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.
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.
Daily budget check-in
May 21st, 2010 at 04:03 am
May 21st, 2010 at 04:14 pm 1274454865
Jerry
May 21st, 2010 at 10:33 pm 1274477636
May 22nd, 2010 at 08:58 am 1274515135
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tiffney
May 22nd, 2010 at 02:14 pm 1274534069
Just my 2 cents!!
Bacigirl
www.bacigirl.com
August 1st, 2010 at 06:05 pm 1280682306