I have a confession. I’m a personal finance blogger who has never used a budget.
I know, I know. BUT I’m trying to change that now.
The only problem is that I don’t know how to make a budget for my current situation.
With freelance writing, I don’t get paid at a set pay date. I have a couple of jobs that will pay me each month but the actual pay date is not set.
I’m also receiving student loans at the moment. Last quarter, my first quarter, I ran out of money early on. I do not want that to happen this time around. I am in desperate need of a budget and the ability to stick to it.
I have a couple of ideas on how to go about this and I’m sure there are some resources out there about it. In fact, I remember Dave Ramsey talking about this a few times on his radio show. I’m going to look into it.
I REALLY want to make room for debt settlement payments. I need to find about $250 a month to make those payments. I THINK I’m going to be able to do that very soon as I’ve seen my income increase over the past three months. But I need to make sure that I’m not over extending myself.
Second confession:
I spent too much money shopping recently!
Yep because I DON’T have a budget and I’m not putting money aside for regular expenses, I’ve spent too much money recently. Both of my kids were in desperate need of clothing. They both needed jeans and pajamas. My oldest needed shirts as well.
I shopped thrift stores, a second hand store, the clearance rack & a sale at Target, as well as 1 purchase at Old Navy (both kids are Husky sizes & those are about impossible to find used). I think I shopped smart BUT I needed to have a budget before going in.
I’ve also purchased some items for my apartment. I’ve taken some stuff back, mostly items for decor that I can do without for awhile. I did buy items for my kids room. They have been sleeping on old, cheap mattresses that were collapsing. They were also sleeping on the floor.
My mom purchased bunk beds for them and mattresses. Between her and I, we bought other items to put their room together. It was money that could have gone elsewhere but I truly feel that my kids needed to have a bedroom that felt like a bedroom. I wanted them to feel like they were at home.
Maybe the money shouldn’t have been spent. I should have put money aside for awhile and worked towards it little by little. It’s hard when it’s your kids and you see them doing without for so long. The happiness I see from them now that they have a “real bedroom” has made me so happy.
Third confession:
I’m afraid to look at my checking account. This is directly based on the previous two confessions. I’m terrified that I’ve spent too much money and I’m going to screw things up for the next couple of months.
I promise to have an update on that very soon. I’m going to dive into it today!
Fourth Confession:
I haven’t a clue who Tim Tebow is or what it means to Tebow/Tebowing.
If you have any resources for making a budget when you freelance/contract, please send them my way.
Do you have any money confessions?
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I also blog at A Five Star Life. I write about anything that comes to mind but try to focus on finding the good in daily life.
From Dave Ramsey – “How to Budget an Irregular Income”
- http://www.daveramsey.com/article/how-to-budget-an-irregular-income/lifeandmoney_budgeting/
Also – look at your checkbook. Avoiding it won’t make things go away and I would guess that it might actually make things worse to just ignore it.
I understand the need to take care of the kids room. But anything else now (above food and the basic necessities – decor is not one of them) should be used only to pay bills and pay off debt.
famousamy(Quote)
I’ll check that link out, thank you!
I’ve returned everything extra I bought that could be returned, minus the kids’ room. And I’m vowing to look at my checking account today. Then I’m going to start tackling a budget and some account set ups to help with the budgeting.
Thanks for commenting Amy.
Jessica The DebtPrincess(Quote)
Hahaha. That was funny at the end. Thanks for the confession. I confess that I get nervous when I am on my computer while my wife is home. She always… REALLY? Aren’t you finished yet?
Jai Catalano(Quote)
lol I get that from my kids. I’m all “just one more minute, I have to finish this, it’s very important for mommy’s job.”
Still no answer on the Tebow thing though.
Jessica The DebtPrincess(Quote)
I had irregular income when I was a single mom and it does make it more difficult. FamousAmy left you a great link. My husband and I (I remarried) got out of debt using Dave’s plan and it really works!!
We track the money we earn in different categories using an app I wrote. You can see it on my website. It makes it easy when there is one report showing what I can spend in the categories that I set up. Feel free to contact me if I can help you. You can also do this in other popular software packages like Mint from what I understand. My husband didn’t want me to give out bank account numbers to a third party so I wrote an app that doesn’t require that. You can also track how much money you need for different categories in a spreadsheet (and you can get them for free using Google Docs).
Keep at it – you’ll get better and better at it as you just work on it!!
Mary(Quote)
Thank you so much for your reply. I did look at my checking account finally and it was worse than I thought. Just proves how much I REALLY need to be paying more attention. I’m never going to get ahead if I keep this up.
Jessica The DebtPrincess(Quote)
Twitter:
on January 19, 2012 at 10:18 am
It really is hard to budget with an irregular income. I think in this case, it’s great to use a “spending plan” which is like a budget, but it has a plan for money you don’t have yet.
So, you can list out your bare essential bills that need paid no matter what, allocate an amount for food, gas and other necessities, and then come up with a plan for the rest.
Set up a chunk for taxes. A portion for debt repayment. A portion for savings for upcoming expenses. Etc.
Make it work for you!
Kacie recently posted..Inexpensive photo wall art for my half bath
Kacie(Quote)
Guh, now I have to put away for taxes too. I need to add that to my list of things to include into my budget.
Jessica The DebtPrincess(Quote)
Twitter:
on January 21, 2012 at 4:51 pm
I’ve freelanced in the past, but always had regular paying gigs to keep me going. Like most things, once you have a bit of a base cushion, everything gets easier (I blogged about fluctuating income a while back: http://eemusings.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/surviving-on-a-fluctuating-income/)
eemusings recently posted..Traditional trappings I care not a whit for
eemusings(Quote)
I’m going to check that out. Thank you for sharing the link.
Jessica The DebtPrincess(Quote)
Hello Thedebtprincess,
Thanks you for your post, When it comes to personal finance, some people just don’t feel up to the task. They feel overwhelmed by all the options and complexity of high finance. I’m here to tell you, personal finance isn’t that complex. The basics are pretty simple. I will, however, attack the problem in a different way than you might be expecting. 95% of what’s important in personal finance is all about your attitude about money. If you think and feel money is somehow bad – bad is what you will continue to get. Focus on practicing positive thoughts about money.
Catch you again soon!
Finance 411(Quote)