Budgets
A few posts about budgeting and saving on here have me thinking about my own approach to money.
I'm happy to say that right now I'm more financially stable than I've ever been. There's a bit of a cushion for lean times, and we're saving aggressively.
For me, I (try) to maintain a monthly budget spreadsheet, which helps show me where I spend money. And I budget weekly, which for me means every Thursday (payday in the theatre world), I transfer $X to our joint chequing and savings accounts, and withdraw $X as my weekly spending money (for groceries, etc.) The idea being that the cash is what I can spend in a week, and when it's gone, it's gone. Which, to be honest, is more successful some weeks than others. On top of that, if I manage to not spend my weekly cash allowance, I tuck it away to save for something fun. New sandals?
The idea of visualizing what you're saving for makes sense to me. For me, there are a few different levels of saving.
Right now, the bulk of our joint savings goes towards the wedding. Long term though, we are saving towards making a baby, or adopting one, or both. This can be an expensive process. And saving for a house, which to me still seems like a unicorn, but would be great if we can get there. S has always wanted to own a house, I'm comfortable with renting, but willing try.
And then there's my own personal savings, which is a bit on hold until the wedding is over. There's not a specific goal for this, beyond paying down some debt, and maintaining a security cushion for the lean times that always come along. Maybe I should try to come up with a goal to visualize... It would be prudent to save towards a new computer in the future. Mine is great and still pretty new, but saving for it now means I'll be able to upgrade when I really need to down the road.
And then there's what I think of as 'fun money'; money I save up for frivolous things like nice shoes, fancy frocks, that new iPad I've been wanting... This right now is just whatever gets left over from my weekly allowance, but I've been thinking of putting aside a (small) amount weekly for this as well.
So, while it's not always completely successful, it's so much better than having zero savings, and waiting for that weekly paycheque just to be able to buy groceries. I am really thankful for my current situation, because I know what it's like to squeeze to barely make ends meet.
I'm happy to say that right now I'm more financially stable than I've ever been. There's a bit of a cushion for lean times, and we're saving aggressively.
For me, I (try) to maintain a monthly budget spreadsheet, which helps show me where I spend money. And I budget weekly, which for me means every Thursday (payday in the theatre world), I transfer $X to our joint chequing and savings accounts, and withdraw $X as my weekly spending money (for groceries, etc.) The idea being that the cash is what I can spend in a week, and when it's gone, it's gone. Which, to be honest, is more successful some weeks than others. On top of that, if I manage to not spend my weekly cash allowance, I tuck it away to save for something fun. New sandals?
The idea of visualizing what you're saving for makes sense to me. For me, there are a few different levels of saving.
Right now, the bulk of our joint savings goes towards the wedding. Long term though, we are saving towards making a baby, or adopting one, or both. This can be an expensive process. And saving for a house, which to me still seems like a unicorn, but would be great if we can get there. S has always wanted to own a house, I'm comfortable with renting, but willing try.
And then there's my own personal savings, which is a bit on hold until the wedding is over. There's not a specific goal for this, beyond paying down some debt, and maintaining a security cushion for the lean times that always come along. Maybe I should try to come up with a goal to visualize... It would be prudent to save towards a new computer in the future. Mine is great and still pretty new, but saving for it now means I'll be able to upgrade when I really need to down the road.
And then there's what I think of as 'fun money'; money I save up for frivolous things like nice shoes, fancy frocks, that new iPad I've been wanting... This right now is just whatever gets left over from my weekly allowance, but I've been thinking of putting aside a (small) amount weekly for this as well.
So, while it's not always completely successful, it's so much better than having zero savings, and waiting for that weekly paycheque just to be able to buy groceries. I am really thankful for my current situation, because I know what it's like to squeeze to barely make ends meet.