Friday, August 10, 2007

About that monthly budget

I just realized something. I'm very good at saving money. I'm horrible at budgeting money. When I started my financial journey, one of the major questions I had was "Where in the deep fried hell is all my money going?" Nearly $13K paid off in credit card debt paid off, and almost $5K saved for a vacation later, and I still can't answer that question. I can pay my bills monthly, however when it comes to the extras, I can't figure out where it comes from, where it goes, etc. That makes no sense. My budget to the right makes some sense, if I followed it more closely. I think I've got a few things to sort out here:

  • If I've got a budget and I still find I don't have enough money for things, I need to figure out what I'm spending money on and figure out of those are necessary.
  • If they are, I need to readjust some other items on that list, if not completely eliminate them.
  • Figure out the best way to divvy these expenses and bills between paychecks.

I've also been entertaining the idea of opening an Electric Orange checking account to use for my expenses (brow wax, groceries, etc., not my monthly bills). I already have an ING savings account ($1,300 per month). I figure open a new ING savings account that I will direct all my monthly expenses to, then open an Electric Orange checking account to link to it that I would pay for all those items from. Good idea? Bad idea? I'll have to figure that out. But the more pressing issue is working on my budget.

2 comments:

  1. I totally know what you mean about being a good saver but not really knowing where your money goes. Sometimes I wish I kept better track of what I spend where (so I can cut down when/if I need to), but in general I quit worrying about it.

    My budget is divided into 4 categories: saving, giving, committed expenses, and fun money. As long as I reach my savings/giving targets, and as long as my bills get paid, I don't care if my discretionary income goes towards a shopping spree, eating out, dry cleaning, or travel. But in general I have no idea what the breakdown is...I'm pretty sure I spend a disproportionate amount of my income on dining/drinking out though. :-)

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  2. I wish I was able to save that much every month!

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