money and budgeting

For 7 months now (since March) I have been tracking my expenditures obsessively. I have a system - I keep receipts for about a week, then sit down with my bank acct. webpage open, and my ledger in front of me, and I write down the ammounts and the balances. Then, I open up my handy spreadsheet that I got from Sparkpeople, and I then break down each receipt into categories. For example, I might spend $50.00 at Vons, but I write down if I spent it on snacks, drinks, fresh fruit, meat, spices, etc. I do this for a whole month, and then open up spreadsheet page #2, copy and paste the month's line items, and then sort by category. I then make it pretty so I can go down the list and see exactly how much I spent on what category. Then I open spreadsheet page #3, which is Months-Side-by-Side. This is so I can see trends over the months in my spending, by categories. I have a column where I find out the averages, and that's what I base my budget on. For example, if I end up spending 200 during December for gifts, but I don't spend any the rest of the time, then I am trying to spread out that 200 over a year, so I fit the average in my monthly budget.

My first few months it was a success for me to a) just track everything. It was not an easy habit to get into. After tracking, I was able to see that I was spending way more money than I wanted to on a few clear categories - eating out, for example. I think that first month I tracked I spent nealy $175.00 on eating out. The next month it was much easier to just be conscious of that, and I cut it down to about $70.00. Now I have a $30.00 limit for eating out each month,and I can usually stick inside of that.

This month I am now concerned with saving money - and that I can't seem to do that. So I have taken every one of my averaged categories, and made a whole new page where I figured out my ideal spending budget for each thing, I put that at the top of a chart, and as I spend, I can subtract to find out how much less I have for the month. Kind of the same idea as when I used to budget by putting actual cash in envelopes - that way if I ran out of one, I had to literally borrow from another. I was a very visual person. In any case, so now I have my list! I just have to stick with it. And hope that no emergency happens, because I don't really have an emergency contingency plan yet. Ack.

So my categories and budgeted amount per month are
Art Supplies: 15.00
Clothes: 40.00
Dinner Out: 20.00
Fitness: 5.00
For Adam: 25.00
Groceries: 300.00
Household: 60.00
Hygeine: 12.00
Lunch out: 30.00
Medical: 50.00
Pets: 40.00
Recreation: 30.00
Rent: 733.00
Savings: 300.00
Student Loan: 53.00
Vehicle: 290.00
Garden: 10.00
Gifts: 20.00
School: 40.00

I would so love to have a separate bank account for each category. But I suppose I'll just have to be smart enough to do it all on paper and keep track of it. This month I am doing pretty well - I blew 30 dollars extra on clothes at the beggining of the month, so I've had to borrow from some other categories, and I have to pay off my root canal - which I am able to do just a little at a time.

My other project is to sell things I make, of course. It was so much fun to do that at the Good Vibrations Conference, but now I need another publicity boost. ;)

Anyways, if you have a different way of budgeting, let me know. I am always trying to make my system better.

I'm just so very tired of being broke. I feel anxious without savings. I like having a plan.

saturday saturday saturday

Today has been going in strange fits and bursts. Slept in til 9am, which was nice... had a very leisurely morning. Then went out for sushi with Adam, and got home and have been cleaning up and organizing my art supply room ever since.

Organizing my art supply room is an incredible challenge. I've been reading a bunch of de-clutter, organizing books in preparation... so I decided that I need to do it in small stages. Today I took two trash bags - one was trash and one was giveaways, and went through the room to get rid of either of those two things. I did a pretty good job - emptied a drawer and a bunch of plastic tubs. There's some actual counter space! I think the next big job is going to involve buying a few larger bookshelves to store everything, so they aren't in cardboard boxes all over the floor.

Have I mentioned that I have discovered cooking grains and legumes? I am addicted. I love boiling up a pot of barley or lentils, and adding something else to it and having that for a very filling, healthisome meal. I was reading a message board on sparkpeople.com about cutting costs, and I was realizing that decreasing the meat intake by using grains and legumes like that is actually a good way to save money. I've been getting WAY better at just buying ONE zucchini and ONE squash which we will *definitely* eat, rather than buying 4 and having 2 of them go bad. For the last week and a half I have always had a big pan of roasted veggies cooked, with some grains, and I grilled some chicken and have some ham so Adam can add meat to it also. I am sure I will get tired of that same grilled veggie taste, but right now I'm a fan. Last week the main herb was rosemary, this week I did thyme.

I am loving being involved with sparkpeople. I set it as my homepage so any time I get online I am reminded about the different little goals I've set for myself.
I posted an add for the calking mattress we're trying to sell on craigslist, again... this is driving me crazy. It's a GOOD mattress - we've had it less than a year. It's just to damn big for our house, and I want to get rid of it so I can get a smaller bed, but nooo one is buying it. Geez. Only 350 for a calking here people!

As soon as I get rid of that bed, I can get a queen and actually make blankets and quilts and even put the round chair in the bedroom which will clear up more space in the art supply room, and we can work on getting a new couch and coffee table and a puppy and.....
So many projects. So not enough time. Or money. And now I am rambling.
Time to get out some crocheting.