Digital Budgeting - Lesson 2

So, you've set up a brand new Mint.com account.  Now what?

If you use your credit or debit cards for the majority of your purchases this should be easy.  You will notice that at the top of the screen seven tabs (Overview, Transactions, Budgets, Goals, Trends, Investments, & Ways to Save).  Let's set up your "Budgets".

What categories should be in your budget?  -- This is where Dave Ramsey comes in.  Below I have listed out each category.  We are not going to put dollar amounts to the categories yet.  As you set up the budgets in Mint you may notice that it automatically puts a dollar amount in there.  That's ok.  That number is the average amount that Mint users have for that budget.  Go ahead and leave that in there to see where you compare to the average Mint user.  So let's get these categories set up!

Click the "Budgets" tab at the top

Next Click the "Create a Budget" tab (seen in the lower left of the above picture)

A screen like this should appear

If you click the up/down arrows to the right of the "Choose a Category" box you will see that you can add each budget.  You can also create your own sub category by going to "Add/Edit Categories" at the bottom of the subcategory list.  

When will each of these budgets occur?  Most likely you will choose "Every Month" since we are setting up monthly budgets.  

If you click the box for "Start each new month with the previous month's leftover amount" you will be able to see your budgets add up.  In theory this works.  I'm still getting use to Mint so I can't say for sure if this will work.  If you don't spend all that is allotted in your budget you should have that money in your checking account.  I'm still cleaning up our credit cards from our last move a couple of months ago so like I said, I can't say for sure if it works. 

Leave the "Amount" box with the number the Mint puts in there.  If it doesn't put a number in there then just use $10.  We will fill in the dollar amounts in the next lesson.

Now go ahead and create all of your budgets.  You should only have a budget for the 11 bold items. 

See you next lesson!

Housing  

  -Mortgage/Rent

  -2nd Mortgage

  -Real Estate Taxes

  -Maint & Repairs

  -Association Dues

Utilities 

  -Electricity

  -Gas

  -Water

  -Trash

  -Phone/Mobile

  -Internet

  -Cable

Food  

  -Groceries

  -Restaurants

Medical/Health  

  -Medications

  -Doctor Bills

  -Dentist

  -Optometrist

  -Vitamins

  -Other (We insert school sports here)

  -Other

Transportation  

  -Gas/Fuel

  -Maint & Repairs

    -Oil Changes

    -Tires

    -Unexpected repairs

Insurance  

  -Life Insurance

  -Health Insurance

  -Homeowners/Renters 

  -Auto Insurance

  -Disability Insurance

  -Identity Theft

  -Long-Term Care

Personal  

  -Child Care/Sitter

  -Toiletries

    -Shampoo/Conditioner

    -Feminine Products

    -Soaps

    -Toilet Paper

    -Toothpaste/Toothbrushes

  Cosmetics/Hair Care

    -Make up

    -Salon visits

  -Education/Tuition

    -Kids in K-12

        -Fund Raisers

        -School supplies

  -Books/Supplies

  -Child Support

  -Alimony

  -Subscriptions

  -Organization Dues

  -Gifts (including Christmas)

  -Replacement Furniture

  -Pocket Money (His and Hers)

  -Baby Supplies

    -Diapering Needs

    -Formula

    -Baby Food

    -Bottles/Binkies

  -Pet Supplies

    -Pet Food

    -Veterinary Care

    -Toys/Collars/Beds

  -Music/Technology

  -Miscellaneous

Clothing  

  -Adults

  -Children

  -Cleaning/Laundry

Recreation  

  -Entertainment

    -Hulu, Netflix, Xbox subscriptions

    -Going out to the movies

    -Going to the amusement park, fair, etc. 

  -Vacation

Debts  

  -Car Payments

  -Credit Cards

  -Student Loans

  -Personal Loans

  -Money owed to family/friends

Saving 

  -Emergency Fund

  -Retirement Fund

  -College Fund

  -Pay cash for a car fund???

Digital Budgeting - Lesson 1

If you are searching for budgeting ideas you are probably already familiar with Dave Ramsey's advice.  Live within your means, create a budget, pay off your debt, blah, blah, blah.  Right?

I have been very interested in the envelope method but I didn't know if I could set up a budget without upsetting the fragile ecosystem that I call home.  I could just use the Ramsey worksheet and base my budget off our income, however, maybe our wants and needs are different from his ideas.  The Ramsey idea is a good place to start.  Don't get me wrong, it's a good idea but it could get really confusing when you get the the envelops and actually start employing them in real life.  Besides, we haven't been on a cash only basis in like...ever.  We use debit and credit cards in our house with minimal cash use.  After all, it is the digital age.

Oh no, you have credit cards, you say?  *GASP* Yes, we use credit cards...responsibly.  Since we pay off our credit cards every month our credit score continues to increase and we don't pay interest on them.  There have been a few times that I've held a credit card balance over a month or two but major events have happened.  Like, we moved across the country and were waiting for reimbursements. I've seen a few posts about opening numerous checking accounts and using the debit cards as virtual envelops but that can get just as confusing.  Not to mention the fact that my wallet doesn't have that many card slots.

So, what ever do I do?  I use Mint.com and Dave Ramsey's budget guidelines.  Mint takes a little bit of effort to set up.  You also have to be a little trusting in the internet.  I can assure you that your password secrets are safe with Mint.com.

Before we go on, I'd like you to head on over to Mint.com and get yourself all set up.  Just get your accounts set up and we'll talk about how to really put it to work in a later lesson.

Full Time Fifth Wheel Living

We've had an idea.  Our goal when moving to Massachusetts was to make all this money and pay off our debt.  Seemed like a perfect plan on paper, we would set up our budget according to Dave Ramsey and everything would fall into place.  The one thing that we didn't really account for was housing in Mass.  Holy cow, it's expensive.  We planned to rent because we didn't want to buy a house in an area then end up not liking the area.  We wanted our rent to be around $1500.  Reasonable rent right?  No, that amount pays for an apartment in an iffy part of town.  Keep in mind that we are from rural areas.  We like our space.  We were not going to live in an apartment.  Now, we did find some houses in that price range but they were either too far from the city, were owned by shady people, or just not somewhere we wouldn't want to live.  We also discovered that a second bathroom added about $500 a month to rent.  Two bathrooms are a must in our house.  So we are now stuck in the $2k range for rent a month!  We are making more income, I'm working part time.  However, we are wasting the majority of it on rent.  We'll have nothing to show for it at the end of our lease. 

This brings me to the idea... Let's buy a camper and live in it full time!  I explained my idea to my husband.  My pitch included points about how much money we'd save, how easy it would be to relocate to a new job, and how we could just simply go home when we are done job hopping.  He agreed that it sounds like a good idea.  So we begin our new adventure with some research. 

You see we're not in love with the Boston area.  It is a nice place, the people are nice, and there is so much history to enjoy.  But, it's humid or freezing, there are millions of people, and we are just so far away from our families.  And the snow...so much snow. That being said, we aren't planning on staying.  We aren't going to be leaving anytime soon either.

On to the research part. We almost immediately found the camper that would work the best for us. If you are going to live in the firth wheel year round you want the Open Range 427BHS. (Check out the lay out picture above)  It's the whole package. Keep in mind that we have one kiddo and a dog. So we need the bunk house. If it's just you or you and a significant other there are very nice models with one room. Some important features to consider are...
 - This model is insulated, has the four season package.
 - It has air conditioning and a heater (plus a ceiling fan!)
 - Self leveling hydraulic system
 - An area for a washer and dryer (a MUST have)
 - One and a half bathrooms
 - A king size bed
 - A central vacuuming system
 - Large holding tanks that are heated to prevent freezing
 - Bigger refrigerator
 - The "Bunk House" (a.k.a. the second bedroom)
 - All the comforts of home (just in a smaller package)

There is a down side to this plan that is sort of keeping us from putting it in action.  We will need to upgrade our little F150 to a Dodge 3500 dually.  Yes, you are going to want a dually.  We've been given some advice from folks who've lived this life style.  These fifth wheels are huge, very tall.  When you are driving down the interstate the trailer "walks"  or whips all over the place.  The duals help "anchor" the trailer and keep it on the straight and narrow.  That being said, those are almost impossible to find here.  I guess people in New England just don't need them.  We could order one for $60k.  No way are we spending $60k on a pick up.  Plus we would still have to upfit it with the fifth wheel hitch.  You are looking at another $1,000 for the upfit.  The campers them selves run $30k (used) to $80k (new).  We will have to finance this little adventure so we need to keep the costs down as much as possible.  We plan to buy used. 

Another problem is where are we going to park for the winter.  The camp grounds here aren't open year round.  The only other options are to rent a piece of land or live in a mobile home park.  This is a bit of a challenge as land that has water and electricity hook ups is not readily available.  The "mobile home parks" (a.k.a. trailer parks) are almost as rare.  This is the main reason we haven't pulled the trigger on this idea.  We need to make sure we are going to be able to live here for the winter in our home away from home. 

If you are looking to do this and have any questions or comments please post in the comment section.  I've done a bit of research but it's always good to compare notes. 

Until next time..

De-Skunk Recipe

I was going through some old boxes and found my de-skunk recipe.  This one really does work.  Had a dog that go sprayed, I washed her in this and she was able to sleep in the same room with me that night.  I would recommend mixing this up in a bucket and washing outside. 

1 Quart of Hydrogen Peroxide
1/4 Cup of Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon of Dish Soap
1 Quart of Tomato Juice

Mix well in bucket and lather all over the unfortunate individual.  Rub in really good.  Rinse off.  If the skunk smell is still present repeat this process until gone or at least bearable.

Background Noise

I'm a new employee of the Stay-At-Home-Mom business.  This is the first time in about 7 years that I have spent so much time within the confines of "home".  It's not all bad, or rather, not bad at all.  I get to stay up late, sleep in late (don't tell my husband that).  I get to focus on teaching our daughter about the ins and outs of life.  Everything was so rushed when I went to work from 8am to 5pm.  So exhausting.  My project list was starting to look like a hoarder.  Life, the fun part, was a wreck. 

I come from a town of about 3,000 people.  Seems like a lot on paper right?  It's enough from the bored hens of the grocery store to know what's going on with everyone in town.  When you look at it like that, the population is actually very small.  It's funny how people who live in small towns like these have a crazy misconception that they are safe and everything past the city limit sign is a zombie apocalypse.  This was my picture of the world.  When you watched the news the only things that were going on were shootings, murders, robberies, kidnapping, hit and runs, the devil's handy work.  My husband had lived outside of the safety net of our small community.  He spoke of  things like stores that were open past 8pm and people not knowing a thing about you and things that you could do that didn't require a 2 hour drive.  I was skeptical.  But when you are looking at your bank account the day after payday and you have $2 for the next 2 weeks you start to get desperate. 

He found a job in the Denver area.  Something that he could apply his college education to.  So we moved to the big scary city.  Oh was I terrified.  There were so many people, about 2.6 million people.  And from what I gathered from the last 21 years of watching the news, most of them were bad people.  I quickly realized that life beyond the city limit sign was anything but the apocalypse.  There was food, so much fast food.  There were malls.  I could need something and just go buy it.  I didn't have to order it or drive 2 hours to get it.  Life was easy.  So easy that we moved to an even bigger city.  Boston - 4.6 million people.

So here we are in one of the nicest suburbs of the Boston area.  Natick.  This town alone has about 33,000 people.  The best part about this area is it's far enough away from the city that we can see the stars.  Small town people love the comfort of the stars...