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 I was not quite sure what to anticipate for wacky March weather.

Total March Fixed Expenses: $1,105.58

Variable Expenses

I came in under for three categories, but overspent in two.
Here’s the breakdown:

Car Gas: $166/$80. I took am unplanned trip to visit friends.
Entertainment: $192/$175. Close, but I still need some restraint.
Health/Beauty: $10/$25.
House: $22/$35.
Eating Out: $52/75. Not bad considering it is so tempting to eat yummy nyc lunches every day.
Groceries: $168/$175. Too close for comfort. I would rather keep my spending closer to $150 so I definitely need to work on this.

Total March Variable Expenses: $611.53

New Commuting Costs

I have a new fixed monthly cost now that I am commuting from central NJ to NYC every day. I did not include this in the fixed expenses total above. My monthly train pass is $279. Yes, that blows. That is the reason I reduced my car gas budget down to $80 because I really do not want to spend any more in transportation costs than I already have to. Now, I might try to see if there are any alternative public transportation methods that are cheaper, but what I use now is very convenient. So I am going to have to find the balance there.

Savings

I did not put as much into savings as I had budgeted because of the lack of paychecks this month. Again, once I adjust to the new pay schedule, I will hopefully get everything back into check.

March Total

Total March Expenses: $1,996.11

Readers, how did your March budget turn out? I would love to hear!

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.

Set a Savings Goal

It is important to have a savings goal. This will help curb your spending and help prioritize your spending habits. If you make a special “vacation fund”, then next time you are tempted to spend $12 on a movie ticket, you might stop and think that the $12 could be better used while onvacation. Or that you would rather eat out on vacation, rather than the same old restaurants around home.

You are on Your Way…

Tracking your spending is just one step in getting your finances in order. Being able to use this worksheet to track your spending will bring you even closer to seeing the balances you want to see. The idea of this worksheet is to be more aware of your savings account in general, especially if you make monthly automatic transfers. It is easy to forget about your balance and goal when you are not looking at it every month. You could make a similar worksheet to track a credit card. Just jot down your balance, each monthly payment and how much you have left to pay it off.

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 if I was eligible for certain discounts. She asked if I am a homeowner; I am not. She asked my highest level of education. When I said I have a Bachelor’s Degree, she said that qualified me for a deduction. Just that alone saved me $8/month!

So after removing the loan protection, collision, rental service and applying the education deduction, my monthly car insurance rate dropped to $95/mo! I saved $32 just by paying off my car and making a phone call.

That makes for a total of $250/mo savings now that my car is paid off!

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.

3. Keep applying

Keep applying for jobs! Always always always be applying for jobs. Have one resume and cover letter template that you can quickly modify to apply for specific jobs. Applying is always free and won’t take you more than 10 minutes per position. You could have the-best-resume-ever-written but if you never send it out, you’re not going anywhere. Try applying to at least one job a day.

Be patient! Employers will contact you anywhere from a few days to a few weeks after you applied. Take note of the job posting date. Being one of the first to apply will definitely increase your chances of having your resume seen.

4. Learn

Spend some time during the week to learn more in your field. Perhaps your knowledge is slightly outdated due to previous work limitations. Maybe you have always wanted to learn a new technology in your field but didn’t have the time.

Read up on your industry to find out what you need to know to be a marketable candidate. You might want to take a class, earn a certification or just sit in on some lectures. Meetup.com is a great reference for learning and networking with others in your field.

5. Restructure your budget

If you’re going to be on U.S. Federal Unemployment, chances are your income will be greatly decreased from what you are used to. You will need to restructure your budget to account for this. It is incredibly difficult to balance having lots of free time but little money to spend. Stay aware of your budget and spending. Be sure to factor in job hunting expenses as well (specifically travel).

You will have to sacrifice. This will suck. You will have to eat out less. You will have to tell your friends that you can’t go out this weekend. Unemployment will cover all your bills but not much else. This means that your entertainment budget especially will take a big hit. While it’s enticing to go out on a weeknight, you really need some discipline here. This is also why keeping a normal-routine is important.

6. Save your receipts

Job hunting expenses are tax deductible, so save all your receipts!

7. Change It up

If you’re not getting any call backs after applying to jobs you know you qualify for, try changing your resume. Even something as simple as a layout re-design can make you stand-out more. If you’re not hearing anything after interviews, change up your prepared answers and find different ways to describe your past work history.

While it is easy to blame the economy, it really is up to you to market yourself better than your competition.

Have your own suggestions of how to survive being out of work? Leave them below!

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

The Good

In the beginning of December, I learned that my income was going to be considerably less stable come January so I severely curbed my spending. As you can see, I ditched my entire gift budget and just postponed the holidays completely. I used the opportunity to only eat out of my kitchen rather than purchase groceries. Also, since I was paid ahead on my car and student loan, I decided the money was more important in my savings account for the month. I did not spend money on any health/beauty or alcohol purchases.

The Bad

Nada!

Adjustments

Now that I know the bare minimum I can get by, I will decrease my shopping and grocery budget. I will also reduce my personal care budget as well, since I received some of these items as gifts.

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

The Good

Shopping
The only items I purchased this month was a sweater from Zara, a video game (split it with the bf) and my ear warming wrap. Very happy with my spending in this category.

Eating Out
It feels like I dined out quite often this month, but when I did, I went cheap. My friends and I frequent relatively affordable places anyway. I always order water, never alcoholic drinks (one of the places we ate at was byob!), and never appetizers. These habits keep my meals between $8-15. Also, my boyfriend and I tend to do take out on the weekends so this saves us from having to tip.

The Bad

Cell Phone
Again! I know, I know! I know! I’m working on it! Ugh!

Car Payment
This is actually a good thing! I just wanted to explain it a bit. My normal monthly car payment is $216/month. However, I have dwindled the balance down so much that I am just going to send in some big payments (as I did this month) in December and January and, hopefully, January should be my last car payment! So any spare $25 or $50 or $100 I’ve had throughout the month, after savings, I sent a payment over. I didn’t even realize how much I ended up sending until looking over these expenses earlier today.

Groceries
I know what got me here. I had company over one weekend and I wanted to make a special meal for them, so I just bought the specific ingredients at full price. That definitely did me in.

Personal Care
I bought some Lush products when I brought my visiting family to the local mall. I wouldn’t have even gone to the mall at all if I were by myself.

Bars
Actually, this is fine. There was one dinner out that my boyfriend paid for and I just picked up beer to bring home, so that evened out. Since I was under for eating out, being over budget here is fine. Treating myself to Blue Moon pushed me over.

Entertainment
Well, $40 of this is from my unplanned Atlantic City trip. That includes club cover and food. I didn’t make any other purchases there (nope, no gambling!). $9 is for netflix and $28 was the indoor rock climbing.

Gas
Not quite sure what happened here since I didn’t travel much. I will increase this to $200 for December since I will be to visiting family for the holidays.

Adjustments

I am increasing my gas budget to accommodate holiday travels. Entertainment is going up to $150 because I will probably engage in family/friend festivities throughout the month of December. I will move personal care up to $40 but I shouldn’t need anything. However, I have a feeling that I might sneak in a new soap for myself while I’m gift shopping. I’m leaving the restaurants the same and pushing my alcohol budget to $25.

I know December will be a tricky month with all the shopping. I really hate shopping! So I’ve given myself a gift budget of $300. I don’t have too many people to buy for and probably won’t have to spend all that, but I just wanted to be safe. I am also decreasing my personal shopping limit to $100, since I really shouldn’t be buying any goodies for myself anyway!

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.

Gas
Anytime I fuel up my car within the month.

Cell
My monthly cell phone bill from AT&T.

Groceries
All non-prepared food items.

Bills & Utilities
I pay for gas/electricity, water, sewage, internet/cable/phone, and rent every month. All of these are split three ways among myself and my two roomates.

Restaurants
This includes all prepared food.

Entertainment
This refers to non-tangible, entertaining services. Going to the movies, bowling, mini golf, theater, etc.

Personal Care
All hygiene/beauty items and services. Shampoo, facial cleanser, highlights, toothpaste, etc.

Bars
Any alcoholic beverage.

How’d I do this month?

Shopping: $380/$300
Gas: $193/$100
Cell: $80/$75
Groceries: $157/$200
Bills & Utilities: $167/$200
Restaurants: $43/$75
Entertainment: $49/$50
Personal Care: $0/$40
Bars: $0/$20

The Good

Bars
It’s awesome that I didn’t spend anything at bars this month. You can look at my weekends and see that I had fun every single weekend without dropping money at a bar.

Personal Care
The lack of money spent on personal care was due to my laziness. I didn’t feel like going to the salon and getting my highlights re-toned for $25 this month.

The Bad

Cell Phone
Ugh! When i bought my iPhone, i dropped my text plan to the $5, 200 text plan. The first two months I sent/received 45 texts. This month I sent/received 300! Clearly I need to stop being lazy and go back to calling people and relying on email and aim. So unfortunately, the extra texts cost me about $5.

Gas
I was shocked to see how much I spent in gas! Especially since last month I only spent $75. This month however, I drove to see family in upstate NY so that was a full tank of gas just for the weekend. A tank of gas costs about $36 to fill up my Taurus.

Shopping
My boyfriend’s birthday was this month so while I probably shouldn’t have bought myself a pair of boots, I just couldn’t help myself! But $90 of the shopping were on his gifts. I did scale my Shopping category back to $300 since I am trying to pay my car off in January.

Adjustments

I will make some budget adjustments for November. I have one trip planned for November so I will increase my Gas budget to $115. I don’t see foresee needing any hygiene products or getting my hair done next month, so I will cut my Personal Care budget in half. I am trying very hard to have my car paid off by January, so any little bit extra I can throw towards that will really help. I will keep my cell phone budget the same and will make a concerted effort to text less because I cannot afford to increase my texting plan.