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ASU2003 · 01-13-2009, 07:53 PM

The thing with budgeting is that you need to be realistic. And know that you will need to buy things that were not anticipated. The second part of it is to look at the long term costs of things, not just the month to month costs. I could be paying $40/month ($480/year) for cable and watch exactly the same TV shows. I do have to watch or read some news shows on-line, and get the weather on-line(or just look outside). The last thing is to get out of debt. Do whatever you need to do, learn to live differently (doing free things) for a few months to a year. Change a few things to save money or use what you already own.

I have a basic budget for expenditures that is fairly fixed. I probably go over by $100 or so, but that is still OK. And I understand that others may have other fixed rates, but everyone has different numbers.

$1000/Home and $30/month repairs/improvements - fixed rate (unless something bad happens and I need a major repair)
$25/auto insurance - fixed rate (or can go down the longer I drive the same car safely)
$25/phone - fixed rate (could be lower if I went with a pay as you go phone)
$2/TV ($20/year) - fixed rate
$25/electric - this has been higher than it should be in the past few months
$25/gas - averages out throughout the year, but I would like to see it lower
$31/water&sewer - fixed rate
$69/home owners association/trash pickup - fixed rate
$82/health insurance
$50/gasoline - less in summer
$198/food & Misc
---------------------------
$1400 per month.

There are a lot of free things like exercising, public wifi at mall, bike riding, gardening, watching movies and reading books from library that aren't on the list that are fun to do.
I should get into cooking, because even though it costs some money, it would be considered food.

I do have other hobbies like home theater stuff, traveling and restoring a pickup truck that I don't need to do, but are fun to work on and I can spend my money on those things.

As for my budget, the reason I go over each month is because I spend more on food since I eat out a little too much still. I will be working on this in March when I start eating at home more.

01-13-2009, 07:53 PM	#7 (permalink)
ASU2003 immoral minority Location: Back in Ohio	The thing with budgeting is that you need to be realistic. And know that you will need to buy things that were not anticipated. The second part of it is to look at the long term costs of things, not just the month to month costs. I could be paying $40/month ($480/year) for cable and watch exactly the same TV shows. I do have to watch or read some news shows on-line, and get the weather on-line(or just look outside). The last thing is to get out of debt. Do whatever you need to do, learn to live differently (doing free things) for a few months to a year. Change a few things to save money or use what you already own. I have a basic budget for expenditures that is fairly fixed. I probably go over by $100 or so, but that is still OK. And I understand that others may have other fixed rates, but everyone has different numbers. $1000/Home and $30/month repairs/improvements - fixed rate (unless something bad happens and I need a major repair) $25/auto insurance - fixed rate (or can go down the longer I drive the same car safely) $25/phone - fixed rate (could be lower if I went with a pay as you go phone) $2/TV ($20/year) - fixed rate $25/electric - this has been higher than it should be in the past few months $25/gas - averages out throughout the year, but I would like to see it lower $31/water&sewer - fixed rate $69/home owners association/trash pickup - fixed rate $82/health insurance $50/gasoline - less in summer $198/food & Misc --------------------------- $1400 per month. There are a lot of free things like exercising, public wifi at mall, bike riding, gardening, watching movies and reading books from library that aren't on the list that are fun to do. I should get into cooking, because even though it costs some money, it would be considered food. I do have other hobbies like home theater stuff, traveling and restoring a pickup truck that I don't need to do, but are fun to work on and I can spend my money on those things. As for my budget, the reason I go over each month is because I spend more on food since I eat out a little too much still. I will be working on this in March when I start eating at home more. Last edited by ASU2003; 01-13-2009 at 07:56 PM..