Don't mind me... I have to remember to not try and tackle these things after a long day at work. Let me revisit it again after some rest. Thanks again foir the help!
On Feb 3, 9:05 pm, lterenzi <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks for the detailed response you have given me (and many others!). > > I am getting to the point where I am ready to bail on this and return > to my normal life and try again some other day. We save plenty of our > check, have no real debts anymore, a decent emergency fund, we don't > use (or even have) credit cards... > > We pay our bills, slide everything else over to savings, keep a bit in > checking for daily expenses. If we need a bit more I transfer over. We > don't buy or spend impulsively and we certainly do not splurge without > all of our bills and commitments having been met. > > I have spent so much time just trying to figure this out instead of > doing other things that don't frustrate the heck out of me... > > Maybe revisiting this down the road would be best for me. > > On Feb 4, 7:51 pm, The Watkinson Family <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hello! > > > I thought I'd offer a response since no one else has... I've been > > teaching a financial class over the last few weeks, and one of the > > important lessons I've learned is that there is no perfect month. > > Every month is different, with different priorities, challenges and > > expenses. Therefore, I've learned that it is important to look at the > > finances every month, before I receive any money and spend every > > dollar "on paper," before the month even begins. Every dollar has a > > name--that's the exercise you're doing with the Monthly Spending Plan > > by assigning all of your income to buckets. So, I've started to have > > a monthly discussion with my wife about the finances--just 15 minutes > > or so, just to make sure were still on track and that I haven't > > overlooked any of the needs that are on the horizon. It also gives us > > a chance to reassess the previous month's spending pattern as well. > > > Regarding your concern about things popping up.... There will always > > be these things, and just like there is no perfect month, there is no > > perfect plan. Therefore, it might be a good idea to allocate a small > > portion toward a bucket called Miscellaneous or as one person puts it, > > Blow Money. This will allow for those unexpected trips to a fast food > > restaurant without ruining your plan. Of course, you'll want to keep > > this amount relatively small, consistent with your income, so that > > it's not a vacuum for money. > > > Also, you'll want to build up an emergency fund. Initially, save for > > a $1,000 emergency fund. This will help keep you from having to go > > into debt to pay for bona fide emergencies. After you have this > > emergency fund, aggressively pay off your debt using a snowball- > > method, then, once you have everything paid off except your mortgage, > > come back and build up your emergency fund to 3-6 months of you > > expenses. The emergency fund will help keep emergencies from breaking > > your spending plan and to give your family some security, and give you > > freedom to change jobs or seek out new opportunities, if appropriate. > > > That being said, it is important to have a bucket for everything. > > Now, you might have general buckets, like Recreation, which could > > include a whole bunch of things from eating out, to movies, vacations, > > etc. And Auto, which includes fuel, service, insurance, registration > > & property taxes. Though I might suggest including the car payment in > > your debt reduction bucket instead of Auto. If you don't have a > > bucket for everything, then you'll have some expenses that are outside > > of your plan, and you won't be able to do all that you want to do with > > your money. > > > Regarding your specific question about day care. I'm assuming that > > since you say "reimbursed" that you have to front the money yourself > > for day care, and then your employer pays you back at a later date for > > the money that you spent. Based on this fact, and that you are not > > sure whether or not you will use the program as you receive your > > paycheck, I'd recommend that you allocate the average cost of daycare > > expenses in every paycheck you receive. The money will grow in the > > bucket paycheck to paycheck until you need it. > > > Here's how it would work: Suppose that the 4-weeks of day care costs > > $1,000. Suppose also that you earn a paycheck every month for > > $5,000. Since you have to pay for day care approximately once every > > three months, set aside $335 every paycheck, then after your third > > paycheck, you'll have $1,005 saved up. At this point, you can turn > > off the allocation to your day care plan and put the money somewhere > > else. > > > If you use day care, great! You have the money saved up in your > > checking account, and you can pay for the full cost. Then, when your > > employer reimburses you, make the deposit into your account and put it > > in your day care expense bucket. This money will just sit in that > > bucket until you need it next time. > > > If you don't use day care, that works great, too! Just leave the > > money you have saved up until the next time that you do. > > > You need to save the $335 initially to be sure that you have the money > > and you don't have to put day care on the credit card, however, once > > you have saved up for it once, since your employer reimburses you when > > you pay for daycare, you can use that $335 for some other purpose. > > > Hope this is helpful! > > > Grace to you, > > Blair > > > On Feb 2, 2009, at 7:22 PM, lterenzi wrote: > > > > My daughter is in a year round school program. She goes for 9weeks and > > > is off for 3 to 4 year round. On some of those off weeks she goes to a > > > day camp. Can I create a bucket for this and just turn it on and off > > > as I need it? I never know what months we will use the camp until they > > > arrive. > > > > Now the second part is we get reimbursed the cost of this from our > > > Flexible Dependent Care through my wife's employer. Should I just > > > deposit them and slide them over to Savings, count them as income? > > > > This is my biggest issue (and it's mine NOT Moneywell's) There just > > > always seems to be little things that pop up that just don't fit > > > neatly into a bucket or things that we just pull from Savings from to > > > cover. Do I have to have a bucket for everything? > > > > Going back to watch videos and read articles again... I am gonna get > > > this dammit... --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "No Thirst Software User Forum" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/no-thirst-software?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
