Doggone Budget!

So which camp are you in?  Are you a natural money watcher, carefully and consistently monitoring your spending and tracking incoming and outgoing funds?  Or do you take your finances more casually; pay your bills, don’t overdraw your account and just kind of ignore it unless a problem arises.  If you’re in the first camp, this article won’t help you much in terms of budgeting.  But for the rest of us poor saps struggling with the chains of financial responsibility, a few tips and strategies will be useful.  I’m in camp two; I generally know which bills are due and when and a general idea of my bank balance.  Last year at this time, I would have vigorously defended my haphazard money methods, but times have changed.

I admit it, the financial forecast is kind of scary these days, so much so that I’ve had to reevaluate my money dealings and force myself to take a much closer look at my spending and saving habits.  I’m never going to be one of those people that get on the computer every night and log my day’s spending and create a colorful pie chart (although I actually think the pie chart would be cool).  However, I have had to, like everyone else, curtail some of my more frivolous spending habits and start concentrating on saving for a rainy day.

There are a million books out there on how to save money, create a working budget, be fiscally responsible, blah blah blah.  If you can get through the first two chapters of one of those books, never mind implementing their complex plans, you’re a better person than I.  I need a simple, sustainable budget, that doesn’t have me constantly obsessing over money.  So I took a little advice from here, a little from over there and created what I call the Doggie Budget. 

Sound strange?  Perhaps, but it’s results that count and if you don’t stop reading this article in disgust and continue on, you’ll have to admit that the Doggie Budget is based on a solid foundation of common sense.  Once I admitted that I would have to put myself on a budget, it got me to thinking about how I would keep myself on that budget.  It’s no problem for me to start out strong and then in a couple of weeks decide that this is too much of a pain in the ass and just go back to my old ways.  Not this time, I was determined to find a workable budget that would not be too much trouble to stick to.  So why the Doggie Budget?  Because my budget is based on the reward system; do something good, stick to the plan you get a reward.  Don’t follow the rules, go on a spending spree and you’re in the dog house.  It’s similar to the way you train a dog, using positive reinforcement.  How do you stop your dog from jumping on the furniture or crotch sniffing your guests?  You reward them for good behavior and give them the cold shoulder when they step out of line. 

So here’s how it works.  I figure there’s not much I can do about my set spending; car payments, mortgage, insurance, etc.  It’s the variable spending that I’m concentrating on because that’s where the money seems to just disappear with no idea of where it went.  I like to put a lot of the blame on the debit card phenomenon; that magical little card that I can whip out faster than an old west gunslinger can draw his revolver.  The problem is, when I look at my bank statement (yeah, right) I’m shocked at how often I’m using my magic card and how much money I’ve spent.  So I’ve gone totally cash on items such as groceries, gas and general daily spending.   I follow these few simple rules:

•         No fast food, it may seem cheap but it adds up fast (plus its really fattening)
•         No convenience store purchases
•         No debit card or credit card spending
•         No expensive morning coffee
•         Once my cash is gone, no more spending             

The key is to not set yourself up for failure, don’t allow yourself so little grocery money that if you run out of toilet paper, buying more will put you over budget.  I always allow myself a little bit more than I think I’ll actually need in each area for the week, in case I want to go to lunch with a friend, or have to drive more than expected, upping my gas consumption.  The trick is to spend as little cash as possible during the week, because whatever is left over I get to spend on whatever I want to.  If I want a new pair of shoes, it’s amazing how creative I can be on saving money at the grocery store so I can go shopping on Saturday.  I recently wanted a GPS system for my car (no sense of direction), so I took half of my reward money at the end of each week and stuck it in my cookie jar.  In less than six weeks I had my GPS (I don’t know how it works but I’ve got it).

This may seem overly simplistic, but it works and it’s actually kind of fun.  I know that if I’m smart and creative for the week, I get my reward.  Not only do I get to do some shopping, but it makes me feel righteous and mature.  Good Doggie!