October wasn’t exactly the best month for my finances. I fell behind on my weekly posting and tracking, and I’m afraid I might even be missing some cash transactions from my records. I’m hoping this is the month I learned my lesson though, and that November will go a bit more smoothly…
(Budgeted/Actual)
Regular Expenses
Rent - $1,150 / 1,150
Phone - $50 / 50.53
Internet - $50 / 0
Student Loans - $167.25 / 167.25
Car Loan – $260 / 229.50
ST Savings – $300 / 300 (part went to cover the amounts I went over budget with.)
Roth IRA – $400 / 400
Dance – $130.00 / 90.00 (extra $40 is going towards paying my costume for January’s showcase)
Irregular Expenses
Personal – $8.33 / $55 (I finally got a haircut!!)
Variable Expenses
Utilities – $100 / 258.01 *
Groceries – $200 / 199.04
Gas – $200 / 141.06
Household – $45.00 /121.85 (went way overbudget. Bought a tea set, placemats, and plants )
Clothing – $40.00 /177.51 (I’m no longer allowed to buy shoes. Period. That includes boots, unfortunately.)
Entertainment – $100 /100.44
Set Savings – $38.29 / 38.29**
As you can see my spending was a bit high in October. I’m assuming my gas was higher because of my pottery classes being far from my place, and the grocery spending was high because I threw in a trip to Costco. Household and clothing…..well, we all know about that. Luckily I was able to cover that overspending with any of the leftover money (categories in bold), and with a bit of help from the ST savings. (ST=Short Term) In total I was able to put away $195.10 in after balancing the budget. (Which will be paid against my car loan as soon as I get a hold of my checkbook again!)
*I’ve decided that my “Set Savings” are going to be contributed to my emergency fund exclusively, and that will be the extent of my efund contributions for now.
**Utilities were super high because I was billed for all my deposits this month. $50 went to water, $50 went to sewer, and $35 went to an assessment by water. My actual bills were only $35 or so for water and $85 for electric. I’m not sure why electric went up, but at least it wasn’t by much. I’m going to just leave it at that, and hope that it evens out in the next 3 months before my next water/sewer bill.
November 2, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Hey QL!
I’m visiting your website for the first time and really like it. I’m definitely coming back for me.
Also, don’t be too hard on yourself about the budgeting. If it helps any, I have completely and utterly failed at budgeting in October, something I’ll post about when I’m a little less ashamed. Hahaha.
November 5, 2009 at 3:27 pm
As a reader (and fan) of yours I just wanted to let you know a pattern I’ve noticed.
You don’t stick to your budget.
I like your blog b.c it shows me what I could be doing if I didn’t have so much debt and could pay to learn about things I enjoy. However, it seems like every month you go over this expense or that expense and you rationalize it because you might have gotten under in another category that covered it or you got unexpected income etc….
I think maybe it would be wiser to readjust your budget. You have a decent amount of discretionary income so plan to use it. I think a budget should be a plan that is realistic not one that is ideal…. Otherwise what’s the point if you keep going over it…
I think it’s harder for you to be very strict and disciplined b/c you are still paying all your obligations and saving some money but I think the best tests of good habits are what you do when you dont’ HAVE to.
Anyway, thats my 22 cents. Keep enjoying life. I do believe everyone is meant to have fun in their 20s!
November 6, 2009 at 9:39 am
Thanks for the observation debtor!
I thought about increasing my clothes budget for a while….$40 a month is NOT a lot, and I know that chances are I will go over that. However, I also figured that in general if I give myself more room….I’ll spend it. And right now I’d rather go over budget a few times and adjust each time, than consistently encourage myself to spend more.
Does that make sense?
I think I also “budget” differently than others do. Most of the time I see people cater their budget to “events” that are coming up in that month. I don’t really like that though….I like to see everything somewhat consistent. I guess in a way I’m doing the same thing, but I just set it up differently on paper.
Anyway, I hope that makes sense. I do agree that since I KNOW I have some money to shuffle around I never really force myself to stop spending when I’m tempted. I need to work on that a bit.
That being said, I never buy full price, and I go to the mall a lot less often than I used to! (Can you believe I live about 2 blocks from a huge mall, and I haven’t been there since I moved in August?! lol)