Tag Archives: budget

This Is A Lot Of Stuff Coming Together (or Another Post About Budgeting And Spending)

Posted on October 21, 2022 | Comments Off on This Is A Lot Of Stuff Coming Together (or Another Post About Budgeting And Spending)

I just wrote about how there are things I’ve been buying for my new place and how I need to make sure I don’t buy too much. I did mention how I wanted to be careful about what I spend because I could see how things could get out of control. And because I’m trying to buy quality products, those tend to be more expensive. I know that buying something that costs a bit more will be worth it in the long run because things will last longer, but it’s tempting to buy something cheaper just to save some money.

I also have written quite a bit about budgeting and how I’ve gotten out of my habit of using different budgeting apps. I do still need to figure out what will work for me because I’m not sure if any apps I’ve used before will be the right thing. I might just have to do something really basic like using a spreadsheet or even handwriting stuff. I just haven’t felt as motivated because I’ve been in a better financial spot than I was in the past and I haven’t had to worry about affording things the way I have in the past.

But I think those things combined have really come to a head this month. I have had some new recurring expenses to deal with that I think I’m still getting used to. I also had to pay my property taxes and I decided to pay for the full year at once instead of splitting it into 2 payments. I also have a few other big expenses this month such as my homeowner insurance that I haven’t paid for. All of that plus my shopping has made my expenses this month significantly higher than normal. But because I’m not doing my usual budgeting work, I don’t think I was aware of how much higher it was until I had to log into my bank and I saw the numbers in front of me.

I’m fine and I have the money to cover what I need to cover, but I’ve realized that what I felt like I had saved up wasn’t as high as it used to be. I know that paying the property taxes was a lot of this (which is almost like paying a year of rent at one time), but it was also some of the things I bought this month that I might not have thought as much about. I used to be a lot better about comparing prices for things that I buy and being willing to buy from different places if it will save me enough. I don’t drive around and waste gas to buy stuff, but if something is cheaper at CVS than on Amazon, I would drive those few minutes to get it even though ordering from Amazon is easier. I’ve gotten lazy with buying stuff and just buying things wherever it’s convenient. I know that saving a few dollars here and there won’t make a huge difference, but it will make some difference.

I think this was the reality check that I needed. Even though I knew my expenses were higher than normal, I don’t think I knew exactly how much more it was. And it really made me start thinking about what I really need versus what I want and can wait for. And I want to be more aware of the random things I get because $20 might not seem like a lot but if I have 5 random $20 purchases a month, that’s $100. I don’t think I’m buying frivolous stuff that I didn’t need, but I do know that I have been buying stuff that I could have waited a bit longer for.

Of course, I’m saying all this before I do some furniture shopping with my parents. I know there’s a good chance I’ll be spending more than I would like this weekend because we are looking for some bigger items that I haven’t been able to get yet. But I’m also really thinking about what I really need at this time and what I might be able to spread out purchases over time. For example, I know we will be looking at patio furniture, but maybe I could just get one thing that I want, and then at a later date, I can buy something else to go with it. I’m not sure if that will end up happening, especially since I’m looking at sets of things. But at least I can be a bit more mindful of what I’m getting.

And as I’ve said multiple times already, I need to find a new way to do some budget planning and this was another gut check that I really need to start trying new systems even if they only last a month or two because I don’t want to be this unaware of my spending again. I’m lucky now that it’s not going to cause me any issues, but if this happens again I don’t know if my financial situation will be the same. And I know what it was like before and I don’t want to repeat that situation.

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Default ThumbnailBudgeting and Spending (or Sharing YNAB With A Cashier) Default ThumbnailWorking on Budgeting (or Spending Money To Save Money) Default ThumbnailReally Seeing What I Need To Buy Now (or I Need To Cut Back On Spending Again) Default ThumbnailGoing Back To An Old Habit (or Finding Control With Budgeting) Default ThumbnailFinding New Money Issues (or Looking At Doing A Fresh Budget) Default ThumbnailGetting Back On Track (or Happiness and Budgeting)

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Posted in Saving, Shopping

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Really Seeing What I Need To Buy Now (or I Need To Cut Back On Spending Again)

Posted on May 27, 2022 | Comments Off on Really Seeing What I Need To Buy Now (or I Need To Cut Back On Spending Again)

I knew moving would be expensive. There were so many expenses connected to moving that I planned on, but then there were a lot of expenses I didn’t think about until I was in the middle of moving. For example, I had to consider what things I was going to take from my old place to the new place and what things I was already thinking about replacing and just wanted to replace before moving something that I wouldn’t want to keep for a while.

For most things that I knew I was planning on replacing, I didn’t bother taking the old ones with me. I knew that meant I would be spending more replacing things I technically already owned, but I think it was worth it because that also eliminated a bunch of things I would have needed to move. The only thing that I knew I would be replacing as soon as possible that I did move with me was my printer. Once I got my new computer, I discovered my old printer wouldn’t work with it anymore. I knew this was likely because I had to do some crazy things to make it work with the old computer too. But since I knew I might need to print things and I was still deciding on the new printer, I brought it with me. But I finally got a replacement printer, so the old one is finally going to go. I might try to sell it or donate it, but I have to look into my options more.

I wasn’t planning on buying a new couch, but when I found the one I saw when my parents were visiting, it really made sense to get it. The price was really good and the old couch really didn’t fit into the new space. And I got a few other new things like silverware that I had been looking to replace for a while, but I tried to keep the expenses down as much as I could.

And there are a lot of other things I want to replace that I’m waiting on. I want to get new dishes, but I’m not going to just buy anything. I want to find some that I love and I don’t need to rush into finding new ones. And I want to get a new tv since my current one is very small for the space now. But again, I can wait on buying a new one since it’s not urgent.

But it seems like I have a long list of things I still want to get and I have to think about what are needs and what are wants. Some things feel like needs, such as a storage cabinet I’m going to put in a closet to organize cleaning supplies and other things. I used to have a little utility room at my old place where I stored those things, but I don’t have anything like that here yet. And then there are a lot of things that feel like needs but I have had to tell myself they are really wants.

I want to get some display cabinets to put next to my tv stand to make the stand look bigger and to be able to show off some of the things I love. But I know I don’t need those right now. I’m also waiting on the bookcase bed I’m going to put in my office/guest room. If I do have a guest before I get that, I have an air mattress someone can sleep on. And I have other things I want to buy like a bench in my entryway and some seating for my patio that I know I can live without for a while and it would probably be best to wait until they are on sale.

I have spent a lot of money these past few months and while I have been able to afford it, I know I can’t just keep spending like this. I need to start working on budgeting again, which is something I have really slacked off on. I know my spending isn’t out of control, but I have really spent a lot and just told myself that those were the expenses of moving when maybe they really weren’t. It was a convenient excuse for a while, but I know if I keep saying that to myself I will get myself in a situation where I can’t pay off my credit card in full or something else like that.

I know recognizing that my spending might be a bit crazy right now is going to help me make sure I get control of it quicker than if I let things continue for another month or two. And once I have things stable again, then I can look into my financial situation and really see what things are looking like. I need to budget differently than I was before because my expenses are different. But I’m also hoping that the difference will also mean I have some extra money in my budget so I can work on saving up for something fun for myself.

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My 2021 Goals (or Preparing For A Year With Lots Of Unknowns)

Posted on January 1, 2021 | Comments Off on My 2021 Goals (or Preparing For A Year With Lots Of Unknowns)

Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a great New Year’s Eve, even if you were home alone like I was. I’ll be writing more about my New Year’s, but for now, I wanted to kick off the year with my 2021 goals.

Setting goals for this year was a little different from what I normally do. I have no clue when things will be more normal and we won’t have to be isolating ourselves. I hope that by the summer, things will start reopening again, but we have no clue. So I had to create goals that wouldn’t be affected if a majority of the year is spent at home and isolating myself from others.

The first goal shouldn’t be a surprise since it’s one that I’ve had a lot. I want to do at least 200 workouts in 2021. My plan is for these workouts to mainly be Orangetheory workouts, whether it’s in the studio or at home. Once I can go work out with others, I plan on the workouts all being at Orangetheory. But at home, I’m a bit more open to trying other workouts that are available online. I do love the Orangetheory at Home videos, but I also want to allow for some flexibility in case I feel in a rut or that I need a bit of a change. It’s still not easy for me to work out at home by myself. But I know I can do it and I feel confident that I will be able to do at least 200 workouts again this year.

My next goal is another repeat and one I’ve talked about recently. I want to work on my budget this year. I know that this won’t be easy because my job situation isn’t as stable as it’s been in the past, but I cannot let that be an excuse anymore. My hours with my new job are going to be pretty stable starting next week. And I should know soon about my hours with my data entry job, and once those are figured out they should be stable as well. The only big unknown for my income is my box office job. I don’t know when I’ll be asked back or how many hours I might get. But I still need to budget with what I do know and start making a plan so that I have things in order when I do have more steady income and I have things I want to use my money on.

Next is something that I’ve been doing a lot since I’ve had to isolate myself at home. I want to keep my house organized and continue to find the best way to maximize the space that I have. 2020 was a year that I discovered that I have a lot of things I don’t use or don’t have in the best spot to make sure I use them. I have things in my kitchen that I know I don’t use, and they are taking up space. And I have gotten new things for my kitchen and nowhere to put them. I’m looking at storage solutions for inside my house, but with space being limited I have to be careful what I bring in. The same goes for my bathroom. I don’t have any counter space, so I have to keep things on a shelf I have and in my medicine cabinet. The space is limited and I know I have things there that I don’t use or need. Organizing my house will be an ongoing project throughout the entire year, but I’m excited to see what my house will look like as I continue to work on this.

The next goal is a combination of a few ideas. I want to try more, take more risks, and be ok with accepting possible failure. Now, this doesn’t include my health or safety so I will not be taking risks by going out until it is safe to do so. But this is more about not limiting myself to things that only make me comfortable. If I want to take a chance in my acting career, I should go for it so I don’t wonder “what if?”. If I want to take a chance with online dating and say how I really feel to a guy, then I should do it without worrying that I might scare him off. If I want to try cooking something new, I don’t want to be afraid that I will ruin it because that might happen and that’s ok. It’s not easy to accept failure, but it’s a part of life and I want to be better at dealing with it.

And my last goal is a bit more about whatever time we are still isolating at home. I want to be ok with asking for help and support. There is no question that 2020 was a difficult year for me in so many ways. Being lonely and isolated is something that I’ve never dealt with to this degree. And I wasn’t as open about how much I was struggling as I could have been. I never reached out to a friend saying I needed a phone call or video call instead of just texts. It’s not easy for me to do this for a few reasons. One is that I don’t want to feel like a burden, even though I know that isn’t how my friends feel about me. But the bigger problem is that I haven’t been good at recognizing when I need to ask for support. Sometimes I don’t realize I could have used the help until I get over that feeling. I need to be a bit more aware and mindful about this and make sure I reach out when I need it.

I feel like these are some good goals for 2021. I feel confident that I should be able to make progress on all of them. I might not end this year saying I was successful in all of them, but I don’t think that I will be a total failure in them either. Hopefully, these goals help me to make 2021 a good year for me. Whether the entire year is spent in isolation or if I am able to go out and be social for a part of the year. I feel like I’m prepared for almost any possibility of what this year might look like, and that I will find ways to continue to better myself and grow as a person.

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Starting Over Again (or I Can’t Ignore My Budget Anymore)

Posted on December 30, 2020 | Comments Off on Starting Over Again (or I Can’t Ignore My Budget Anymore)

For a long time, I was doing really great with keeping a budget and staying on top of things. I knew that I wasn’t doing financially great, but I at least knew exactly what was going on with my money and I was very aware of it all. I was using YNAB for tracking money and it made me feel much better about my money situation.

Of course, there were times that I wasn’t as on top of budgeting as I could be, but I was still aware of a general idea about money. But I always seemed to find my way back and continued to make progress in tracking money and planning ahead.

And then the pandemic hit.

For a little while, my life wasn’t that different and I was still tracking money. But then I stopped working and making money and there didn’t seem to be a reason for me to track. I know that is not the truth and I probably needed to track my spending even more, but it’s hard when all you see is money coming out and nothing coming in. And I have been ignoring my budget for most of this year now.

But now, I’m starting to have steady money coming in again. It’s still not quite steady, but it should be in the next few weeks. I’m getting out of survival mode and starting to be in a position to plan for life again. Not like there is much to life right now with things shut down, but that almost might be exactly why I should start up with my budget again. When I only have limited expenses, it won’t be as crazy as it would be when I have so many different categories of spending.

So I am trying to get back to budgeting again. And because I’ve been ignoring my budget for almost a year, I just need to start over in YNAB. It’s not too weird to do a fresh start in that system, and I’ve done it before. So it will be something I’m familiar with. However, this time I’m also going to be starting over with my budgeting education. I still remember some of the basics of how to use the system, but there is so much that I have forgotten. And I want to start over doing things correctly and not have to do another fresh start in a month or two.

I need to be on top of what I’m spending money on and make sure that I’m not overspending in the few categories that I am spending money in. I know there’s a chance since delivery food tends to be more expensive than when you actually go out to eat with different fees and charges. I also have different bills now than I did earlier this year, so budgeting for those is really important. And I want to know how much money it will be ok to dedicate to things when I can finally go out again.

I know the timing of this makes it sound like a resolution or goal, but I’m actually writing about this now because I don’t know if I want it to be a goal. I don’t want there to be pressure to start my budgeting before I feel comfortable with the system again. If it takes me a week or two to get things back up and running, that’s fine. I don’t have to start a new budget on the 1st. Whenever I start it will be fine.

And hopefully before I know it, I’ll be back to using YNAB regularly and feeling much more secure with my money and how I can manage in the future for other expenses.

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Getting Back On Track (or Happiness and Budgeting)

Posted on March 3, 2020 | Comments Off on Getting Back On Track (or Happiness and Budgeting)

My challenge for February was to work on the happiness checklist that I’ve been using for quite a while now. The happiness checklist was originally something that my therapist suggested that I use and I really liked having it. Even though I have a new therapist, I still use it. I think there were even times where my old therapist told me that I didn’t have to keep using it, but I still did. There’s something about reminding myself every day that I did so some things that made me happy that I like having as a part of my day.

I have made a few changes to the things I have on the checklist, but it had been a long time since the last time I had re-evaluated what was on it and if they really were things that did make me happy if I did them. So last month, I worked on seeing what things I wanted to remove, what things I wanted to add, and what might just need to be reworded or changed a bit. It wasn’t a huge challenge or something that would take a ton of work, but I knew if I didn’t focus on it that I wouldn’t do it.

I used some scrap paper to write up some ideas for what I might want on my list and played around with those ideas. I had some ideas about doing a major change, but I realized that I was really just overthinking things and tried to spend a few days focusing on each thing on the list.

And by the end of the month, I really only made 2 changes. I took one thing off the list and replaced it with another and I reworded one other thing to make it feel like it makes more sense and covers more of the things that make me happy in that category. It was such a minor change, but it really felt like it refreshed the list and made a huge difference. It’s silly how those small changes feel so big, but I guess having one thing on the list that I didn’t feel belonged on there affected me more than I realized.

Going along with the idea that small changes can make a big impact on my life, I found another tracking thing that I want to work on for this month. I used to be really good about budgeting and was having a lot of success with YNAB. I started to slack off a bit toward the end of the year for a few different reasons and I told myself that I would get back to it in the new year. But I also did an upgrade on my computer and I had to upgrade to the new YNAB system, which is significantly different from the old one. I did set things up with the new system, but I really haven’t been using it.

I also skipped over some of the online tutorials that I probably should have done before setting it up. I know that I need to learn about the new changes so I can use it properly and I want to get back into budgeting. I have the potential to really do better with budgeting and planning with my money and I don’t want to miss that chance by screwing things up. So this month, I want to work on going through some of the online tutorials and getting my budget set up again. I know this will be a challenge that will require a lot of work this month and will likely require work for a while, but the reward I will get from doing it will be worth it.

I want to know where my money is going and where I can possibly cut back. I want to see what things that feel like splurges are actually within my budget and I don’t have to feel guilty about. And I need to know what everyday things I am probably wasting money on and shouldn’t be indulging on. And the only way to accomplish this is to get back to my budgeting work and have everything set up the way I had it set up in the past.

I hope that I don’t get too frustrated working on the budgeting work. I was dealing with a bit of that when I set up the new system, but I also know I wasn’t giving it a fair shot. So this month is my chance to really try and see if I can make it work again. And if I can’t, then I need to find another way to work on budgeting because this is not something I can avoid doing.

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Doing More Tracking (or Finding Out Some Data Is Just Too Emotional)

Posted on May 1, 2019 | Comments Off on Doing More Tracking (or Finding Out Some Data Is Just Too Emotional)

Last month, I had a goal to work on tracking a few things in my life. I knew that things were getting a bit out of control and tracking is a way to gain control again. All of the things I was planning on tracking were things I have tracked before so I figured it should be a relatively easy challenge. And of course, since I thought it would be easy it wasn’t.

It was easy for me to track my spending and income. This was a habit that I had been doing for a while and it was pretty easy to get back into it. There were a few moments where I forgot to track something or had to spend more time than I would have liked double checking things, but it’s been relatively easy. It helps that right now I have more money coming in than I’m used to so I’m not seeing everything in red. But I want to get this habit back to where it was so I’m ready when things aren’t as great.

I also wanted to do accurate tracking of my weight and food. And this is where I struggled last month. Tracking my weight wasn’t too horrible, but I’ve realized that it’s not something I want to keep up as regularly as I was. I have some big weight fluctuations due to hormones and even when I know that my weight gain isn’t real it feels that way. It’s not easy when the scale says you are up 10 pounds overnight and all your clothes don’t fit. I know that it’s due to swelling and water weight, but I still hate seeing that. I need to figure out a better way to track weight because I need to do it, but I can’t do it as often right now. I’m not sure if weekly would be right and mostly doesn’t seem often enough, so this is something I will have to play with.

And tracking my food was kind of a disaster. Food tracking is such an emotional thing for me and I thought doing tracking would help take that away a bit. But instead, it made it more emotional and I could sense my moods being affected if I had a good day or bad day. I know I do need to do some tracking, but I’m not sure how to do it without the emotional tug I was feeling. It may have just been harder for me this time because of where I am in my life and outside factors, but whatever it was I know I failed at tracking food last month.

And for this month, I have another tracking related challenge. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I am not sleeping enough. I have had several days of only getting 4 hours of sleep. Part of this problem is how well I have trained myself to get up at the same time every day. Even if I go to bed really late, I’m still up at 7. If I sleep in, it’s only until 7:30 or 8 and that’s not that late if I get to bed at 2 or 3 in the morning. It’s not always that I am out late, sometimes I am in bed at a reasonable time and I stay up reading. Before I know it, it’s 2am and I’m still awake.

I know in a perfect world I would be asleep by 11pm so that I will get at least 7 hours of sleep even if I wake up in the middle of the night. That’s not totally realistic since there are some times that I’m just getting home at 11. But I think setting a goal to be in bed by midnight on those late nights and by 11:30 on not late nights isn’t too hard. And I need to set a limit on my nighttime reading to make sure that my lights are being turned off by midnight. It probably sounds weird to have to limit how much I read at night, but sometimes I just get so into a book that I forget that I need to put it down.

I think working on having a set bedtime also relates to better time management in general. I don’t have to get everything done in the evenings that I make myself do. I can save some for the next day or if I was better with how I use my time I could probably get them done during the day. Procrastination is my enemy when trying to get better about when I go to sleep.

I know that some people have alarms to remind them to go to sleep, and I’m going to look into those options. I might just add something to my daily reminders to remind me that I need to start winding down. I already have my phone and computer set to reduce the blue light I see in the evening, but I don’t have that for my tv. I know that they have blue light blocking glasses so those might be a good investment for me (I just don’t know how they would work if I was also wearing my regular glasses if I took my contacts out). I also am going to look at what parts of my evening routine I can do earlier so that it’s not a lot of self-care work at the end of the day and I’m tired.

I’m ready to not feel as tired anymore. This has been a problem I’ve been dealing with for a while but it has gotten significantly worse in the past few months. I know that getting more sleep will benefit so many aspects of my life and I can’t wait to see those benefits. And hopefully it will have some benefits I’m not expecting and my life will be even better when I’m well-rested a majority of the time.

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Failing And Succeeding In One Monthly Challenge (or Another Repeat Challenge This Month)

Posted on April 2, 2019 | Comments Off on Failing And Succeeding In One Monthly Challenge (or Another Repeat Challenge This Month)

Last month, I decided my monthly challenge would be all about skin care. While I have been good about taking care of the skin on my face, I knew I could be doing a lot more work with the skin on my body. The idea was to discover some new things that I could do to help my skin, but the main thing I wanted to do was to work on dry brushing.

Well, I totally failed at dry brushing. I did it a few times, but it just didn’t really work for me. So many times when I’m taking a shower it’s right after a workout. My skin is still damp with sweat and I don’t want to have to dry off the sweat before jumping into the shower. I tried to do it the times I shower when it’s not immediately after a workout, but I didn’t see a benefit from it. I’m not giving up on it, but I know that this part of my skincare plan was a total fail.

But I wouldn’t consider this past challenge a fail because I did discover a few amazing things that have been helping me a lot with skincare. And the new things I figured out have been things that I’ve been doing every day.

First, I stopped using a regular loofah. I’ve been using a loofah poof for as long as I can remember for my body wash. I don’t like using a washcloth or my hands for body soap. A loofah was the best option I knew of. But then when I was in Catalina, my aunt was telling me about exfoliating bath sheets. I had never heard of these before but they seemed like a great upgrade. First, they dry so much faster than a loofah poof which helps to make them not as gross. But you can also scrub your back much easier since it’s a long rectangle. As soon as I got home I got one and I’ve been using it ever since! I feel like I’m getting my skin so much cleaner.

Another thing I discovered was wet skin lotion. I’ve tried in-shower lotions before, but I never liked them. You washed them off your skin so I felt like they were just being wasted. And they always made my shower or tub so slippery. But wet skin lotions are different. You do put them on while in the shower, but after the water is turned off. You apply it just like regular lotion but your skin doesn’t have to be dry. I have found this makes my skin feel much more moisturized and I dry off so much faster! I still use my regular lotion other times during the day, but I know putting this one on right after my shower is the best option for keeping my skin feeling soft.

So while I didn’t succeed at what I planned to do with my skincare, I still succeeded. And I want to take the idea into this month’s challenge. This month, I am challenging myself to be much more accurate in tracking various things in my life. And all of those things are things I’ve had as previous monthly challenges.

This is a combination of a few things. As I mentioned recently, I restarted my budget and I’m working on getting everything set up. It’s pretty much there, but I have to get back into my habit of tracking my money the way I used to. I was getting lazy before and I need to be accurate again in order to make budgeting work. I also have been slacking on tracking my weight and food intake. Both of these things can be an act of defiance, but I see them as more avoiding things. And I’m not always avoiding bad things. I wasn’t tracking my weight when I knew it was going down because I was scared how I would react if I lost more or less than I expected. And with food intake, when I have a very low calorie day for whatever reason, I don’t want to see that and get scared that either I need to force myself to eat or that this is going to cause me to binge later.

I’m not as worried about tracking my money because I feel much less emotion with that. But tracking my weight and food intake will be tough challenges for me to do. I already know I failed at being perfect because yesterday I wasn’t accurate (I was having a horrible nausea day and food was more about trying to see what would make me feel better and not thinking about what I’m eating).

But as I learned last month, just because I started as a fail doesn’t mean I can’t end as a success.

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Default ThumbnailA New/Old Challenge (or Using An Idea From Therapy This Month) Default ThumbnailNot Perfect This Month (or Challenged With The Monthly Challenge) Default ThumbnailMonthly Challenge Check-In (or Doing My Own Version Of An OTF Challenge This Month) Default ThumbnailTaking A Month To Reset (or This Doesn’t Really Feel Like A Monthly Challenge) Default ThumbnailI Feel Like Every Monthly Challenge Is The Same (or Will This Be The Month I Get Back On Track?) Default ThumbnailTime For Some Planning (or Trying A Challenge Again This Month)

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Going Back To An Old Habit (or Finding Control With Budgeting)

Posted on March 22, 2019 | 1 comment

A while ago, I started working hard on budgeting. I had tried so many different budgeting apps and sites over the years and I never felt like they worked for me. I always knew how important it was to budget, but I just couldn’t do it. This changed when I started using YNAB and I figured out how to use it (the first time I used it I was making mistakes that made it difficult for me to understand things).

For a long time, I was using YNAB religiously. I was able to properly budget for the first time in my life and I was so aware of my financial situation. This was so much more than I ever thought I could have and I was so happy. While my money situation isn’t the best, I felt better knowing exactly what it was. There were no surprises about where I would find the money to pay for certain things and I was using my credit card mindfully. While I wasn’t perfect, I knew I wasn’t perfect and I felt better about any mistakes I might have had.

Toward the end of last year, my financial situation got into a really bad place. There was one month I didn’t have money to pay my rent. I am so grateful that my parents were able to help me out, but it was still a very embarrassing time for me and I am ashamed that I had to do it. And when this was all happening, I stopped budgeting.

There was no point in me budgeting when it was just going to show that I was over-budgeted every month. I hated seeing all the red numbers on the budget knowing that I wasn’t really able to change it. I wasn’t budgeting categories like food or fun things. My bills and rent were making me in the red. While I loved having control, this was making me feel more out of control and I was starting to panic. So for my mental health, I had to stop budgeting for a bit.

I’m in a slightly better spot now with money. This is a temporary fix because my contract with my old job is only for a few more months. But the fact that this contract is temporary is the exact reason why I need to get back to my old habit of budgeting.

There is the possibility that the money I make in these few months could cover me for a good portion of the year. The only way to make that happen is to budget and to make sure that I am using my money properly. So I need to get back to doing just that and being just as serious as I was before.

Because I took a break from budgeting, I will have to start things over. It will be too complicated for me to go back to my old budget and update things since I would have to find a way to zero things out. And I can use this opportunity to reevaluate what categories I have for my budget and where I want to make sure my money is going or saved for. Plus, I think starting over will eliminate the potential panic I could feel if I tried to go back to the old budget that caused me some mental distress.

I’m trying to get this set up quickly, but I’m also trying to not rush through it. I want to take my time with getting everything the way I want it to be and to make sure I’m not missing anything. I want to have things as clear as I can for me so that I can see the full financial picture that I currently have and will have. And I also want to take the time to review the best practices for using YNAB so I don’t make any silly mistakes or worry about how to do something.

My goal is to have this up and running by next week for sure. I’ve been trying to get the budget part set up for the past day and I keep looking at it to make sure that it’s how I want it to look. There are adjustments that I’ve been making to make sure I don’t forget anything that I will need. I also have been trying to simplify things since I think that having too many categories can be an issue too.

It’s nice to be getting back on track with my money and budgeting. I can’t control that many things in my life, but this does bring me a small sense of control over what really is a bit of an out of control situation. And maybe I’ll be able to prevent the issues that I had at the end of last year by being more aware about things. I know that there were things that I probably did wrong that made my money situation worse than it needed to be.

Ideally, I will find a new job this year (yes, I’m still searching and applying for jobs almost every day) and that will help my financial situation to get to a place where I don’t have to worry about money as much. But having more money doesn’t mean I won’t budget things. I will just be able to budget for things that are more fun than bills and paying off my credit card. I would love to save for a trip or buying some things I want to have. And ultimately I’d like to find a way to start budgeting for buying a condo one day.

But for now, I just want to get back into a habit of budgeting so that when I’m ready to budget for fun things I already have the skills I need to do that.

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Default ThumbnailA Fresh Budget (or Starting Over With YNAB) Default ThumbnailBudgeting and Spending (or Sharing YNAB With A Cashier) Default ThumbnailGetting Back On Track (or Happiness and Budgeting) Default ThumbnailFood And Budgeting (or Combining The Two Things I Often Struggle With) Default ThumbnailFinding New Money Issues (or Looking At Doing A Fresh Budget) Default ThumbnailWorking on Budgeting (or Spending Money To Save Money)

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Food And Budgeting (or Combining The Two Things I Often Struggle With)

Posted on April 10, 2018 | Comments Off on Food And Budgeting (or Combining The Two Things I Often Struggle With)

I’ve written several posts about my struggles with food. And I’ve also written a lot about issues with working on a budget that is manageable and will help me pay down my debt. Both of these things are things that I struggle with a lot and it seems like whenever I get a handle on things, something changes and I have to start from the beginning again. I know there is a connection between addiction/eating disorders and debt, but the connection for me is just starting to register.

Since food is something I will always need to buy, I have to budget for it. But things change week to week on what I need so I’m much more flexible with my budget in that category. I try to stay within a budget that I set for each week, but if I have to buy food and I’ve already hit what I wanted to spend that week I still have to get food. I know that some of this extra spending is due to lack of planning, and I’m working on that. I also have realized that I’ve been letting food go to waste if I forget to eat it and that adds to my expenses. So I’ve been working on fixing both of these problems at once.

Recently my dermatologist put me on an antibiotic that I took twice a day for 2 weeks. I had to take the medication with food and I couldn’t take it at the same time as my morning medications because of issues with the antibiotic and a multivitamin. So I planned on taking it at lunchtime and dinnertime each day since that would work with taking it with food. At that same time I started working out at the Culver City Orangetheory location, which meant lots of early morning workouts. And I can’t really eat too much before a morning workout, but at the same time I can’t work out on an empty stomach. So I had to start experimenting with what I eat and when I eat.

This can totally change (because like I said, things always change when I think I finally have a handle on it), but right now it’s been working to drink a little bit of chocolate milk before my workout and then having a meal around 11am (brunch?) and then dinner. While I know that I should be eating 3 meals a day at least, this plan has been working for a bit for both my weight loss and my budget. When I only have to think about 2 meals a day, somehow it’s easier for me to meal plan. And it’s almost more like 1 meal a day because I eat pretty much the same thing each day as my mid-day meal.

I know that for some people this is a no-brainer. Eating the same thing every day is a weight loss strategy that works for many people. Having a lack of variety does work for some people, but it’s never really worked for me before. The only exception to this was when I was doing the UCLA diet when there was no variety as I had the same thing 6 times a day. But when I could choose from whatever I wanted, having a lack of variety would lead to me doing last-minute grocery store runs to get something else to eat because I was bored with the plan I had.

I don’t know if it is timing or doing the morning workouts, but the lack of variety is working for me. The number on my scale is slowly going down and I’ve been able to limit how often I need to go to the grocery store. I still have some wasted food, but it’s significantly less than it was before. And I know that if I work on planning things out a bit better, I can improve on the budgeting even more.

Even though I’ve known that my food budget was a bit out of control, things just finally clicked with me recently that I needed to work on this. It’s one of the few areas in my budget that has flexibility and I know that it is possible to eat what I need to while spending less money. Hopefully having this plan will not only keep my budget in a better place but will continue to limit how often I have to confront what I want to eat. If I don’t have to think about it, I can avoid grocery stores when I know that I am just looking for junk food to eat.

Just like every other time I think I have things worked out, I am hopeful that this may work but I am also realistic that this could just be something that is working temporarily. But I hope that whatever skills and tricks I learn while this is working are things that I can keep using even if I can’t keep up the current plan.

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Default ThumbnailTime For Some Planning (or Trying A Challenge Again This Month) Default ThumbnailRoutine Time Again (or Getting Back On Track) Default ThumbnailBudgeting and Spending (or Sharing YNAB With A Cashier) Default ThumbnailFood Scheduling (or Trying Out New Things) Default ThumbnailGetting Back To Better Food (or Finding My Own Balance) Default ThumbnailStill Figuring Out Meal Planning (or Will Food Ever Be Easy For Me?)

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Finding New Money Issues (or Looking At Doing A Fresh Budget)

Posted on February 23, 2018 | Comments Off on Finding New Money Issues (or Looking At Doing A Fresh Budget)

I’ve written about using YNAB to do my budgeting on here before. And I’ve written about doing a fresh start in the app when I felt like things weren’t moving the way I was hoping they would be. It’s been a while since I did that fresh start and things were getting much better and I was feeling so much more confident about money. My credit card debt was going down, I was saving money for annual expenses so they weren’t as overwhelming, and I felt like I was finally getting on top of things.

Unfortunately, that feeling has left me lately. I’m at a point right now where I have less in my bank account after paying my rent for next month than I’m used to. I think it’s lower than it’s been since I started using YNAB and that’s not a good feeling. I was trying to tell myself that this could be that I’m getting paid weekly instead of twice a week so I didn’t have a big paycheck recently. And I’m still waiting on a check from one job. Also, one of my day jobs recently cut back my hours by 2/3rds. They are hoping to find some other work that I can do to make up some extra hours, but there is no guarantee that I could do that.

Because I’ve been budgeting for a while now, I’m on a bit of autopilot. That can be a good thing because I don’t have to think about adding transactions to the app anymore. I just do it automatically as I spend the money. But because I’m on autopilot, I don’t think I’ve adjusted to my new income level and I have been spending the way I was when I was still working more hours. It’s a difference of about $800 a month which is a significant amount. I am looking at ways to make up that money, but so far I haven’t found another job to add to my collection.

I could just start adjusting my budget in the app to start reflecting the amounts that I should be spending in each category. I know that I could be better about meal planning so I spend less on groceries and I don’t buy as many frozen or pre-made meals (which are more expensive than just buying ingredients). And I know that I need to go through my monthly recurring charges to find what I can either cut back or eliminate completely. I can’t keep living as if I was making the same as I was before because it will put me into a really horrible financial spot.

But even though I could just be adjusting my current budget, I’m looking at doing another fresh start now too. In some ways, it would be nice to have a clean break from how my spending was before to what my spending should be like now. But on the other hand, it would be good to learn the skills I should have to adjust my budget when necessary. Money fluctuations will probably always be a part of my life and I need to be better about planning when things aren’t stable. You can’t always start over so I should know how to adjust and be flexible.

As I’m writing this, I’m about to have my taxes done (when this goes up, it will be the day after my taxes are figured out). I think that once that is done and I know how much money I will have left from my savings for taxes (hopefully I will owe less than I saved!) I can make a more educated plan on what I want to do with my budget. It may be the perfect time to have a fresh start because then I will know what my money situation will be like with what I have to spend. It is a bit tough to budget when I have one bank account that I can’t really touch except for budgeting for my taxes, so I’m thinking about eliminating that bank account from my budgeting plan. I think maybe it was misleading because I felt like I had more money than I do.

I know that budgeting needs to be a big focus of mine right now. I need to get back on the track that I was on and I can’t just believe that somehow things will work out. That’s how I got into the financial situation that I’m in right now. I was trying to believe that everything would be ok and that I didn’t have to worry about it. I was wrong. I should have worried and I regret not worrying back then. But now I am so much smarter about how I need to be in control of my money and how I am spending it and hopefully I can fix this problem quickly before it takes away the hard work that I have been doing for a while.

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Default ThumbnailGoing Back To An Old Habit (or Finding Control With Budgeting) Default ThumbnailBudgeting and Spending (or Sharing YNAB With A Cashier) Default ThumbnailA Fresh Budget (or Starting Over With YNAB) Default ThumbnailFinding Ways To Treat Myself (or I Wish Money Wasn’t An Issue) Default ThumbnailWorking On Money (or A Prosperous Heart Update) Default ThumbnailWorking on Budgeting (or Spending Money To Save Money)

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