Problems managing weekly budget money

**sandrark** · 02-01-2010, 05:08 PM

Misscity, I don't know that I anyone can answer you better than your own experience. I *can* tell you that I do have a written budget that is a specific line item for the two of us:

- Groceries: $250 per month (includes personal care stuff like lotion or contact solution)
- Costco, bulk groceries: $150 per month
- Gasoline: $165 for one car (I commute 20 miles per day)
- Cell phone: $50
- Gifts: $100
- Spending money: $45 per week ($5 on each day, M-F, and $10 each Sat/Sun).

My biggest variations are on gas (some months I spend only $130) and spending money (any day when I don't spend the daily allocation, I take it out of my wallet and stash it in a "unspent cash" envelope. So, if I DO have an unexpected (but reasonable) later in the month, I have some slack and cash to use.

I like the daily cash method, because it MAKES me ration my spending. I simply CANNOT buy both coffee and lunch out in one day on $5, unless I eat at McDonald's. So it forces me to CHOOSE one or the other.

If I carried all $45 in my wallet for the week? It would be gone by Wednesday.

So, for you, it might be a combo of making a separate budget for gas and drugstore necessities, as well as limiting the cash you have with you each day.

Sandi

**sandrark** · 02-01-2010, 05:20 PM

OK, to break down your monthly numbers as posted, plus $45 per week (4.4 weeks per month) for "cash", we have:

Income: 1,000 per month

Groceries 100
Contacts/Personal Care 25
Credit card 460
Insurance 100 until June ($50 per month after?)
Savings 225
Cash for spending 200
Laundry 40

Total: $1150 per month.

So, yes, your budget is unrealistic, and doesn't balance. You have some easy choices.

1) Reduce your debt repayment by some amount.
2) Reduce your savings amount by some amount.
3) Some combo of both.

Personally, I'd do 3. If you reduce each category, you can still accelerate the debt payoff while building savings. I'd recommend paying $385 per month on the card, and dropping savings to $150 per month. That brings the budget totals to $1000.

Once your car insurance is paid in June, your insurance payout each month drops by $50. I'd add that $50 savings onto the Credit Card payment, until paid off, and then use the $50 from insurance and $385 from the Credit Card payment to bulk up savings by $435 each month after July. By December, you'd have $2175 in savings (From Aug-Dec) plus the $150 per month already saved in Feb-July). That would be $3075 in savings by December, and a paid off credit card probably one month later than originally planned.

Sandi

**kork13** · 02-01-2010, 05:24 PM

Originally posted by misscity View Post

After all my fixed bills money is set aside

This is the first thing that pops out at me. What exactly are your "fixed bills"? Alot of times things are called "fixed bills" that really aren't "fixed". Cable TV, gym memberships, subscription services, and so on aren't fixed. If you've got anything like this, you need to trim them down. So forget classifying your expenses as fixed or variable -- call them what they are. Rent: $X. Debt payments: $X. Utilities, Insurance, Auto, Food, Savings, and so on. Building an actual budget like this will help you alot, because you'll be able to see exactly where your money is going.

Originally posted by misscity View Post

$40 toward laundry

$40 every month?? I would believe maybe $10/mo for dry-cleaning a few items, but $40 is ALOT. Are you doing your own laundry, or sending it to a laundry service? Or if that's all for dry-cleaning, you're probably dry-cleaning your clothes too often (causing it to wear out faster). In any case, I'm certain you could trim this down by at least $20, or probably $30. If you have a washer/dryer in your home, you shouldn't spend more than $2-$3/mo for a big box of detergent and some dryer sheets.

**misscity** · 02-01-2010, 06:28 PM

hello everyone, thanks for the great suggestions.

I LIKE the idea of have X amount of money per day..like the $5 thing. Something I will consider implementing.

I will think about bringing down the savings and credit card payments but I'm so DETERMINED to pay this off ASAP. Once I get an idea in my head, I won't stop until its achieved. Its my only other option unless I want to continue counting pennies.

I spend on average $10 a week on laundry that I do myself at the laundry mat. That's a high estimate, usually it could be $6 but sometimes I have alot of towels or sheets blankets etc. There could be cheaper laundromats somewhere but I live on the a 5th floor walk up building and can lug all of my laundry so far so I deal with going to the one a block away.

**swanson719** · 02-02-2010, 06:34 AM

I think you have an income problem, not a budget problem. At $1000 a month, that means you make minimum wage, if you work 40 hour weeks. Why can't you pick up an extra job delivering pizza's? Or working at a restaurant? Even if you get paid minimum wage there and work 20 hours a week, that's still an extra $100+ a week net.

What's your education situation? Are you in school? Have you considered relocating to a place with more/better jobs? I live near Kansas City and not a day goes by that I don't see help wanted adds in windows, which leads me to believe other urban areas not dependent on the auto industry have to be the same way.

There are jobs to be had, don't get discouraged if you don't find one in a week. People say "bad economy, bad economy, bad economy" and get the idea there is no point in looking anymore. Even if you do just one application a day, every day, that's better than nothing. Something will eventually turn up.

**wincrasher** · 02-02-2010, 08:13 AM

For budgeting, I would not average 4.4 weeks per month.

You need to figure every third month is a 5 week month, the rest 4 week months.

You definately have an income problem and are way below poverty level. There may be some programs to help you that you should look into.

**Joan.of.the.Arch** · 02-02-2010, 09:10 AM

I think there has been a misunderstanding. Misscity says she has $1000 per month after paying what she considers her fixed expenses. She does not say what those fixed expenses are or how much she is paying for them.

**feh** · 02-02-2010, 10:00 AM

I second what kork says above - review what you consider "fixed". Perhaps things like cable/internet/phone can be eliminated or scaled back?

Other than that, I suggest you cut yourself some slack. $60 a week for groceries and incidentals is a very low number.

**jIM_Ohio** · 02-02-2010, 11:14 AM

I would organize money like this

get paycheck
put 20% to savings (retirement or other)
then pay taxes and bills on 80% of gross.

If personal care items are cramping the spending patterns, look to control this by buying them 1-2X per month and buying them in bulk, if possible. Lumping money for contact solutions with beer money is not a good recipe for success, so most likely the problem is deeper (like the budget you have is not correct) rather than how long $60 lasts.

If you have discipline, you can live without cash... I probably have not had any cash in my wallet in close to 6-12 months. Seriously- I have a credit card, use that for 100% of what I need, and we pay that off every month.

**misscity** · 02-02-2010, 04:23 PM

hi everyone-

I do not have an income problem! I have $1k left after my living expenses. My question was about how to handle weekly spending money. I wanted to get some ideas on what other people are doing. I don't need advice on my fixed expenses or anything else as I am happy with the way that is going

Just weekly spending. It's probably my fault for even breaking down how I spend my extra $1,000 a month. I'm just trying to figure out how to handle daily spending.

That said, $60 a week IS pretty low WITH groceries. So i'll put aside separate money for groceries and divvy up the $60 per day like someone above said. Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

**Joan.of.the.Arch** · 02-03-2010, 07:31 AM

I find it curious that you seem to not consider food a fixed expense or a living expense. You use "leftover" money to buy your daily sustenance. If telling yourself you have $8 to spend works better than telling yourself you have $60 per week, then you were probably looking for some means of self-discipline, impulse control. That is as much a psychological question as a financial one.

Another common "trick" often mentioned on this forum is to have "no spend days," days when no matter what you just vow to buy nothing, whether you deem it a necessary purchase or not.

**TMBGfan** · 02-04-2010, 03:16 AM

Try putting as many items as possible on a debit card, that way you can track where the money is being spent much easier. Personal finance software tools can do all the maths for you, bypassing the need for a spreadsheet. Something like Mint.com in the US or Money Dashboard in the UK.

**Mike75** · 02-06-2010, 04:15 AM

$60 per week is not an impossible amount to live on. All you need is to roll your sleeves up and get your hands dirty into financial management. Go ahead and cut down on extras and look for cheaper alternatives of things.

**jIM_Ohio** · 02-06-2010, 08:21 AM

Originally posted by misscity View Post

hi everyone-

I do not have an income problem! I have $1k left after my living expenses. My question was about how to handle weekly spending money. I wanted to get some ideas on what other people are doing. I don't need advice on my fixed expenses or anything else as I am happy with the way that is going Just weekly spending. It's probably my fault for even breaking down how I spend my extra $1,000 a month. I'm just trying to figure out how to handle daily spending.

That said, $60 a week IS pretty low WITH groceries. So i'll put aside separate money for groceries and divvy up the $60 per day like someone above said. Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

I focus on seeing this

this includes groceries, cash, going out, drinks/coffee, random item like lotion or contact solution or any other personal care item that pops up. All of these expenses are to come from the weekly $60. I get paid on the 15th and 30th. On those dates I deposit $120 into my spending checking account. On Fridays I take out $60 for the week.

I'm beginning to realize that living off of $60 a week is almost impossible. I spend on average $25 a week on groceries, and the rest gets sucked up by Tuesday/Wednesday and miscellaneous this and that (necessary spending, not shopping or getting wasteful items).

and have two suggestions

1) if you "think" you have $1000 extra per month, then set that $1000 aside as soon as you get paid. Put the money into an account without debt or atm card access (you can set accounts up to be atm deposit only at many banks).

Then continue doing what you do and see if the $1000 you think you have and what reality really is match up. Might be you need $200 of that to live off of, and $800 can be applied to debt or savings... or something different.

2) I have an issue with "how" you budgeted some essential living needs (like contact lens solution) with beer money. How both fall under the $60/week discretionary spending is what I think is the root of the problem. Meaning budget better, and I think problem goes away.

What I mean by budget better, is when you go grocery shopping, can you add the contact solution to the grocery budget? If so, that $60 week now does not cover "needs". So the $60 now goes farther.

Problems managing weekly budget money