I've recently come to the conclusion that I do not have a good handle on my personal finances. I sometimes feel like my checking account is a sieve.
Each month I automatically transfer money from checking to my savings account for my "house downpayment fund." Lately I've had to take that ear marked money and put it back in my checking account to pay the bills. It's been too long since I sat down and took a look at what the death by thousand cuts are to my finances:
I've spent the last couple of nights going through my bills developing a written budget and here are some key take-aways I found:
- My cable bill is $145/month which includes cable, internet and phone. I maybe watch the History or Discovery Channel an hour a night. Otherwise I'm busy working, sleeping or out. Therefore, this feels dumb. I plan to call and get this reduced. Is this an outrageous cable bill?
- I spend about $350/month on groceries. Is this reasonable for single 29yr old red blooded meat eating male? I weigh 150lbs and am in good shape so I don't eat gallons of ice cream or TV dinners. I eat a yogurt and banana every morning, eat PB&J for lunch and for dinner I'll make something like pasta with meat, turkey, chicken cutlets, vegetables, etc. I think 90% of my food costs result from weekend meals and dinners. Food. Is. Expensive.
Long story short, I've decided to try the envelope system. Basically, you set a budget for each category (i.e. groceries, gasoline) and put cash in an envelope for each category at the start of each month and you live by what's in those envelopes. Obviously you don't have to mail cash for the utility bills - those can be automatically drawn from your checking account but you can budget these by rough estimate.
Anyone have any experience with the envelope system or ever try it? Any advice? I bought groceries the other night and paid cash and the clerk actually said to me, "Oh wow, cash." I guess everybody uses CC these days at the grocery store.
Each month I automatically transfer money from checking to my savings account for my "house downpayment fund." Lately I've had to take that ear marked money and put it back in my checking account to pay the bills. It's been too long since I sat down and took a look at what the death by thousand cuts are to my finances:
I've spent the last couple of nights going through my bills developing a written budget and here are some key take-aways I found:
- My cable bill is $145/month which includes cable, internet and phone. I maybe watch the History or Discovery Channel an hour a night. Otherwise I'm busy working, sleeping or out. Therefore, this feels dumb. I plan to call and get this reduced. Is this an outrageous cable bill?
- I spend about $350/month on groceries. Is this reasonable for single 29yr old red blooded meat eating male? I weigh 150lbs and am in good shape so I don't eat gallons of ice cream or TV dinners. I eat a yogurt and banana every morning, eat PB&J for lunch and for dinner I'll make something like pasta with meat, turkey, chicken cutlets, vegetables, etc. I think 90% of my food costs result from weekend meals and dinners. Food. Is. Expensive.
Long story short, I've decided to try the envelope system. Basically, you set a budget for each category (i.e. groceries, gasoline) and put cash in an envelope for each category at the start of each month and you live by what's in those envelopes. Obviously you don't have to mail cash for the utility bills - those can be automatically drawn from your checking account but you can budget these by rough estimate.
Anyone have any experience with the envelope system or ever try it? Any advice? I bought groceries the other night and paid cash and the clerk actually said to me, "Oh wow, cash." I guess everybody uses CC these days at the grocery store.
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