So I know it's been awhile since my last blog--you know me I tend to procrastinate like that--so I thought what the heck I better blog so why not tonight...so here we go!
So many of read March's budget summary and we failed to stay in our budget. I don't want to repeat everything Tim said, but I think it's important to voice my feelings on it as well--and it may be repetitive--but hey I feel like it's worth repeating!
So my first reaction was one of disappointment and irritation. We tried so hard to stay on track--yes we went to a wedding--but still that's not a big deal--we still could have stayed in budget. Then I looked at where we went over and it was gas and miscellaneous items(and a side note is that miscellaneous was over because we stopped to eat a few times on our trip.) So what's my point you may be asking--I mean after all we did go over.....
Here is my point, as Tim said, it's the spirit of our project that is important. I'm not saying we aren't going to try like hell to stay as close as possible to our budget--but here is the thing I'm not going to drive myself crazy and not go to a friend's wedding, not buy a b-day present for a friend, etc because I'm stressing about our budget. My point is this we have given up a lot--we moved from a 2 bedroom to a 1 bedroom--I can't remember the last time I bought clothes, etc...so to me it's more important to give up as much as possible--but it's also important to still live and not end up hating ourselves because we went over budget! But as I said before we are still going to try our hardest to try to stay on budget and give up as much as possible!
Until next time.....as always.....peace be with you!
~Alicia~
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
March Summary
We didn't quite stick to our budget for March. We didn't blow it completely either though. We had friends get married in California and wouldn't have missed their wedding for anything, so we spent more on gas than we normally would have during the month. We still managed to only spend about $130 more than our poverty level budget (almost all of which was fuel). We also went about $37 over on our groceries- mostly due to the fact that we didn't make a menu and plan our shopping very well.
I was extremely frustrated with our performance, but after talking through things with my psychologist, I think we've come to understand that the spirit of the exercise of living in poverty is what we're really trying to experience. We also realized that we are challenging ourselves and didn't take a vow or oath, so the obligation is to try to live up to the challenge. That being said, we are still living in the spirit of the exercise by not dining out as frequently as we did in 2012, not shopping, and only focusing on our basic needs not wants.
I think the most important part of the challenge is learning to focus on our basic needs. It's the self-denial and discipline of living well below our means that is important. The goal is to raise awareness about the issues of poverty, and I think one of the issues we became aware of last month is the tension between wanting to do something and not having the funds to do it. For a lot of people, using a credit card or payday loan to obtain these things is the easiest way to go about it. If you're short $200 for the month, you can finance that on credit or a short term loan and pay it off over time. Unfortunately this strategy is what perpetuates the poverty cycle- debts pile up and income levels don't rise enough to pay them. It becomes necessary to take on new debt to pay off old debt or just go into default on the debt altogether.
Unforeseen Circumstances:
Back in 2012 when we came up with this plan, we were not prepared to receive extremely bad news regarding my dad's health. He has been diagnosed with FTD, a rare and terminal disease. In light of that diagnosis, we have planned a trip in the summer to be able to spend time with our family. We feel that being able to have some quality time with family is more important in the long term than the monetary savings of "sticking to the plan."
I was extremely frustrated with our performance, but after talking through things with my psychologist, I think we've come to understand that the spirit of the exercise of living in poverty is what we're really trying to experience. We also realized that we are challenging ourselves and didn't take a vow or oath, so the obligation is to try to live up to the challenge. That being said, we are still living in the spirit of the exercise by not dining out as frequently as we did in 2012, not shopping, and only focusing on our basic needs not wants.
I think the most important part of the challenge is learning to focus on our basic needs. It's the self-denial and discipline of living well below our means that is important. The goal is to raise awareness about the issues of poverty, and I think one of the issues we became aware of last month is the tension between wanting to do something and not having the funds to do it. For a lot of people, using a credit card or payday loan to obtain these things is the easiest way to go about it. If you're short $200 for the month, you can finance that on credit or a short term loan and pay it off over time. Unfortunately this strategy is what perpetuates the poverty cycle- debts pile up and income levels don't rise enough to pay them. It becomes necessary to take on new debt to pay off old debt or just go into default on the debt altogether.
| Month: | ||||
| March | Budget | Actual | Difference | |
| 1st-14th | ||||
| Income: | $630.42 | $630.42 | $0.00 | |
| Expenses: | ||||
| Rent | $511.00 | $511.95 | -$0.95 | |
| Gas (Auto) | $40.00 | $128.75 | -$88.75 | |
| Sprint | $165.00 | $159.78 | $5.22 | |
| Progressive | $80.00 | $80.17 | -$0.17 | |
| Hulu | $7.99 | $7.99 | $0.00 | |
| Misc. | $50.00 | $27.29 | $22.71 | |
| Total | $853.99 | $915.93 | $61.94 | |
| Difference | -$223.57 | -$285.51 | $61.94 | |
| 15th-31st | ||||
| Income: | $630.42 | $630.42 | $0.00 | |
| Expenses: | ||||
| Electric | $90.00 | $68.63 | $21.37 | |
| Gas (Auto) | $40.00 | $73.75 | -$33.75 | |
| Car Payment | $189.00 | $185.86 | $3.14 | |
| Internet | $55.00 | $55.99 | -$0.99 | |
| Misc. | $25.00 | $92.17 | -$67.17 | |
| Total | $399.00 | $476.40 | -$77.40 | |
| Difference | $231.42 | $154.02 | $216.40 | |
| Income: | $1,260.84 | $1,260.84 | $0.00 | |
| Monthly Total: | Expenses: | $1,252.99 | $1,392.33 | -$139.34 |
| Difference: | $7.85 | -$131.49 | -$139.34 |
Unforeseen Circumstances:
Back in 2012 when we came up with this plan, we were not prepared to receive extremely bad news regarding my dad's health. He has been diagnosed with FTD, a rare and terminal disease. In light of that diagnosis, we have planned a trip in the summer to be able to spend time with our family. We feel that being able to have some quality time with family is more important in the long term than the monetary savings of "sticking to the plan."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)