HOW DO YOU BUDGET YOUR MONEY
Swayze
14,705 Posts
man just about to go nuts with how we spend our money at the household. the crazy thing is we make enough for all of our bills but always seem to be damn near be broke. how do you cats do it.. i have a great way that will help us save. but i think it's kida extreme. BILLS,RECORDS,CHILDREN,FOOD,GAS,ETC.....
Comments
I've always been able to save money, and my # 1 piece of advice to people who haven't been able to is TRY TO LIVE WITHOUT A CAR (or at least reduce your car usage). There's nothing in my life, other than my health, that could possibly result in me having an unexpected $1000+ expense on a day's notice -- and the amount of money I spend on public transport is a ridiculously small fraction of the amount most people spend on gas, insurance, car payments, etc.
I know this isn't practical for lots of people, but I'll throw it out there as a choice that drastically improved my quality of living. I don't earn very much, and between the cheap rent and my pedestrian status I eat out when I want, buy records when I want, etc etc.
well i know you arent paying much for bandwidth on that website of yours.
or spend money on records, cause apparently you have none.
Spending, bills and the like come out of checking...
I'll be honest though, the gigs really do help. I have a decent job that covers the rent, bills and basics, but the gigs are what help us be comfortable...
Aside from that, a good idea is to open one of those online savings accounts like Emigrant or ING that that have 5%+ interest rates and set up an automatic monthly withdrawal from your checking acct.
I try to live by that but I'm a lot better at doing so with my business than with my personal.
Next take a hard look at your monthly expenses. Cut back on the stuff you don't need and find ways to save money. For instance, eliminate the "latte factor" as it's called -- instead of the $5 Starbucks every day (adds up to $75/month on average) -- make coffee at home or just drink the office stuff.
Then as others have said, figure out how much you want to save based on your goals. My approach: a "rainy day" account (high interest bearing online savings accounts like HSBC and ING orange). Put away as much as you can afford and don't touch it. Save up to 6 months of monthly expenses in there so you can tap into it when needed. (This might be more for the married folks here.)
Set up a retirement account -- IRA or 401k through employer. If you're not getting your employer's match you're leaving money on the table. Stay away from mutual funds with high fees -- they reduce your gains by 2-3%, and that's on top 0f whatever value erodes due to inflation (3% annually). I mostly have my money in Vanguard index funds.
I highly recommend John Bogle's books especially The Little Book of Common Sense Investing -- pearls of wisdom from the guy who founded Vanguard.
http://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Common...8416084-2519820
If you still can afford to put money into a Roth account after putting in the $15,500 annual limit in the 401k, I'd say go for it. The other argument in support of the Roth is the tax benefit (duh) -- depends on whether you believe you'll be in a higher tax bracket at retirement age. If you think the tax rates are going to be higher in the future (most likely they will) then the Roth is a good "tax avoidance" strategy to take advantage of the tax benefits.
For real, though, I work at a non-profit and have a rather exorbitant rent. I pay rent and bills, then spend the rest on living a far from lavish existence. I have no savings.
I guess what I'm saying is, kids???don't be like me. Do not be like me. I mean, if you want to be like me...well, I really don't know what the hell I tell them. I mostly sign autographs and whatnot. I'm a role model.
I have a few RRSPs but have to re-organize cause I don't think I'm getting the most out of them.
I am hoping to get my credit card paid off in the next few months and that's at around $2500. After that, I'm not going to carry it around. I stopped using it for over a year so I could chip away at it, but it got back up there after our trip.
After 10 yrs of contract work in film and not knowing what the next year held, I am at a government job that I hope will become permanent and then things can begin to settle.
Man has his own business and that is not even five years old, so similarto Jonny said, his savings and budgeting are focused on his business, as they should be. He can take care of that and I am more than happy to take care of the personal stuff.
My parents have been saying to buy a house for a long time and I have really resisted. It's not a dream of mine to own a home, it's really expensive in Toronto and I have always looked at it like a yoke. I am slowly coming around, only because I am so tired of moving and not feeling like I have any control over my home. Still, I am scared to death of doing it - I hate banks! Also, I can't afford it unless I get some major help and I am not into having things I can't afford on my own, you know?
Yeah, I've heard that, but I'm not close to attaining it. Presently, my rent is a little under half of my posttax income (I get paid every two week, which usually shakes out to be two paychecks per month; the first paycheck is for me, and all but a couple hundred bucks of the second paycheck goes to paying rent).
But then again, those numbers could be a bit skewed because I do have a 401(k) into which I divert I think 6 percent of my pretax income, and I also put additional tax withholdings on my paychecks so that come tax time, I can be pretty confident that I won't owe money but instead will get a nice refund. So with those two factors removed, my rent could be more like a third or maybe even as low as a quarter of my pretax income.
I don't have a savings account, but I do have a Roth IRA in addition to my 401(k), so I think I'm in good shape as far as planning for the more distant future. For the more immediate future, it would be nice to get a savings account going so I can save toward some bigger purchases, but that might not happen until next year sometime. My goal this year was to finally pay off my credit card, and that definitely isn't happening, which kind of bugs me.
If you carry a balance on your credit card, break that habit or you are toast. Any other high interest/non-deductable debt, pay it or you are toast.
When it comes to saving & investing - pay yourself first. Have preauthorized transfers from your bank account so you don't have a chance to spend that money.
Also a BIG co-sign on living without a car. I'll bet you can retire 10 years earlier if you live without a car.
I also highly recommend the book "Your Money Or Your Life" by Joe Dominguez.
you know how that go!
(actually, the benjamins go in the safe, the grants go in my pocket, the jacksons go in the bank, and the rest stays in the till for beer/food/change).
I learned all of my budgeting from rappers.
Still funny..
There is so much money coming in and going out its hard to keep everything straight these days.
Stop buying shit.[/b]
If you really think about it, probably 95% of the stuff you (we all) buy is unnecessary.
Allow yourself one splurge (records). And stop buying everything else. Period. If it's not food, you don't need it.
Follow this, and the savings will pile up.
Today I am wearing a Banana Republic shirt, Buffalo skirt, and suede knee-high high heel boots. All from the thrift shop. Whole outfit < $10.
And it's the right thing morally to do for the environment.
Yeah. Why - did it catch your eye handsome? ; )
This website has a lot of information that will help.
It did.. but I guess we can't say shit as DJ Sheep keeps coming with the heaters. My bad Miss Brokenrecord.. do your thang
that percentage is a good rule of thumb for your rent but if you have a mortgage repayments are likely to suck up 40-50% of your income, which is basically what you were paying in rent and what you were previously managing to save (for lots of people those savings go towards a deposit). Thats one reason why housing affordability is an issue just about everywhere these days.
Like lots of others on here, I direct some away to savings, clear the credit card, pay all bills, get a consumable or two and if theres any left come next paycheck I try bank that too. I don't have a car but have been giving it thought afer a buddy offered me his Saab for $1000.
With a fortnightly paycheck / monthly rent you get two 'bonus' pays a year aka 3 paychecks in a month. That shit rocks.