Off to Hawaii!

I know it’s been ages since I’ve blogged last… almost a month, in fact. My apologies for my loyal readers who keep checking back for new posts. The last month has flown by as I’ve been incredibly busy, mostly with work stuff, which has found me repeatedly out of town and working some evening/weekends conducting workshops or participating in conferences of different types. Tomorrow, though, I leave for a one week vacation in Hawaii with my best friend in the whole world - my sister.  I was lucky enough to win flights to anywhere in North America/Caribbean at a fundraiser last year. The rest of the trip (hotel, car, etc) was not covered, but I saved up all year in order to be able to afford the kind of trip I really wanted. It’s a great feeling. Every month I put aside whatever money I could - from extra jobs I took on, or from gifts, or GST rebates, or whatever I could spare during that month - and kept it in a separate savings account. I kept thinking back to all the episodes of TTDUP where Gail encourages her participants to plan for trips and save the money before traveling. I had always marveled at how even couples who made very little money and/or had piles of debt were still able to keep their travel plans just by working hard, making more money and budgeting. I’ve applied a similar approach and made it happen for myself.  It’s really quite simple and easy when you apply a step-by-step approach and plan ahead. (Just one more way in which Gail has been an inspiration to me!)

Upon my return I’ll be attending more out-of-town workshops, planning for lectures, and more workshops, so I’ll be a busy gal. And I am of course continuing on with my fun goals. Between work and my social life, I have nearly every weekend of the next two months already fully booked! But I aim to check in on the blog more frequently and will give an update on my trip.

In the meantime, here’s a picture from a cold winter walk I took recently. Looking forward to leaving this cold weather behind, even just for a few days!

The Budget: A verdict

Do you have a budget? Use the jar or envelope system? Or just try to live within your means?

I’ve been using a budget very carefully for the last two months and the verdict is… I love it!  In August, I started by tabulating all my costs - writing down every single thing I bought and putting the number into a spreadsheet.  I didn’t use the “jar system” - I still used my debit and credit cards - but recorded everything I spent.  I lived as frugally as possible, and then at the end of the month, used those numbers to draw up my September budget.

Here’s how I wrote my September budget:

1. Averaged out my expected income for the next 4 months (until the new year) to give me an expected monthly salary

2. Deducted fixed costs

3. Created a budget for my variable costs.  I used categories inspired by Gail Vaz-Oxlade: food, clothing & gifts, entertainment, transportation and other.

4. Using a spreadsheet, I inputted a formula so that at the end of each column I would be able to see how much money I’ve spent in each category, as well as how much I have left to spend.  I also created a formula that would show me how much I have spent overall and how much I have left to spend in total. (This is especially helpful when you take more from a particular category.)

The budget is a big stress-reliever.  It provides a sense of control. There is an excellent article at Fighting Foreclosure - Conversations on the benefits of having a budget - which is a terrific read.  Contrary to what most people say (that budgets deprive you) I find that my budget has helped me to relax and enjoy my spending more, because I know that the items are already accounted for. It’s a bit like dieting - if you focus on all the foods you can’t eat, you’re doomed to be miserable.  But if you make a list of all the meals you could possibly enjoy using only healthful ingredients, you’ll feel as though you have an abundance of options.  A budget gives a similar feeling - it’s putting focus on the money that you do have to spend, as opposed to what you don’t have.

I recall an episode of Till Debt Do Us Part when one woman asked “do people really have time to [write down everything they spend?"] What’s funny about that comment is really how little time it takes.  When I come back from the store, I open up the spreadsheet on my computer and type in the number.  That’s it! Done!  It’s literally seconds of time for a big pay-off.  Like many things in life, it’s all about changing habits.  Writing down your expenditures as opposed to just stuffing the receipt in your pocket and forgetting about it does take some energy, but overtime it becomes natural.

Please share - do you use a budget?  What’s your system for keeping track of your spending?