One Million and Beyond

Weekly Budgeting Helped Me Control My Finances

August 7th, 2008

Saying that weekly budgeting has helped me control my finances is a pretty bold statement but it’s true. As my regular readers have seen over the past month and a bit about the only thing that has really remained on my site while I’ve become busy is my weekly budget. Even that has been tough to maintain at times but I’ve stuck to it. I’ve always had difficulty budgeting my money and the net result has been that I’ve ended up living way beyond my means. Thankfully this is no longer the case. Granted I’m by no means in great shape but I am now living within my means and these weekly budget I’ve been posting have helped me tremendously.

Budgeting can be hard

For the uninitiated or even for the perpetually broke like myself coming up with a budget can be daunting. The worst part is putting everything down on paper isn’t the hard part, it’s the actions required to keep track of everything and get spending under control. By breaking my monthly budget down into smaller chunks I’ve been able to monitor my progress from week to week rather than from month to month. Adjusting my spending and realizing where all of my money goes and more importantly how this impacts my projected budget has been incredibly helpful. Keeping a weekly budget gives you the feedback that you need to control your spending quicker than with a monthly budget and the numbers aren’t as frightening if you’re new to it or daunted by your financial situation.

Starting small and understanding your spending

If you don’t know how you spend your money there is no way for you to cut back and really get a hold of things like credit card debt. This isn’t a problem if you make more money than you know how to spend, unfortunately not too many of us are in this situation. I knew I had issues keeping a monthly budget so I broke it down further to a weekly one. A week is also a great chunk of time since our lives revolve around a weekly schedule. Once I started seeing how I spent my money for a couple weeks I realized where my money was really going (as I missed my actual budgets). Once I was able to understand my actual spending rather than what I thought I was spending I became incredibly conscious of it. At this point I made an effort to change my spending and bring my weekly budget under control.

Part of the Bigger Picture

Now a weekly budget is only a small part of any person’s financial situation but when you realize you’re spending more than you think you are inevitably you end up scrambling to make ends meet. Combining these weekly budgets has let me see progress and along with a monthly budget I’m now in a far better position to make everything line up. It has been a great stepping stone because the feedback cycle is short and you can quickly adjust and see the results. I’m incredibly happy that I switched to this approach for keeping tabs on my spending; it’s been a crucial tool for me getting my financial house at least started down the road to being stable and under complete control.

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Week 10 Budget Assessment

August 6th, 2008

From week to week I try to figure out what will be happening and to budget appropriately keeping my spending in check. But as pretty much everyone knows this doesn’t always work out, stuff happens and we end up spending more money. Now this doesn’t necessarily mean anything bad and this is what happened for me this past week. There was a chance that we would go up to our friend’s cottage and we did. The thing is that I wasn’t planning for this because when I did my budget up the possibility of this seemed low. Here are this week’s numbers:

The impact this weekend had on my budget was pretty significant since I spent about $100 on gas to get up there and back. Overall without the additional spending that occurred for this weekend I would have likely been under budget (I’m estimating about $230). Although this weekend was incredibly expensive from a budget perspective it was very necessary for me. This is the first weekend that we’ve had completely off and it will probably end up being my only vacation this summer.

Although this isn’t a great week budget wise I was fairly happy that if I were to exclude the cost of the weekend I would have been under budget. Even if I had ended up spending a bit more I’m glad that overall I’ve been able to tighten my belt financially. I am starting to feel that my day to day spending has gotten under control and I’ll be able to tighten my belt a bit more to ensure that I’m living below my means rather than above them.

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Weekly Budget - Week 11 (Aug 4 - 10)

August 5th, 2008

This week is going to be a bit of an expensive week for me, it’s the first budget of the month and that means that i have to pay for a bunch of parking fees. It just goes to remind me just how expensive it is to maintain a car. Other than the parking costs this week will be fairly the same as the past few weeks. This week’s budget:

I am going to attempt bringing my lunch all week but I’ve set aside some funds for eating out for lunch just in case. Without the additional parking costs this week’s budget would have been closer to $220 rather than the $410 that is being budgeted.

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Week 9 Budget Assessment

July 31st, 2008

This past week I ended up spending a lot more in what I consider more of the discretionary categories and less in the essential ones. Even before I get to the weekly numbers I spent a lot more on alcohol than I did on food. Now before anyone thinks I have my priorities off kilter there is some method behind the madness. Here are my actual numbers from last week and I’ll explain why they are the way they are:

As I mentioned above the alcohol spending is really high in comparison to the budgeted amount and a category such as food and the reasoning here is simple my wife and I entertained some friends on the weekend. I hadn’t budgeted for it and got some extra wine and some beer. I ended up paying for this and my wife ended up paying for the food which is why my grocery bill is so much lower than it should be. I also spent a lot more on the house this week which explains why the Misc category is higher than I was expecting.

Overall this past week was an amazing success; I managed to exceed my budget even though a couple categories were out of whack. I think I’m really starting to get a solid grip on controlling my day to day spending. The week we’re in right now is my conscious effort to try reducing some of the numbers and see if I can’t get my weekly spending down to about $200, which I think is entirely possible.

I have become incredibly conscious of my spending as a result of posting up these weekly budgets which is why I have been writing and posting them even though I’m not posting much else. The past month or so has been incredibly busy and I think there might be a bit of a lull coming up. Seeing how I spend my money gives me no excuse for not being responsible about my overall finances.

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Weekly Budget - Week 10 (July 28-Aug 3)

July 29th, 2008

Over the past couple weeks I’ve actually managed to stay very close or under my overall budgetary goals, even if I might have missed the individual sections. Last week was no different and I expect that this week won’t be much different either. There is a certain fluidity to this whole planning process but as long as the total weekly amount is met then the budget has been successful. Here are my budget numbers for the upcoming week:

The primary difference in this week’s budget is the fact that I’ve cut out monies for eating lunch out. I’ve always known that I spend way too much money on this (as I do on the smoking) and I’m going to make a serious effort to not eat out at all this week. Other than that the remainder of the numbers are pretty similar. I was planning on cutting the alcohol budget as well since we had guests this weekend and I purchased a bunch of extra wine that never got drank. But I’m going to simply use this amount as a buffer for just in case.

There is one rather large unknown when it comes to this budget, this upcoming weekend is a long weekend for us and there is a possibility we might go away to our friend’s cottage. Unfortunately we don’t know if this will in fact happen. This would have an impact to the weekly budget but for the time being I’m going to go with the assumption that it won’t be happening since the numbers are known this way.

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Week 8 Budget Assessment

July 25th, 2008

I know this assessment is a bit late but last week’s budget was pretty tight in that I was hoping to stay within a $250 budget and unfortunately I missed it. But the good thing is I only missed it by a whole $8.42 which isn’t all that bad. Here’s the breakdown for the week:

I went over in a few categories but nothing drastic which is a great sign. This is two weeks in a row that I have managed to stay essentially on budget. I spent a bit more than expected on food and gas and I am still struggling with the lunch demon though. I think that if I can tackle the eating out for lunch demon I can reduce my weekly budget by about $20-30.

The next item that I will want to tackle is the smoking which would also be a reduction of about $30 per week. Between those two items if I managed to cut them down I could possibly bring my weekly spending to around $200 per week which would be amazing. Quitting smoking is something I am hoping to tackle in August but it’s definitely on my list. I think this is positive momentum in the right direction.

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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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