Let’s Talk About Budgeting

Since I’m losing my job on September 30th, my husband and I have cut back on our spending to fit within his budget.

Yes, I TOTALLY get that we’re privileged enough that we can get by on just his income.

I’ve noticed that while there are a TON of how-to-cut-back-on-your-spending-you-heathen advice, not many people are willing to put their budget up to show their spending

Why?  Because budgeting can be embarrassing and bring Judgy-McJudgerface out of the woodwork.  Do you really need an alcohol fund?  Why buy books when you can get them from the library?  What software could you possibly need every month when there’s freeware?  How could you possibly need that much coffee and soda? 

You get the picture.

But everyone gets the ‘OMG you need to make a budget RIGHT NOW!‘ advice and sometimes some pointers, but there’s no this-is-my-actual-working-budget examples.  Dave Ramsey, I’m looking at you.

So, ladies and gentlemen and otters.

Here is our post-job budget.

The left side could be sorted better, but those are the ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED items of our budget

And yes, soda/coffee is on there.  My medications are sedating and it’s a struggle to stay awake and productive.

You will notice that there’s no health insurance listed – mine is through Medicare, and we’re working on getting me a job so my husband can have it again.

You may see areas where you would cut, and that’s fine.  We’ve cut what we feel we can (phones for example – no Smart Phones here!) to have what we feel is important.  Examples: life insurance for my husband is important because his income is all of our budget right now.

We’ve also cut so we can have some nonessentials.

Which would be drinking, playing games, and reading books, basically.

My husband goes through two bottles of rum a month, and I go through one bottle of vodka.  This is Wisconsin folks; we drink pretty much every Friday night with his family or mine.

Gaming is my husband’s main hobby, and he is very careful and saves his money until a game he’s been waiting for comes out.  Way more self control than me.

I get most of my books through Kindle Unlimited (in the Software section) or the Library, but I have certain MUST BUY authors that I want to support through actual purchases, hence the book budget.

The last is my Medicare Part B premium – this is a guess at what it will be, because I haven’t reinstated it yet.  Yes, I get Medicare.  I’ll have it for 3 1/2 more years or so as part of the cushion getting OFF of disability.

Here’s something not everyone gets though: your budget isn’t set in stone.  You can change it if it doesn’t work.  I do all of my money tracking and budgeting through You Need a Budget, (cost listed under software) and it allows me to move money between categories, so if one has extra and another is low we can move it easily.  (This is not an affiliate, and there is a 34 trial period to let you try it through one cycle of pay periods.  10/10 do recommend.)

The budget here is just the base budget, and my husband is paid once a month so that has to last the month.  Car registrations, presents, and a few other items aren’t on here – we’ve saved for them out of the last of my income, and that’s in our savings along with a basic emergency fund.

This budget is AFTER my husband’s taxes have been pulled for tax season.  We pay in quarterly because he’s self employed.

Your budget can be whatever you need it to be.

What’s important is that YOU have control over your money, so you can make informed decisions about spending and NOT be caught flat footed by bills.

Are there budget categories you think are missing?  What would you consider nonessentials?  How often do you get paid?  Do you have an emergency fund?  If you were me, what would you cut here?  Inquiring minds want to know!