One Million and Beyond

Weekly Budget - Week 9 (July 21-27)

July 24th, 2008

This week is actually going to be very similar to last week when it comes to the spending. I think I’ve managed to find myself a bit of a groove when it comes to the spending. I believe that I still need to refine the numbers a bit. I now have a good understanding of how I spend my money and where its going from week to week. Here are this week’s budget numbers:

For example a few changes this week include lowering the eating out budget since I know I’ll be bringing my lunch or eating at home. I do plan on having lunch out once or twice just to break the monotony which is why the amount is at $15. I’ve also been making a more concerted effort to reduce my drinking even further and the $20 will more than cover me this week (though we do have guests coming on the weekend).

The only real change for this week is that I’m expecting to fill the car up with gas – this is mostly because gas is a bit cheaper and I’m expecting a bit of driving this week and a bit next week. This amount will also ensure that I don’t need to fill up next week.

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Week 7 Budget Assessment

July 15th, 2008

This is the first week that I’ve managed to stay under budget for the week. I’m very happy about this even though I might not have hit my targets in each category. I know that when it comes to the weekly budgets there will be some give and take in each category but as long as my overall budget is met for the week than I’ve been successful. Below are my budget numbers for the past week:

I managed to spend considerably less in the food category which is really what brought be under budget. My better half took care of a significant portion of the food this past week but I think this will start to go back to normal where I spend more than I have been. I ended up spending a fair bit more when it comes to gas but thankfully I’ll be getting some reimbursement money for this.

I’ve gotten comments in the past about spending a lot on smokes, unfortunately they’re very expensive where I live and I’m still trying to find the right amount to budget for them. I’m also starting to think about setting a quit date towards the end of the summer. I did want to bring the alcohol spending down first which I’m fairly happy with since I’m spending considerably less than I was in the past. Once I’m happy that this is completely under control the next vice to tackle will be the smoking. If I can virtually eliminate these two line items I’ll really bring my budget into line and I might start making some headway with my overall finances. I’m looking forward to this. I have also made some movements to bringing in more money, hopefully everything goes according to plan and I’ll be where I need to be.

Posted in Budgeting and Planning | 2 Comments

Weekly Budget - Week 8 (July 14-20)

July 14th, 2008

This week’s budget is going to be a bit tighter than the previous few mostly because I’m out of money and I have to be really right with my money. Hopefully an expense cheque comes in this week and I’ll be able to balance things out a bit more. Regardless I need to start tightening my belt financially until more money starts to pour in. I’ve been getting better at this budgeting thing and I think that I’ll be able to manage things better going forward. The past few weeks have been a bit of a bouncy ride but last week was the first time I was under budget overall which is great.

I’ve lowered a few line items from last week to this week and hopefully I’ll be able to keep myself in check. Here are this week’s budget numbers:

The biggest drops from last week to this week are food and primarily gas. I don’t have a lot of traveling around to do so I’m not planning on putting much gas into the car. I’ve noticed that I’ve been spending less money on food so it makes sense to drop this back to previous numbers. Hopefully everything will work out nicely and I’ll be able to stay within the $250 that I’m budgeting for this week. Wish me luck!

Note: Last weeks budget assessment will be posted early tomorrow morning.

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Do you complain about your problems?

July 8th, 2008

The funny thing is that the real answer to that question is yes, we all complain about our problems at one point or another. That doesn’t make us bad people nor does it mean we aren’t good in some way. The real key is what we do after we realize that the problem exists. Do you complain about it or do you do something about it?

Complaining doesn’t get you anything and it doesn’t even help you feel any better. I have noticed lately that I have been complaining a lot more about my monetary situation. The truth is it sucks. I have tried to tighten my belt but it has only worked so far the reality is that I don’t make enough money to cover my bills let alone my all of my expenses. I would have been able to float along in this situation for a few more months before it started having a very negative impact on my life.

Yes I complained about it, I am human, but complaining doesn’t help me at all. I have started controlling my spending more than I ever have which makes for a good starting point but it won’t be enough. Now it’s time to change the scenario before any damage is done. I have started looking for other work which will pay me more. This won’t be a complete fix for my financial situation but it will prevent me from slowly slipping any further.

Some of you might ask: why did it ever get to this point? The truth of the matter is I like the job I’m at unfortunately the financial setup which made sense at the time no longer does and I spent some time trying to delude myself that it did. The problem has been identified and will now be fixed (hopefully without too much pain). When I started this blog I was making $75,000 per year and right now I’m blow half of that so a different job will have an impact.

I have also been looking at the role that my own personal fears have had in getting into this situation. Fear of change, fear of confrontation, fear of the unknown. They’ve all played a part in this and I think its time to finally address all of these ghosts. Ten years ago I wasn’t afraid of my actions I was just financially stupid – now fear controls more than it ever should. I want to write more about these fears later since I think a lot of people get into situations where their fears end up controlling them.

Step 1 - Stop complaining
Step 2 - Identify the problem
Step 3 - Take steps to fix the problem.

I’ll keep you all posted on the progress; in the meantime cutting costs will continue as will most activities that can improve the situation (alas the new Porsche will have to wait).

Posted in Financial Situation | 2 Comments

Weekly Budget - Week 7 (July 7 - 13)

July 7th, 2008

I’m actually surprised how long it’s taken to get everything back into a state of being somewhat organized and back to normal. I never thought the move would have been so disruptive to my day to day life even a week after move day! I have been diligently keeping receipts but I haven’t been keeping as close tabs online. This is a new week with a new budget which means I restart everything and get back on track.

I’ve adjusted a few numbers this week though overall it’s pretty similar to the past couple weeks. I am expecting that most categories will be about the same with the exception being that I am expecting more in gas costs this week due to some work travel. I am expecting to get reimbursed for my travel this week which should be nice. This week’s budget is as follows:

I think these numbers are quite realistic and I am planning on reviewing my past budgets and where I have deviated from the budget in an effort to get a string of solid attainable budgets going.

Posted in Budgeting and Planning | 2 Comments

Week 5 Budget Assessment

July 3rd, 2008

When I came up with last week’s budget I was worried that I might not meet it. There were a lot of potential unknown expenses that could have thrown it completely out of whack and that is exactly what happened. I allocated an additional amount of money into the miscellaneous category and a lot more into food in hopes of balancing things out.

But when it came down to it I was completely off. First off I ended up not paying for food last week; my wife took care of that. To balance that aspect out I ended up paying for a lot more of the miscellaneous things that we needed at the new house and unfortunately there is a big difference going from a condo to a house when it comes to what you need on hand.

The miscellaneous category for me holds things that I simply don’t purchase on a regular basis and this past week there was a great deal of those. From renting steam cleaners to extension cords all these small purchases added up significantly.

Another aspect that I thought I had covered off sufficiently was gas but a business trip that I’m still waiting to be reimbursed for drove that number up. Overall I’m quite happy with the results because I came close to the total budget for the week. I was projecting spending about $550 in total and when the dust settled I spent $570.91 which is a difference of $20.91 (or about 3.8%).

Now that the move is taken care of regular budgeting should become easier again. I really need to get this budget tighter and more on the frugal side. I still need to find a means of making more money and to that end I think I’m going to need to start looking for more work or better paying work. This week’s budget will be a test to see if I really can get things back under control.

Thank you again to all of the readers who participated in my contest. I was really hoping that I could have stayed but the experiment was well worth it in my opinion. I’ll write about my experiences and thoughts on it tomorrow.

Posted in Budgeting and Planning | 2 Comments

Contest Winner #4

July 2nd, 2008

Although I was close to making the totals for this past weeks budget I didn’t come close enough to actually making it. To top everything off there were a couple categories that I completely missed so this weeks winner is:

Bluntmoney!

Congratulations and thank you to everyone for participating. Although I’m not going to continue the weekly contest I am going to continue the weekly budgets and weekly tracking. Motivating myself this way has really helped me bring some perspective to my spending and over the next week or two I hope to bring my budgets completely under control.

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Weekly Budget - Week 6 (June 30 - July 6)

July 2nd, 2008

This week’s budget is a bit on the late side because of all of the house stuff that’s been taking up my time. I’ve also finally tallied up the amount of spending for the last week and I missed a couple categories but overall I came pretty close with my estimation (I’ll be posting about this later today). This week is a bit hectic like last week in that there are a lot of things that need to be done around the house. A semblance of order is slowly coming back but it’s not quite there yet.

Spending this week should be more in line with what I’m used to and this week’s budget is going to reflect this. We’re still trying to figure out where the best places to shop are as well as getting the small miscellaneous things that we need around the house. I expect that next week everything will have settled a bit more and we’ll have a much better sense of what the new budget will be. Here are week 6’s budget numbers:

I’ve left the alcohol number relatively high since there’s a holiday involved and its really nice to have a couple beers after a day of construction, painting and packing. I’ve also left eating out for lunch high because we’re not quite settled in the kitchen so making lunches isn’t the easiest thing to do just yet. The Food amount stays the same though I highly doubt we’ll be anywhere close to this (I’m being cautious as we figure out the best stores to shop at). Miscellaneous items are set at $75 and that’s mostly because I expect we’ll have forgotten something or other as we work around the house. I hope that this number will be a lot lower. Finally the transportation amount is high this week because of the monthly parking fees at the office along with paying for street parking – next week I’ll be purchasing a sticker for 6 months of street parking to really reduce this amount.

Contest Note – I missed my final budget of the contest and I’ll be making the announcement about the winner later tonight. Thank you to all who have followed along – I came close to meeting my budgets but it seems that I still need some work at this. I’ll post an overall assessment of how I did on Friday.

Posted in Budgeting and Planning, Monthly Planning | 1 Comment

Completed Move

June 27th, 2008

Moving is one of those tasks that really makes you realize just how much stuff you’ve managed to collect over the years. Our move into our new house is now finally complete though the work is very very far from being completed. We managed to throw out a great deal of stuff prior to the move and even then when it came time for the move the amount of stuff was still overwhelming.

Aside from the insane property management company at our old condo complex everything went smoothly with only one piece of furniture getting damaged. All in all I have to say I’m quite happy with the results. I think the new place will be a very good one for a few years at least. Hopefully the financial situation will be better next time around so we can hire movers (I think I’m going to be sore for a while thanks to this move).

Regular posting should now return as should – assuming that internet is set up.

Posted in News/Misc | 2 Comments

Contest Winner #3

June 24th, 2008

It was another close week and if it wasn’t for all the driving around for the new house I would have been under budget (overall though I would have missed the contest). Either way I missed out on the contest and based on the random draw the winner this week is Msminiducky.

Don’t forget to enter the contest this week since with all of the new house stuff there’s a good chance I’ll miss this week’s contest.

Posted in News/Misc | 4 Comments

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