27 and Frugal

Since incomes are relative, my recaps are in percentages instead of dollar amounts.

Income

I received an income tax refund but also had to pay some taxes, however the refund did make for some nice extra income this month. This is fortunate since I forgot to factor it into April’s budget.

Fixed Expenses

I am still adjusting to the new apartment utility expenses which are, thankfully, much cheaper than at the last apartment.

Total April Fixed Expenses: Budgeted – 44%; Actual – 35%

Variable Expenses

I became a bit too excited about updating my summer wardrobe and spent far too much on clothes. Also, I did my annual hair highlights and should have factored that into my budget from the beginning. Thankfully my tax refund helped to balance out this over spending.

This was the first month I tracked my alcohol expenses individually. My estimate wasn’t too far off but I was surprised by just how much I spent on alcohol alone. Really, it is more the cost of socializing with friends, but I would like to cut this down next month.

This was also my first full month of commuting from Jersey City into Manhattan. The commute was far less than I expected with a total of $63 for the entire month! I separate MTA (nyc subway) because that is for my own leisure purposes and is not related to my commute.

Total April Variable Expenses: Budgeted – 32%; Actual – 22%

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Since incomes are relative, my recaps are in percentages instead of dollar amounts.

Moved!

This was a weird month because I unexpectedly moved to a new apartment. Throughout the month, I incorporated moving expenses (and profits) into my budget and made decreases in other categories to offset the unplanned spending.

Income

I sold my car, received my apt security deposit, received an auto insurance credit and sold various pieces of furniture this month. This resulted in an additional $2,000 to my monthly income. For this reason, the percentages are not a direct comparison but still useful to know.

Fixed Expenses

I cancelled my auto insurance when I sold my car and received a refund for what I had already paid. I went over on my texting again, however, I have decided to increase my monthly plan by $5. I have the room in my budget to do this and it makes more sense than paying the overcharges every month.

Total January Fixed Expenses: Budgeted – 62%; Actual – 35%

Variable Expenses

When I learned I was moving, I immediately added an “apt/move” category to my budget and made adjustments in other categories accordingly. Thankfully, I over-estimated my moving expenses!

Total January Variable Expenses: Budgeted – 62%; Actual – 50%

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Since incomes are relative, my recaps are in percentages instead of dollar amounts.

Fixed Expenses

All good this month! I ended up skipping two therapy sessions due to scheduling conflicts this month, so I did not spend as much on that as predicted

Total January Fixed Expenses: Budgeted – 62%; Actual – 59%

Variable Expenses

I am embarrassed – I did terrible this month. I went waaaaay over my entertainment budget. However, most of the purchases are for shows/races/events that are occurring later in the year. I need to decide if I should spread these purchases out better or just get them all out of the way at once, as I did this month.

I caved in and finally bought a winter coat (on clearance!) after living in NJ for four years without one. Unfortunately, I did not budget for that.

Every month I budget low for groceries with the good intentions of buying less, but it is so difficult for me to do this. I need to be more realistic about this. To balance it out, however, I was under budget for eating out, which always makes me happy.

Total January Variable Expenses: Budgeted – 22%; Actual – 40% (eeeeeeek!)

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Since incomes are relative, my recaps are in percentages instead of dollar amounts.

Fixed Expenses

Once again, I went over my texting plan. This happens from time to time but still not often enough for me to up my plan to unlimited.

However, other utility bills were under budget this month, bringing my total fixed expenses under budget.

Total January Fixed Expenses: Budgeted – 63%; Actual – 62%

Variable Expenses

This was the first budget where I broke “entertainment” out into three separate categories: miscellaneous, clothing and entertainment.

I also made the new category “misc transportation”.

Creating these additional categories really helped me to gain a better idea of my spending, without over-complicating the budget.

By breaking “entertainment” out into other categories, it’s noticeable that I really don’t spend that much on actual entertainment at all.

I really over-budgeted that this month since I was not sure of my actual “entertainment” expenses. For February, I will adjust accordingly.

I did realize that I spend more on “misc” than I had thought, since I was previously including this into “entertainment.” I went over budget in this category, but not enough for a percentage change. I will increase my budget in this for February.

Total January Variable Expenses: Budgeted – 25%; Actual – 20%

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Since incomes are relative, I have decided to go over my budget recaps in percentages instead of dollar amounts.

Fixed Expenses

My electric bill decreased and car insurance increased just enough to balance each other out.

Total May Fixed Expenses: Budgeted – 50%; Actual – 51% Continue reading »

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I did much better on my March budget than most people did with their tournament brackets! It was an odd month because I only received two paychecks due to starting the new job. I am looking forward to April being a normal month so I can adjust to my new commuting expenses and weekly paycheck.

Fixed Expenses

I was under or even with all of my monthly bills (yes, even my cell phone). I was very happy to see my gas/electric bill come to only $63.95/each this month. I had $90 budgeted because … Continue reading »

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If you are just beginning a savings plan, take a look at my comprehensive Guide To Managing A Savings Account. There you will find a defined planning system, goal calculator and bank information.

When starting to get your finances in check, everyone will tell you to create a budget. Budgets are key to tracking your spending. Included in your budget, should be a category for savings. However, if you do not track your savings any other way, it is easy to lose sight of your savings goals!

Tracking savings allows you to see financial improvement; to see how successful your budgeting actually is!

Savings Tracker

I have created a separate worksheet just for savings within my budget spreadsheet. Savings and spending go hand-in-hand, so it really is important to keep these together.

My monthly budget & savings worksheet can be downloaded here: http://www.27andfrugal.com/files/easy_peasy_2010_budget.xls

If you already have a budget that works for you, simply copy/paste the Savings worksheet and use it on it’s own.

Ideally, the worksheet should mimic your savings account, so start with your beginning of the year balance. This sheet will be filled in automatically once you input your savings into the monthly budget sheets. Or simply manually enter in how much you are transferring to savings each month.

The interest does need to be entered manually from your monthly bank statement. Seeing exactly how much or how little interest you are earning every month may make you want to look into alternative saving account options.

The box on the right is the most important part of the whole sheet… your goal! Do everything you can to keep this goal in the back of your mind each time you make a purchase. When you are over 50% of the way to your goal, you will have incentive to put more into your savings every month. Continue reading »

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Last week, I made the last and final payment on my car loan. Now that I officially own the car, I decided to make some adjustments to my car insurance policy.

I called Progressive and let them know that I am now the full owner of the car. Immediately, they were able to remove protection for financed cars decreasing my rate!

I was also interested in removing collision and changing some other aspects of my policy to get my payments down to ~$100/month. When telling the customer representative this, she asked me a few questions to check … Continue reading »

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Being laid off from work is like being dumped. Only worse. Not only do you emotionally feel rejected, alone, and abandoned; but you also have to deal with losing your entire means of financial support. Below are some tips to deal with the emotional and monetary woes that go along with being unemployed.

1. Develop a routine

Keep a weekly routine just as though you’re still working. Wake up in the morning (no sleeping past noon), eat some breakfast, search and apply for jobs, fix lunch, work out, make dinner then relax. Yes, there will be gaps in there and you need to be self-disciplined to use them wisely. In general, stick to a normal day-time schedule. Go to bed at a normal time and get up at a normal time.

Sure, you can stay in your pj’s for a while but the more you keep a real-world schedule the easier it’ll be to keep a healthy mentality. The easier it will also be to re-adjust to a work schedule when you find another job.

2. Set a goal

Set a goal in something else in your life that you enjoy doing. Now is a good time to spend more time with those hobbies that are often ignored. The idea is to keep yourself busy but still focused on something productive.

One example is to set a workout goal. Have you always wanted to run a 5k but didn’t feel prepared? Simply, budget out $25 and sign up for one. Schedule this training into your day and stick with it. Since being unemployed can cause you to feel down, meeting this goal will provide a nice boost to your self esteem. Continue reading »

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How’d I do this month?
Bars: $0/$20
Bills & Utilities: $114/$200
Car Payment: $0/$300
Cell: $77/$80
Entertainment: $49/$50
Gas: $156.36/$190
Gifts: $39/$300
Groceries: $15/$200
Personal Care: $0/$20
Restaurants: $18/$70
Shopping: $11/$100
Student Loan: $0/$162
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To be completely open and honest with you, I’ll go over my monthly expenses and budget with a post each month.

How’d I do this month?
Car Payment: $585/$300 (but this is good)
Groceries: $254/$200
Gas: $148/$115
Cell: $86/$75 (ugh)
Personal Care: $28/$20
Bars: $27/$20
Entertainment: $77/$50
Shopping: $65/$300 (yay!)
Bills & Utilities: $114/$200
Restaurants: $63/$75
Student Loan: $162
Discover Card Payment: $150
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To be completely open and honest with you, I’ll go over my monthly expenses and budget with a post each month.

Introduction
Since this is the first breakdown of my monthly expenses. Let me explain my personal definitions of each category and how I estimate my spending.

Shopping
Shopping includes all non-food, tangible items. Gifts, clothing, video games, shoes, fabric, cleaning items, etc. Continue reading »

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