Comments on: A Budget by Any Other Name

By: Canadian Personal Finance Blog » Blog Archive » Random Thoughts: For a Parasitic Website

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:52:01 +0000

[...] blog has had a face lift and looks quite new and exciting but in it she brings up an old topic A Budget By Any Other Name. This site could use some sprucing up too, maybe I’ll put up some [...]

By: moneymagnet

moneymagnet — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:17:54 +0000

@ Jan
Read the All or Nothing post – that will give you an eye-opener. A budget is a fluid exercise, it changes based on circumstances. Start by tracking your spending to get a better idea of where you spend your money – families with teenagers will probably allot more to groceries than a single income or couple with no children for example. Don’t have such a tight budget that when something unexpected comes up – you throw your hands up in the air and ‘give up’. It will take some time and patience to see the results. As Gail advocates – allow for ‘planned’ spending as well – be it Christmas gifts, saving for a vacation, emergency fund, or paying down debt. Use the ‘jars’ or if you internet bank – set up different sub-accounts where the money gets transfer automatically to, for example, your ‘retirement account’ or the ‘car maintenance account’. Putting some of the financial chores on auto pilot might also help so that the money actually doesn’t hit your hands. Good luck

By: Jan

Jan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:58:34 +0000

I make really pretty budgets. My problem is that I budget us too closely, and something as simple as $30 can shoot the whole house of cards down. Of course, then we get the crummy attitude of “if we can’t pay it we may as well spend it”. I am the first to admit that the success- or lack of success in our case- of any budget is a positive attitude and a backbone! Any tips on how to grow one for financial purposes?

Love the new site!

By: Risa

Risa — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:29:45 +0000

Lily,
One way to start would be by sitting down and honestly making a budget with Gail’s interactive budget worksheet. And make sure you know how much you are really making each month, those cheques yet to come in. Now, if you really don’t have a month’s (or week’s) worth of money to pull out of the bank for the jars, start just by writing things down for each jar as you spend (I am assuming it’ll have to be on the dreaded credit card), and stop spending once you’ve hit the limit for the week/month in that category. If you are wanting something more concrete, keep “monopoly money” (can be homemade) in the jars to make sure you aren’t spending more than you expect to come in–receipt in means money out. At the end of the month, pay off your credit card so you aren’t going further in debt (make sure you’ve budgeted in interest costs). Now evaluate. Is there a category you can cut back on? Do you simply need to get another job/better-paying job and make more money? Keep going a few months, keeping track of the spending (spend consciously), cutting back where you can, and see how much you really need to live on. Hopefully you are now making some headway on the debt, or at the very least not going further into debt each month. You should get to the point where you are a week ahead and can pull out the real money from your account for the jars. The next step is to figure out how to get debt-free in 3 years or less–poke around the website and see what Gail has to say on the subject. It pretty much comes down to “spend less, and/or make more money!” Hope that helps.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:34:19 +0000

@Lilly~you sound at a loss. I am no expert. There are plenty here at this site who could help you better. Having said that…I’ll give you my two cents worth – perhaps you should start by writing down everything you spend – every penny…and spend less. No eating out, no purchases (I know that is hard with Christmas coming…but perhaps you are crafty and could make presents this year?), could you work more hours to bring in more money? It will be a very slow process and you will still feel overwhelmed, but, hang tough and you will begin to see the light. Hope this helps!Oh…and best of all…watch Gail’s show and come here regularly!

By: chloe

chloe — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:41:49 +0000

Love the new website Gail!

I am a beginning budgeter. We now put money aside for “planned spending”, with an agressive plan to pay off the mortagage. the planned spending inlcudes vacations which really helps me pfigure out what we can afford BEFORE I look on TripAdvisor!

By: Diana

Diana — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:55:45 +0000

Kim, I keep my money in sandwich-sized ziplock bags. They can be tucked into your wallet or purse easily and they can be labelled so you know to which category then money belongs. I also round up/down with my money, to avoid having to split the money into cents (other than loonie/toonies).

By: Lilly

Lilly — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:29:27 +0000

When you are totally behind on bills, and want to start Gails ways, where do you begin, when there’s no money for the jars, until a cheque comes in??

By: Jenn

Jenn — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:50:52 +0000

I used to budget religiously. When I was in school and money was scarce, the only way to manage was to know exactly where everything was going.
When I finished school I stopped the budget, we were so happy to making so much more money that we didn’t see the need (I am a family doctor). What a mistake! It doesn’t matter how much you make, if you aren’t paying attention it is easy to overspead especially when your income varies as mine does and your business and personal finances are mixed and muddled.
We are now back on a budget and things are organized. We know where things are going and have a plan for what we are going to pay off first and what we are saving for. I am also back to my university day frugality…I cook extra and freeze it, we eat at home almost always, we try to keep the family entertainment home based (home popped popcorn is better than the movie theatre!). Both hubby and I are happier and less stressed and I can’t see us going back to the no budget days again.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:57:22 +0000

Love your new site Gail! Will have to mosey around a bit and see what I can find.
Guess we’ll all be changing our budgets soon with the new HST being passed today and effective in July.
I’m a one year budget girl. I’ve always kept track of our money, but, having been Gailvazoxladeized last November (I’m a slow learner I guess), I’m now using my version of the jars, and budgeting well. All my Christmas gifts are purchased – no credit – and now I’ll save for my Christmas special food budget (I’ll be sifting through recipes soon).
In the past 10 months I’ve paid almost $25.000. off on our LOC and have 1 1/2 more months to pay off on it to get to my tally for this year! If I can keep it up, I should be debt free in another year. I’ve also maxed both our TFSA’s. Fingers crossed for continued ‘nose to the grindstone’ mindset! Who knew??????

By: Noel Semple

Noel Semple — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:50:18 +0000

love your show and hate to be a dissenting voice. but we’ve never bothered with a budget. I just make sure that our average savings-per-month are high enough to keep us on track for long-term goals. So long as income minus spending equals a high enough number, who cares how you spend what you do spend?

By: Girl Makes Cents

Girl Makes Cents — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:07:05 +0000

Ooooh very nice site! Is that you trimming the money tree? It’s cute!

I’ve always been careful with my spending, I never really had a budget until recently though. In university I knew I only had a certain amount to make it through the semester and I could not run out. I suppose that was somewhat of a budget. I have also had a credit card since my fourth year of university and have never paid a cent in interest. I knew what was on there and made sure I had enough to cover it when the bill came the next month. I have a variable income, right now I’m trying to stick to a monthly budget, but I may have to switch to where the money will be spent based on my income per paycheque if it doesn’t work out.

By: Stephanie H.

Stephanie H. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:54:48 +0000

First of all I love the new site and I have been enjoying watching new episodes of TDDUP on CNBC!

When I was in college I had a very tight budget, which I tracked closely. I have a budget now that I go over every couple of month. I have an account that I use for all home related expenses. I deposit the same amount every month. Some months I use every penny others I have surplus due to fluctuations in utility bills such as gas and water. The other two dedicated accounts I maintain is my Emergency Fund and the other is for vehicle/transportation costs. My retirement is pulled out of my check before I get it and money automatically transfers to my dedicated accounts when I get paid. The remainder is for my “life” categories. Even though I don’t use a budget binder or sheet I can tell you within a few dollars how much money I have. Every time I work on my budget I also do savings projections to show myself if I stay on track how much money I could have saved for my various goals.

I was just going over all of my accounts recently and have even decided to change from my current bank (unhappy thanks to a merger/buyout) to a credit union. Not only will I be happier and save money but I will also earn interest on my checking account and have increased interest rate on my savings.

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Tweets that mention A Budget by Any Other Name ? gailvazoxlade.com -- Topsy.com — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:39:21 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Travel News Feeds and ExpressAutoElectric, Barry Pettifer. Barry Pettifer said: A Budget by Any Other Name « gailvazoxlade.com http://bit.ly/PcyZu [...]

By: moneymagnet

moneymagnet — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:27:37 +0000

Hi Gail,

Add my name to those who are luvin’ the new website ! I’m a budget gal – funny enough AFTER the mortgage got paid off. I found that once I lost the mortgage payments, I didn’t pay as close attention to where the ‘extra’ money was going and it just seemed to fall through my fingers. So I bucked up and decided to track my spending to see where the pennies were going. The budget is a work-in-progress. I think it could be a little tighter but I have a much better idea where the money is being spent. I need to tweak it a bit to add a bigger category for gifts (both under birthdays and Christmas shopping) as at the end of some months, I’m way over in the ‘gifts’ category.