One way to decrease spending

In January, I went through a time of wanting to buy things. This happens to me periodically ;). I had read about the "30 day want list". The idea is to list items that you want, and then look at the list in 30 days. If you still want the item after 30 days, and have budgeted for it, then consider buying it.
Here is my list from January:
Jan. 17
blinds for dining room

paint for kitchen

new towels

jeans
scrubee thing from Flylady

What was the result of my experiment? Well, I didn't buy any of the listed items, so I guess I certainly didn't need them. I don't think my quality of life has suffered at all.

Did I save money? Maybe. If I had purchased all of the items, I would have spent over $150.

1. Instead of the blinds for the dining room, I saved the budgeted household money until March when I spent $60 on a mirror for over the dining room mantle. I didn't use the 30 day list in March!
2. I still need to repaint the kitchen, but this will not be on my list until next year.
3. My mother gave my some towels that she no longer uses.
4. I still need jeans, but these can still wait until September.
5. I really don't need the "rubba scrubba".

Final analysis: It seems that for some items, I merely postponed spending, because I will eventually have to purchase them--paint, jeans. This is useful information. I can compare the advantage of postponing spending to the advantage of having the item now.

I think this strategy is useful for me to remember when I am tempted to spend on wants, especially when I am debt-free and have more discretionary spending money. In order to instill this habit by October, I'm going to start now. I'll let you know how it goes.

Spending Percentages--How do mine compare?

Since I have been tracking my spending with You Need a Budget since January, I want to analyze my spending percentages to see if my budget is in line with what I think I'm doing and with what the experts recommend.


Here are the recommended spending percentages from Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. My percentages from YNaB follow in blue. My percentages don't add up to exactly 100, because I did not include my contributions to my daughter's college expenses in my monthly budget until June, because I have that automatically deducted from my pay.

Dave's Recommendations
Charity - 10-15% 6%
Saving - 5 - 10% 2%
Housing - 25-35% 28%
Utilities - 5 - 10% 8%
Food - 5 - 15% 8%
Transportation - 10-15% 9%
Clothing - 2 - 7% 2%
Medical/Health - 5-10% 8% (including premium)
Personal - 5 - 10% 7%
Recreation - 5 - 10% 1%
Debts - 5 - 10% 15%
(Daughter in college) 8%


My percentages look pretty balanced except of course, savings is too low until the debt is paid off. One surprise for me was that transportation was so high (9%). Since I don't have a car payment, I thought it would be lower, but when I added up insurance, repairs and gasoline, the total was surprising. Now that we are down to one car, these expenses should be reduced.

This exercise is useful to help me see if I'm on track with my spending plan. I think I'll do this check up every quarter.

Budgeting Tools

Personal finance blogs are full of wisdom and encouragement. Here are some posts that I enjoyed this week.

• Money Funk has developed a spreadsheet to track your budget and spending, including a bad debt to income calculator.
• Get Rich Slowly has a list of favorite posts, including "How to Get Out of Debt". His blog is full of timely articles and great financial advice.
• Lynne at Being Frugal is doing a series on budgeting and has reviewed Pear Budget as well as other budget tools.
• Ms Money Chat at My Money Chat tells why she loves Mint software.
• SVL at The Digerati Life has a review of the YNAB system along with a 10% discount code.
• Jolie at Shaking the Money Tree and Amber at Becoming Debtfree in 2009 have had great success this month with a cash-only envelope system. Their results in January add to the evidence that using cash only reduces spending. I wasn't very successful when I tried this last summer, but I think the key is finding a system that works for you. Check out their methods and results.

I really enjoy and am encouraged by all the above blogs. I highly recommend subscribing to them if you are on a journey to becoming debt-free.

New budgeting tools

I have been trying to budget for years, sometimes successfully, other times, not so much. One contributing factor to my lack of success has been my inability to track my actual expenditures. Francois, at Liberia, has posted an expense tracker spreadsheet that may be helpful. (Thank you, francois, for sharing this great resource.) It looks simple and easy to use. Take a look for yourself. If you decide to try it, too, let me know. Maybe we can help each other!

I can't wait to try it for September!