Budgeting

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Delkancott, Feb 7, 2019.

  1. JV3

    JV3 Member

    Messages:
    753
    Likes Received:
    1,989
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    NJ
    i pay off my credit card in full every month so that's my only budgeting technique. if i think of a higher number than the current balance and i cringe then i stop buying toys for that month.


    to keep it simple, for big ticket items why pay cash for something if the loan interest is only 1% if you can take most of that cash and invest it and get 5% back from it...so every month you are on the +4% side (5% - 1%).

    gotta make your money work for you, man. "cash is king" - it sounds nice but you gotta play the system to your advantage! the wealthy work hard but that can only get you so far...you have to have an investment-mentality so you can work less and make even more...oh well, just trying to help. i hope you'll see it from my perspective someday :)
     
    C99c and Delkancott like this.
  2. TuffPossumGear

    TuffPossumGear Member

    Messages:
    170
    Likes Received:
    342
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Ohio
    Haha, nice!
     
    Bushman5 likes this.
  3. Caleb O

    Caleb O Member

    Messages:
    1,262
    Likes Received:
    4,581
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Arizona
    Been doing the Dave Ramsey thing a while now. Paid off all debt, worked a budget well, and was able to save like crazy. Budgets make life a lot less stressful in the long haul.
     
    Wisdom likes this.
  4. Bushman5

    Bushman5 Member

    Messages:
    12,319
    Likes Received:
    26,033
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    west
    I hear ya, but I simply do not use credit cards.

    Visa and MC up here are 18% interest.

    So i use a prepaid Titanium Mastercard for online purchases.

    as for investment......folks got the apt for $70,000 20 odd years ago, its appraised by the gooberment for $420,000, and the developers might offer $750,000 to 850,000 for my share of the land assembly.
     
    Michael W. likes this.
  5. JollyRoger523

    JollyRoger523 Member

    Messages:
    305
    Likes Received:
    503
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    NE Ohio
    I've always been naturally good with managing money. The old-lady, not so much. One thing that has really helped us is utilizing a ledger book. It makes it easy to see month to month how much you are spending compared to how much you are bringing in.

    Two pieces of financial advice I give younger guys at work. These two things will prevent most debt problems.
    1) Don't buy anything you couldn't pay cash for. Obvious exceptions would be a mortgage, or auto loan. I use credit, but pay it off in full every month. I realize some people may not have the savings to cover an expensive auto repair, etc. and may have to put them on credit cards.
    2) Aggressively pay off your debts. Figure out how much extra you can afford and pay extra on your debt. You'll save a ton on interest in the long run, and you'll be debt free sooner. If you have a few debts, pick one (auto loan, student loan, credit card, etc) and work on aggressively paying that off. Once that debt is paid, take the money you were spending on it and put towards the next debt.
     
    JV3, C99c, Delkancott and 1 other person like this.
  6. C99c

    C99c Member

    Messages:
    1,345
    Likes Received:
    2,229
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Georgia
    My wife and I have been talking about sitting down and setting up a budget system... for the last twenty years.

    I think it's like everything else in life, folks are different; some need a strict outline, some just need a gentle reminder and others are fine with no boundaries and any possible repercussions.

    We've just tried to always use common sense and not get in too much of a hole. In the early years if our outgoing income came too close to our incoming income then we tightened up and I picked up an extra job.

    We prioritize certain things: education, safety/security and health. Those things have no restrictions. Then savings and retirement. From there we just try to make adult decisions. We use credit cards, but at no time will we have an amount on them that we can't immediately pay off at any time. Mostly we use them for the protections provided versus our main bank account.

    I think that most people will do fine if they put their big boy or girl pants on and prioritize. If you regularly have to sell that gun, knife, project vehicle, etc you just bought to fix an emergency then you likely shouldn't have bought them to start with.

    If your income / expenses ratio isn't good then there are two ways to fix it: increase the first or decrease the second. Or optimally, both. Pick up an extra job. Most folks could likely work their way out of financial issues in fairly short order if they really tried harder.
     
    Delkancott likes this.
  7. Bushman5

    Bushman5 Member

    Messages:
    12,319
    Likes Received:
    26,033
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    west
    - cats food/litter/ health care priority #1
    $150- 200 a month

    - truck insurance in bank (monthly withdrawal)
    $525 for three vehicles. 43% discount (max allowed) for 100% clear driving record

    - strata fees (monthly)
    $320

    - internet (fibre optic, bleeding edge speeds)
    $120 (only source of entertainment, no tv, no going to movies, never eat out)

    -food for me (groceries, daily cheap lunch at work)
    $350

    -savings per month at bank
    $300 plus whatever I throw in on top ($50 -150) just started two months ago

    - truck fuel
    $500 to $1500 a month depending on weekend trips....just work and general is around $400-500 (we have highest fuel costs in North America here in BC)

    - trucks maintenance- low. I run tier 5 synthetic oils / filter media/ and use oil/fluid analysis and frequent filter changes /top ups . Run long term oil change intervals. The oil is expensive ($100-150 every change but long term it’s actually cheaper)

    Often pull cheap parts from wreckers for non critical stuff (body/ etc). Engine parts are top end , often approaching custom build quality.
    Rarely have repair issues. Repairs I do have are parts that often exceed their lifespan by several hundred thousand km’s. Most of my trucks have been owned by me or Dad since new. I don’t have payments or buy new cars every year like my friends. Red Mazda is 29 years old. Dads Mazda is 18 years old and looks /runs new. Tracker is 22 years old runs like new. Jeep is 14 years old and runs beautifully, gobs of diesel torque. Needs expensive turbo though

    -clothes (95% thrift store unless work boots and outdoors clothing)
    $15 - 300 .......often zero......(rarely buy)

    -beer >>>I can neither confirm nor deny how much or how little I spend on beer.

    - gear >>> see beer and apply to gear. (To be honest I buy top end gear, and keep it use it for years, like pelican cases , etc)

    Zero debt. NO children expenses. No GF expenses
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2019
  8. Delkancott

    Delkancott Member

    Messages:
    2,522
    Likes Received:
    4,206
    Location:
    SEMA
    Going on month 2 with the YNAB budget. While I’m no pro, it’s raising my awareness of our true expenses tremendously and helping stop spending when the budget says (not just on gear, but food and other day-to-day too). We’ll see what spring brings, but I’m happy I found it.
     

Share This Page