peek at our budget please

[nodmicks]

A budget is kind of meaningless without the income line.

Nope as I am only asking for items others see to cut. Hubby is not comfy with me sharing all his income details and I have to respect that. It is not red . We had an incident of something posted on the village come up IRL with his family at one time. I am pretty careful to not post anything I am not comfy with absolutely anyone IRL knowing.

[nodmicks]

Sometimes. But I wouldn't trade it.

although...
my property taxes, on 10 acres, 1500 sq ft = $1913
My nieces 1300 sq ft on a city lot = $3721

That's $150/ month difference.

How rural are you Russ?

[Russ]

How rural are you Russ?

PM sent to you

[peanut]

Sometimes. But I wouldn't trade it.

although...
my property taxes, on 10 acres, 1500 sq ft = $1913
My nieces 1300 sq ft on a city lot = $3721

That's $150/ month difference.

Yeah, tell me. My city lot is $3000.

[my4littlebuffaloes]

We are currently where you are right now. We have a lot of sinking funds in place to cover various things that come up over the year, but that don't happen on a regular basis. Suddenly, in october, we were hit hard with things and almost all sinking funds were wiped out completely! Great to have the money there, but suddenly we had none. We went bare bones for a while, loosened up a little now, but are still putting everything we can back into savings to build the funds back up.

Just because I have no money in the car repair account does not mean my car won't break down. I would rather build them to a semi-decent level quickly now than stress big time at the next car repair bill.

Anyway, sometimes life just piles on and you have to adjust the budget to build the savings back. You can do it, good luck!

[krbshappy71]

That's funny you found some "hidden" money. I helped BF with his budget one time, made him get it on paper because we were discussing buying a house. He had forgotten about a few things linked to his account and took care of them. Literally had forgotten all about them. (auto payments)

On my shoestring budget I couldn't imagine anyone not knowing exactly what was going on with their money! He is much more open about money and spending ever since we did that, it really helped to put everything on the table together. At the very least this experience is bringing up lots of discussion time for you and hubby, eh? Lots of clean-up time as well, it will all work out.

[SCDowney]

Sometimes. But I wouldn't trade it.

although...
my property taxes, on 10 acres, 1500 sq ft = $1913
My nieces 1300 sq ft on a city lot = $3721

That's $150/ month difference.

Must depend on where you live - I've slashed my COL by approx 62.5%, by moving to the country. The city I was in, was very high COL. The ability & opportunity to make this happen were circumstantial, I am blessed! And I wouldn't trade this life for anything.

[nodmicks]

We are currently where you are right now. We have a lot of sinking funds in place to cover various things that come up over the year, but that don't happen on a regular basis. Suddenly, in october, we were hit hard with things and almost all sinking funds were wiped out completely! Great to have the money there, but suddenly we had none. We went bare bones for a while, loosened up a little now, but are still putting everything we can back into savings to build the funds back up.

Just because I have no money in the car repair account does not mean my car won't break down. I would rather build them to a semi-decent level quickly now than stress big time at the next car repair bill.

Anyway, sometimes life just piles on and you have to adjust the budget to build the savings back. You can do it, good luck!

Glad things are building back up for you. It seems you know exactly what I meant about the sinking funds

That's funny you found some "hidden" money. I helped BF with his budget one time, made him get it on paper because we were discussing buying a house. He had forgotten about a few things linked to his account and took care of them. Literally had forgotten all about them. (auto payments)

On my shoestring budget I couldn't imagine anyone not knowing exactly what was going on with their money! He is much more open about money and spending ever since we did that, it really helped to put everything on the table together. At the very least this experience is bringing up lots of discussion time for you and hubby, eh? Lots of clean-up time as well, it will all work out.

I honestly never think about the account hubby has dumped all the change in on and off. It is his old account from before we were married. We have been married almost 19 years. He kept his savings open at FF but went joint on my credit union way back when and threw all his $ but what was require to keep his open in the joint account( not that we had any back then . However this has made me realize he should put me on the signature card!

Wow he forgot about auto draft payments? I'm glad you two are open about it. Yep hubby and I have discussed a lot about the budget. I had to admit i tend to over stress and react. Sheesh I hate admitting that. I take care of 99% of the finance stuff and it is very nice to have him take part a bit even if i am reminded of what I forget.

[Wendy99]

Are your sinking funds pretty well padded now? I agree to stop those.

What's $300 sharing? Tithing/volunteering type money?

Off the top of my head, temporarily to build the EF back up I'd suggest:

Stop sinking funds
Stop gifts or chop that in half at least
Stop Sharing just until you get to your first 1k BEF
Stop Medical fund unless it would immediately impact someone
Stop clothes, hopefully with $50 a month budgeted you've been building that up and don't actually need to spend that every month.
Stop date night, or slash in half, eat at home, just until get your 1k BEF

That's it for my two bit thoughts, HANG IN THERE!!!

I disagree - never stop your sinking fund - the pets are going to need to see the vet each year, your house is going to need something, your car will break down. Just try to 'better' guess the annual amounts at this. Ie. You have _ # of pets, and they see the vet _ times a year and they need heartworm/flea meds etc each year - divide that total number by 12 and use that amount to put in your sinking fund. The house and car sinking fund I would stop until you have your emergency fund though if you must, but it seems like you can cut a few other areas before cutting that totally. We are kind of at the same stage - working on our BEF fund etc. We have our budget as it will be for the year ie. included summer vacation, pets, licensing fees, etc and have just totalled that entire amount and divided by 12 so we know how much a month we devote to that and it's kept separate until it's needed. That way we are hoping not to incur more debt. We do our savings separately.

[NikoSan999]

K, I'll probably be blasted for this but anyway...
Sinking fund and BBF are both holding accounts for forseeable and unforseeable circumstances.

Why not just lump them both into the same lump for the time being until things are more stable then divide them back out into whatever seems more in line.

Example if you have to have all new tires and you only have $100 in car fund but have x amount in something that may or may not be used anytime soon...it's going to have to be pulled from there...or at least somewhere cause they have to be bought regardless of where the money comes from.

Anyway, that's what I would do for the time being. One lump until it could be divied up comfortably. Use only when and where necessary. Not one dime taken out otherwise.

But that's just me. $5000 is $5000 no matter what label you put on it or how you divide it up. If you're not blowing it it all goes to the same purpose. Safety.

[227melissa]

Totally agree, one account for EF.

[nodmicks]

Actually we have 3 bank accounts. I have an ING where the EF sits/sat. Dh had his ancient account there the change accumulated and we have the credit union. Our sinking funds ( future bills) are all set up in the budget at the credit union. The way our budget is set up (YNAB) I can raid one for the other at the credit union if needed. However I dont raid set expenses if it can be helped for bills I know are certain to come ( insurance, etc, as I know I will have to pay them and am screwed if I spend it).

You are right though Niko $ is $ but I can't say short myself when I know I have a 1 year car and life ins bill due. Nope, I'd never blast any of you It does look like more $ sitting in the credit union but really isnt as I have a years ins due soon. I can't really count it as EF as I have to pay the bill. Now the vet $ etc can sit a while and they can be over a bit longer on shots.

Wendy's philosophy is closer to my own in all honestly. It also helps my safety gland. However we don't have anything fun in sinking funds right now like vacation etc until we are beefed up again. We are going to sell some of dh's stock but decided we want it on next years taxes so will do it in 1/2012.

[laura-n-sasha]

I made it a little easier to understand with your budget
budget.jpg
(OK, it only just a little easier, but I like color-coding things. You just need to click on the picture to see it (I would suggest right clicking it and having it in a separate tab.)

So There are some things that are not color coded or changed in any way: the charity and the ds loan. You are pretty adamant about those staying the same.

So this spreadsheet shows you what you are spending (or saving for which you call sinking) each month, yearly and what each category is as the percentage of the whole spending.

So my first question is to you: what are your goals, and what do you hope to accomplish for the next year? Do you just want to have a buffer against possible catastrophes or an emergency fund or paying off the mortgage or what exactly?

Just so you understand, you are (based on your budget) going to be paying out $45,000 for the year.

So the red is the home expenses, I would suggest separating out the mortgage from the insurance from the property taxes, then depending on your goals see if there are ways to slim down any one of those three.

Blue is the transportation: Since you put insurance as being the car and the personal I put it together too, but I would suggest splitting this cost. It is not likely that you are paying one company for Life and Car insurance, or is it? You can always get the car insurance down, with everything from driver's ed classes to giving up a Saturday to take a class to get whatever points you have off the license, or to give you positive numbers. Insurance companies love that!

Gas: I would split this out unless you have a gas tank on your property. Really get a feel for what it is for your car vs home expenses for the upkeep of your property. They are two separate things. You might be able to find that going the speed limit actually helps you save money and is less stressful.

I am a little confused on the Car Tags - I would suspect that means registration? So for two vehicles it costs $150 a year each?

The light green is for medical expenses - I think you said the health insurance is paid for through work, so the $300 medical fund - these are the extra expenses?

Then we come to the purple, darker green and bolded categories.
These are the ones that you can ultimately get down.

If you are paying $240 a year for hunting/fishing, then I would think that might actually go into the food budget, because hopefully you are getting something for that money. So with this food budget, does that mean you never go out to eat? All food made at home? I would say the budget for 4 people is pretty good job, especially with growing boys who can eat families out of house and home!

How many pets and livestock? Any livestock that can mow your grass? Just thinking outside of the box here

Date night, it is a very small amount of the overall picture. Maybe instead of going out, you might try something different that does not cost as much.

Work expenses: I would separate out and see if you can get write offs for some of these things. I do not know what you and your husband do, but I would cut this down if possible.

You might be able to count clothes if they are work related against the taxes. Otherwise, I would suggest instead of new, getting at a thrift store or hand me downs from friends or family.

Whose school bill? Is this a loan or something else?

Now, I realize I am going get reamed on this, but the cell phone expenses are way high. Having that plus internet plus TV (you mean cable or satellite?) plus satellite radio? You could take one out and save a little, or go radical and only have emergency needed phones, no TV and no radio. It all depends on what you want out of this budget.

And I would also suggest checking your budget against your income. How much are you spending vs your income? You do not need to put income here on the forums, but for your own use and to get an idea of your spending.
Hope this helps,

[nodmicks]

Laura that is a pretty neat chart! You are good at that! I like the %'s.

Ds's loan is already down $560 instead of the 200 I estimated in our budget just in case something happened and kiddo didnt pay. I didnt think we would need to pay it but had to plan just in case. This is a short term item and at the rate he is going should be gone in Feb.



We will be selling some stock to help but besides that our #1 goal is to get a FFEF again. Our mortgage will be gone in approx 3 years.

The property tax slimming down is a no go. We fought that last year and made very little leeway . Ins is a possibility. We will be reevaluating all ins when our year is up on car and auto in the spring.

No car and life are separate. We will be evaluating auto again in the spring. We have 2 teen drivers so we get hosed. We all have clean licenses no points.

Gas is separated on my budget sheets. We are very rural and both have a commute. We do ride share when it is possible. I also lumped propane for the grill here for FV

Tags you are correct and it is budgeted for 3 and atv

Yes medical is for extra not covered by ins. We payed more this year that in the last 10 combined.

Hunting~ yep produces food. I throw any paid processing in the food budget.

We do go out to eat on occasion. We have a huge garden our own chickens etc. Actually my part of the diet makes the food bill as high as it is even with the hunting, growing etc.

I have 6 indoor critters. I have chickens and stray cats that have taken residence in the barn. Oh and a pheasant that decided to live here. Nope no grass mowing livestock. tried that with goats once and they were over priced pets. WE have talked about raising organic beef since we have a huge barn and a 10 acre hay field we rent.

Work expenses is not always that high. Just a safe range. Dh has smaller monthly expenses where mine may be nothing for months and then $400 in tools and $200 for a show/training. We have never been able to itemize deductions. We have came out better standard so far. That may change as the kids leave. We do the thrift store thing for me. Dh is too tall. However he doesn't have to wear special clothes. he is in uniform.

School is for my younger son. This is just the average required during the school year per month for supplies, paid classes, extra curricular etc.


No you wont get reamed I'd never ream anyone nice enough to take all this time to help me I personally dont think the cells are too high but it is ok if you do We do not have a home phone. We commute long distances, dh needs a phone for his job. We are ok with this. The ds actually pay part of his phone . Dh's and mine are under contract. Kiddo is pre pay. They are also free long distance which helps as our family is sprawled.

On the tv the streaming through the net is the TV. This was the compromise with dh to shut of satellite tv. I am happy to trade $15 for $55 at this point. I do very much agree if we were in a very hard place we would 100% shut these off. The $30 in radio in TV make dh happy. I'm totally willing to leave it even if it isn't important to me personally.

I very much like your chart and am going to save it! As far as income goes we will come out with a good surplus monthly beginning in Jan with dh's raise. We also end up with most of the last checks in Dec being banked as I always budget on 4 weeks per month and this is a 5 week month. Yeah!

Also in Jan the med goes down as we are going back to pre tax med savings.

You know I forgot a biggie in the budget when I posted here. It is in my budget on the computer though Heat! We prepay for the year over the summer.

I fully admit I overestimate some things for budgeting just to be on the safe side. Our 2010 work expenses were 950 so not the 1200 estimated.

[nodmicks]

Sorry I forgot to answer about date night. It is currently scraped until stock is sold and FFEF to a standard we are comfy with. We will reevaluate later. Tonight should be a date night but we will just be home watching tv kid less which is still nice