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For most, budgeting becomes most successful when your strengths are utilized by the methods instead of your weaknesses. You claim you're bad at tracking, but Mint tracks; nevertheless it hasn't alleviated the problem. Switching to YNAB loses the tracking but isn't going to help if you don't already have enveloping mentally solved. So then, what's the actual, real, underlying problem? Is the trouble that you're poorly allocating income, so you have to shuffle it around all the time, or that you're not planning for actual expenses? Budgets are plans, not console games, so if you don't have a plan, you definitely don't have a budget. Next, what are your strengths? What do you consistently do well without reminders, without alarms, and when you're supposed to be doing something else?
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Oct 28, 2015 23:43
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There is E/N here, but I think E/N and finances tend to be pretty tied together from the threads I have read in here. My main problem with mint is that it doesn't categorize things like I do. For example, I consider coffee shops and bars restaurants, Mint doesn't. My main problem in general is that even the thought of checking my budget frequently makes me anxious. I'm also really bad at saying no to my wife when she wants to do something. I gave her my Mint credentials, but she doesn't look at the account much at all. I have a budget, but I don't think I have kept to it once. I know where I'm overspending. Groceries and restaurants. We both have bad cases of sadbrains, which makes this tougher. I put pretty much everything I have to do on a to-do list, because otherwise I forget a lot and trying to remember everything causes a lot of unnecessary stress. Maybe I should put checking whatever budgeting tool I use on my to-do list for lunch every day. If I do it regularly, maybe the anxiety will go away. The reason that I wanted to do different accounts is that I have been successful in building up a wedding/honeymoon fund while still being terrible at sticking to a budget. My hope was/is that I could stick with a budget better if cheating required transferring money into a different account. I know that one of the responses is going to be to see a psychiatrist. That's on my list of things to do once I get on some better insurance or get a big raise. I'm working on both right now.
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Oct 29, 2015 18:16
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22 Eargesplitten posted:My main problem with mint is that it doesn't categorize things like I do. For example, I consider coffee shops and bars restaurants, Mint doesn't. quote:My main problem in general is that even the thought of checking my budget frequently makes me anxious. I'm also really bad at saying no to my wife when she wants to do something. I gave her my Mint credentials, but she doesn't look at the account much at all. Also, your wife has to be on board with this. Not tolerant of you fiddling with it and talking about it sometimes, she has to be part of this process and equally committed to it. Look at the way you are talking about this; 'saying no to your wife' means that you are being positioned as the gatekeeper on money because it's what you want, not because you are equally committed to budgeting. Then it's not a situation of 'saying no', its a situation of 'we don't have the money budgeted for that'. You guys need to sit down and talk about what your financial goals are, and get on the same page. This is probably not going to be a fun conversation, but it is one that needs to happen. Do you want to buy a house? Retire? Have kids? Have too many cats? A house for the cats? These things need money, and it has to come out of your budget. It's hard to pass up stuff you want right now, but it is a lot easier when you have had this conversation and can say 'I am going to pass on a big night out, because that money is for our house fund, and I have decided that I want a house more than I want a series of expensive meals'. It is really difficult to do this if only one person in the couple is on board. quote:The reason that I wanted to do different accounts is that I have been successful in building up a wedding/honeymoon fund while still being terrible at sticking to a budget. My hope was/is that I could stick with a budget better if cheating required transferring money into a different account.
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Oct 29, 2015 19:16
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That's a good point about the separate cards. I would have to check the balance a lot more often. She has said in the past that she wants me to be in charge of the money, probably because that's how her parents do it. I think I'm going to have to tell her that won't work. It's probably for the best with her parents, but I'm not her dad, and she's not her mom. We really should make a new budget anyway, for November. We haven't made a new one since she got a job a few months ago, so her paycheck has been in a sort of limbo where she just uses it on whatever she wants. She just isn't all that smart about money, so I need to teach her things like comparison shopping and why its better to pay more than the minimum balance on a credit card. But I also have to do it in a way that doesn't seem condescending.
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Oct 29, 2015 21:21
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22 Eargesplitten posted:I've got a bank that allows unlimited transfers between checking accounts, the ability to schedule transfers, and no minimum balance / low balance penalties. I'm pretty terrible at keeping track of my spending and budgeting consistently. I want to set up a bunch of checking accounts for at least the major categories (rent, utilities, insurance payments, debt reduction, groceries, gas, maybe other stuff I'm not thinking of), so that if I want to know how much I have to spare, I can just look at my balance and see what I have. Would that be a way to translate the envelope method to someone who uses a card for everything? You sound like me a couple years ago. I did this in Feb 2014 and never looked back. I had 6k in credit card debt and a modest income. I was trying to payoff my credit card and while paying down the balance, but psychologically using the credit card I felt less guilty and aware than when using a debit card, so my balance would always end up rising. I now have separate checking accounts for Debt, Gas/Food/Fun Week 1, Gas/Food/Fun Week 2, and Rent. I'm paid biweekly and direct deposit to each account, which allows me to avoid any bank fees. Debt is $150 each paycheck, this money comes in and I immediately pay it out to student loans one payday and credit card debt the next payday. Both Gas/Food/Fun accounts get $200 each paycheck. I use a debit card and limit my overall spending to $200 per week (I should track this better). After the week 1 money is depleted, I transfer the $200 in the week 2 account to the week 1 account which has the debit card and live another week. My rent account gets half of my total rent, utilities, Internet and insurance payment amounts each check. The remainder of my paycheck, a few hundred bucks, goes to an Ally online savings account. Any bonus or overtime money I get automatically goes into the savings account as well. This is how I was able to build an emergency fund without poaching from myself. It's not pretty but I am super lazy and this is a really easy way to budget. I don't have to do anything at all to track my spending besides open my online banking and look at the remaining balance. I'm almost done paying off my CC and have built an emergency fund at the same time. Actually my CC balance is about 1/4 of the emergency fund balance, so I could nuke it but my job is slightly suspect in the mid term so I want a good cash reserve. Doesn't hurt the CC is at 0% and with aid of balance transfers has remained at less than 2% overall.
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Oct 30, 2015 07:23
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Hello, all. I've been pretty bad at keeping all of my money from being spent recently. I had some emergency money saved up, so when my car lost it's brakes I paid the $600 bill without any problems. Fast forward two months and I haven't been able to put anything back into my savings account, and in fact had to empty it to keep my credit card from charging me overdraft fees. That's about the point where I realized I had no money and no plan to save money. So I'm here to start a plan to save some money. Haven't really done a proper budget before but I figure it's the best way to keep myself from being a loving moron forever. code:I just got this month's pay today, and used it as combined with my earlier advance to create the example in the budget I just made up there. The way my pay works, I get paid once a month, with an advance on the 15th that comes out of the month's pay. If I wanted, I could cancel that advance and just get one paycheck per month, but that doesn't strike me as a good idea. My advance is $800, and I got paid $1200 today, so $2000 total. Last month my advance and pay combined to be $1400. Why the difference? I work at a car dealership, and had them repair my brakes for me. Since I didn't have the money at the time, I charged the bill to my account. And thus the rest of my month's expenses, excluding bills, ended up on my credit card. This is the paycheck I was hoping to pay off my credit card with. So far, I've paid my rent, student loan, and a $167 car bill. Not a penny into my cards. My car insurance, internet, phone, and both credit cards are autopaid on the 16th. I also have two doctor's appointments with my dentist and optometrist on the 16th, which I expect will cost me $150 apiece. I have $297 in my checking account right now, and $23 in my TFSA. I don't have an RRSP. Oh, yeah, and I also spent over $200 in fast food last month... so I suppose step one in operation "Stop Bleeding Money You loving Moron" is to do some cooking. Excuse me while I go grocery shopping.
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Oct 31, 2015 03:53
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I knew car dealerships were scummy but loving one of your own guys on a break job is low. You can get a set of pads with lifetime replacement for like $100. When they wear out every 3-6 years can take them back and get a new pair. It always saddens me when people pay a bunch for brake jobs and other simple car repairs because they are too lazy to learn a new skill.
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Oct 31, 2015 04:03
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tesilential posted:I knew car dealerships were scummy but loving one of your own guys on a break job is low. You can get a set of pads with lifetime replacement for like $100. When they wear out every 3-6 years can take them back and get a new pair. It always saddens me when people pay a bunch for brake jobs and other simple car repairs because they are too lazy to learn a new skill. It wasn't the pads, it was the brake line. Rust out and leaked fluid. Had to drop the gas tank to cut them out and replace them, which is why it cost so much. Driving 100km with literally no brakes is the kind of experience that doesn't really make you think twice about the price of getting them fixed.
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Oct 31, 2015 04:54
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drat, yeah smart move then. Thought you got burned the Just Brakes kinda way.
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Nov 1, 2015 00:07
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22 Eargesplitten posted:We really should make a new budget anyway, for November.... The same principle applies to general shopper awareness. If you buy $20 from Amazon today, and $20 tomorrow, you could have waited in the first item and avoided the two shipping charges (caveats &c). Fewer (automobile) trips to a grocery saves time and money, but whereas you can buy crackers and have them last a few months, you cannot do the same with fresh fruit; if you over buy those, it's an immediate loss. Second, I don't think you're going to be saved by Mint, YNAB, multiple credit cards, or any such thing, because they're all games. A "budget for November" tells me that money is moving around willy nilly; this will prevent saving, paying off credit cards, building a safety net, etcetera. Let's suppose you get paid monthly. It is sensible that some months might require some Minor adjustments, but just how many changes even seen reasonable? Weekly changes are clear cop outs --- you're just playing with your money to give a false sense of control --- because that's twenty six budget changes every six months!! The great majority of your budget should be static until a major life change occurs. Wanting to buy a new car is not such an event; it's a 6--24 mo plan. A car with an exploded engine, sadly, is (an event that requires an updated budget). You also need to budget your -income- into envelopes/jars/virtual containers that are sacred. Use a spreadsheet if you like, to track how much you've saved for "groceries", for example. Mint can still help you determine how much remains in the category, but you need to balance your own accounts by hand for a while, and learn proper reconciliation, before you're ready to go to a tool for help.
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Nov 2, 2015 20:30
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PhantomOfTheCopier posted:Weekly changes are clear cop outs --- you're just playing with your money to give a false sense of control --- because that's twenty six budget changes every six months!! I don't get why you seem to think a budget should be treated like a set of shackles. If your 26 changes generally involve increasing discretionary spending at the expense of key savings or fixed expense categories, then you have a problem, but that problem is not the 26 changes themselves, it's the priorities you're building and rebuilding your budget around.
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Nov 5, 2015 19:16
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epenthesis posted:I don't get why you seem to think a budget should be treated like a set of shackles.  ice cream time!!"; and the whole time your "priority" has slippery sloped into "a cute little loving game I played because I couldn't even manage to plan one paycheck ahead".I don't get why people that are asking for assistance, after voluntarily explaining that they keep looking for ways to shuffle money faster and faster and can't seem to get ahead, are given any recommendation that a budget should in any way be equivalent to shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.
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Nov 7, 2015 08:14
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PhantomOfTheCopier posted:If you're "rebuilding your budget around priorities" four times a day, four times a month, or maybe even four times a year, then you need to seriously review the definition of the word "priority". An emergency is certainly an unexpected event, and then one must weather the storm as can be done; that's when you get to realize all those lattes that are effectively driving up your credit card debt now that you have emergency expenses to deal with. Too bad that, before the emergency hit, your "priority" to create emergency savings somehow turned into a few more lunches eating out each month; your "priority" to put $50 extra each month on rent so you'd be ready for the rent increase got shuffled into an extra drink every Friday night that you 'reconciled off' every Saturday morning; your "priority" to allocated $50/month to electricity didn't work because in the summer "look at all that money sitting around doing nothing I said nothing of lattes or bar nights, and I specifically excepted shifting money from savings to discretionary categories. Our needs and wants change, and it's stupid to leave your budget as is when it doesn't reflect those. Did you get an unexpectedly generous gift that you'd been saving up to buy? Cool, you don't need that category anymore and can re-allocate that money. Did you get flu and need to spend a few days living on takeout? The restaurants budget might be exceeded, but that money's there in the grocery and entertainment budgets, where you spent less than usual. A month of free cable because your provider hosed up something? Sure, find something else to do with that. These changes don't affect spending goals, debt repayment, or fixed non-discretionary expenses. You're talking about changes to the budget as inherently bad, but your defense of your argument cites only genuinely irresponsible spending. Well, of course that's bad. But the consequent need to adjust the budget isn't the disease, it's the symptom. e: And I didn't even get into remedial changes. Consistently going over your grocery budget while buying mostly store brands and whatever's on sale, because prices are going up in your rapidly gentrifying neighborhood? Gonna need to be realistic and bump that up. Failing to make progress toward a discretionary savings goal because the budget is eaten up by other expenses in the category? It should probably be its own line item if it's really that "important"; if not, it can wait for the day when enough has accrued. Those changes aren't going to lead to you falling short of your goals. epenthesis fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Nov 7, 2015 |
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Nov 7, 2015 22:17
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Don't worry; I haven't forgotten you're here! I've just been busy enough with things that I haven't finished the last bit of the reply. In happier news, new budget took effect yesterday.The previous was first used 2014-09-30. 
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Nov 16, 2015 14:56
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PhantomOfTheCopier posted:Don't worry; I haven't forgotten you're here! I've just been busy enough with things that I haven't finished the last bit of the reply. I suspect it's going to come down to "...and this is why YNAB sucks," but thanks!
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Nov 16, 2015 15:33
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epenthesis posted:I suspect it's going to come down to "...and this is why YNAB sucks," but thanks! epenthesis posted:You're talking about changes to the budget as inherently bad, but your defense of your argument cites only genuinely irresponsible spending. Well, of course that's bad. But the consequent need to adjust the budget isn't the disease, it's the symptom. The benefit of extreme examples is that most will have seen and understand those situations. Examples are purposefully extreme only to demonstrate an underlying concept, however, and the patterns and models presented by those scenarios apply to the examples I didn't give. It only remains for the financially responsible to understand that those patterns lead to financial failure. In contrast to categorizing lattes as "irresponsible spending", I provided an example that demonstrates how they might constitute "failure to plan ahead" (or "irresponsible planning"), and I assume no particular intention of self-harm on the part of the latte drinker; rather, I assume that the harm may arise due to a lack of knowledge or experience, and I post in hopes of helping people avoid those scenarios. Symptoms of financial issues could reveal underplanning, but overplanning is equally troublesome. An empty bank account and overcharged credit card are easily-identifiable symptoms, but presumably so also are Amazon boxes full of video games in a house devoid of food and personal hygiene products. One need not see the house of a hoarder to realize an underlying issue exists. The diseases could be irresponsibility, misunderstanding of priorities, and hoarding (respectively, but others are possible). When a body is found under a mound of stuff in a house, the symptom is the visible amount of junk, and the disease is that which produced the junk (hoarding). Likewise, if someone is found dead under a mountain of paperwork, the symptom is the uncontrollable amount of paperwork, but the disease is likewise that which produced the paperwork. If each page is filled with yet another iteration of a budget, a reallocation of savings, a rebalancing record of assets, then the disease is the over-budgeting. Removing the paper doesn't change the disease. epenthesis posted:Our needs and wants change, and it's stupid to leave your budget as is when it doesn't reflect those. Let's start with what was actually posted: PhantomOfTheCopier posted:It is sensible that some months might require some Minor adjustments, but just how many changes even seen reasonable? Weekly changes are clear cop outs... The great majority of your budget should be static until a major life change occurs. And the proposed counter-examples: epenthesis posted:Did you get flu and need to spend a few days living on takeout? The restaurants budget might be exceeded, but that money's there in the grocery and entertainment budgets, where you spent less than usual. Deciding on a whim, and, amusingly, while stoned off one's rear end on medication, that shuffling around funds is necessary at this point is symptomatic of more than the flu. ADHD is one possibility, as is "living paycheck to paycheck" (for how else did the restaurant account go negative?). epenthesis posted:A month of free cable because your provider hosed up something? Sure, find something else to do with that. epenthesis posted:Did you get an unexpectedly generous gift that you'd been saving up to buy? Cool, you don't need that category anymore and can re-allocate that money. Where then are these shackles of which you speak, and why should they be considered constricting as opposed to freeing? Gaming your money is a recipe for disaster, as commonly demonstrated by credit card rolling and those racking up over-charge fees, because you're playing against timing forces that are ultimately outside your control. Misunderstanding ones priorities is a problem that can reveal itself in the sheer lack of a budget, or a budget that is ineffective at actually fulfilling needs, as demonstrated by frequent money shuffling. A budget that is 90-95% sacred and immutable frees one from constantly having to fret over it, which can become very tiring; instead, one need only ensure that spending stays within limits and that no oddities in routine charges appear, and it is guaranteed to work. Very large non-profit organizations are able to provide budgets for an entire year --- and, often, multiyear --- and operate within the limits of their saved balances, and they are able to perform efficiently and successfully. Surely an individual and nominal family can operate under the same principles and realize similar successes. tl;dr: We can all improve.
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Nov 18, 2015 05:17
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I'm about three months into my first 'adult' job as a teacher, and I've been doing okay at sticking to my budget so far. However, I'm worried that I'm not saving enough, so I thought I'd post it up and ask you guys for critique. I have no debt, and I use YNAB to keep on track. Gross Yearly: 46730.16 Gross Monthly: 3894.18 Pension Contribution: 280.38 (Not negotiable; the Teacher Retirement System determines the contribution amount.) 457 Contribution: 286 (This I can adjust up or down; the 457 is basically the public servant version of a 401K.) Insurance: 176.50 (This includes medical, dental, and vision.) Union Dues: 37.08 (This includes my malpractice insurance.) Medicare: 79.22 (Don't think I can do much with this.) Withholding Tax: 305.5 (Or this.) Net Yearly: 32754 Net Monthly: 2729.50 - Fixed Costs: 1282.99 Rent: 995 (A bit too high, I think; my location is very good, but it seems like it takes up too much of my income. I'm also worried it'll go up when my lease comes up in July.) Utilities: 100 (This gets split between gas, water, and electricity, depending on how much each one costs that month.) Internet: 72.79 (About as basic an Internet plan as AT&T offers in my area.) Hulu: 8.65 Netflix: 7.55 Auto Insurance: 44 (This is through USAA; it's a pretty good rate for someone my age.) Percentage of Net: 47 - Savings: 723.51 Percentage of Net: 27 - Flexible Spending: 723 Gas: 150 (I usually only drive to and from work, and my car has very good fuel mileage. I usually don't spend all of it.) Clothing/Grooming: 100 (This is for haircuts, clothes, toiletries, etc.) Spending Money: 250 (Restaurants, movies, things for the apartment, etc.) Groceries: 150 (Includes my cat's food.) Gifts: 50 (For birthdays, Christmas, etc.) Vet: 13 (Luckily my cat goes to the vet only once a year.) Laundry: 10 (The cost of living in an apartment complex, I'm afraid.) Percentage of Net: 27 - Percentage of Gross Saved: 33 Percentage of Net Saved: 27 Am I not saving enough in my 457 or savings account? Is there an area where I should be cutting? One of my goals is to one day own a condo or home, but I live in Austin, and unfortunately property values are probably going to continue to be out of my reach. I may end up having to move elsewhere to achieve that goal.
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Nov 29, 2015 23:31
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Just to give you a benchmark 15% of gross income is the target for retirement when you've done no calculations. Most can be quite comfortable with 10% savings. So you are well ahead of the population with that savings rate which for a lot of people is no savings, or too little to retire on. Note that when I refer to savings I include all retirement fund contributions. Do you have no debts or student loans? If not then you are well placed and should keep saving at the same rate as long as you can. You only need to keep lifestyle inflation in check.
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Nov 30, 2015 02:19
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no phone ?
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Dec 3, 2015 18:11
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Devian666 posted:Just to give you a benchmark 15% of gross income is the target for retirement when you've done no calculations. Most can be quite comfortable with 10% savings. So you are well ahead of the population with that savings rate which for a lot of people is no savings, or too little to retire on. Note that when I refer to savings I include all retirement fund contributions. No, no debt or student loans (other than my credit card, which I pay off every month). Crunchtime posted:no phone ? Oh, yeah, sorry! I pay 55 a month for my phone, which should be filed under fixed fees. So I met with a financial advisor associated with the school district about retirement savings, and he wants me to stop contributing to the 457 and contribute to an IRA or mutual fund instead (due to the 457 being associated with the district, if I move, I can't take it with me). Does this seem like a good move? What in particular should I look forward in an IRA or fund?
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Dec 5, 2015 19:32
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Pinball posted:So I met with a financial advisor associated with the school district about retirement savings, and he wants me to stop contributing to the 457 and contribute to an IRA or mutual fund instead (due to the 457 being associated with the district, if I move, I can't take it with me). Does this seem like a good move? What in particular should I look forward in an IRA or fund? Ask in the retirement thread. As I don't live in the US the only 3 digit numbers I really understand are 420 and 619  It does sound like a good idea though. In the retirement thread they will be able to give you accurate advice and what will work best for you (I say this because a lot of people who read that thread don't read the budget thread).
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Dec 7, 2015 04:18
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What percentage of your net income, annual or monthly, would you guys say goes to food and gas? Sorry if this has been discussed. I decided to really pick apart my 2015 expenses and I was really thinking it was going to be bad. My wife and I kind of eat out a lot and even when we go to the grocery store it seems like every trip is a fortune. I live in a higher priced area and it just seems really hard saving money on food and gas (So Cal). I make a decent living so we're not trying to live like paupers or anything but I'd like to be able to save a little more in 2016 and maybe start putting more money towards the principal on my mortgage. Anyhow, found out that we spend 15% of our net income on food (grocery stores + any kind of eating out) and 3.7% on gas. Those numbers are counting just my monthly net income. Now, if I count my annual year end bonus, we're at 10% on food and 2.5% on gas. A quick google search shows that people spend ~ 9-15% annually on food so I guess I'm right in that zone, a little on the high side if I don't count on my bonus. I'm going to try and tighten that up a little bit in 2016 but at least its not the 20-25% that I feared it would be.
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Dec 24, 2015 04:13
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Single with girlfriend, here are my numbers: Groceries: 3.63% Alcohol: 1.28% Eating out: 2.03% Gas: 1.6% This is my entire years total. Not too bad. Excluded my bonus as well.
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Dec 25, 2015 16:35
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Not counting any cash purchases, of course, which would mostly effect the eating out total. Gas: 2.3% Groceries: 7.7% Eating Out: 3.1%
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Dec 26, 2015 19:36
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Only have data from Nov 1st to now. Fuel: 2.46% Groceries: 3.61% Eating Out: 6.56%
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Dec 26, 2015 22:13
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I really need this because I am horrible at saving money
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Dec 28, 2015 14:09
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Jesus, you sub-5% groceries guys are either frugal as gently caress, or earn a drat lot. I'm at 12,3% for groceries and 1% for eating out. This is 2014 data because I only tracked half a year in 2015. I'm on my own.
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Dec 28, 2015 15:35
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I am an emotional eater who spent 25% of my pre tax income on food this year. What is a reasonable amount to budget per week on food if you live in a low cost of living US city? $70? I tend to spend $30/wk at the grocery store and a lot more out eating out. I think a weeks worth of fresh veggies for salads would bring my grocery bill up to ~$50-70 each week if I cut back on eating out.
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Dec 28, 2015 19:44
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I think it's really dependent on income. Minimum wage or 6-figure earner, both have similar stomach space. You can get fancier or frugal-er for sure, but percentages won't be very proportional across the board. DINK family here, 8% goes to groceries/restaurants/bars but I am going to try to soften it down to 6 or 7 in 2016. Gas gets to be put on my company card because I run all of the daily office errands.
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Dec 28, 2015 19:51
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We spend $550/month on groceries for two adults and one 2-year-old. The category is a little soft as it includes anything that goes through the digestive tract--coffee, tea, etc. It could certainly be lower as I'm a frugal shopper and the months where I do the lion's share of the shopping we're closer to $400-450. If my wife does a fair bit of the shopping it'll be around the $550-600 range. But then we don't eat like we're poor and have things like cheese & crackers, candy, etc.
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Dec 28, 2015 20:39
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I'm working on creating a budget, but have a question about incorporating equity. tldr; I get 22% of my entire annual income from equity. Do I just not incorporate it at all? Blinky2099 fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Dec 30, 2015 |
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Dec 29, 2015 21:03
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spwrozek posted:Single with girlfriend, here are my numbers: Updated for some context.
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Dec 30, 2015 03:58
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Married, no kids, one primary income, % of gross income: groceries (anything bought at a grocery store): 7.5% alcohol (any time alcohol is purchased on it's own from a store or a bar): 1.3% eating out (includes drinks if eating food as well): 5.1% gasoline (not including gas on road trips): 0.6% We've gotten into buying really expensive groceries...
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Dec 30, 2015 04:57
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I just started a new job and after successfully keeping a budget for two months, it fell to poo poo. I'm trying to get back on the wagon with a better tracking method (longhand ledger instead of poorly done google docs) and was curious if this seemed like a good budget: Self (Toys/Books/Etc.) -150 monthly Nights Out - 150 monthly Groceries - 50 weekly Rent - 655 monthly Bills (gas/electric/internet) - 120 monthly Insurance - 130 monthly Auto Payment - 350 monthly Gas - 60 monthly Lunches - 60 monthly Income - 3500 monthly The income is after taxes and a 15% 401k contribution. It is before a 10% contribution to short term savings.
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Jan 4, 2016 00:26
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Blinky2099 posted:I'm working on creating a budget, but have a question about incorporating equity.
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Jan 5, 2016 04:53
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I'll yump on the ASL fun:code:
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Jan 5, 2016 06:25
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I have a question about Mint's goal functionality. I kept a line item in my budget for travel, with unspent balance rolling over. This was not intended to be a thing that actually gets used. Instead, it was earmarked for an undetermined vacation in the future. I knew I wanted to travel in 2016, I didn't know where or how much it would cost. Mint requires an amount for goal setting so i did this instead. Now I have a good idea how much that vacation is going to cost. I plopped the unspent amount from the budget into a new checking account to maintain spending discipline, then I hid the gain in the new account and debited my travel budget for the amount I moved (so that budget got zeroed.) Next month I'll make a monthly contribution to that goal. Does mint just recognize the $200 move and hide it from my spending patterns? Like, i don't really need to see the balance transfer show up on my budget sheets. Similarly, I have an extra paycheck this month (bi weekly pay periods and this is a 3 paycheck month). Should I just repeat that initial process to throw extra money at my goal? Finally, is what I did the best way to handle those sorts of "I know I'll need money but I'm not sure exactly how much or when" spends? A new car also probably falls into this category.
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Jan 6, 2016 18:03
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Ok guys. It's  time for me. I want to get my family out of paycheck to paycheck bullshit. Right now, I use YNAB. It's great software but I don't ever have any past data because I end up forgetting some purchase somewhere, throw everything off and start fresh often. I've used Mint in the past and it was OK but didn't really use it to its full potential. I just have no idea how to start figuring out where my money goes and keep it that way so I can make a drat dent. I realize the point of YNAB is to stop you from just going  with your money but gently caress, it hasn't stopped me. I need recommendations on software more than anything.
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Jan 9, 2016 20:48
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Irritated Goat posted:Ok guys. It's - YNAB and force yourself to write down every purchase on your phone, wherever you are, no matter what. I'd imagine this is a habit that you can get into within ~a month if you stay consistent. Even if you don't, just cross-check your YNAB with credit card and ATM logs and fill in the blanks. - Mint, and force yourself to properly label each purchase during whatever interval is convenient for you (weekly, monthly.) I manually went through at the end of 2015 to try to assign correct labels to an entire years worth of purchases and it was time consuming and fairly inaccurate since it's difficult to remember what certain charges were actually for. I've scheduled a monthly "mint review" day to make sure things are labeled properly. This still doesn't fix cash purchases, but I just blanket assign all ATM cash withdrawals as entertainment/food/whatever unless I can remember to add them.
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Jan 9, 2016 22:16
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Blinky2099 posted:- YNAB and force yourself to write down every purchase on your phone, wherever you are, no matter what. I'd imagine this is a habit that you can get into within ~a month if you stay consistent. Even if you don't, just cross-check your YNAB with credit card and ATM logs and fill in the blanks. My only thing with Mint is there's no way to cut out some shared accounts I have that don't count towards my funds. I'm leaning towards Mint if I can get that fixed. Assigning categories is no big deal.
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Jan 9, 2016 22:58
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