I thought, I would do something a little different for the month of September. Budgeting is a big part of what Dave Ramsey teaches. As is finding a second job. Well I haven't had much luck in finding another job. Although I came close to receiving my first check from revenue via the Google Adsense on this blog. However, I fell $33 short of reaching the $100 mark. While it would be cool to get an extra $100/mth or even $1000 as some PF bloggers claim to be bringing in. I would be happy with an extra $100/quarter. Something that I believe will be abtainable by the end of Sept. However, still have to live on my income from my main job, which is generally less then the bills that I generate. As such, I thought this month I would share my budget and maybe together we can figure out a way to pare it down. As I have to get the budget to fit within my icome and not rely on any other source (such as my roommate), which could dry up at any time.
Income (Take Home):
work - $940 (estimate - some weeks may be more)
2nd Job - $000
Renting spare bedroom - $240
Total Income - $1180
-------------------
Giving - $000
Savings - $100 (emergency Fund/Insurance Premimums)
2nd Mortgage - $75
Repairs/Mn - $000
Food - $100
Utilities:
Water - $50
Electr - $80
Gas - $90
Cable/Intern - $95
Trash - $46.50 (quarterly)
Phone - $75
Car Loan - $390
Fuel & Oil - $50
Clothing - $000
Life Ins. - $27 (quarterly)(from savings)
Emergency Room Dr. - $20 (from Dec 25, 2005)
Emergency Room Visit - $20 (from Dec 25, 2005)
Credit Card - $50
Other Debt - $50
Total Expenses (as of now): $1318.50
Difference of $-138.5 (to be applied to debts) or $341.5 over my primary income
obviously getting rid of all my debts will help immensly, but until then.
Hello Prince,
ReplyDeleteI see how tight your budget is. I don't know the balances or interest rates, but I wanted to give a little help.
1. If you haven't installed Compact Flourisant Bulbs, use your extra $30 to change the most used bulbs. - lower your electric bill. Then use as intended on credit.
2. Unplug anything and everything that isn't in use. lower electric.
3. Garbage bill seems high. I pay about $45-50 a quarter.
4. Call Dr.'s and tell them you are having financial difficulties and will have to adjust their payment to $5 per month at least till the end of the year. Apply the $30 to one of your credit cards.
Do you get paid monthly? Weekly? Bi-weekly?
If you get paid Weekly or BiWeekly, open a no minimum, no fee high interest savings account online. Start playing the transfer game. I know this seems like a big waste of time, but it will create extra nickels, trust me.
With each check move what ever is left to the savings after you pay your bills that are due prior to your next check. I don't care if it is only $5 - move it. You can't spend it then.
Go to my 2nd site 2 Nickels Making A Dollar, and use my links and start making ANY AMOUNT OF EXTRA MONEY. Even if you only want me to send you an email referral to PayPerPost and you complete 1 a day for the lowest price of $2.50 that's $75 a month, plus I will send to your paypal account 1/2 of the referral or another $2.50.
This would delete the necessity to call the doctors and create an extra stream for you. Do something Prince. You can make it. I promise you.
1. good idea, an idea I have been wanting to go florecent for months.
ReplyDeleteTrash and life insurance are both quarterly payments.
medical bills are in collection and the dr is arranged for $20/mth for 4 more months. The other 2 collection agencies claim to represent the hospital (sounds like a con job to me). One threatening to sue. So I am sending $20 directly to the hospital. That bill is nearly $400 by itself.
I get paid weekly and have considered making my car payments weekly to help keep the interest down. (ie: $100/week instead of $390-$400/mth, decreasing the interest on top of interest thus paying principle faster.)
Hello! I was just thinking that your cable/internet and phone categories seem high to me.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how much you pay for TV compared to how much you watch it. We cancelled our cable service - I decided that with the amount we spent watching, compared to the cost, it was actually quite a luxury item and it wasn't worth it to me. HOWEVER, after we did that, we found out two things. First, we actually get good reception with all the basic channels with old fasioned broadcast reception. Secondly, we started downloading all the big shows we wanted to see anyway. So, we end up watching everything we really want to, without the cost of cable.
For the phone, we cancelled our normal phone service and got Vonage instead. It's much cheaper and has worked great! There are no additional long distance fees, which add up quickly.
Internet is a basic necessity in my household, so we kept it. Besides, it facilitates my two solutions above.
Of course, any savings from those two things should go to debt. Depending on your interest rates, you might send a little extra towards the principle on your car (or any other debt) each month. That will lower the percentage of interest you pay each subsequent month.
Good luck!
I think your big problem is income and not so much outgo. Not only do you need a second job, but you need a better first. I take home about $1800 per month with my second job as a server. Anyone can get hired in food service; just get one of the jobs that relies on tips (server, pizza delivery, etc.) It only took me three minutes to get hired at my current second job.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you won't have your car paid for in the next 12 to 18 months, I would sell it and buy a beater; even if you are a little upside down.
If I woke up in your shoes, that is what I would do. Work 80 or 90 hours per week, and get free!!
Joel good idea on the car, but as I have discussed previously on this blog I am upside down on the blog and getting a loan for the difference, not to mention a beater is iffy.
ReplyDeleteMy first job is for a grocery store, where since April, I have been an overnight Manager, before that I was only making $7.14/hour. I actually had to live on that horrible income for a little over a year, after I took a pay-cut after I was demoted from my $9.10 position, that I had been in.
Now, I am not quite back to the level of pay I had been at prior to the demotion, but I don't have the stress, that I had as pricing manager (one of the most stressful jobs in the store - way more then even the store manager) either.
kel -
my only phone is a cell, currently my phone usage I could cut my phone back from the 1000 minutes, I had raised it, when I was dating and was constantly going over on my plan, now I don't have a girl friend, so I am always way under on my plan.
D-
I noticed since your response a couple of mistakes in my figures, and had to do some editing, one was my savings, it was $25/week direct deposit. That caused many of my figures to be wrong.
Is your trash $46.50 a quarter or $139.50?
ReplyDeleteSame with life. If the number are actually what you pay quarterly - then your monthly expenses are $1269.50 or $89.50 more than your income. (at least until the online stuff begins to flow.
Question - Where is the auto savings going? Is this a place where you can draw from or is locked for retirement?
If it is a draw location like ING, you should keep this up. When they quarterly bills come through, you should transfer the money from savings to cover these bills.
Next step is to cover the 2 credit card bills @ $50 ea, medical @$20 ea and your mortgage @$75 = $215.00
divide this by 4 weekly pay checks = $53.75. (on 5 week months move everything to savings). Either set up auto payments on these bills from your savings or set up an auto transfer back to your checking (check how long it takes to go through first =safety) then set up with the bills to be paid automatically from your checking or if you do not have online bill pay, you can do this manually.
Write this all down on a calender and follow it monthly. Slowly your savings balance is going to increase and your debts will be paid.
What makes me nervous is you don't show the tax debt here. Unless it is on credit?
Take deep breaths and stay focused. Writing it down like this is a big help. Every situation is a little different. The answer is in the numbers.
You need to make the money you do receive work for you while it is in your possession. By taking out the cash each week for these bills you are going to see and be limited automatically in your checking account. No chance of overspending. I suggest leaving the book at home. Get a cash back with your deposit for cash expenses like gas and groceries. You will see point blank when you are running out. No chance for bank fees. (make sure you leave a balance in the checking to avoid fees.
D -
ReplyDeleteThe tax debt isn't there because I ahve been working with the government and am intentially over paying my taxes since I don't have any extra funds. When I say overpay, I mean I should be claiming 1 deduction (myself) but am claiming 0, so that at tax time I have a bigger refunf that goes to reducing my debt with them.
My trash is $46.50/quarter = $15/mth + .50 fuel surcharge, billed quarterly at the rate of $46.5. Life insurance is also billed quarterly.
My automatic savings is my emergency fund and also covers my insurance premimums. It is $25/week and I will be using it to pay for the life insurance, like I did last week to pay for the car/home insurance. I will probably go ahead and take the trash bill out of those funds, like I did when I bought my lawn mower that I sorely needed.
As you can see now why I conteplated doing something as stupid as not paying utilities, to knock out the credit card, which I see as more pressing then the fingerhut. Of course it was stupid to consider it, but the thought does cross your mind with everything pressing in.
I have payed all my bills weekly before, but many like the utilities did not like that very well, but is something I have considered starting again with the $210 (yesterday I got $213) that I take home after all deductions, including the automatic savings.
Don't pay your bills weekly, you will be missing the free money that you could gain by sitting on it in a high interest account until the bill is due.
ReplyDeleteMy point is to make your money work for you. Don't look at it as just pennies....look at it as $10 more dollars at the end of the year that goes towards debt...that I didn't have to work for.
Plus, what you are doing with the tax man is bad. Let me explain..
1.The IRS is accruing interest and penalties on your debt, each and every day.
2. You are giving the IRS an interest free loan, by paying in more money each check to the IRS.
3. The IRS does not apply your extra payments until you file your taxes.
What this means is, you would be better off to receive that money each week and put in a savings account. Then monthly write a check to the IRS. This would inturn, eliminate your interest free loan to them, put your money to work for you faster with debt repayment, make you interest off of this money-from nothing, and save you interest on the IRS debt.
If you do not understand what I am telling you, email me. Trust me you are making the wrong decision here. I don't know what the IRS is telling you, but this setup is not with your interest in mind.
Hello! I stumbled across your blog and found it very interesting. I am a single mom in NJ determined to remain debt free. I wanted to say I really respect you not borrowing to say buy shoes, but I felt lead to tell you that I think you are missing out on blessings from God because you are not tithing. I wanted to share my budget with you as well:
ReplyDeleteI am self employed, I run a daycare out of my home to avoid daycare costs myself. I drive a 1992 Dodge Shadow that was $500. I save for what I want. I follow many of Mary Hunt's ideas, and I work in my daycare Mon.-Fri. from 6:50am-6:00pm.(almost 12 hours a day)
Now I just moved and my rent was $1240,I paid this for three years with 4 or 5 daycare kids,
but now I am living in my grandmother's house (a blessing from God). I also work a part time job Sat. nights for spending money
my budget
income:
child support $544
daycare children (3) $1530
food for daycare $200
$2274.00
expenses:
tithe to my church $230.00
savings for emergencies $200.00
offering $200.00
rent $500.00
car insurance $100.00
gas for car $120.00
boys allowance $52.00
freedom account $100.00
(for yearly expenses, like car registration, glasses, AAA, oil changes, etc)
gas & electric bills $180.00
phone & online $60.00
business insurance $30.00
business supplies $50.00
food $200.00
non groceries $20.00
spending $100.00
Wed. night dinners $32.00
child care for class $100.00
Sat. night I work babysitting. I make $55, I tithe and use for spending (I only work 2 times a month)
now this does not include clothes, which growing kids need, or vacations (we don't go), or alot for food $200 a month does not go too far with 3 people. Or Christmas (I will use Sat night money for this.) Also I do not have a car repair fund, but if have to will use my savings.
I have $2500 in savings for emergencies, and $1200 in my freedom account (one year's worth of stuff.) I also have $500 saved for a dryer which we do not have. I am now saving to repaint my house in the spring and for car repairs (savings for these will resume after Christmas.) For Christmas my boys will get three gifts each and we will make others gifts. We will not spend more than $300, including cards, cookies, etc, which will come from freedom account.
ALL OF THIS IS POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF GOD. HE has blessed us so much.
If you have any questions feel free to email me at jason121097@yahoo.com
or check out my blog -Becky in NJ (28 years old)