Beekissed
Mountain Sage
B
Poll (just curious): do you save, budget, or just hope?
- Thread starter patandchickens
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Shiloh Acres
Lovin' The Homestead
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Not sure where this would fall - probably D.
I will go round with myself for months if I really NEED it. It's amazing what you can do without. In the meantime, I will often find whatever it is for free on CL, or much cheaper there, or someone will be giving one away.
With that said, when I DO spend money, it's usually a matter of knowing I have that little bit left over and making sure I don't spend it on anything else.
Mostly I spend money on utilities, stocking up on food items when they are super-cheap, and buying animal feed. So I don't really need a big budget.
As far as major emergencies, I put aside every bit I can and "hide" it from myself, and pray I have enough to cover whatever happens.
My big splurges are occasional half-price ice cream or a little trinket from an out of the way secondhand shop. I love to look but I had to get rid of so much "junk" each time I moved that I realized I don't need "stuff" anymore.
Case in point for what you can do without - my living room is currently furnished with a few bookshelves, a cat tree, and a dog crate. Nothing else. Company will have to sit in the dining room. I relax in my bedroom. My dog loves the big play space. Sooner or later I'll find a decent couch for free or cheap enough.
I will go round with myself for months if I really NEED it. It's amazing what you can do without. In the meantime, I will often find whatever it is for free on CL, or much cheaper there, or someone will be giving one away.
With that said, when I DO spend money, it's usually a matter of knowing I have that little bit left over and making sure I don't spend it on anything else.
Mostly I spend money on utilities, stocking up on food items when they are super-cheap, and buying animal feed. So I don't really need a big budget.
As far as major emergencies, I put aside every bit I can and "hide" it from myself, and pray I have enough to cover whatever happens.
My big splurges are occasional half-price ice cream or a little trinket from an out of the way secondhand shop. I love to look but I had to get rid of so much "junk" each time I moved that I realized I don't need "stuff" anymore.
Case in point for what you can do without - my living room is currently furnished with a few bookshelves, a cat tree, and a dog crate. Nothing else. Company will have to sit in the dining room. I relax in my bedroom. My dog loves the big play space. Sooner or later I'll find a decent couch for free or cheap enough.
keljonma
Epicurean Goddess
A & B for us.
Wannabefree
Little Miss Sunshine
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A!!!! No B's in this house! Or C's or D's or any other letter!! STRICTLY A! I get on my own nerves sometimes...but it's what is right, so I do it. I do have savings earmarked for sales though, that way if IT is on sale and I don't quite have enough saved...I can dip, but ONLY for a sale, and generally a deep discount. I want to be debt free sometime this decade
LetsBeSelfSufficient
Enjoys Recycling
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I keep track of my spending on a google docs spreadsheet. It's really important for me to know how much I saved, since I get furloughed every summer and need to plan for making zilch two months out of the year.
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
B! 
For large purchases(vehicles, vacations, etc.), I wait until I get my income tax and earmark it for that purpose.
For large purchases(vehicles, vacations, etc.), I wait until I get my income tax and earmark it for that purpose.
rhoda_bruce
Almost Self-Reliant
What I do might be A.
I'm not sure. I do a lot of financial tricks when you look at the big pic.
What I am mainly thinking now, is how I handle my checking acct. I write in my and my husbands deposits, forgetting the cents behind the decimal point, then a lot of times when I need to subtract, I subtract to the next highest whole number and when I add, its to the whole number, forgetting the cents.
I pay all my bills when we get our checks in and leave just enough for us to live for 2 weeks.....hopefully and before I start spending, I subtract a fake service charge of whatever I think I can do without, so that my acct stays safe.....therefore I never really know exactly what money I have in my acct, but I know I have at least what is showing plus several hundred dollars. Then in November I sometimes go a few days without doing anything and discover my true balance and then buy Christmas presents.
I also don't claim any dependants on my W4s and claim to be single and so does hubby. Then we file married with 5 dependant children, so we get a pretty return and clean house.
I'm not sure. I do a lot of financial tricks when you look at the big pic.
What I am mainly thinking now, is how I handle my checking acct. I write in my and my husbands deposits, forgetting the cents behind the decimal point, then a lot of times when I need to subtract, I subtract to the next highest whole number and when I add, its to the whole number, forgetting the cents.
I pay all my bills when we get our checks in and leave just enough for us to live for 2 weeks.....hopefully and before I start spending, I subtract a fake service charge of whatever I think I can do without, so that my acct stays safe.....therefore I never really know exactly what money I have in my acct, but I know I have at least what is showing plus several hundred dollars. Then in November I sometimes go a few days without doing anything and discover my true balance and then buy Christmas presents.
I also don't claim any dependants on my W4s and claim to be single and so does hubby. Then we file married with 5 dependant children, so we get a pretty return and clean house.
colowyo0809
Lovin' The Homestead
we do a bit of all three
I worked up a budget (and then had to redo it when we both got raises )
I make sure that each paycheck we both know what bills are being paid with that money and I mark it down on the excell spreadsheet plus in the ledger books that I have for each of us.
We also save. I currently have three savings accounts in addition to my checking account. One is a general, all purpose tye, one is for propane and one is for the chickens. I suppose I need another for starting to save for sheep/goats, and then one for pigs, and one for the wedding/commitment ceremony when that happens, and one for ......., plus we each have a 401(k). I have 10% of my paycheck going straight to that.
We also do a bit of hope. Life used to be alot of hope, before we each individually filed for bankruptcy. between the medical bills I had and the ones he had we were drowning in debt, individually and together. the nice thing is, is that bankruptcy ruins your credit for like 7-10 years. I would highly suggest that if you are drowning, try bankruptcy. some days its very tempting to try and get a loan for this, that, or the other, or to apply for a credit card (again) but knowing that we won't be approved anyways helps keep that down and forces us to save for what we need. there are things we want, but really, the only things we need are good food, clean air, good water, decent shelter and each other. everything else can be adjusted for
I worked up a budget (and then had to redo it when we both got raises
)I make sure that each paycheck we both know what bills are being paid with that money and I mark it down on the excell spreadsheet plus in the ledger books that I have for each of us.
We also save. I currently have three savings accounts in addition to my checking account. One is a general, all purpose tye, one is for propane and one is for the chickens. I suppose I need another for starting to save for sheep/goats, and then one for pigs, and one for the wedding/commitment ceremony when that happens, and one for ......., plus we each have a 401(k). I have 10% of my paycheck going straight to that.
We also do a bit of hope. Life used to be alot of hope, before we each individually filed for bankruptcy. between the medical bills I had and the ones he had we were drowning in debt, individually and together. the nice thing is, is that bankruptcy ruins your credit for like 7-10 years. I would highly suggest that if you are drowning, try bankruptcy. some days its very tempting to try and get a loan for this, that, or the other, or to apply for a credit card (again) but knowing that we won't be approved anyways helps keep that down and forces us to save for what we need. there are things we want, but really, the only things we need are good food, clean air, good water, decent shelter and each other. everything else can be adjusted for
