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!