This budget is driving me nuts! :(

[MomToTwoBoys]

This is the second official month of budgeting for our family, and this month feels odd for some reason. I feel like I still don't have full control over our money situation, even though I know where every penny is going as far as bills goes. I have the usual 400 for the month for groceries. I'm not really sure why I still feel insecure about the budget, even though we have no huge bill payments. We are adding the property tax monthly withdrawal to the list, but that's only $105. I think it can be one of two things that leaves me a bit uneasy:

1 - I went through both bank accounts and wrote down every bill payment that's either automatically taken out or paid manually by us via online banking, making the list bigger than usual. For the June budget, I didn't include some stuff.

2 - June's budget includes a third paycheck because there were three paydays in the month as opposed to two. That was an extra 1200 dollars into our budget.

We have some reimbursement money kicking around right now (should be here by the end of the week - that goes back into my chequing account) but we're paying out almost that same exact amount on Friday (which will be reimbursed by next week). That reimbursement money was for DS #2's dental and I'm afraid that it'll always be like that because the dentist operates that way. We'll be able to continue putting an extra payment on the computer loan like we did this last month, and in the end we'll have roughly 929 dollars as our cushion for the month. It would just be really great to throw that 929 dollars on the computer loan and pay it off all together, but it's just not feasible for us to do that.

I can say that I'm less stressed now than I have ever been but I'm still concerned because I feel like I'm not in control of our finances as much as I'd like to be. Is this normal? Am I just being too much of a worrywart? Does the worrying lessen or stop all together?

[ladykemma2]

are you feeling like you have forgotten something?

[Buckeye5]

I am obsessed with my $$, when I am sitting outside at our deck table and relaxing ( haha) I have a calculator next to me, and I am always working the numbers, I am a bit goofy I suppose, you will be okay, you have a goal and you are getting there, hang tough!!

[Tamerama]

I know what you mean..that third paycheck throws me off too..I freaked earlier today thinking ..did I pay the house note? How could i have paid that and the 15th bills both already and still have another paycheck coming..I had to go check the bank account to be sure I had actually paid them all! LOL..
It will all feel normal soon! Just look back over everything and you'll feel reassured! You've got it under control! Congratulations!

[ladykemma2]

here is mine -see if you left anything out

monthly elec 150
water 48
nat gas 80
lawn 140
gasoline 200
groceries/food storage/school 340
tithe/fast offering 294
prescription drugs 10
counseling
joan lunch 60
credit report 13
phone land line 46
cell phone 56
internet 20
long distance 0
lds dating service 10
spending money 180

monthly 1647

annual escrow (taxes/ins) 400
freedom trash 16
account home maintenance 300
hoa 33
flood insurance 21
oil change 33
car maintenance 83
car insurance 70
ez tag 33

dr schenk 33
new car fund
10K Emerg fund
savings 10
xmas 0
clothes/shoes 0
car registration 5
car inspection 5
ac heat mainte 30
monthly 1072

[dancar3]

I have to say when we first started doing a budget in February, I kept thinking as well that something is not going to be right.........I was constantly checking our accounts seeing if there was something we forgot about too! I really think it is completely normal because it's a new concept and you want it to work so much since we were all so tired of all these "oops" things that kept popping up month after moth that we didn't think about (talk about a run-on sentence). For us, it is now starting to subside a little bit, I'm not quite checking the accounts every single day (or multiple times during the day). I do think because you're headed in the right direction this is a good thing to be worried about though, good luck!

[ladykemma2]

Originally Posted by dancar3

I have to say when we first started doing a budget in February, I kept thinking as well that something is not going to be right.........I was constantly checking our accounts seeing if there was something we forgot about too! I really think it is completely normal because it's a new concept and you want it to work so much since we were all so tired of all these "oops" things that kept popping up month after moth that we didn't think about (talk about a run-on sentence). For us, it is now starting to subside a little bit, I'm not quite checking the accounts every single day (or multiple times during the day). I do think because you're headed in the right direction this is a good thing to be worried about though, good luck!

yeah it was the annual expenses that threw me. and then i got surprised by office supplies and computer expenses.

[tkn4lif]

Originally Posted by Buckeye5

I am obsessed with my $$, when I am sitting outside at our deck table and relaxing ( haha) I have a calculator next to me, and I am always working the numbers, I am a bit goofy I suppose, you will be okay, you have a goal and you are getting there, hang tough!!

I am like this too. I am always finding ways to save money here to pay off something there, etc. Forever crunching numbers!!!

[Greebo]

May I suggest TURNING OFF automatic payments if they are not initiated from your account. I never trust any lender to be 100% reliable in initiating automatic payments, and that's giving up some control of your budget for convenience. Go for the control.

[MomToTwoBoys]

I don't think I missed anything, let me see:

Mortgage - $333.74 X 2 (bi-weekly withdrawal)
Prop Tax - $105
Car Insurance - $94.76
House Insurance - $50.79
Enmax - $232.31 (our electricity, natural gas, sewer, water)
Shaw - $104.95 (cable, internet and phone)
VISA - $118
MDG - $53 (the computer) so $106
ADT - $33.59
Good Life - $14.70 x 2 (bi-weekly)
Student Loan - $25
TD Life Insurance - $12.95
Rogers Wireless - $105.32

Grand total = $1632.55

Food budget = 400/mo

Income for July = $2962 (does not include any carryover cash in the accounts - that cash may go into savings)

DH's income - ~$1100 bi-weekly (2200)
My income - $211.47 + $100 + $450 (first two amounts are Canadian tax benefits, last amount is my VA pension)

We have roughly $929.45 leftover for the month. That leftover cash would be used for gas, smokes for DH, small bank fees from TD and the extra $53 payment on the computer. I'm not thinking I forgot anything and it's comforting to know that some of you ladies are the same way I am. I sat here for two hours last night, crunching the numbers and readding things to make sure my math was right (I'm a math nerd though, so that's part of my obsessive nature ). I think some of it is that July is when the tax benefits amounts may change and I think that the $211.47 I was getting may go down since DH made over five thousand more last year. I also think that the grey area of trying to budget in DS #2's dental costs for July is what has me jittery. He has to go in after tomorrow for fillings, and I have no idea how much the fillings are going to run us (they have a pay upfront policy and we're doing two at a time).

[freebs]

Ok i have a question here. How do y'all figure your budgets if the monthly income is never the same?? my dh may have overtime time then may not have overtime. Do i just need to plan the overtime as a surprise everymonth?? Also do you just sit down with notebook and pens to figure out the monthy budget?? I just set down with scratch paper and list all the bills and start paying them extra money goes for groceries and towards gas for dh to get back and forth to work. I would love a spreadsheet or something like that but i dont know where to look for that.

[Suzi T.]

I think that sometimes we are so used to being freaked out over money issues that it takes time to reassure ourselves that we are on a NEW road.It is like a really nervous person learning to relax!

[MomToTwoBoys]

My DH has something like that too, as far as any extra cash. This is what I do:

He works at least 40 hours a week. He makes about 1100 dollars every two weeks (give or take cash due to overtime, double time, time and a half, etc). If he doesn't work that amount of time, he has what's called 'banked time'. It's like a savings account for work hours that he can pull from if he's not working eight hours a day. Of course, then he has to make up for that lost time later on.

If he makes more than 1100 every two weeks, then I put that extra cash into savings now. So if he works 80 hours and makes 1169, I put that 69 dollars into savings or onto a debt we owe. At the moment, I have a notebook that lets me make notes and keep track of everything we have that month. He's up for a raise in September I believe, so it'll adjust at that point.

[dancar3]

Originally Posted by freebs

Ok i have a question here. How do y'all figure your budgets if the monthly income is never the same?? my dh may have overtime time then may not have overtime. Do i just need to plan the overtime as a surprise everymonth?? Also do you just sit down with notebook and pens to figure out the monthy budget?? I just set down with scratch paper and list all the bills and start paying them extra money goes for groceries and towards gas for dh to get back and forth to work. I would love a spreadsheet or something like that but i dont know where to look for that.

You plan your budget w/o calculating any overtime even if you're almost sure you'll have it. Any overtime that is earned, you then pay down debt with it. My dh has a spreadsheet in excel and that's how we do our monthly budget. There are some spreadsheets that others use on here from websites and if you do a search you should be able to find some or maybe others will post some links.

[alch]

I am a widow and it takes my whole retirement check to pay my bills. I also work part time for extra spending money. How do people with children do it?