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Not Enough....

August 1st, 2010 at 12:08 am

I budgeted $50 this week for spending money. It turns out that that is not enough for a week...heck, even for the weekend. By the time I purchased cat food, dog food, milk and other necessities(I got a receipt for each purchase but still can't believe how it all added up so quickly) the money is gone! I guess that $50 is not a realistic number. Perhaps I need to budget for household expenses and spending money seperately. Not sure how to do that since I am so strapped anyway. I did submit the advanced earned income credit form to the payroll department so hopefully that should add some money to my check. How much remains to be seen.

I faxed in the automatic debit form to Sallie Mae yesterday. Hopefully they will process it shortly. It will bring my account current and stop all collection activities. As long as I make a couple of payments than I can cancel it. I will hopefully be back in school by then and the loans will go into forebearance. Since I don't know when the first payment will be deducted, I asked my mom for the $240 to cover it. She said that was fine.

We did a fundraiser this morning for cheerleading. We "stood on the corner and begged for money". Were were there about 3 hours and made $262 or $52 per cheerleader. Not bad. Could have stayed longer but it was so dang hot! Next time we will plan it for the fall when we can stay longer. With this money though and the money from my sisters, the amount due on August 15 is covered.

Posted in Misc Thoughts and Updates | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Not Enough....”

  1. whitestripe Says:
    August 1st, 2010 at 12:19 am 1280621962
    1280621962

    DF and I have allocated amounts for different things, for us 'spending money' is what we have to spend on whatever we want without question (usually $60-$80 a week each, or 10% of our takehome pay). We have budgetted amounts for petrol and groceries and the like.

  2. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    August 1st, 2010 at 01:17 am 1280625437
    1280625437

    I was surprised to see you use the term "spending money" for necessities and obligations. To me spending money means money you get to spend on non-necessities, things just to make you and your family happy.

    But it won't make you have any more money for those necessary things just to call it something else. It does sound like you might need to plan out a more detailed budget if you are surprised to find you don't have enough money for the things you need. The plan should be based on what the things you need really do cost. If more counting up of what you actually do spend on needs can help you to plan your money spending better, then for sure, go for it.

  3. creditcardfree Says:
    August 1st, 2010 at 02:55 pm 1280674500
    1280674500

    Do you save receipts? If you do, could you go through a few months worth and see what you have actually spent on needs and wants. If not, start this going forward, so that you know how often you buy toilet paper and how much it costs.

    I hope the advanced eitc works out for you!

  4. Jerry Says:
    August 2nd, 2010 at 12:50 pm 1280753406
    1280753406

    I agree with Joan... what types of purchases does "spending money" lead to in your budget? Also, unless you are buying dog and cat food every single week then it would not make sense to have those items in the budget that often, right? There are some expenses that come around regularly (rent/mortgage, insurance, utilities) and others that can fluctuate. I think that a more detailed budget might make more sense, as well. Glad that the cheerleading funds helped out for the kids!
    Jerry

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