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.

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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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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.

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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.

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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.

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Weekly Budget - Week 5 (June 23-29)

June 22nd, 2008

This week’s budget is going to be rather difficult for me since we took possession of our house this past week and there’s a lot of work happening between our two houses. It also means that our regular flow of day to day life is completely unbalanced. For example we won’t be spending very much on groceries this week and we won’t be cooking at home very much but we’ll need to eat out instead. Also due to the turmoil things like preparing lunches will be a bit more of a challenge. The net result is that there will be a lot more spending than normal.

Here are my projected budget numbers for the week:

I’m confident that my numbers are reflective of what will happen this week but I’m also conscious of the fact that there’s a good chance I won’t meet my budget numbers this week. Hopefully I’ve learned enough about my spending habits to adjust to turmoil without too much unnecessary overspending. I’m also hoping that I’ve left enough to account for the necessary spending due to the move. Wish me luck!

Contest update: I again missed my budget amounts as you can see in the updated section in the top right. I’ll post my assessment tomorrow and announce a winner tomorrow night (though it might be late depending on painting at the new house). Leave a comment on this post for an extra chance to win!

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Making Changes to Meet Your Budget

June 19th, 2008

Realistically making a budget is easy, all you do is put a bunch of numbers on a piece of paper or a spreadsheet. Even making an accurate and well thought out budget isn’t all that difficult. The problems arise when you need to make that budget work. Sticking to a budget can be really hard especially if you’re just starting to budget.

To make a budget work you need to stay within the allotted amounts and sometimes to achieve this you need to make some changes in how you spend your money. Each week will be different with different pressures and needs to spend money. Last week was a perfect example for me (and I apologize if the choice of expense isn’t ideal its to prove a point).

Each week I allocate $25 for spending on smokes (they’re expensive in Canada) and this amounts to three small packs for me which is more than sufficient. Unfortunately not everyone sells them at the low rate I’m used to. Buying them by the office means I’m paying a premium. I ended up buying them twice by the office and I was about to run out again. The crux of the matter came that if I bought my usual pack at the lower rate I’d go over budget for the week.

Rather than spending the extra money (and going $0.61 over budget for that category) I made a change to make sure I met my budget, I bought a discount brand to keep the numbers in line. I changed how I spend my money to make sure that I didn’t go over budget.You need to do this all the time in order to make our finances work, especially if there’s little flexibility in our budgets.

I’m looking forward to the day when I can take that line out of my budget (Smokes) but for the time being trying to reduce the monetary impact is a starting point. I’m trying to do this with each category in my weekly budgets and so far I’m starting to see the impact of planning ahead and adjusting my spending to meet my budget.

Posted in Budgeting and Planning, Financial Situation | 2 Comments

Week 3 Budget Assessment

June 16th, 2008

Last weeks budget was aggressive and completely achievable in my opinion and the results help prove this. I missed my targets in two categories and both could possibly have been kept within their targets. Here are this week’s numbers:

The two categories that I missed were food and gas; one has a good explanation and the other was purchasing some additional food for this upcoming week. The price of gas has been slowly climbing and I haven’t been driving very much to compensate. This week was father’s day and we hadn’t seen my parents for a while so we went out to see them. Rather than hoping the remaining $15 in my budget would cover gas for the drive I decided to suck it up and fill up. I was completely floored by the fact that gas cost me almost $70 to fill up! On a positive note I won’t need to fill up at all this week.

On the food front again we spent a bit more on food partly because we were making fathers day dinner for one of the dads. But with all that said the allocated amount could have been kept in check. I think with some smart planning and budgeting the grocery store purchases can be brought into check quite easily.

Other than these two items I’m very happy with this past week. All of the other categories were below what I was expecting to spend. I also went out of my way to make sure some of the categories were below their numbers rather than above them. I wanted to write a post about this later in the week.

Finally the cost of gas and trying to control cash flow has made me ponder getting a smaller car. I don’t drive a lot but the fuel efficiency is something I’m sure to notice not to mention insurance prices on smaller cars aren’t as high as SUVs. I’m still pondering the idea and don’t want to make a hasty decision though if gas prices keep going up I’m sure I won’t be the only person thinking about downsizing their car.

Posted in Budgeting and Planning, Monthly Planning | 2 Comments

Weekly Budget - Week 4 (June 16 - 22)

June 15th, 2008

Last week’s budget was so close only a decision to fill up my gas tank and a couple extra purchases at the grocery store made the difference. I believe that I’m getting on track with the budgeting and this week’s budget will be very similar to last weeks in the amounts allocated to spending.

The changes for this week’s budget include raising the food budget back up to $100 since it seems that this is an average that I seem to spend. I know that with some effort I can reduce this; I’ve been paying attention to my spending in detail for 3 weeks now and with some planning this number can be reduced. The other change for this week is reducing the gas costs to 0. I filled up over the weekend and I should be fine for not spending any money on gas this week. Otherwise I believe all of the items are now in check and allocated for.

An assessment for this week’s budget will be posted tomorrow and I’m quite happy with the results I’m seeing. I have a few observations that I want to share.

Contest Update – To get an extra entry in this weeks budget giveaway leave a comment on this post. I missed my budget by a whole 5 cents this past week so hopefully I’ll make this one. The contest giveaway will occur tomorrow evening.

Posted in Budgeting and Planning | 11 Comments

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