I had this strange itch to go run errands last night. Head down to Edina to the container store and may Crate&Barrel to buy some organizing things. Which we don’t need. Luckily I was able to reach out to my budgetmentor (pronounced “boo-zhay-men-toe”) CR to discuss the strange silly desire to spend money.
First foray into homemade pizza dough that had frozen. It kept expanding in the freezer and then again after we thawed it. And it smelled pretty potent.
After failed attempts to turn two blobs of smelly dough into pizza-shaped circles, we ended up with this [see picture]. But the key of course is the taste and it was pretty durn good.
End of September today. Mostly done with the October goals. Primary among them is to work fully from the budget. No more discretionary, individual charging on the main checking account. Martini’s, lunches out, magazines, etc. – it all comes out of our allowance.
First foray into homemade pizza dough that had frozen. It kept expanding in the freezer and then again after we thawed it. And it smelled pretty potent.
After failed attempts to turn two blobs of smelly dough into pizza-shaped circles, we ended up with this [see picture]. But the key of course is the taste and it was pretty durn good.
End of September today. Mostly done with the October goals. Primary among them is to work fully from the budget. No more discretionary, individual charging on the main checking account. Martini’s, lunches out, magazines, etc. – it all comes out of our allowance.
I’m nervous because both of our birthdays hit in October – so each is an opportunity to crash the budget. But the fact is that almost every month will have an “exception-worthy” event (Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years/Easter/etc.), so there’s no time like the present to tame the beast.
My ideas for keeping us on track:
Be super cautious about eating out. We each have one night out for dinner or drinks/appetizers. Have several easy dinners ready for nights where we might feel extra lazy and would be tempted to eat out.
Budget for that night. CC and I each get $XX cash for the night and anything else comes out of allowance.
Add one free/cheap event (museum, cheap movie) to each of our birthdays.
Watch grocery budget to see if we can offset any unexpected splurges.
If we do blow it, move on but recognize what happened.
Stick to budget for each other’s gift(s).
Insofar as you have ideas of how we might succeed – I’m all ears.
2 comments:
I love how the misshapen pizza looks like a footprint! Yum. Delicious. I am still super impressed by your food and budget dedication! Seriously.
Birthday ideas that cost little to nothing: a visit to Franconia sculpture garden with a romantic picnic brought from home ... Pancho Villas super cheap drinks and opportunity to win free birthday drinks ... make a great dinner at home and go out for dessert and drink only ... gather all your friends and have them buy all of your drinks!
You know my philosophy--no excuses when it comes to budgeting.
Track your purchases daily. Track what category they fall into, and subtract that purchase from the total money you have in the category. You might find you need to adjust categories slightly as you go along, but try to stick with what you budgeted for the month, and adjust them next month. You can use any number of tracking methods, but just know where you are on any given day during the month--don't leave it all til the end of the month or you will lose track and go over. If you're like me.
Use cash for your spending money, and don't use your debit card for anything but groceries. I guess since you've got separate accounts for spending money it's OK, but make sure they don't have reserve lines, or that you do not dip into them if they do. If you want a reserve line just to make sure you don't get penalized for overdrawing by a tiny bit, ask the bank to make the reserve line small--$50 or $100. I wonder if they'll do that?
I don't track where my spending money goes, but if you're curious, keep a log of that too. I take out the money every Friday and it's mine to save or fritter away as I choose.
Talk to me before you buy something on impulse or go for drinks that are not accounted for in your budget! You helped me quit smoking, so I'll be your conscience for quitting spending. It's the same anyway--every day you don't do the utmost to fix your financial situation, you're borrowing against your future, just like with smoking.
Don't make your future self even madder at you than your present self is at your past self. (Hmm, maybe that will be my mantra when I become a financial guru/drill sergeant. Too bad it's so convoluted.)
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