October 2019 15k SPAM Thread

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

what are we talking about today?

 

[JayKay PE]

I almost forgot one other thing I did, which was probably the most important. I created a second checking account with my bank. I created a "budget," but instead of creating "micro" categories I created ones like housing, transportation, debt, utilities, etc. I calculated how much money I needed each month for those "big rocks." Then I calculated how much I wanted to save each month. Then I calculated how much spending money I wanted. Spending money was for haircuts, eating out, etc. anything extra that was not a necessity.

Then I updated my work direct deposit to deposit the amount I wanted to save into savings, then deposit the amount for spending into the second checking, then deposit the rest into the main checking. I put all my expenses on auto pay and connected them to my main checking. Then for spending, I only used the second account.

I then didn't pay any attention to how much money was in my main checking, and I new that if I spent all my spending money I would still have all the bills and savings covered. After a while, with having limited spending money, my spending habits changed. If I only gave myself like $50 for the week for spending, I got into to habit of not just purchasing whatever I wanted off Amazon. I had to be intentional with my spending money. After a while I looked and noticed extra money was building up in my main checking account, so I moved it to savings.

After a while of living like this, I ended up saving enough to pay off debt and developed better spending habits. I eventually went back to one checking account but kept everything on auto pay. Then I got into forecasting, and that's where I have been for the last 4+ years or so.

Yeah, I'm kinda at that point (first point).  I have two checking accounts: one was all my loans and the other was my rent + other monthly spending.  I'm actually paying off one of my loans and having one loan decrease payment due to a lump sum, so my plan is to make that account my 'meetup group/eat out' account and start using that debit card.  Since that account has my car loan coming out of it, I'm going to be more aware of what is in it and slowly start working on my spending habits.  I recently took a job that had a little bit of a salary cut and I'm still trying to figure out base expenses when I moved (like, the electric is so cheap here, I don't even know).

I think once I get a better buffer and I'm not buying random stuff for the house (like food and a vacuum and a blanket) I'm thinking I'll be in better shape.  It's just that initial year of "What have I been doing with my money?!?!?" that I'm getting into right now.  

 

[LyceeFruit PE]

This is definitely something I'm happy we're discussing. I don't budget. I was really good about saving/not over-spending when I first graduated college and then a few years later, lifestyle creep happened. And I've reigned some of that in but not all. But yeah, it's a convo Boyfriend and I are having (ongoing) since we're one household now. It'll be rocky for the first 2 months I think til we get into a groove and stop going out to eat so often & have less soup in the freezer...

 

[JayKay PE]

what are we talking about today?

Weather and being a good financial budgeter/forecaster 

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

Weather and being a good financial budgeter/forecaster 

Ah! Apparently we were supposed to get snow. I missed the memo. also, it didn't snow.

 

[JayKay PE]

This is definitely something I'm happy we're discussing. I don't budget. I was really good about saving/not over-spending when I first graduated college and then a few years later, lifestyle creep happened. And I've reigned some of that in but not all. But yeah, it's a convo Boyfriend and I are having (ongoing) since we're one household now. It'll be rocky for the first 2 months I think til we get into a groove and stop going out to eat so often & have less soup in the freezer...

Ditto with me.  First job, even though I drove a ton, I wasn't renting (I was lucky enough to live with my parents the first six months), so I thought I had some money saved up.  But then I moved out after 6-months, and my student loan payments started up, and-gosh-living on my own was pretty expensive, and eating out wasn't healthy or sustainable, but then I needed to buy all these pots and pans, and work clothes, and, and, and, it kinda spiraled out of control.  It's only recently that I kinda sat down and was like: JK.  You need to figure this out.  You're putting money into your 401k, but you're making life hard to live.  You need to figure out where your money is going.

 

[Booo]

The forecasting helped me break living paycheck-to-paycheck and got all my debt paid off (except the house). Only took 2 years. I'm not really someone who spends in "categories."

I do have a budget, but it doesn't change. Like, for entertainment, I have Hulu, Netflix, Google Music, etc. and they are fixed. I don't go out to moves or anything like that. My haircuts are every two weeks, so the "budget" for that doesn't change. I've made all my expenses routine so that they can be forecast. My transportation budgets don't change either since car insurance is on a fixed schedule, and I over budget for gas every week just in case I need a second tank for something.

My spreadsheet is dynamic with monthly, weekly, bi-weekly odd, bi-weekly even, and daily expense blocks that I input (I rarely change them now). I like to think what I've developed is a great combination of budgeting/forecasting. I put it in Google Sheets just so I had the ability to access is on personal computer, work computer, cell phone, tablet, friends phone, etc.

I agree I started out with mint just to stick to a plan and mainly just see where my money went. But after couple years I switched to spreadsheet. Very flexible and I can forecast much better.

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

I won't bore anyone with the details but my husband and I don't use credit cards. We also do the "save for x months of expenses" thing. (The x varies from person to person)

We both have pensions and 401k from previous jobs. We are pretty healthy financially and budget down to the cent. It's by the book but annoying as all hell because I like things. lol  But it works out for the best.

 

[Will.I.Am PE]

damn global warming. 

That's why they call it climate change, now.

 

[JayKay PE]

I won't bore anyone with the details but my husband and I don't use credit cards. We also do the "save for x months of expenses" thing. (The x varies from person to person)

We both have pensions and 401k from previous jobs. We are pretty healthy financially and budget down to the cent. It's by the book but annoying as all hell because I like things. lol  But it works out for the best.

Yeah.  I'm kinda rocky right now because I'm doing it by myself, yet trying to be sustainable.  I'm slowly figuring out where my money is going and socking away some money towards my 'x months of expenses'.  But!  I do have debt, so it's much slower going than I wanted.  Lots of 'I can only put half of this money in my saving chunk since the rest if paying down that debt'.

 

[Booo]

I won't bore anyone with the details but my husband and I don't use credit cards. We also do the "save for x months of expenses" thing. (The x varies from person to person)

We both have pensions and 401k from previous jobs. We are pretty healthy financially and budget down to the cent. It's by the book but annoying as all hell because I like things. lol  But it works out for the best.

Credit cards are awesome. Light to carry and get some money back.

But yes having to spend actual money and having to go to the bank to get more if you use it all is a good check point in case you are overspending. Once you get out of the habit of impulsive spending and spend only whats budgeted credit cards are pretty good. 

Woot TOP  :bananalama:

 

[JayKay PE]

*snip* double post

 

[Orchid PE]

Here's an example of what I made. First sheet with budget, second sheet with forecasting.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gmkJlbxipa6bGcyJX01yD2t2TsMyK7XymOhMG-FRtdU/edit?usp=sharing

I update the one I use on a daily basis with my spending from the previous day and then just delete the projected amount from the column.

Random numbers are thrown in, so I wouldn't base anything off of what's in there.

 

[JayKay PE]

totally just commented in EB Mafia thinking it was the right thread.  

SPAM

Would you like me to kill you in a fanciful way?  

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

Yeah.  I'm kinda rocky right now because I'm doing it by myself, yet trying to be sustainable.  I'm slowly figuring out where my money is going and socking away some money towards my 'x months of expenses'.  But!  I do have debt, so it's much slower going than I wanted.  Lots of 'I can only put half of this money in my saving chunk since the rest if paying down that debt'.

any progress is good progress. 

I still have student loans from grad school. so I completely understand. Every 3 months or so, I look at our savings and then my loan balance and ask "why can't we just write a big check to pay this thing off?" because we will be cash poor and it doesn't save us a whole lot since student loans have such low interest. 

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

Would you like me to kill you in a fanciful way?  

already dead. I edited my comment to say that I was haunting the thread lol

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

Credit cards are awesome. Light to carry and get some money back.

But yes having to spend actual money and having to go to the bank to get more if you use it all is a good check point in case you are overspending. Once you get out of the habit of impulsive spending and spend only whats budgeted credit cards are pretty good. 

Woot TOP  :bananalama:

I want to spend all of it on all the things! lol That's why credit cards are awful for me. Wish I had that much control. We have them but I don't really use them unless I'm traveling.

 

[RBHeadge PE]

30 min left at work spam

 

[Orchid PE]

Frank Abagnale is a big proponent of credit cards. As a man who actively works with and trains agencies on fraud, he says they are much safer than using debit cards. If someone gets a hold of your debit card they can drain everything and it will take a while to get that money back. But if someone gets a hold of your credit card, you can just dispute the charges and legally the cc company has to take any hits.

 

[JayKay PE]

any progress is good progress. 

I still have student loans from grad school. so I completely understand. Every 3 months or so, I look at our savings and then my loan balance and ask "why can't we just write a big check to pay this thing off?" because we will be cash poor and it doesn't save us a whole lot since student loans have such low interest. 

Yeah.  It's the cash poor vs. loan poor that I'm trying to juggle right now.  Just did a big balance transfer from a c/c so I could consolidate a bunch of higher interest loans (think 10%+) into a shorter period that I know I can pay off.  It's just me trying to make sure I'm 'adult' enough to save for vacations and other flights that I didn't need to worry about when I lived in NY (and now I suddenly need to travel back there).  Also, you know, random friends changing their weddings so they're next year instead of 2-years from now like they originally said.