Budget

Recently, I had to make a personal budget. Making a personal budget is probably about as much fun for most people as getting your wisdom teeth pulled or going to a job interview. But I wanted to find out where the hell all my money was going! I didn't think I was spending that wildly, but when I started having panic attacks before the cash machine spit out my balance on that white slip of paper, I knew something had to be done.

So I started by writing down everything that I spent. It was a myriad of miscellaneous expenditures like $4 at Taco Bell, $20 at the Tin Hat (our local bar), mixed with $25 for groceries and $20 for gas. At the end of my pay period, I added up all these expenses. Lo and behold, the total was over what I had actually earned. WTF?? I couldn't believe that stupid trips to Subway and 7/11 were sending me into the red.

I had to re-assess my budgeting strategy. Instead of just randomly writng down what I spent, I stopped to figure out my basic monthly expenses. You don't need Quickbooks or anything fancy pants like that to do this. I used Excel because it will add columns for you, but you can just get a piece of paper and a pencil if that's what blows your skirt up.

I listed out all my monthly expenses in one column, like rent, car payment, gas, savings, groceries, ect. In the next column over, I listed the dollar amounts for each item. For things like groceries, I just estimated. I figured out the total and then subracted the total from the amount that I get paid. The difference was my "spending money".This was a painful realization at first. I felt like I was back in elementary school with an allowance. Ouch.

To further clarify things, I made two budgets. I get paid on the 10th and the 25th of the month, so I broke out my spending needs. For example, I know my car payment is coming out of my paycheck from the 10th, but my rent is coming out of my paycheck for the 25th.

Another important aspect to this whole budget thing is putting aside money for savings. Your savings amount can be as little or as much as you want. Mine isn't huge, but at least it helps me to have something set aside for a rainy day. The day that I get paid, I move a pre-determined (by me) amount of money from my checking to my savings. I am less tempted to spend the money in savings than in checking.

The final, and most important key to making your budget work, is to write down your expenditures. I mean EVERYTHING. (Yes, even the three dollars you spent on coffee this morning.) This can be challenging, but not as much if you're an anal skinflint like I am. As soon as I get paid, I print out my budget for that pay period. As I pay each item (like car insurance or student loans), I write down the amount and then the date paid.

Then I take the amount of spending money that I have and divide it into to pots: spending money (for clothes, shoes, etc) and going out money (drinks, movies, and other entertainment). Breaking the money into two pots helps me to know how much I have to spend on clothes/shoes (which is my biggest money sucker) and still have money left over for fun stuff like going out to a nice dinner.

After all the spending money is gone, then I'm done. If something really catastrophic happens (like when a huge rock hit my car and I had to get my windshield replaced - boy did that suck ass), then I dip into my savings. But if I just want a new pair of Franco Sarto pointy toed boots, then I have to wait, which can be kind of crappy, but it keeps me out of credit card debt.

I guess this whole budget thing might sound kind of uptight. But I'm not bringing in the big bucks, so rather than come up with a stage name (Pussy Kat?) and become an exotic dancer, I decided to reign in my spending. Besides, it's too hard to find parking at the De Ja Vu in downtown Seattle anyway. (I only know that because the Showbox is right next door - I swear!)