budgets

Our Budget

Posted by Ginna on Jan 11, 2012 | 14 comments

Alright folks. I have found a way to share our budget… without sharing our budget.

Since I am no longer anonymous and my coworkers, friends and family read my blog (hi guys!), I had to forgo the luxury of sharing all the nitty-gritty numbers sitting in my bank account. Personal finance was the initial purpose for starting this blog, so it’s been hard not sharing these details.

So I decided to share what our budget looks like on a percentage basis. That’s okay, right? :) Here is a chart that shows what we pay each month and some details on how we decided on these allocations:

Categories explained, from largest to smallest:

Savings/Pay off debt: 30.18%
I am so happy that this is our largest category! It hasn’t always been the biggest, but thankfully we are able to save or pay off debt with 30% of our budget. Right now this amount includes paying down debt (we are working through J’s student loans, which should be paid off in a few months!), beefing up our emergency fund, and a portion goes to save for our car insurance and renter’s insurance, which is paid every six months. This is the only category that really changes our net worth for the positive, so we try to keep this category as high as possible.

Rent: 23.13%
Unfortunately our rent takes a huge chunk of our budget each month, but I doubt that will change anytime soon as we plan to live in this same location until we save for a house. This amount also includes water, charged by the rental company.

Food & Dining: 13.93%
This category is for any food or drinks we buy – whether it’s groceries, coffee, alcohol, restaurants, or fast food. Most people separate this category into two: Groceries and Dining Out. We started out our marriage separating them too, but we found that we constantly needed to adjust our budget amounts based on what kind of month we were having. For example, May of last year we were out of town almost every weekend, so we ended up being waaaay over in our Dining Out budget and under budget on our Groceries. And in June, the opposite was true – we hosted friends and spent more of our money on groceries rather than eating out.  It was getting to be discouraging to always be over budget in one category, so we decided to call the whole thing off and keep a simple one-budget amount and live our lives in peace. Our only goal is to not exceed the overall Food & Dining amount.

Everything Else: 11.61%
This is another category where we probably differ from many people! We started our first married budget micromanaging every single thing we spent. We had a budget for haircuts, entertainment, clothing, office supplies, home décor/improvement, travel, gifts, parking, etc. But the thing is, we don’t get our haircut every month. We don’t pay for parking or go to the movies on a regular basis Some months I spend a lot on makeup and personal care, and other months we have healthcare co-pays. It’s always different and we’ve never had a consistent month with any of these smaller categories.

So that’s where the “Everything Else” category came up. Every month is different, so we always talk about what kinds of things we’ll be buying from this category. Like last month I got a haircut, and next month we’ll buy a wedding gift. Communicating these things to each other and making sure we’re on board with our goals is key in making this category work.

I don’t recommend this for everyone. When you first start making a budget I think it’s good to micromanage the little things so you know where you’re spending and where you can afford to cut back on. I also think this category is the very last one you should make. The amount we have in this category is basically leftover after we save, tithe, and pay our bills.

Charity: 10.45%
Each month we give away roughly 10% of our income to charity, which includes tithing to our church and a few missionaries that we support. Sometimes this amount will increase if there is a one-off charity or fundraiser we want to give to.

Gasoline: 4.64%
Our gasoline budget fluctuates by month, but we steadily spend about 5% on gas. We add to this category (from Everything Else) if we go on big or many road trips.

Mobile Phone: 3.3%
We have fancy phones with a set fee, so they have their own category. We also pay for roadside assistance through our cell phone company (a service I highly recommend! We’ve used it maybe four times since getting married — remember those old unreliable cars we had to replace?:)

Bills & Utilities: 2.65%
Bills & Utilities includes all monthly bills that we receive, including electric, cable  and Internet. This category increases in the summer when air conditioning cools down our hot Raleigh apartment.

Bank Fee: 0.12%
To protect our money, we have an identity theft protection placed on our bank accounts and a small bank fee to our credit union. This amount is so small (.12%!) but it’s still something that is a guaranteed expense each month so that’s why it’s in our budget.

–

Whew! Lots of information, eh? Any questions? Comments? :)

The Wedding Budget

Posted by Ginna on Aug 31, 2010 | 17 comments

Alright my dear friends, here is The Wedding Budget that has been tweaked and scrutinized a few dozen times. I think I finally have the courage to show you all, but of course am a little scared to see what you think since it is a teeeeeny bit more than I had originally planned. I’ll do what Amber did (the former Carrie on the Cheap… check out her new blog!), and first will share with you the raw numbers, let you guys freak out for a little bit, then come back and explain it all in mind-numbing detail. Sound good? :) 

Here goes…

Ta da! Any comments, suggestions or snide remarks are welcome. Stay tuned because tomorrow I will post my Wedding Budget Savings Plan (aka: how exactly J and I will pay for this huge event!), and then Thursday I will go through all the dirty details of each category listed above. 

Have a great Tuesday! :)

The New Budget, Part 2: Charts & Leftovers

Posted by Ginna on Jun 24, 2010 | 2 comments

Happy Thursday everyone! Like I said yesterday, I am splitting my bimonthly paychecks into two banks: one for saving, one for spending. I kept it pretty open, only making categories for things necessary things, like bills and food and gasoline. The “Leftover” at the end is basically everything else that I buy which varies month to month (like clothes or personal care or household items). I’ll reevaluate the budget after a few more paychecks until I figure out how to specify those things.

Here’s what the budget looks like right now. Click to see full details.

Questions? Comments?

The New Budget, Part 1: Savings & Retirement

Posted by Ginna on Jun 23, 2010 | 4 comments

Thank you for all of your comments on how to budget for twice-a-month paychecks last month! I predict it will take a few paychecks to get the hang of my budget, but I think I came up with a good system to keep it flexible. I’ll give you the breakdown of everything tomorrow, but first here’s a high level of how my new budget will reflect my goals:

Checking Account Buffer
Because my old job paid once a month, I got paid June 1st from the old job and then got a paycheck June 15th from my new job. I had $1,000 leftover from the old paycheck, so I decided to leave that in my checking account. All I want to do is put it into my Emergency Fund (then I’d be up to $7,000!), but I think I need a buffer in my checking to avoid overdrafts and give me security. It will be better in the long run.

Retirement
I have gone back and forth about retirement, debating when and what amount to contribute. Sometimes I get afraid I will lose valuable time, and other times it feels foolish contributing when I have so many immediate needs (aka: my car that is fast approaching its 20th birthday!). My current employer will match up to 2.5% after I’ve been here for one year. Since I’m not losing any free money now, I’ve decided to continue contributing to my Roth IRA but not contribute to my 401(k) until I have my Emergency Fund at $10,000. Come 2011, however, this is going to be my major focus.

Savings
My new job’s paycheck is $1,025, for a total of $2,050 per month. It is significantly less than my old job, but the cost of living down here makes it about even. I am able to direct deposit into two separate banks, so I decided each pay period $400 will go into my Savings Bank, and $625 will go to my Spending Bank. I’ll break down the details tomorrow, but for now here is the break down for my Savings Bank:

Emergency Fund: $300/paycheck
Right now the balance is $6,100. I will reach my goal of $10,000 by December after adding my security deposit  and $600 per month. It will be SO nice to have $10k in savings! I cannot even imagine that now.

Roth IRA: $50/paycheck
See above for details about retirement.

Me Fund: $25/paycheck
I started the Me Fund initially for buying my debt-free Tiffany’s necklace, but now it’s just a “whatever” fund for me to use towards extra clothes or trips or pampering or anything not really affordable in my regular monthly budget. There’s no goal amount, but $50 will be added per month.

Gift Fund: $25/paycheck
Right now the gift fund is down to $0 after buying J’s gift and a wedding gift for this weekend. There’s no goal amount, but $50 will be added per month.

Future/Wedding Fund: $0
After my Emergency Fund is fully funded then I will start to add towards this. I’m eager to get this one started. ;)

–

Note: My Car Repair fund is tied to my Spending Bank because I like to connect that saving account to my checking for quick access (in case my car suddenly dies–a very real possibility.)

Any questions? Comments? More spending budget details tomorrow. :)

The Moving Costs

Posted by Ginna on Jun 8, 2010 | 3 comments

Rental Truck: $286
The truck was rented through Budget for one-way (DC to NC), with unlimited use for three days. Compared to other moving truck companies, this was a pretty good deal. My parents offered to pay for this, but I could afford it and told them just to cover the gas and we’ll call it even.

Truck Insurance: $104
At first I wasn’t going to get insurance, but the more I thought about it, the more nervous I got. If there happen to be an accident, it cost me thousands upon thousands of dollars. Insurance? $104. Peace of Mind? Priceless.

Gasoline: $42.40
Truck gas: My parents graciously paid.
My car’s gas: $42.40

Breakfast: $9.64
Cheap breakfast, eh? What can I say, the moving crew was easy to please with coffee and Chickfila biscuits.

TOTAL COSTS: $442.04

I paid for these expenses using my June paycheck from my former job, which is the usual monthly $2465. I should also get my $675 security deposit back from my old apartment, but I’m waiting to hear form my old landlord on that (he BETTER pay us!). My budget is kind of on hold until June 15, when I should receive my new job paycheck, and from there I’ll report on what I plan to save, spend, etc. So glad this hassle is behind me!

(photo credit)

Calling all bi-monthly paycheck people!

Posted by Ginna on May 11, 2010 | 25 comments

When I first started my real big-girl job two years ago, I was disgruntled to find out that my paycheck would be delivered monthly, as opposed to bi-weekly. How am I suppose to live off of one paycheck a month? However, I grew to love the simplicitiy of it: You get the check, pay all the bills, save a portion/pay debt, then live on the rest until the next paycheck. Easy-peasy.

My new job will have bi-monthly paycheck. Like a Type-A lunatic responsible PF blogger, I sat down to create my budget based on what I anticipate getting every 1st and 15th of each month. It’s not as simple as my one-paycheck budget. Should I have one paycheck to use for bills and one for play? Should I save a portion of each paycheck or just use one of the monthly paychecks for a larger saving amount? Would it be better to separate the amounts into different banks to help me manage it all?  How will I create a chart for all of this? Am I completely overthinking this?!

So here I am a little dizzy from crunching numbers and seeking advice from the PF community. If you get paid bi-monthly, how do you use each paycheck? Do you separate your paychecks by living expenses and fixed expenses? Any thoughts, opinions, links and suggestions are welcome! After a few days I’ll post what I finally come up with. :)

(photo credit)