personal budget
Im in a Microsoft office class and we are working on a project in excel. The assignment is to make a personal budget for the months of April, May and June....I have been wanting to do one pretty much since I started having an income...the caveat has always been that I don't make enough money to bother with a budget--its always been more of a question like "Which bills do I absolutely HAVE to pay this week and which ones can wait until next pay check?" :-D Anyways, with the job I have now, I make enough because i do not have most living expenses (rent, food and insurance are all covered- so even though I make little actual money, I have enough for everything I have NEED. (Gas, car maintenance, tuition, school books/equipment, student loans, dog food, toiletries, etc...)
Now, I don't know why, but I'm really really nervous about this assignment. Not that I am going to do poorly grade-wise, but the prof is really encouraging us to use real info so it will be helpful to us in the next few months. I think its a great idea...especially because I am trying to rework things financially to get my dogs boarded around here. I think what I am nervous about is remembering to include everything...and I am nervous about not estimating the right amount (I have not been keeping track of my spending...I'm a tightwad in part from never having enough money before, now that I have enough, I just don't think to spend it...) I'm also nervous becasue it forces me to put down on paper how much I CAN and SHOULD spend....if I overspend, I feel like I will feel badly. :-\ On that note, I am going to start having health insurance in April but I have to pay all the copays and stuff and Im FREAKED out that all teh medical stuff I have put off and now nwed to attend to right away will ADd up. How do I plan for that? How do I not freak out if Ihave to spend more than I planned? Should I not even bother trying to guess yet?Additionally, I feel REALLY guilty about certain things with my money....For one thing, I feel guilty whenever I spend money on something I don't absolutely NEED....AND I feel guilty because one of the "rules" in my religion, is that I am supposed to be donating 10 percent of my income to charity and I have not done that since I was a teenager...mainly becasue money has been tight- too tight. BUT I feel guilty for not doing it, and I feel like to write out my budget and NOT do it, is to PLAN to disobey the "rules" of my faith. :-\ Ugggggg....this assingment should not cause so much stress!
So, do any of you make a physical budget? If so, what mistakes have you made with it that a newbie can avoid? What advice do you guys have? Or just thoughts or whatever? 8-)
I made up a budget when i first got a job, i didnt really feel like mistakes could be made, the budget is to keep yourself out of financial trouble. it keeps track of everything so that there are no mistakes. I often times would spend more in one category (gas) and much less in another (home items) so I would revise it for the next month. And if you keep track of it daily, then you can see how close you are getting to your limit and begin to cut back early on if need be. I would think making revisions for may and june based on the findings of april will show that you are really thinking about the project. so it's alright if you exceed the allowance in some categories in the initial budget, and if you make the revisions the next month, then you are benefiting from the budget project.
whenever i make a budget i just put how much i make in one column, how much a spend in another (i ALWAYS overestimate this one because i know it will be more).. for instance, i would put that my bills are $375 for rent $15 gas and electric $35 phone (only bills i pay).. so about $425 that i absolutely have to spend every month. then for food i overestimate so that if i want to eat out, get something expensive, etc. i have enough. then with whatever is left over i call it save/whatever. i usually just save it because i don't spend money on much... if i am not making enough to "save" a bit every month (i am one of those people that is paranoid of emergencies), then i need a new job or to cut spending or something.
i doubt this helped you much.... ;D
p.s. do you have a way to go back and look at your spending so you can see how much you spend (like can you look at your bank statement or whatever?)
I budget nearly EVERYTHING.....I have a row for rent, each of the utilities, pet expenses (initially this had sub categories, ie: food, litter, meds, vaccinations, etc), Insurance, food, gasoline, car maintenance, medical, entertainment, student loan, savings, and miscellaneous (clothing, cleaning supplies, laundry, etc)....I'd over estimate some things and, in the event of emergencies (ie like my knee going out), I am able to direct things like savings and entertainment towards medical expenses.....
I then have a column for weekly, monthly, and yearly expenses, and put the pertinent data from the categorical rows into that, with the appropriate excel formula to fill in the other two columns. Below each column is the total, showing how much I estimate I spend per week, month, year.
Since I use this as a tool to determine how much money I need to MAKE, I have additional rows estimating my GROSS income (before taxes), below the totals with an equation predicting what percentage would be taken out in taxes. I then would have a rough estimate as to how much I'd need to make per week/month/year......
Good luck, if you want help, let me know!!
wow! you guys are good!
I just spend what I need and hope that I have enough to cover it at the end of the month without having to dip into our savings. So far we have had much success with this method. I wonder if my habits would change if I actually kept track of things better? I have been trying to do things like, make the container of rice milk last one week, and the like. My dh gets annoyed when I tell him to stop guzzling the rice milk. He's not the one managing the money though (he's the one making most of it though).
I tried a budget that included everything. Mortgage, phone, cable, utilities, electricity, entertainment, food, hair cut, school loan, church donations, IR contribution, car insurance, gas, and gym membership (the membership is paid every three years, but if I put away $25.00 a month I'll have it when the time comes to pay it). I also set aside money for a car because right now I don't have a payment - out of this fund comes the routine maintenance and any unexpected repairs. Any extra from my food budget I set aside for the CSA payment next year.
I'm not really very good at sticking to it, but it looks good on paper. My problem is that since the divorce and having to pay everything alone, money is tight and if I don't stick to a budget in my head, if not on paper, then I run into usign savings.