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Daily budget check-in

May 21st, 2010 at 04:03 am

I'm doing good on my budget so far this month! I'm about $120 "ahead." That means: if I were to hypothetically spend $120 right now, then I would have used up exactly 2/3 of my spending money for the month, and I'm also exactly 2/3 through the month.

So that's pretty good ... especially since I don't have anything in mind that I want to spend that $120 on just yet. I just treated myself to some gourmet tea a few days ago so I don't feel the need to treat myself again at the moment! (The tea is so good btw ... I've been drinking it all evening ... I love it!)

I use that little budget chart at mint.com to help me visualize this... it helps so much. I check it daily. It helps me make decisions about fun purchases - "yay" or "nay" or "later."

If I'm X % through the current month and I've spent more than X % of my budget for the month, then I put a spending freeze on fun, for a few days until I'm "ahead" again.

If I'm contemplating a fun purchase and it would put me from "ahead" to "behind" on my budget, then I wait a few days until I'm ahead enough to cover it.

And of course if I really want something and I'm ahead enough to cover the purchase then I go for it. Smile

On a different note, I noticed the stock market has been down a lot lately. I hope it stays down long enough for me to make my 1st 401K contribution!!!

I've been feeling some impatience getting paid twice a month instead of weekly. Getting paid weekly gave me decisions to make once a week - how to allocate that paycheck. Getting paid twice a month, with all of my savings goals set up as automatic withdrawals, and taxes withheld automatically - yikes, it feels like I'm twiddling my thumbs wanting to decide something about my budget and there's nothing to decide. I like being manually involved in budgeting and making decisions manually. I have to get used to this autopilot thing.

5 Responses to “Daily budget check-in”

  1. Jerry Says:
    1274454865

    It leads to a real adjustment when your payday schedule changes like that! When my wife changed jobs a few years ago she went from every two weeks to once per month, and THAT was a challenge! It doesn't seem like it should be that hard, but it can be really tough to be disciplined about things four weeks at a time... without the insurance of a financial bailout every 14 days! Good luck with it.
    Jerry

  2. jaine Says:
    1274477636

    Once a month sounds like agony! Smile

  3. cruztiff01 Says:
    1274515135

    Hi, this is a nice thing to maintain the daily budgetting.it helps in improving our daily lifestyle.
    --------------------------------
    credit card -------------------------
    tiffney

  4. Bacigirl Says:
    1274534069

    I would not wait for the stock market to make a contribution to your 401k. You cannot time the market--the key to having money is consistency--deciding I have an extra $25 or $50 a month to invest and to this every month whether or not the market is up or down.

    Just my 2 cents!!

    Bacigirl
    www.bacigirl.com

  5. jaine Says:
    1280682306

    I had to wait to become eligible for the 401K since it's a new-ish job (recently changed from contractor to full-time) ... but I totally agree, there's no point in trying to time the market!

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