Follow-up to the "B" Word

Roaming around on Pinterest I found a great site that gives you a breakdown to budget categories and I thought that I'd share it with everyone.  http://www.stay-a-stay-at-home-mom.com/household-budget-sheet.html.  Thanks to Rayven Perkins for this great information.

The "B" Word

To a lot of people, the word "budget" is daunting; they don't want to know where their money is going.  It's so much easier though to have a budget because then, you are in control of your money; your money does not control you.  Basically, a budget shows how much money is coming in and how much money is going out. There are a lot of great budgeting work sheets available on the internet, but I'm an old-fashioned girl; I like using a notepad and a pen.

One rule of thumb to manage your money is the 80/20 rule; live on 80% of your income, save 10%, and tithe 10%.  Everyone's situation is different, so use whatever works for you.

Now that I'm unemployed, having a working budget is a must.  Fortunately, financially, I'm in a pretty good position and it allows me to take some time off and find the right job for me.

Here is my monthly budget:

mortgage
groceries
utilities
cell phone
health insurance/dental insurance
life insurance
cable tv/internet
credit cards
auto insurance
tithe
savings
retirement

Most of these are fixed costs, so my budget won't fluctuate that much from month to month.

I don't include miscellaneous items such as gas, clothes, or auto repair; my car is a 2012 Nissan, which is paid for, and is still in great shape.

I rarely carry a credit card balance, but sometimes, it happens, and I'll pay it off over a couple of months.

I consider cable tv to be my only luxury, but if I have to, I can cancel it and save another $100.00 a month.

I have an emergency fund equal to 6 months of my former salary.

Even though I'm not working, I'll still contribute to my retirement through my emergency fund.

The real point of all this is that usually there are ways we can cut back on our budget; it may require hard decisions on your part, but when you're faced with unemployment like I am, you'll be glad that you took the time to make a budget.

I've lost my job - now what?

On October 10th, out of the blue, I lost my job.  I had transitioned from my job as a church secretary to a full-time job as a human resources specialist.  It wasn't my ideal job, but it put food on the table and payed the mortgage.  Now what?  This has not been my year for jobs, that's for sure.

It happened the day before I was leaving for a camping trip to South Carolina.  I went camping and had a great time.  While hiking through the mountains of South Carolina, I was able to work through all the emotions of losing my job and the conclusion that I came to was "Thank You, Jesus!"

So, I feel good; I feel at peace; I'm ready for the next phase of my life, whatever that may be.  If you've just lost your job, take a deep breath, cry, get angry, whine, feel sorry for yourself, and then, pick yourself up off the floor, straighten your shoulders, and look unemployment right in the face.  It's not the end of the world; some days it just feels like it.

Here's my plan for prospering until my next job comes along.  Notice, I said, "plan."  If you don't have a plan, you're not going to get through a job loss, or any other economic crisis.

1.  Review your budget; if you don't have a budget, now is a really good time to find out where your money is going every month.

2.  Decide where you can cut back.  Take a hard look; cable TV is a luxury, not a need.

3.  Check to see if you are eligible for any benefits, like food stamps or unemployment.  This will be a last resort for me.

4.  Update your resume;  this is not something that I've done and I wish that I had.  My friend Amy says that your resume should always be up-to-date.

5.  Keep on saving and keep on giving - how?  I'm not sure, but I know that generally, we are more blessed than we realize and it doesn't just involve money.

6.  Figure out if there are ways you can make some money until you find a full time job.

7.  Christmas - losing your job right before the holidays doesn't mean that you have to cancel Christmas.  There are a lot of ways to cut back and still give gifts.

Tracking My Spending

I'm intrigued by the idea of extreme couponing.  I live in an area where the stores do not double the face value of the coupons, so it's a little harder to be an uber couponer.  I've decided to keep track of my spending this month using my coupons to see if I save a significant amount of money.  I've already gone shopping at Walgreens and Publix.  When I came home, I set up a spread sheet.  I'm not sure this is really necessary because my receipts show all my savings, but I want to break it down by item.  I have my coupon binder set up and it really helps me to keep track of my coupons and the expiration dates.  I usually just spend a couple of hours a week cutting and sorting coupons and coming up with my shopping list for the week.  Another advantage is that most of the stores where I shop are clustered together, so I won't spend a lot of time or gas going from store to store.  You probably won't ever see me on an episode of "Extreme Couponing", but, who knows, maybe I'll make the local paper.