It's not the same as saying that I make a lot of money and have all I want. I've spoken probably enough to give out that my discretionary budget is tiny. But what I do love about it was how I set it up about a year and a half ago; in 2 week increments. Everything either gets paid on the first paycheck or on the second paycheck. There are no-in betweens. No mess, no hassle to deal with. I know this isn't possible for many people, but if you can make it work, it is a huge stress reliever to only deal with the stress of bill paying once every 2 weeks.
Yesterday I finished writing down my budget through Oct 2013. Not only ending on that date because it's 12 months from now, but also because that's when my budget will stabilize again. There will be money moving from one debt selection to another one as things get paid off. Amounts will be split or joined. It took me a while to finish this; about a week, really. Up until now, all I needed to do was copy the previous month and I'd be set. But can't do that in the foreseeable future without missing something.
The chances my budget will be seeing starting Nov, besides the lack of the car loan, will be a focus on building my EF, and once that's achieved, CC1 will be getting the bulk of the hits. After that one's out of the park, Loan 1 (smallest) will go next, followed by CC2 (which is closed, so it doesn't accrue interest). I'm truly happy to have a plan set down. Whether I can follow it up or not is a different thing, since I don't know what may come up, but so far, unless my discipline lacks, I've been pretty able to follow through. All of this excitement will end in September, making Oct 2013 my "new normal" for the following 12 months.
I look forward to my next two big moves; completing my $1000 EF fund by January and getting rid of CC1 by March. I know Judy has been looking at her future budget, but how about everyone else? What's your next big thing shuffling around your funds?
I need to have a detailed budget like yours! I barely budget for the month.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty awesome. I doubt I could create a budget to live by for an entire year. I prefer to plan it out monthly even though I get paid weekly. I like to adjust categories like entertainment and food based on how I predict the month to look.
ReplyDeleteI had tried that too, but I guess I get anxious not having it all outlined. I know what my dues are, and because my budget is so tight, I rarely have much breathing room anyway. Guess that helps!
DeleteOur budget isn't necessarily set in stone, more like a guideline. We do try to stick to it though and our next big shuffling will occur in either December or January when we pay off the last of the student loans. We have thought about what we want to do with our budget but haven't came to any conclusions yet. You are doing a great job sticking to your budget and you can see it in your progress. Keep that up and you'll be golden in no time.
ReplyDeleteBudget, what budget? I can't even balance my checkbook! i actually do write down every bill and then I check them off when I pay them. I just write checks in the mean time and use all the money!
ReplyDeleteThis is getting me excited to start putting together our 2013 budget. I created an excel spreadsheet for this past year, and it's worked okay, but we've definitely come up with some kinks that I want to fix.
ReplyDeleteAs for money wise, I know I get a 3% raise in December, which I am thinking of putting straight into my 401K. Our health insurance is going up, but our health flex spending account is going down...so I really don't know what my January paycheck will be like. Might be good to try and figure that out!
You're doing great, & we follow a similar plan. I need to get my 2013 budget rolled out as well!
ReplyDeleteI get really excited about making budgets too, lol. I am starting a new job next week so I was busy making my new budget and allocating all the savings and investments... good stuff.
ReplyDeleteMy main budget focus for 2013 is to keep food spending down, support my kids in college and try to do something about our exorbitant transportation costs. I can't believe how much our vehicles are costing us each and every year.
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