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Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
Dude.

You and your wife need to stop spending to your bank account and start spending to your budget.

You don't get to buy a PS4 and a guitar and a toothbrush and and and, just because you have money in your account.

Let me guess, the guitar was to balance things, since you got a PS4? My ex and I had that same cycle of spending money as a reward to ourselves for spending money.

Knock it off. Immediately.

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Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
Be careful! SloMo says he's done with his thread. You may become the new whipping boy.

The thing you gotta realize is that all your justifications are nothing new to this crowd. Many of have been there. It's why we're here, and it's how we can recognize it.

It's really hard to understand what it's like to live on last month's paycheck until you do it. I only started this past year. Everything is different now. I used to overdraft all the time, and worry about how I was going to pay rent if I didn't get a check deposited. But right now I'm waiting on a $500 medical reimbursement, and I don't even care. In fact, poo poo, that reminds me, I should mail it off. But it's not urgent because I live on last month's paychecks, and I have plenty of buffers. I live on budget, not on bank balance.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Bhaal posted:

Getting yourself to the spot where you are sitting on a cushion of cash (not available credit card limits) and work on your income vs. expenses in an objective, abstract way is possibly the largest shift in perspective you can ever have in regards to money. You don't have to know your bank balance when at the grocery store, you don't have to monitor your funds constantly to make sure you don't get overdrafts this month, and you can basically forget about how many days until your next paycheck comes in, much less matching them up against when various bills will come due or when the car needs gas and so on. Once you get there it will be eye-opening how much that poo poo ends up occupying your time, mental bandwidth, stress capacity and so on.

Absolutely. Heck, there have been times both my wife and I forgot that we got paid. "Hey, didn't a check deposit the other day?" "Oh, yeah! I wonder how much it is this week?" (We're both shift workers, so they vary.)

A year ago when we starred with YNAB, we had $10k in debt. Today we have $16k in the bank. It's a HUGE difference, Knyteguy. And we definitely understand the spending. We both like stuff, and we both want "just this thing, special occasion this month." It's been hard fighting that instinct. And it sucks feeling guilty spending money. But the results have been worth it, and our perspectives and priorities have slowly, painfully begun to shift.

I have an idea that might help you take those first steps. When you want to buy something you don't need (and be careful with justifying wants into needs), take the money you were going to spend on it and budget it into that category for the month. But don't buy it yet. Just let the money sit there, earmarked for the thing. Then once you're through the month, consider if you still want that thing. And if you've wanted the thing for three months but just got the money this month, that doesn't count as waiting. Spend a month with the money but not spending it.

This can have three effects: 1) If an emergency pops up, you have some extra cash to cover it; 2) You have a built-in buffer against overdrafts or forgotten bills; 3) You may decide that you enjoy seeing the "net worth" graph in YNAB go up more than you'd enjoy whatever luxury you put off getting.

Things that can be treated like this: PS4, guitar, gym membership, home gym, new clothes, sonic screwdriver, extra hard drive, new phone...

Old Fart fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Nov 26, 2013

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
Having your own personal blow category is really great. There's no guilt for spending, and you're not accountable to anybody. For us, we each get $200/mo, which is sorta high, but we make decent money and have no debt and are currently stashing 30% of income to long-term savings and emergency funds.

But stuff that goes in there are Amazon and iTunes purchases, video games, gifts for each other, trips to Starbucks, coins in the soda machines, grabbing a burger on the run, seeing a movie, stuff for hobbies, etc. Any larger purchases like bikes or computer upgrades or furniture are discussed and planned, and then usually put off for a while in the interest of growing savings a bit more.

A note on getting ahead a month. If you're like we were, we paid rent at the very end of the month, trying to scrape together enough to cover it. But it was really due on the first. So the month you get ahead, you get a "free" month of rent. Maybe that will help.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

I was explaining...

...and that's the problem.

You're always explaining. There's always a reason.

This is why it's important to seriously look at your past habits and stop the thought processes behind them. It's not dwelling on the past, it's educating yourself for the future.

I also love video games. I've been playing them since the early 1980s. That's how I know that there is always some next big "must play" game. And y'know what? It's okay to skip them from time to time.

Your car maintenance isn't some "okay, got through it" one-time expense. Something like this will always come up. Maybe you'll need new clothes for something. Or there will be a surprise tax bill. Or a medical problem. Or a $100 toothbrush. That's just life. But as long as you continue to convince yourself that it's "just this month", you'll never be free.

Saving for your future is top priority. Before video games. Before guitars. Before toothbrushes. Your future self is the first person you pay. Then you figure out what to do with any extra. No compromises.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
If gramma is able to give you a chunk of cash if you pay down your debt, then see if gramma is able to float you a loan to pay off the difference when you sell your car for less than you owe. She seems interested in helping you get on top, and this would go a long long way towards getting you there.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
I mean as a loan to help him get out of debt. He's selling the car, he just needs to make up the balance since he's underwater. She has already shown interest in giving him a huge incentive. Why not make her a part of the process? It also has the benefit that if he pays her back regularly (and sooner than their agreed plan), she might be more inclined to give him the bonus even if he doesn't reach the goal, or maybe extend the deadline. Get her more involved and emotionally invested.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

my wife doesn't need a vehicle for her job at all, only I do. If we sacrificed a bit and we left literally 30 minutes earlier every day, I could just drop her off, and then pick her up when I got off work. She would have to stay at work around an hour longer, but maybe she could cut hours on her Sunday to make up the difference.

I hope she's okay with that. I think it's a fantastic idea. Once you get out of debt, you can put the money you're not paying on that car aside, and when you have kids and need a bigger vehicle, you can pay cash. Cars are cheaper when you have cash in hand. Rich people get the best deals.

Knyteguy posted:

there would be times we'd both have to miss work every few years or so due to weather. I've seen plenty of cars completely stuck in their driveways and neighborhoods often enough to call a truck necessary sometimes.

What's cheaper: paying all this extra money (including gas) on a truck that you need a couple of times every few years... Or hoofing it to the end of the neighbourhood and calling a taxi? It's a casino town. There are taxis.

Old Fart fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Dec 5, 2013

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
Here's another reason to stop spending to your bank account...

Last night I was balancing the budget and saw that some asshat had used my debit card info at Western Union. A few transactions to the tune of $800. Last year this would have been major stress. Three years ago this would have been a severe crisis. Today, it's a mild annoyance.

The bank has recommended moving to a new account entirely, and I have enough cash on hand to keep enough in both accounts not to worry about overdrafts as I shift the auto-payments and the like between accounts. And it gave me the drive to finally set up a savings account, so I can have my emergency fund available to me but not accessible via debit.

One year ago I had your mindset with regards to spending. Four months ago we started living on last month's income. And today we can handle just letting $800 float around while we wait for this to settle out. And that's on top of a $500 reimbursement we've not yet received for a medical payment, and waiting for a $700 refund on our security deposit for the place we moved out of last weekend. And of course all the additional moving expenses.

Budgeting is awesome. You can get there, too!

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
I get it, poo poo can get overwhelming, especially when you've never done something before. The status quo is easy and comfortable.

Then sell the car. You don't need two vehicles, you owe more, and it has a higher interest rate.

Baby steps here. Get down to one vehicle first. Then see what the next step might be. One thing at a time.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

HooKars posted:

These are the type of justifications that are annoying and make it seem like your rationalizing every bad purchase you make. Youve done it for every one. You can't do it all over again but you can fix your past mistakes or at least mitigate their damage by behavior in the present. You can still do plenty of outdoor activities in a non truck and the custom stereo is just one of those things where you eat your losses because you gain more as a whole.

And this is why people are focusing on bad decisions in the past, because we need to understand what was behind them in order to guide future behaviour.

Regardless, I think getting down to one vehicle is a good first step. Then if that works out you can see about buying a cheaper vehicle and selling the truck. That's easier to manage than trying to figure out how to sell both vehicles at once and get a replacement. Doing that seems like a sure-fire way to end up with three vehicles instead of one.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

Hah didn't mean to really upset anyone :).
I'm just glad I wasn't the only one ready to strangle you.

Knyteguy posted:

Not much to update besides that, except that it's pretty cool still having the value of almost my entire paycheck left in the bank after a weekend, and after rent pulled out as well.
Awesome! Just think how good it will feel to have an entire month's worth of paychecks waiting for you to budget the following month. It's a really great feeling, and that's what happens when you spend to a budget instead of to the account balance. Great job!

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
Congrats on progress! This is the hardest part, making lifestyle and mindset changes.

There's nothing wrong with over-spending in some categories, especially as you start to get a handle on this. After all, most of these are arbitrary bars that you set yourself. So don't beat yourself up for "failing" as that will only discourage you.

However, you should try very hard to still stay within the master budget. Went over budget buying makeup and razors? Well, take a little out of your home improvement category. Too much at a restaurant? See if you can squeeze out of your restaurant and laundry budgets. Or whatever. The point is to keep the numbers adding up to the same total. And for me, I never touch the 25% I put towards retirement savings every month. I'll go a little red in a category before that gets violated.

For me, at least, it was helpful that I didn't use a credit card at all while I was learning how to budget. If I overspent, I ran out of money, plain and simple. Now that I have more money in the bank than I've ever had in my life, I still only spend less than I made the previous month. I use the credit card a bit more, but it's a tool for spending the money I already budgeted, not a safety net to let me be irresponsible.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
Yeah, seriously. Baby steps here. It's not a matter of "if you build it, they will come". It requires a LOT of work and networking and work and work and networking and work. I'd also be wary of any long-term eBay "career" plans.

Work with what you have. Don't try to go from zero to a million in six months or a year. Try to get away from, "well, if only..." or "but once this..."

I'd say your wife should see what she can do to network inside her current career, see if she can get something better. Don't kid yourself that experience and ability are all it takes at Costco. As with most things, it's who you know. It sounds like she is FAR underpaid. Surely she must know at least one or two people who have moved on to other companies? She should be actively and aggressively looking for anything. Hell, one interview out of six resumes is pretty drat good in today's market! Has she set up job alerts at indeed.com?

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
Congrats!

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
You're making progress, but you still have some bad habits. It's going to take time to change your instincts.

For example, why are you buying a bunch of stuff on Steam, when you have a brand new PS4? There's always another Steam sale in the future, this was not an urgent purchase. And since you went over your personal spending this month, does it come out of your allocated funds next month? I go in the red on my allowance sometimes, but it carries over. I don't get to reset at the beginning of the month.

Try not to see the speeding ticket as something that happened to you. It is something you brought upon yourself. Safety issues aside, if you can't afford to pay a speeding ticket, then don't speed. Period. The extra fees are 100% your fault.

Don't fool yourself into seeing that and other expenses as a "one time" thing. This month it's a speeding ticket and restaurants because of the flu and a steam sale and gambling with family. Last month it was a PS4 and a bass guitar and some other things. There are always "one time" expenses. You can't shrug them off as unique. They need to start being part of the budget.

For your master categories in YNAB, I have a breakdown that works very well for me. Monthly Expenses, Monthly Consumables, Quality of Life, and Savings. What's key here is that that restaurants and spending money are in the Quality of Life category, not lumped in with Consumables such as groceries and gas.

Splitting it off this way allowed me to see how much was being wasted in this category, and how much more useful it would be in other categories. It also helped me see how little I really need in that category to feel satisfied with my situation. But when it was all lumped together like you have now, it was more difficult to analyze, and more difficult to control.

This isn't going to be easy. And it's natural to become defensive. Everybody feels he's a unique situation. But these patterns tend to show up with everybody.

Good luck. Keep updating. And read more of zaurg's thread. It wasn't just big decisions. There was a lot of daily rationalization, too. His thread was a real eye-opener for me.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
It seems like your wife is all over the place, and suffers from "if only, then..." syndrome. I was married to someone who was always looking at the next thing, couldn't adapt to reality. It was exhausting.

Making plans is great. But I think right now your priority should be to get spending under control and establish some stability. Revisit future big plans in six months. Right now stop justifying all these purchases as "one time" things. Just stop it.

Is your wife the one underpaid as a grocery manager? If anything, she should be looking to use her current experience for a better job, not starting over fresh. Get poo poo under control FIRST, then make big changes later once you've planned and saved for them.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

SiGmA_X posted:

I think you can get a month ahead now, no? May be a good idea.
Getting a month ahead in our budget was the best thing we ever did. Our savings graph started skyrocketing from that point and has only slowed down once (pet and computer crisis in the same month, but still didn't dip into e-fund).

It may seem like a small technicality, but it's really not. Get a month ahead. Budget only the money that you've made the previous month. Prioritize savings before you budget for anything else. Pick a percentage, put it away, and never ever justify deviating. Don't break that seal.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
I hope you can keep this momentum going. That's awesome. A while back I had a similar situation, when a debit card got compromised and $700 or something got charged. No big deal, bank took care of it rather quickly, but if it had taken a while, on well. A year prior and I'd have been hosed. My wife's coworkers were concerned for our overdraft charges. Haha.

Something that really helped for us was getting a month ahead in YNAB. We actually borrowed from our emergency fund to do it, and it was a great decision. The psychology of it is incredible, and our net worth has skyrocketed since that point. It's easier than you think, too. Rent is probably due on the first, so that's an expense that's already a month ahead. And most bills aren't due until the month after you receive them, so just pay them all at once on the first. The only thing you really need to cover are consumables, and boom, you're a month ahead.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
I'm curious, too, because for me so far that's worked pretty well. We got a month ahead, we put 25-30% into retirement and emergency savings without fail, and have averaged 10% specifically for baby/matleave. Half of the rest goes to expenses and the rest we spend on whatever. Our subcategories flex, but I think by and large we do ok. Could be better, could be a lot worse. Just stop spending. That's the key. Give it a break for a while. Just chill for a month, see what happens.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

For that matter should we just pay all bills that we can at the beginning of the month like Old Fart does? Seems that it might help us get a clearer idea of where we stand for discretionary/flex, especially with our savings out of our main account.
What I mean is that if you get to Step 4 of the YNAB method, this is a very nice side benefit. There's no hoping the next paycheck will cover stuff. There's no waiting on a bill because you need groceries until you're paid again. It's just a lot easier overall. The psychological impact is astounding.

At the beginning of the month you know exactly how much money you have for the month. VERY FIRST PRIORITY is putting money into your savings goals (for me it's 25% of income! and I round up). Then you assign all your monthly bills and grocery/housewares budget. Then you know what you have for fun money.

And with the fun money, all it takes is one tiny month of not spending, and then suddenly every month you have a nice big cushion because it keeps carrying over.

Get a month ahead, dude. It will make the rest of it much easier.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

Old Fart: We should be a little over a month ahead right now, I think. Even after bills. My only concern is spending so much money right at the front, and then coming to need it when we could have just been late on a bill or something. We're talking emergency scenario but still.
Then you're not a month ahead.

When you get paid, how do you classify it? Is it for this month's budget, or next month's budget. Are you aware that's an option in YNAB? Every paycheck I receive in September is used for October's budget. I don't mean in some abstract sense of having extra in my accounts, I mean actually literally entered into YNAB as part of October's budget.

Edit: looking at your spreadsheet, you are not a month ahead. You have income budgeted for September, but your actual income isn't yet up to the budgeted amount. If you were a month ahead, then your budgeted income for September would have been every dollar you earned in August. There'd be no waiting for a paycheck in order to have your actual income match your budgeted income. All your September paychecks would be going to October's income line item. Do you see what I mean?

Old Fart fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Sep 10, 2014

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Giraffe posted:

Can't he just stay a month ahead by keeping a month's worth of income in his checking account? I think the net effect is the same, but it's less complicated: you track the spending you did in September against the money you made in September.
The psychological effect is huge. As he said, he doesn't want to pay bills yet because what if he needs the money? Oh, but he has no problem buying kindles and wireless HDMI at the top of the month. It's easy to put stuff off and shift priorities when you still have a paycheck coming. Not so easy when there's a set pile of cash.

At the very least, isn't it worth a shot? Many people have sung the virtues of this method, and it's even the endgame for YNAB. Maybe just try it for a few months, see how it goes?

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

we're clearly a month ahead as we have more than a month's worth of income saved from August. We're using that money to pay bills and stuff, but we could easily make it this month and into next month without any income.
Sorry to belabour the point, but you're not operating a month ahead. I have ten months of expenses saved up, but I'm not ten months ahead. I'm one month ahead. The amount of money in my accounts has absolutely nothing to do with my budget.

There's a reason why operating a month ahead is the end goal of YNAB, separate from any other savings goals. I don't know how many times you want me to repeat that the psychological effect is one of relief and stress reduction. After a while, you don't even care when your paychecks come in.

If you have the savings to do it right now, then do it. You have nothing to lose. If you don't like it after six months, then go back to what you're doing now.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

I overestimated the wife's paycheck a little bit
Stuff like this is why...

Inverse Icarus posted:

Do what you can to get a month ahead, pay into your savings like it's a bill, and it won't happen again. Good luck and stick with it.
I'm not sure why you're so against the idea. It works, it really does. And you no longer have to do this weird juggling act. The simpler you make this, the less room to screw up.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

Old Fart I'm still trying to work out how to do it without a buffer like YNAB allows.
It's easy. You already have the buffer. Do what you've been doing, which is take out from your savings for a month. But then all the income from that month is registered as funds available for the NEXT month. That way you stop having a negative number for your income. You stop moving funds back and forth. At the beginning of the month you say "okay, this is what we have". You lay it all out. You pay all your bills at once. You pay your savings 'bill'. You set up your categories. Any income from the current month is TOTALLY IGNORED until the start of next month. And it's done.

It's really only slightly different than what you're doing now, but it's a lot less stressful and a lot less work.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

I'm willing to give it a shot at least, but I want to be sure I understand the methodology before I commit to anything.
I use YNAB, so I don't really pay attention to what's in what account. I'm looking at budgets, not bank statements. Where you keep the money is really up to you. Your bank balance doesn't matter, as long as it has enough to cover the month. Live to the budget, not to the balance.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

readjusting our savings goal to match the unexpectedly lower income for this month
What?

Do you see why it's important to truly get a month ahead?

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

Yes. Here's our October budget that's a month ahead.
Can you help me understand why there's anything under "income" and why two of those numbers are nice and round?

Your first month ahead has no income. It's taken from your reserves. Your SECOND month ahead comes from the income you received during your first month ahead.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

We're hoarding 25% of my income next month.
This is awesome. I think you should consistently put at least 25% into long-term savings every month. That money is gone, put away for future you. If you ever find yourself going below 25% or justifying taking out of it, that's your time to stop and realize something is very wrong.

Knyteguy posted:

We're hoarding as much money as we possibly can from my wife's paycheck. ... By the end of the month that will turn into $6,000.00 because my wife gets paid again.
I feel this is a dangerous way to look at things. It's easy to justify "well, we'll go over a bit now, because by the end of the month we'll have another paycheck..." That's not how living a month ahead works. NONE of your paychecks this month count for this month. Every penny you earn this month is ignored until October 1. Your wife's paycheck this month is for October's budget, not for September's savings goals.

Stop looking at bank accounts. They don't matter.

I'll say right now that while my wife and I have made tremendous improvements these past two years, we actually have been slipping a bit lately. We haven't touched savings goals, but we've had a lot of big expenses and have taken several trips. We're getting it back under control, but I get it. It's easy to rationalize things. And we also already have $10k saved for a baby, and we're not even pregnant yet, and up here in Maple Country a uterus isn't seen as a pre-existing condition, so birth is free. That's $10k on TOP of our 25% long-term savings (and we don't count pre-tax contributions in that 25%). So I get it. I'm not judging. I'm just saying, yeah, both you and I are falling into the same traps, and we both need to cut it out.

The reason people are giving you flak is because there's no planning here. Is this "taking away vacation" thing with your wife a surprise? Because this is the first we've heard of it. Where was the $100/mo you've been putting away for it? You've been wanting a PS4 since forever, so where's that $100/month that you've been putting away for it? Didn't you already buy and return one? Why do you need both a trip and a toy the same month? Hell, why not at least wait for Black Friday sales, and SAVE for it? You still have a functioning PS3. Use that. My console is an XBOX 360 that a coworker gave away for free. Works fine.

(And as someone who used to get the latest and greatest since the PSX... trust me, there is ALWAYS some "must have best game ever" coming out. I had a lot of fun playing Gran Turismo 1, but I can't say my long-term life was really enhanced by it, or that I couldn't have had fun doing something else.)

Were I in your shoes with so much debt and a baby around the corner and hardly anything saved for it, I sure as poo poo wouldn't be buying a big stupid overpriced toy for myself. If you really need retail therapy, buy $400 of overpriced adorable baby clothes. Or paint the nursery. Build a toy chest. Stop being a selfish fucker and start thinking about your child.

But as it turns out I WILL be in San Francisco at the end of October, so we have that in common too. :)

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
So is the PS4 off the table?

Knyteguy posted:

I also dropped the month ahead premise. It's too hard for me to focus on another complicated (for me) issue at the moment. I'd like to revisit the premise in the future, because I think that it will be worth it. I remember when we were YNABing it was nice.
You seem like you're under a lot of stress. Getting a month ahead was the biggest thing to help make this less stressful for myself. It's really not complicated. In fact, most of your bills are already a month ahead. It's pretty easy to get there. Where do you need help?

I'd say it's even worth cutting into the emergency fund to get there, because living a month ahead is effectively one month of emergency savings. Or more, if you cut discretionary when the true emergency arises.

Knyteguy posted:

The sole purpose of an emergency fund is to fund such things.
If you see an emergency fund as there to buy new pants because you got too fat on fast food, then you'll never get out of this hole. My cat had a sudden $1000 vet bill, and I still didn't touch the emergency fund. Not when there was discretionary spending to be cut.

Knyteguy posted:

I don't think it's right to dog pile when again I've already acknowledged that yea poo poo I should have planned better, and then immediately did so for our budget going forward.
Fool me once...

The dog pile is because you've been down this road before. It's not the action, it's the attitude.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
I'm just curious where in SF you're staying for $75, after fees and taxes.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
What Veskit said above re: breakdown is exactly what we did this past year and a half, and it worked like a dream.

I also think having separate blow money accounts would do wonders. How does your wife feel about hardly ever asking for anything, seeing none of her paycheck going to bills, never being able to pay down debt, hardly any savings for baby, dipping into funds for your not-yet-profitable side business.... and you planning on a PS4?

Also re: not knowing how to do something. It took me a while to catch on, but my wife has introduced me to a wonderful new resource called YouTube. Everything you want to know how to do is on there. It's amazing. Plus, it's a goddamned button. Four holes. Maybe even only two. Look at other buttons. Mimic.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

Gonna stay outside the city. Maybe Berkeley gotta check the prices. We're going during the week so rates should be cheaper too. After fees and taxes though? We'll be within $15 of the estimate I think.
Rule of thumb is to estimate high. You're already planning to bust your budget and you haven't even checked prices. I just did it. Looks like you have your choice of one or two star motels and hostels in Milpitas and San Pablo. Hope you don't get bedbugs. And I'm with ya, I can stay on the cheap. But this poo poo is super easy to get an exact price right now. Do it.

Knyteguy posted:

Come to Reno where a suite at a casino is like $50/night a lot of the time. Don't recommend gambling though tourists make it so we don't pay state income tax, which covers a lot of schools, roads, and more.
I've been to Reno. I lived and worked in Las Vegas. I also lived and worked in San Francisco. So I know these towns, too. :)

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
I'm actually a little bummed out you're not taking the trip. I think your wife deserves to get out a bit before it's nothing but baby, and Reno to SF is a pretty easy drive. I know when I've had to get my head together over big life changes, smoking a joint in the dunes at Ocean Beach always did the trick.

The thing that sucked was that you were budgeting so little for this trip for your wife's birthday at the same time as budgeting a crazy ridiculous expensive useless toy for yourself.

I'm happy to help you get a month ahead. It's so much easier that way, I swear to you. You get to make plans with money you actually have, not money you hope to get. You get to pay bills all at once, or even better just pop 'em on auto-pay. There's no psychological stress of dipping into savings all the time. It's pretty awesome, and the single best thing I ever did, other than start budgeting in the first place.

And FWIW, this thread has helped me realize that lately I've been reconciling more than actually budgeting. I got out of debt and hit my other big goals, so I got sloppy. So, uh, thanks. :)

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Knyteguy posted:

I thought if we had any extra discretionary at the end of a month then we lost it. I didn't understand it was a category that could be rolled over... until heck maybe a couple days ago.
I'm not piling on. Until I started using YNAB, I had zero idea how to budget, how to plan. I just looked at my bank statements, not my budgets. It wasn't until my late 30s before any of it clicked, and I'm still working on it. Those who had good financial education or took the time in their youth may find this preposterous, and I'm an otherwise reasonably intelligent person, but I just never realized there was any other way to look at it.

Even though you're not using YNAB, I think you would benefit by going over their four rules. I don't blame you for not seeing this, because it's actually difficult to find these pages on their site. Start here:

http://www.youneedabudget.com/support/article/rule-one-give-every-dollar-a-job

It's okay you're not using their software, because it's the thought process that matters here.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
Everybody's different, but I've broken my budget down to the following categories. I've found it to be helpful when doing analyses to help me feel better about where my money is going.

Monthly Bills - This is where fixed recurring bills go. Any adjustments here tend to be long-term. I don't roll these over, because they're always the same.

Monthly Consumables - Groceries, home maintenance, pets, medical, transportation, etc. Stuff that could vary month to month, and that can be trimmed back if need be. These roll over if I can.

Quality of Life - Restaurants, clothing, home improvement, furniture, hobbies, and allowances. These roll over. Many of them are padded funds for when a bigger ticket comes along.

Travel & Activities - Both monthly budget and savings for big trips. These definitely roll over. I've been saving for snowboarding lessons all year.

Savings & Large Expenses - Emergency, retirement, baby, immigration, etc. Long term goals and big one-time expenses. Definitely roll over.

Giving - Monthly charity contributions, and also $20/month for gifts so that when I realize oh poo poo it's my nephew's birthday in a few weeks, I can go buy some LEGO and not sweat it. These are roll overs.

This is how I live to a budget and not to a bank account. It doesn't matter where "baby savings" is physically located, because it's a number on a spreadsheet. My on-budget bank accounts add up to the amount the budget says I have available, but the individual accounts don't matter. Does that make sense?

It's also how I can (finally) use a credit card and not worry about going insane about it like I used to do. When I spend on the credit card, it's put to a budget category, same as if I spent with debit or cash. I pay the balance the day I get the statement, because I have the money to do so. If I didn't, then it wouldn't have been budgeted (I budget a month ahead, so I already have the money I allocate). A credit card, I've finally learned, is a tool to use the money I already have, not a crutch to borrow from my future.

The biggest advantage to my breakdown for me is that when I feel like I'm working for my bills and have nothing to show for it, I can go to the spending analysis and see how much went to Quality of Life and Travel. Quite a bit as it turns out. So I don't need to sacrifice savings or vet bills in order to re-prioritize the subcategories within Quality of Life, or be more efficient with my travel.

Another huge advantage is that I don't feel so bad taking from subcategories to beef up others within the same master category. Overall I feel comfortable with the long-term percentages of total income, so I don't sweat the small stuff. I really want some new furniture and haven't saved enough? Well, the restaurant fund has been growing, so let's take it from there. The master category allocations don't change too much, but the numbers within them might.

Note: easier said than done. I've been getting sloppy about it and also borrowing from my future months. That's coming to an end soon, gonna get back on track.

Old Fart fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Sep 26, 2014

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
Wow, that looks amazing! Congratulations on turning your 1br apartment into a 2br.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
Why not pay it off on the 16th?

Are you sure there's no due date? What about the online statement? As long as you pay it by the due date there's no interest, but the sooner the better anyway.

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Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
Set a recurring alarm on your phone to pay the CC the day after the statement comes out.

Online bill pay takes about ten seconds. There's no excuse.

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