informed. I also decided to split the two week allowance into two parts and do one week's shopping at a time so its easier to not overbuy on quantity and extras we don't need.
Also, I want to CUT the grocery budget from 650 to 400-500. This means $100-125/week on food items. Personal care and household goes in its own budget category. (That will be another post!)
So how did I do today at the grocery store? I combined DS's birthday accessories (cake mixes, balloons, glow sticks, popcorn) and household items (TP, Cascade, glass pyrex food storage containers) with the food bill and spent $141. So items which are budgeted elsewhere don't count towards my $125. Let's look at the receipt and see if I went over: Nope!! I spent $98.34 on FOOD ITEMS which are all ON MY MEALS LIST! Yay! If I keep that average up, I'll only spend $400/month on food, and considering what I've been researching, that's pretty decent, for Real Food, not pansy sugar-and-processed-flour food.
Ahhhhh....sweet success. I'm so happy improvements are being made.
Food for me, is pretty much no fun. All the yummy stuff, I'm not (and you either, for mostly the same reasons) supposed to eat. No soy because of my thyroid condition (curses to my husband for calling out my remaining allowance for soy sauce: I buy no more! Waaaah!). No wheat because it contains phytate (so do beans and seeds and nuts and legumes, if not fermented/soaked/cooked properly. Google Weston Price phytate article) which causes your body to be unable to absorb minerals (kind of a big deal!). No sugar (we all know why...it makes you inflamed which leads to chronic diseases and causes early aging, brittle skin hair and nails).
No canned food because the BPA inhibits the pathway your body uses to process and use B vitamins/folate. I also have MTHFR gene disorder (which there are two variations, and 30-70% of the population has a copy of this defective gene and don't know it! Get blood tested!) which prevents the B vitamins from being absorbed properly, which can result in the body not working right, and predispose it to ALL SORTS of diseases, which we know have been trending upwards in recent history. Google MTHFR for more info. No dairy (ok I cheat here) because casein is not well digested and can cause chronic subclinical (undetected) inflammation which nevertheless is causing your allergy/asthma/auto-immune disorders etc. (Our family struggles with allergies and asthma constantly.) Per my bloodwork, my health, hormones, thyroid, etc has been so out of balance for so long, that I can't even detox the simplest of things. For all I know my kids have this disorder too; I plan to have them tested before they hit puberty, which is when problems start to arise. So I have to be careful what we put in our bodies.
There's probably a thousand reasons to not eat meat (and I've educated myself on all of them) but I have to draw the line somewhere. Healthwise, the human physiology has evolved on meat so as long as its as natural as possible and in moderation I'm ok with that for now. So I try to do a sort of Paleo based diet although its not strict. I also try to buy some of the products more likely to be doused with antibiotics, hormone,s and pesticides (read: meat and dairy and thin-skinned fruits and veggies), and I avoid GMO, because I have many hours during the day to educate myself about the health-destroying properties of said products. I feel bad for those who do not have the time or inclination to also educate themselves, so consider this your affectionate 'kick in the pants' reminder to put it on your to-do list.
Anyways, I hate being hungry, and so do my kids, so I shop. My old M.O. was to wait for payday, kick up my heels with glee, and run to the grocery store, filling my cart with as much as it could hold with whatever looked good to me (within the parameters above) because surely that would last two weeks. On average, grocery trips like that (especially when other non-food items like Cascade and laundry soap needed to be replenished), the bill came to 325 per trip. that's 650/month.
Recently I started getting scolded for spending this much at the store, 'especially when there was still no food left to eat' afterwards. That comment comes from my husband who, God love him, contradicts himself regularly regarding the food situation. I think he is as conflicted about food as me and the rest of the country. He will eat fast food and corner store snacks (read: junk food and drink), then later he will poke his belly and say he wants to start eating healthier, less processed food etc.
But since he has not been living at his mom's house or single for the last 15 years, he has forgotten how to cook for himself and is loathe to even slice up a canteloupe, so to him, (remember this is my genuine heartfelt observation and perception, and I LOVE my husband, so anyone who knows us and happens to be reading this, please be merciful in your interpretations!!) when he sees a pantry with no Hamburger Helper or Lipton Cheesy Cheddar (I don't know if that's what they're really called but we used to buy them all the time), that requires prep/cooking and thus equals 'nothing to eat.' In his defense, he calls me from work and says, "What's for lunch" Which I hear as an affectionate "get in there, kitchen wench, and make me some grub!" which I am all too happy to do.
Anyways, back to getting scolded. I get scolded if I don't buy the food and there's 'nothing to eat.' I get scolded if I buy the food and I spend too much (or the food requires prep). What does this tell me? That it's time to get the management involved! This means documenting everything, making a meal plan sheet that everyone can agree on for each week, and keeping the DH informed. I also decided to split the two week allowance into two parts and do one week's shopping at a time so its easier to not overbuy on quantity and extras we don't need.
Also, I want to CUT the grocery budget from 650 to 400-500. This means $100-125/week on food items. Personal care and household goes in its own budget category. (That will be another post!)
So how did I do today at the grocery store? I combined DS's birthday accessories (cake mixes, balloons, glow sticks, popcorn) and household items (TP, Cascade, glass pyrex food storage containers) with the food bill and spent $141. So items which are budgeted elsewhere don't count towards my $125. Let's look at the receipt and see if I went over: Nope!! I spent $98.34 on FOOD ITEMS which are all ON MY MEALS LIST! Yay! If I keep that average up, I'll only spend $400/month on food, and considering what I've been researching, that's pretty decent, for Real Food, not pansy sugar-and-processed-flour food.
Ahhhhh....sweet success. I'm so happy improvements are being made.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
The Next Logical Step (You Need A Budget!)
Now that we have the analysis out of the way, I thought the next logical step would be some sort of way to budget.
Our 'old' M.O. was on payday, see what bills were due up, pay those, and if there was money left for gas and groceries, get those too. If we were behind, we'd skip a bill to be paid later out of the next incoming check, and get gas and groceries with that money. If we paid the bills, and had enough for two weeks of gas and groceries, AND there was money left over....well, you know what happens then! It got spent!! Oh, the opulence of unfettered corner store trips (DH) and Goodwill runs (my occasional guilty pleasure).
All too often though it seems like we were behind and trying to make the gas in the car last long enough to get to the next paycheck. Boy am I hoping those days are over!
MMM shone the light (although he is so far ahead that he doesn't budget or use budgeting software) on a program called YNAB (you need a budget!). We are financially illiterate and backwards enough that we need to budget, though, so after lurking on their website for a few days reading testimonials and watching intro videos, we signed up for the free 34 day trial. I have to say, so far I like it! It doesn't just track what you've done in the past, but it helps you assign each dollar a job, so that there is no 'extra money' floating around, just itching to be wasted. You can assign it to yearly expenses so you don't have the imperception that it's freed up. And you can apply the appropriate amount of 'should I' or 'do I really need to' thought-prefacing before you grab the debit card.
You can enter all your spending categories (current and also the ones you want to have in the future, like 'Vacation fund' and 'Christmas'), assign a certain dollar amount to each (what it's likely to be and/or what you want it to be), you can enter your income as it comes in, and then as you make transactions during the month (the automatic car insurance comes out, then you enter that, or you make a grocery run, then you enter that) and it subtracts the transaction amount from the total budgeted amount, so you can see if you have any left (or if you went over). The YNAB software tells you not to feel guilty if you go over-budget in a category. But if you do, you have to take it away from another category. It's a constant adjustment, and you get a good picture of your spending habits, and hopefully use this info, as well as meetings with your spouse, to tweak it and hopefully keep you close to being on the right track.
One thing they recommend is to have a meeting each time money comes in. Then, consult each other for any purchase over $10. Heck, I think its best to be accountable for each and every transaction. They say to budget in some fun money for each person, and I think that's important, although it should be kept to a reasonable minimum, for people like us who have no savings and next to no investing (if we ever want to retire)! Accountability and transparency, I say! It keeps you honest.
Actually YNAB is where I heard the idea that you should be using this months paycheck for next months bills. That was mind-blowing, I tell you. Which is probably SAD. But I digress. The software calls this Emergency Fund, I think, and you eventually want to get to where that has at least one month's expenses saved in it, and then (when you're REALLY rich!!) three months, etc. etc.
The GOOD news (always a silver lining somewhere!) is that we always get a tax refund back, usually around 2,000. We plan to pay back the in-laws with half of that, and with the other half, pay some bills in advance so we can get closer to being ahead one month instead of behind or current. I'll update you on the happy day that we get that accomplished!
Our 'old' M.O. was on payday, see what bills were due up, pay those, and if there was money left for gas and groceries, get those too. If we were behind, we'd skip a bill to be paid later out of the next incoming check, and get gas and groceries with that money. If we paid the bills, and had enough for two weeks of gas and groceries, AND there was money left over....well, you know what happens then! It got spent!! Oh, the opulence of unfettered corner store trips (DH) and Goodwill runs (my occasional guilty pleasure).
All too often though it seems like we were behind and trying to make the gas in the car last long enough to get to the next paycheck. Boy am I hoping those days are over!
MMM shone the light (although he is so far ahead that he doesn't budget or use budgeting software) on a program called YNAB (you need a budget!). We are financially illiterate and backwards enough that we need to budget, though, so after lurking on their website for a few days reading testimonials and watching intro videos, we signed up for the free 34 day trial. I have to say, so far I like it! It doesn't just track what you've done in the past, but it helps you assign each dollar a job, so that there is no 'extra money' floating around, just itching to be wasted. You can assign it to yearly expenses so you don't have the imperception that it's freed up. And you can apply the appropriate amount of 'should I' or 'do I really need to' thought-prefacing before you grab the debit card.
You can enter all your spending categories (current and also the ones you want to have in the future, like 'Vacation fund' and 'Christmas'), assign a certain dollar amount to each (what it's likely to be and/or what you want it to be), you can enter your income as it comes in, and then as you make transactions during the month (the automatic car insurance comes out, then you enter that, or you make a grocery run, then you enter that) and it subtracts the transaction amount from the total budgeted amount, so you can see if you have any left (or if you went over). The YNAB software tells you not to feel guilty if you go over-budget in a category. But if you do, you have to take it away from another category. It's a constant adjustment, and you get a good picture of your spending habits, and hopefully use this info, as well as meetings with your spouse, to tweak it and hopefully keep you close to being on the right track.
One thing they recommend is to have a meeting each time money comes in. Then, consult each other for any purchase over $10. Heck, I think its best to be accountable for each and every transaction. They say to budget in some fun money for each person, and I think that's important, although it should be kept to a reasonable minimum, for people like us who have no savings and next to no investing (if we ever want to retire)! Accountability and transparency, I say! It keeps you honest.
Actually YNAB is where I heard the idea that you should be using this months paycheck for next months bills. That was mind-blowing, I tell you. Which is probably SAD. But I digress. The software calls this Emergency Fund, I think, and you eventually want to get to where that has at least one month's expenses saved in it, and then (when you're REALLY rich!!) three months, etc. etc.
The GOOD news (always a silver lining somewhere!) is that we always get a tax refund back, usually around 2,000. We plan to pay back the in-laws with half of that, and with the other half, pay some bills in advance so we can get closer to being ahead one month instead of behind or current. I'll update you on the happy day that we get that accomplished!
Into the Nitty Gritty
OK! It's time to reveal our financial situation here, so you can see what we are dealing with. I came from a family that always has lived paycheck to paycheck, increasing its expenses as the money came in. My parents could not pass on skills that they did not have. I learned to balance a checkbook in Home Ec. but that's pretty much it.
My husband's "Money M.O." (that's modus operandi) appears to be much like mine, if you make it, you should spend it...there's always stuff that comes up either that you need or that you've been wanting for a long time, right?
So our current situation. Income:
DH grosses about 57K a year. 401K 3%, matched, HSA account, plus other taxes and deductions (federal, medicare, vision and medical insurance...more than $400/month).
What actually got deposited into our joint checking account last year from his job: $37,539.
I bring in about $450/month ($5,400/yr).
Our monthly expenses:
2003 Toyota Sequoia $290/mo....we just paid that off last month! Sweet deal for us! We had to have a Toyota because my husband's a certified Toyota mechanic (free labor!) and it had to seat a buncha kids because that's what I do...I carpool and pickup kids from school. We used to also 'need' it to haul my horse and trailer around. Sadly but in a way gladly, I was able to let the horse and trailer go to new homes and use the money to pay down previous debts.
My husband's "Money M.O." (that's modus operandi) appears to be much like mine, if you make it, you should spend it...there's always stuff that comes up either that you need or that you've been wanting for a long time, right?
So our current situation. Income:
DH grosses about 57K a year. 401K 3%, matched, HSA account, plus other taxes and deductions (federal, medicare, vision and medical insurance...more than $400/month).
What actually got deposited into our joint checking account last year from his job: $37,539.
I bring in about $450/month ($5,400/yr).
Our monthly expenses:
rent $450/mo.
electric $150/mo. (we have it averaged. before we did this, summers are around $300, winters $100
water $60
gas $70
car ins $136
timewarner internet only $63/mo. it was an abysmal $86 but I called and got it reduced by $23/mo.
Sprint cell $200/mo. We're paying for two iphones: mine's got a balance of $333 left and his is actually a 2 year lease plan because he always gets the new phone when it comes out. We have 8 gigs shared data and unlimited talk and text. We typically use around 4 gigs. Keep in mind this in an area I'm thinking hard about and just waiting for the right situation to make changes. More on that later!
student loan $100
gasoline $275
food/grocery $450/mo.(was 650 but I was able to bring it down)
motorhome $100/mo.
home depot $130/mo. to pay back $780 balance in six months for interest free. Our oven went kaput.
HSA $300/mo. which covers things like medicines, dr. visit copays, supplements . I think this amount is taken 'off' before you consider his final deposited amount per paycheck so not sure if you can consider this a true monthly expense off the bottom line.
tools: $100/month Hubby uses to replace worn or broken tools, drills, lights, etc.
$1,160 loan from parents for 2005 Toyota Camry LE (update: paid that off).
Assets:
Toyota Sequoia valued at $8,000 ish
2005 Toyota Camry LE valued at $4,300 ish
401K: contributed in 2014 was $2,303. That doesn't sound that great. Total in the acct. is $21,000. That's a pretty abysmal retirement savings for our current ages, and we know it.
tool cart current resale value: $5,000
motorhome 1994 Winnebago Elante valued at about $18K
Netflix: free (we use the in-laws account so we don't actually pay for this. Thanks mom!) 0/month.
Hulu $7/month
Redbox $15-20/month (because for my movie-fiend husband, no amount of free or $7/month streaming movies is enough)
Pets $40/month. (six chickens and two rabbits) Chickens provide free eggs (we eat what we don't sell which pays for their feed)
Liabilities:
401k loan balance: $1,474
(to pay off his huge tool cart work required him to have, and then the company got sold to someone else, and they rebuilt the shop, providing tool boxes, so now he has a huge one at home, in case he ever leaves this company and needs it for another job)
student loan balance: about $5,000 at 4% interest
motorhome loan (interest free) $9,800
student loan balance: about $5,000 at 4% interest
motorhome loan (interest free) $9,800
Assets:
Toyota Sequoia valued at $8,000 ish
2005 Toyota Camry LE valued at $4,300 ish
401K: contributed in 2014 was $2,303. That doesn't sound that great. Total in the acct. is $21,000. That's a pretty abysmal retirement savings for our current ages, and we know it.
tool cart current resale value: $5,000
motorhome 1994 Winnebago Elante valued at about $18K
There is a weird discrepancy regarding income. If you take the amount actually deposited into our bank account from my husband's job, our total income should be a combined average of $3,578/month. But in reality, most of the time we are dealing with an actual take home amount of $2,240-2440/month. Somewhere, something is off (probably my understanding of how his paycheck is distributed between all the categories dipping into it before it is deposited) and I'd love to figure out what I'm missing here. Please comment if you have insight as to what I'm forgetting to consider.
Income adds up to a potential $3,578/month
Expenses add up to $2447
Difference equals to $1131 (totally MISSING money per month. see above.)
Are there any mystery expenses? Sure. Corner store trips would be one...if I had to guess, my DH spends about $15-25/week on beverages and snacks (read: junk food). I don't want to pick on him too much, besides, this is NOT about picking on people!! This is about being honest with ourselves and each other and finding ways to cut waste and optimize saving, right?! Right!
We used to eat out more but this happens way less because of my income reduction from what it was before (I quit watching babies full time and now only do the afterschoolers...for my health and sanity!) We eat out at fast food as a family maybe 2-4 times a month usually when we're on the run on the weekends working at the in-laws, or I'm too sick to cook dinner (which has happened all too frequently these last couple months), and my husband eats lunches out some days. I'll have to ask him how many days this happens and then convince him to cut it out (hopefully). I don't have my hair or nails done, I cut the kids' hair, and the kids have school uniforms which thankfully, there is a uniform swap each year so we just round out whatever we can't get from that, usually that bill comes to around $100/year.
And up till last month, another 290 went to the Sequoia, and we're done with that, so going forward it should be possible to do better.
There's always birthdays and christmas that comes up (we rarely spend more than $200 on Christmas).
There's always birthdays and christmas that comes up (we rarely spend more than $200 on Christmas).
Goals: To be one month ahead (using Feb's income to pay March's bills all at once at the first of the month)
To have a Rainy Day fund for unforeseeable expenses
To have money budgeted for each expense that we know will happen over the year (birthdays, Christmas etc.)
To be able to retire, ever.
This post is getting a little long, and I think I've given you what you need to know about what we spend and what we make to get your juices flowing. Leave your unbridled (but couth) suggestions in the comments, and we'll see if you throw anything at me that I haven't already been considering. I do have some changes in the works and I'll be sharing those soon, so stay tuned!
A Journey from Living Paycheck-to-Paycheck to Affluence
Who We Are
Hi there. We are a middle-class family of four. There's me (the wife), my husband, our son (10) and our daughter (7). My husband is an automotive diagnostic and repair technician (aka specialist grease monkey at a dealership), and I am a stay-at-home mom who carpools and does after-school care for a couple of friends' kids. My hubby and I are around 38 years old. I have no certified higher education, and he of course has trade school education.
I have found that many of the people I talk to have the same problem as we do, which is that we live paycheck to paycheck, usually paying the current month's bills with the current month's paychecks, which invariably leads to us being either barely current, or even sometimes slightly behind. Maybe I'm hanging around with the wrong people...nah. But I do need to start associating with some other people too, ones who actually know what they are doing and are not in the same boat as us, ones whom we can learn from.
I forgot how, but I stumbled upon a blog called Mr Money Mustache and he has opened my eyes to the fact that what I'm doing really isn't working and if I ever want to get my husband off the treadmill/rat race of working for others for way too many hours a week, we both need a "punch-in-the-face" reality check (MMM's signature phrase, LOL!). So this is our journey. One of a standard American family with two kids, barely making it on one income, and our plans and actions to dig out of this hole, by saving, shoring up our earnings, and investing for retirement. Maybe even early retirement, like MMM did! His core audience tends to be those who make 75K or more a year and who waste a lot of money on lattes and SUV's, but we make way less. I thought it would be interesting to document our path. I don't want this intro to be too long so I'll get into specifics on what we make and what we spend in another post. And what our current plan is to take the first step on the first rung of the ladder up.
Anyhow, glad to meet you, and Welcome!! Please post your own intro in the comments!
Hi there. We are a middle-class family of four. There's me (the wife), my husband, our son (10) and our daughter (7). My husband is an automotive diagnostic and repair technician (aka specialist grease monkey at a dealership), and I am a stay-at-home mom who carpools and does after-school care for a couple of friends' kids. My hubby and I are around 38 years old. I have no certified higher education, and he of course has trade school education.
I have found that many of the people I talk to have the same problem as we do, which is that we live paycheck to paycheck, usually paying the current month's bills with the current month's paychecks, which invariably leads to us being either barely current, or even sometimes slightly behind. Maybe I'm hanging around with the wrong people...nah. But I do need to start associating with some other people too, ones who actually know what they are doing and are not in the same boat as us, ones whom we can learn from.
I forgot how, but I stumbled upon a blog called Mr Money Mustache and he has opened my eyes to the fact that what I'm doing really isn't working and if I ever want to get my husband off the treadmill/rat race of working for others for way too many hours a week, we both need a "punch-in-the-face" reality check (MMM's signature phrase, LOL!). So this is our journey. One of a standard American family with two kids, barely making it on one income, and our plans and actions to dig out of this hole, by saving, shoring up our earnings, and investing for retirement. Maybe even early retirement, like MMM did! His core audience tends to be those who make 75K or more a year and who waste a lot of money on lattes and SUV's, but we make way less. I thought it would be interesting to document our path. I don't want this intro to be too long so I'll get into specifics on what we make and what we spend in another post. And what our current plan is to take the first step on the first rung of the ladder up.
Anyhow, glad to meet you, and Welcome!! Please post your own intro in the comments!
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