The truth about budgeting is, it always doesn’t work. Events move around, things pop up and you make adjustments within your budget. The goal is to write your money down so you can make conscious choices and be knowledgeable in your own finances. So, I’m going to take you all through my September Budget and what I actually spent this month!
September Analysis
So, there is a $493.08 difference in my budget and my actual. The $266 on my credit card were school expenses that I had previously saved for and paid back instantly. This month I made some extra money through freelancing and I had some money leftover from last month that I rolled into this pay period. Those three things equals that $493 difference. I budgeted what I thought I’d make and I actually made more and had to change my budget around to reflect that.
A Breakdown of the changes
Car $977
Halloween $90
Laptop $80
Hair $80
Why did I change these?
These expenses were changed because of the increase of my income so I had more money to spread out and I chose these areas. My car because I am determined to pay that thing off this month! My goal is on my last check in October to finish paying my car off so I can get that title, and own my first car!!! So any extra money I earn or don’t spend I’m trying to just put to my baby. Halloween is coming up and I wanted to decorate for our party but $50 wouldn’t be enough so I figured $90 would be a good budget for a mini season premier party. My hair just needed to be done, I hadn’t got it cut since last year so splurging a little on that was needed. Finally the laptop fund was increased because I need a laptop with a fast processor and a good amount of storage. So hopefully I can find a laptop for about $800 or so.
Did I implement tracking my expenses? What did I learn?
I did not do the best in this area because I tend to forget and then I end up having a bunch of random receipts that I need to log in, and that gets so annoying. I learned that if I really want to track my expenses, I need to log them right away on my phone in a little notes folder. In September most of my spending were quick bites to eat, gas for the month, and random new bits.
What will I change for month?
Next month I want to really track my expenses in my phone and I want to see what I’m spending a lot on. Whether I budgeted for the item or not. Because I feel that when I have a fund for something I assume I can just spend the money blindly. So I think that will help me to really zero in and focus on the financial goals. Because I could have used maybe $20 I spent on food onto my car loan to get to my goal faster. But life is a learning process and a series of events $20 isn’t going to kill me this one time and it doesn’t make me a failure. I’ve learned that when you make mistakes it is really there to guide you to decide what you will do and where you will go now. Anyway, I hope this was helpful to some of you. At the end of this month follow with me and we can both look at our budget vs our actual.
Have you created your October budget? If you haven’t, what are you waiting for. Make it right now!!! So you can start building your dreams!
XOXO MJ
