The time for our winter trip up north is getting really close which means over the past few months we’ve been thinking about the M word and the B word. Those two words ‘Money and Budgets’ – are bandied around a lot on the Internet and can be the bane of our lives if we aren’t able to manage them properly.
Money matters – doesn’t it – as far as I’m concerned it most certainly does – some months it seems there isn’t going to be enough to go round, then somehow we manage to scrape through.
Gas and Electric prices are on the move, health insurance is supposedly rising again next month, so many items in the supermarket are going up and don’t mention the cost of petrol– these are what are affecting us at the moment. I’ve nearly always shopped with a list but recently have even taken to using a calculator as well – just to keep an eye on the total of the ticket!
We all have different methods of keeping check on where the cash is and what we spend it on; mine is no more special that anyone else’s and I certainly don’t always keep to the budget we have decided on at the beginning of each year.
For me, I find it helps if I keep a physical record of purchases and payments – anyone remember my exercise books from a few years ago? It was an idea that helped us when life was a little more difficult than it is now. These days I use a ‘very simple’ cash in/cash out plus reports app called Spending Tracker….
It doesn’t provide you with more money nor will it stop you spending money you ‘don’t have’ but if you record what you do spend (and there are lots of categories for that to happen) it will show you visually where you are overspending; to me its a help because I need to know we are able to survive (and also save a bit) on what we do receive.
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Sitting here on a rather cool morning wondering if it’s maybe a bit early to start gathering together warmish weather clothing to take up to Bowen? From the look of the weather forecast it’s not as if it’s going to be worn down here in the next 5 weeks.
Perhaps I’ll just make myself another cuppa and have breakfast instead – then gather my bathers and towel together ready for exercise in the pool time later this morning
Oh, and what tricks do you have for keeping an eye on your finances?.
Is there enough to go round or have you had to cut back again?
Still Waters 
You certainly wont need warm weather clothing over the next few weeks. Start packing, and anticipating.
I am lucky and have enough money. I ache for those that struggle and try to help where I can.
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Hari OM
I have always had to budget… What looks like a decent nest egg can all too easily crack right open if one loses focus! That’s going to become especially important for me now The Grey is about to take its place in my life – somehow, though, one keeps going along.
Time for the north again? It only seems so recent that you returned south! YAM xx
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I’ve never had a high income but it has always been steady and I’ve never really budgeted. I did have to work out my fortnightly expenditure when I retired to calculate how much money I needed to be paid from my superannuation to live on but that is the closest I have come.
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I’ve had to budget all my adult life. When first on my own I kept a book like yours. I was terrified I would overlook the gas or electric bill and then come up short the next month. I used to shop with a calculator, too.
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F is a lousy budgeter – someone told her years ago to make the savings the first thing you do each payday, and then live on the rest. It has worked for her but we are approaching the time of life when with no new money coming in, those savings will be the spending dosh each month.
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We try to be careful with our money. I feel for those who struggle from pay to pay. Like my son.
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I live with 3 adult children and we share household expenses which is working very well for me financially, much better than splitting the bills with one person or paying them myself.
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We just pay all the bills at the end of the month and live on the rest. Not so easy some months but hey ho. We learned a lot from going through an economic crisis but its easy to forget the lessons you learnt in those austere times.
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My dad was born with cheap to the bone instincts, i am genetically his child. My entire life until I was 42 was spent living at the federal poverty line. at home with parents and in my first marriage with the two kids. I learned the skills I need and what I did not learn inherited from daddy. I bought nothing i did not need, we never ate out, never took a vacation but I also never paid a late fee and all bills were paid on time. if only my children and their dad had any skills at budgets. since i do everything online, it is easy to check and see what i have spent. they have a program throught the online that tracks spending but I have never used it. as for cutting back, we have done well until the past 2 years and I have cut back and become more aware, we wiped out half our savings on house repairs in 2 years and now I am trying to put a little back because at age 78 and 86 one of us will die first and the other will be left behind with one income not two.
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I always keep an eye on money out.
I’m not as strict as I once was but I like to keep within my means. I don’t think that will ever change
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After many years with little inflation, the present time certainly makes me bring out the habits I had last time inflation went through the roof. My husband favors a computer spread sheet to keep track. But it does help to distinguish between musts and wants.
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