Well, in some ways we’re doing OK on our budget (gas, groceries), in other ways we’re way over budget (discretionary spending from my husband’s bonus, for example). And I had said that we didn’t have any out of the ordinary expenses for this month, but I lied; we had a friend’s birthday party and swimming lessons to pay for.
I’ll spare you all the gory numbers until my budget wrap-up at the end of the month, but we can sum up the month so far by saying that as soon as we get a bit of extra money it just burns a great big hole in our budget’s pocket. This is definitely the biggest money issue we have and what I most need to work on.
What about you? How do you stick to your budget and not spend found money? Any tips?
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We got our climate action dividend (a carbon tax rebate of $100 per BC resident) and my hubby took out $40 in cash and took our DC to see Kung Fu Panda!
I’ve been trying to pay things down when I get extra money but I admit I reloaded my Starbucks card early in June with $20 (although I still have about $5 on there).
I’ve also paid for both ballet lessons and swimming for DC for the summer.
I think the best thing is to take as much as possible of the extra money and either stick it into a high interest account like ING or use it to pay down debt. Then, if you use a small amount of what’s left for fun it’s not a problem. But, if you start by having fun, you’ll find that there’s nothing left to save or put toward debt.
Shevy’s last blog post..I Can’t Pay My Bell Cell Bill
Kelly says: That’s actually what I meant to do, but as I was so slow in sending the check in to ING the money just dribbled out of our account in dribs and drabs and boy, am I regretting it now!!
I totally hide it from myself. If it’s in the form of a check, I deposit and divvy it up into the savings accounts ASAP, if it’s cash I stick it in the drawer until the weekend so that I don’t remember that I have it. It’s much easier to forget about it that way and not spend it. I must be simpleminded that I’m so easy to fool! 😉
Everyone falls off the wagon every now and again 🙂 Just get right back up on it!
For me, all found money gets set aside and then distributed to either a certain savings goal (like right now it’s for spending money while we’re on vacation for a week in September) or debt paydown at the end of the month. I essentially act like I never found it and take it right out of my checking account and it sits in a separate savings account just as a monthly “holding area”. This works for us so that we actually benefit from the found money and don’t just spend it on “stuff”. 🙂
tiffanie’s last blog post..cash crate comes through!