Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Turning a new leaf: Spending Diet!

Have you heard of the Spending Diet ? I LOVE And Then We Saved. It is a great website with tons of fascinating tips on daily life. Love it.
I committed personally to a Spending Diet.
Here is my budget. Everything is biweekly since that is how often I am paid. So this is what I "can" spend biweekly. All the rest goes into savings.
From my gross amount, my health insurance, FICA, SSA, and retirement amounts are taken. I base mine off of my net amount.
I decided that this is reasonable for my lifestyle.
80/gas (a bit flexible with the fluctuations in pricing)
100/food
65/Shakeology (seriously helps with my general health, well being, cravings and sanity so it is worth the cost)
50/car insurance
100/play.
This is probably more lenient than a lot of other people but I am only saving. I have no living expenses except food. Gas is a requirement for me because taking a 4 hour bus ride (2 hours there and 2 hours back) inhibits my life too significantly. I could ride the bus, but the time-cost analysis leads me to a 45 minute commute is well worth paying my own gas. As far as I know, I am not able to commute in a ride-share or drive with someone else. Hopefully, down the line, I will move closer to my job (or get a job closer to me or work from home).
I am currently doing #21DayFix but I also have #P90X and #Insanity that I can do if I get bored.
In my food column, it is needs only. My favorite water (La Croix!!!) is not a need, but a want so it comes out of my play money and I only buy it when it is on sale. Food needs are fruits, veggies, meats. That's it really. I focus on eating healthy and living healthy. I have found that I am a LOT happier when I am not binging, eating junk or tons of candy (my weakness is Cry baby tears - I can eat those til the cows come home).
But that is my basic budget. The rest of my money is going STRAIGHT to savings. I can use savings for gifts or genuine needs. I have a little bit of money in each of my accounts in case of emergency (like 50 extra in each of my checking accounts). My goal is to save up enough to be able to take 2-3 weeks to go to Malawi next year! EEEH!

No comments:

Post a Comment