| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| mikesgirl |
Posted - Feb 28 2008 : 10:06:56 AM
I'm curious of how you all manage your daily cash flow. Do you use debit cards for everything, write checks, set a weekly amount of cash that you purchase everything out of? We've been pretty lax in this, using our debit card to purchase what we want, without thinking too much about it, but we have pretty simple tastes. Well, dh is getting laid off now, so I have tried to cut way back in the last few weeks to let our checking account build a little. I have been taking a cash amount out of the cash machine once a week and trying to make that cover everything. (Except gas - if I used that for gas, I wouldn't have anything left to spend on groceries. It's $3.50 a gallon here now.) How do you all manage your household budgets?
Farmgirl Sister #98
Check out my new online store
http://www.shopthefrontier.com/VFstore/index.php?manufacturers_id=79&osCsid=6be4b25bf9555031c6e2e86bbde23dba |
| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| mikesgirl |
Posted - Feb 28 2008 : 1:51:29 PM
It should be interesting during this lay-off. We've been laid off before, but that was before we had a mortgage. We just bought this house last Feb. and by some standards, the payment is pretty low - but we're used to NO payment, so we'll see how it goes. To coincide with the layoff, the woman who keeps my mom just upped her fee $300 a month - again - so the deficit that we are responsible for is now about $600 a month. I'm no genius, but I can see that unemployment is just not going to cover all this! So, hopefully he'll go back to work soon. Meanwhile, I"m going to work extra hard on my business - my next show is in April and I'm going to try extra extra hard to have a lot of merchancise available for that show!!
Farmgirl Sister #98
Check out my new online store
http://www.shopthefrontier.com/VFstore/index.php?manufacturers_id=79&osCsid=6be4b25bf9555031c6e2e86bbde23dba |
| JessieMae |
Posted - Feb 28 2008 : 11:38:15 AM
I use my debit card to buy gas and groceries, and I write checks to pay the bills.
We had been using our bank's online bill pay feature, but we had 2 problems. Once, the amount due of a bill increased - we weren't aware of it because the company did not send out paper statements to customers who paid online - but the automatic bill thing paid out the same amount always had, and thus we were delinquent for partial payment. The other problem was that our mortgage required a "13th month" payment to cover a shortcoming in our escrow account when our taxes increased unexpectedly, and we neglected to check the statement until we had missed the due date. We realized that online was TOO easy for us, and we weren't paying close enough attention to where the money was going. Now, every other Friday I sit down with a stack of bills and a checkbook.
Other than food and gas, we have declared a moratorium on spending. Not only are we wasting a lot of money, but we are accumulating way too much "stuff" that makes us happy in the short term but becomes clutter later on. "Use it all, wear it out, make it do, or go without!" is our new mantra! |
| KYgurlsrbest |
Posted - Feb 28 2008 : 11:16:44 AM
Sherri, we do use a checkcard (but just one, because Justin doesn't trust himself to write everything down). I balance everyday, and I pay my bills, with the exception of gas & electric, telephone, water and sanitation, through my banks' online program, setting them up for the day they are due, and it's been great...I had been paying them by check, and for 2 companies in particular, I would mail the payment a week and a half before, and inevitably, I'd get a late fee. Apparently, these companies don't count the "postmark" but the day THEY get it from the PO box!!!! Well, postmarks work for the IRS, so I just stopped being a victim and avoid those fees now by paying through my bank--these are cards I'm working to pay off and stop using anyway.
I have the stable income, Justin has the "money now" income. I use my paychecks as our main bills--house, gas and electric and phone--it's what I can count on being there. Jus's money is "everything" money, and also comes in handy for the quarterly bills like water and sanitation and car insurance. I try to take 1/2 the bills in each paycheck so that we aren't taking a whole house payment out of one, or whatever. That happens sometimes when we have an emegency like car issues, but I try not to put us in that sort of a bind.
I have been going to the grocery once a month and spend about $120.00 for the month. I've really noticed a difference in our budget this month, in particular, because I've been cooking every night and taking leftovers for lunch. It's been very beneficial and I'm not down to "zero" before payday like I usually am. We've probably saved about $100.00 on that alone--but I really don't mean "save" more like "free up". I've not been able to really save any with gas being $3.19 here.
I feel like it will get better if I keep plugging away, though. I know it will be hard at first but you'll get into a rhythm that suits you...I always make sure to tell Justin, "this week is going to be really lean, so don't expect much in the form of entertainment" or "we're all right this week if you'd like to get something--BUT NOT TOO MUCH :)"
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
| bohemiangel |
Posted - Feb 28 2008 : 10:59:43 AM
Well I had a budget now for some reason with some changes and having to pay for expenses I don't normally I am pretty much broke. I have a CC bill an American Eagle bill just paid VS and now I have Bon ton and now phone and car insurance....I'm swamped. I like to pay off all at once but I will have to do payments. UGH. I usually just spend minimal on groceries esp cause i live at home but I eat out sometimes so that is $. I tend to not buy things in person but online I do. That is my downfall haha. Gas is $$ I know! I wish I had more of a budget, my income varies...I want to make something to sell that would be constant.
**~~Farmgirl Sister #60~~**
"... to thine ownself be true."
http://liggygirl.blogspot.com/
http://liggygirlslonggreen.blogspot.com/
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