May 2010 Goals: My Review
Posted on May 29, 2010 in monthly goals
I didn’t end up doing too badly this month. Yes I did go over my budget by -$192.35, but I also brought in an additional $337.15 through my side business and through this blog.
Notes:
- Food – The sad thing is, the overage doesn’t even include the camping food that we bought. Or any going out to eat. That was straight up just groceries. Granted, I did take on more of the grocery costs than normal because BF is in school right now.
- Miscellaneous – This includes BF’s birthday present, which I completely forgot to budget for. Whoops!
May Goals:
- $600 into Retirement Portfolio (RRSP & TFSA). CHECK! I deposited $500 into my RRSPs and $100 into my TFSA.
- $300 into Future Home Fund (half of the amount would be from BF). CHECK! We each deposited $150.
- Make an extra $100. CHECK! I made $337.15.
- Read at least 1 book. CHECK! I read Shanghai Girls
and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
.
- Work out 3-4x/week. CHECK! I worked out 14 of 31 days (I included the 3 day hike), which works out to 3.5x/week.
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You always seem to think its ok that you go over your budget when you bring in extra money. But you aren’t dealing with the actual issue which is either that you are over spending or that you are budgeting correctly. If you really want to manage your finances and get in control of your money then you need to figure out which it is and correct it. The fact you brought in more money should not be the answer to the over spending/under budgeting problem. You need to figure that part out, otherwise your money will control you.
You always seem to think its ok that you go over your budget when you bring in extra money. But you aren’t dealing with the actual issue which is either that you are over spending or that you are budgeting correctly. If you really want to manage your finances and get in control of your money then you need to figure out which it is and correct it. The fact you brought in more money should not be the answer to the over spending/under budgeting problem. You need to figure that part out, otherwise your money will control you.
You went over your budget by almost $50.00 a week, if you had managed to stay on budget and put your extra money away into something that you would get some enjoyment out of like your holiday fund, you would be feeling so pleased with yourself. Having said that I hav,nt even written out a budget for myself, I,ve got two days to get it organised for June.
My recent post I was almost seduced today
Yes, I do know that I went over budget by about $50/week, but in my defense, I did forget to budget for BF's birthday which took up most of my overage. And then BF decided to take a bunch of courses and wasn't able to bring in as much money as he was previously able to, so I had to pick up the slack in terms of our household expenses. I had no idea that would have happened when I made this budget last month.
And by making that extra money this month and being able to buy BF a great birthday present & help out financially with our expenses, I feel much more pleased with myself than putting the money away in my Travel Fund – which I already contribute to every pay cheque.
Yes, I do know that I went over budget by about $50/week, but in my defense, I did forget to budget for BF's birthday which took up most of my overage. And then BF decided to take a bunch of courses and wasn't able to bring in as much money as he was previously able to, so I had to pick up the slack in terms of our household expenses. I had no idea that would have happened when I made this budget last month.
And by making that extra money this month and being able to buy BF a great birthday present & help out financially with our expenses, I feel much more pleased with myself than putting the money away in my Travel Fund – which I already contribute to every pay cheque.
Those are all excuses for why you overspent. You have an excuse every month that you overspent, and just shake it off. But you never learn. The problem is that you keep ignoring the problem, bleeding money, and you end up putting yourself further back from your goals.
In the end, if your excuses are good enough for you, than fine. You are the one that lives with the results and doesn't get to your goals as soon as you could.
I'm not sure that's entirely fair. Krystal's in a period of transition now (at least from her blog- I don't know her in real life), and just sorting out how the balance is going to work with her BF going back to school. There's going to be some off months- the important test will be at the end of the year: did she even out her spending, or was it a consistent problem?
The way I see it is, as long as I'm saving the same amount every month, I'm happy. I'm lucky because the extra money that I make on the side can help out with unexpected or unaccounted for expenses – like BF's birthday present (which I could have taken out of savings without affecting my budget), or the fact that I'm taking over more household expenses because BF is a student again. Or when I was unemployed. Or when I got into a car crash.
My monthly budget is a guideline for me to reach. It's not set in stone and clearly as you can see, it's always changing based on my circumstances. It's an indicator for me that if I spend more than the allotted amount, I won't be able to save as much as I wanted to each month. So I make it a point to try and bring in extra money above and beyond my regular FT job in case something comes up. Which as you have pointed it, it usually does. That always allows me to still save the amount I want to save each month.
I am still getting to my goals at the pace I had set forth for myself.