I don’t generally do these since I tend to have a running list of goals (which hmm, I haven’t done any recently) but I have a big one for 2012:
Get my budget under control.
This generally means no attempts at a $3000 trip to Ireland (last year) or $200 monthly dance lessons (the year before that). I mean, really, I didn’t have a job, what the hell was I thinking putting unnecessary stuff like that on my credit cards? Oh well, live and learn. A minor side goal is “To not have any utilities turned off for the year”. You’d think that would be an easy one but looking back over 2011, I managed to let the gas be shut off once and the electricity twice. And also, “Do not leave the fridge door open”. Sucks losing a fridge/freezer worth of food. Which surprisingly enough, did not happen during the two electricity shut-offs. Another is “Do not overdraw the checking account and pay $200 in fees”. That was last June. So basically my goal is:
Don’t be so stupid with money.
LYC gave me his super duper awesome budget excel worksheet (without deleting his info, oh lord, to be a bachelor with a good paying job and no credit card debt or kids) and I’ve spent the last three weeks working on my budget and making sure I’m not being too unrealistic. Which is proving a hell of a lot harder than it sounds. My monthly expenses nearly equal my income IF I don’t spend any money on “extras”. Like health & beauty, eating out, clothing, kids’ activities, etc. So of course this month alone, I’ve already spent $200 on that stuff. DOH! This is mostly why I have crappy “at the limit” credit cards.
The scariest part is in October 2012, my alimony is over (limited to 3 years by state law). It’s like $600 a month which isn’t a lot to some people but hell, that’s a lot when working with my “thin as ice” monthly cash flow. I’ll still be in nursing school too and only able to work part-time. That’s a loss of $5400 in income from Oct to June 2013 (I’m giving myself over a month to pass the NCLEX and find a RN job). I guess it’s good to know this ahead of time so I can try to attempt to find a solution. Which is, ummmm? The Mayan calendar saving me from all my overdue bills because the world ends in Dec 2012?
I should add that not all hope is lost. My current budget plan has me paying at least $50 over the monthly “minimum” payment on all 3 of my credit cards WITHOUT putting any additional charges or monthly expenses on them anymore. Honestly I’ve done that a lot: send in the minimum payment and then immediately charge that amount of TV/internet/cell phone/car insurance/what-have-you back on that card. It’s not pretty accounting by any stretch but it has kept me and the kids at a decent standard of living. So after several months of actually paying down the cards and not hanging around barely below the maximum limits, I should have some room on the credit cards to go back to that for a few months if necessary.
The other trick up my sleeve is that in the spreadsheet I didn’t increase my income during the summer months from the baseline of hours I can work during the school year. Going from 20 hours to around 36 hours a week is a decent bump (about $350 a paycheck) that I should be able to sock away into savings. Worse comes to worse, I cancel the TV/internet/what-have-you for the remainder of my nursing school time too.
Now if only I could take back that $200 I already goofed up in the budget for this month…
Wouldn’t mind looking at the super duper awesome budget spreadsheet (with info deleted). I keep the checkbook balanced but don’t really run a budget.
Love, Dad
Dad
January 15th, 2012