When I started this blog I mentioned that I wanted to be a little more minimalistic. Unfortunately, pretty much nothing has changed for me. I have collected a few new kitchen gadgets and some books and a few more clothes here and there. Now, I know this probably doesn't sound like a lot to many people (and most people probably wouldn't judge me for deciding to get a salad spinner) but I am counting this as a personal failure. So I really, really, really need to try harder with these things.
I revamped my budget yesterday (the first of the month seems to be a good time to do that). I changed some budget categories and consolidated some. I used to have separate ones for restaurants, fast food (ie. Panera or Dunkin Donuts), and coffee shops (no need to point out that Dunkin is considered a coffee shop by most - I don't drink the coffee there so it got put in the fast food category). I decided instead to consolidate all of these categories into just an eating out category. This way if I drink a lot of coffee one month but don't really eat out, I don't have to feel guilty about it and it's a bit easier to take care of that way. I also consolidated all of my "nonessential" expenses into one category - books, clothing, gifts, any randomness that might pop up. My reasoning behind this is that there are many months that I don't buy and clothing or books or gifts, but some months that I buy more of one of those items than usual. Rather than keeping them separate, I can put them all together in one lump pile and as long as I don't go over that whole lump, I'm ok.
In case someone was wondering, here's a rough sketch of how my new budget looks:
2/3 of my income goes into my budget numbers. (The first 1/3 is taken out for taxes, insurance, and my retirement fund. Anything that my job doesn't remove for those purposes goes directly into savings.)
Rent
Student Loans
Groceries
Utilities
Eating Out (includes coffee shop purchases)
Auto and Renter's Insurance (I pay this every 6 months, but I have it divided up so that I know how much that is monthly and I put that aside for later)
Gas
Tithes
Pharmacy
Movies & DVD (which really just means my HuluPlus account)
After budgeting for each of these individual categories, the rest is being budgeted into the "fun money" category. Anything left over at the end of the month gets put into savings. (As an aside, I already have a three month, post tax salary nest egg so the amount I am putting into savings is to build that up.)
Disclaimer: This will not work for many people, and some people really like to keep all of their little budgeting categories separate, but this is my new financial experiment. It will stop me from micromanaging as badly in this one area of my life and, hopefully, simplifying it a little for the better.
I am so impressed! Bech and I are really working hard to do all of this. We have a card that will be completely paid off in two months...we are going to try to put all of that into savings starting after that. You may have to teach me all of your tips!
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