I'm back on my budget (with a twist)

I've fallen so far off the budget truck!  I used to keep a very strict budget and was rather proud of it. I had a great balance between spending and saving.  Not sure what happened, but oh man!  lol

Anyway, I'm now back on a budget, but instead of just giving myself a weekly allowance, I am basing that allowance on how productive I am at home.

Minimum wage here is over $10 per hour. I've set my rate at $5 per hour. 

My typical weekday goes something like this:  get up, go to to work, come home, veg on the couch, go to bed.  Then on the weekend I scramble to try and get groceries, errands, cleaning, laundry, dishes etc etc  all done in 2 days. I never get it all done. So my apartment is in a perpetual state of being cleaned and/or organized, and I can't stand it!

My plan is to spend at least 1 hour of my evening after work doing something productive at home (things like dusting, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, putting stuff away and just generally things that I typically don't get to on the weekend).  At the end of the week I add up my hours spent, and pay myself $5 for each hour I spent on productive things around the apartment. The more I do, the more allowance I get.

Anyone else bribe themselves to do productive things around the house?

I do not do it with money. Instead I do it with computer time.  I will do one big thing then allow myself 15 mins. or so of computer time. It works for me.

As for money I almost always buy myself something on payday. It might be something like a new toy for the dogs or cats or it might be new shirt or such.

I like  your plan. I bet it will work. Good luck!

Kim

kimkats000 said:

I do not do it with money. Instead I do it with computer time.  I will do one big thing then allow myself 15 mins. or so of computer time. It works for me.

As for money I almost always buy myself something on payday. It might be something like a new toy for the dogs or cats or it might be new shirt or such.

I like  your plan. I bet it will work. Good luck!

Kim

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Computer time wouldn't work for me. Maybe up until about 5 years ago, but I don't spend very much time at the computer these days, and find that I don't miss it.

Last week I got so much done, that I wouldn't have normally done.  And today I have plans for about 2 hours of cleaning/sorting, plus laundry.

I don't bride myself.. I guilt trip myself. At the start of the week I plan my week out and then I have to do it. I can flex it a bit and do Monday and Tuesdays on Tuesday if something comes up Monday.. and if I don't do it all end of the week I just feel crappy anyways. It usually works.. example, this week;

mon- Brush cats and dog well+their teeth and nails,

tues- work on my stair railings renovation

wed- work on my stair railings renovation

thurs- brush cats

fri-off work-  grocerys, load dishwasher, wipe down and tidy kitchen, tidy and wipe down bathroom(not shower), brush, bath, nails, teeth on dog, change bedding,

sat-off work- laundry, tidy living room and bedroom, dust house (not spare room or basement), brush cats, vaccum floors and couch, Swiffer mop, shake out entrance mats and sweep entrance way and stairs

sun- day off/ movie day

I might have missed some things lol

I can't stay on a budget. Once I get my check and my husband gets his  the bills are paid and the food is bought, and getting things for the house it's gone. It is so hard to deal with everything each month.

Rick should do that with his phone/game time.

Seriously, we are big budgeters; it's the only way we get anywhere. Rick is in "big charge" of the checkbook. I sign my check over to him and he gives me an allowance. Since I get paid every two weeks, I get a two-week allowance and it has to see me through the two weeks. It always does and I always seem to have some left over. Which is good because I'm always putting money back for something. For the last two years, it's been the kitchen project. (I always keep track of my allowance, too, because I want to know where my money is going. I have my own budget for gas, hair, etc.)

I don't even write checks; I don't want to be bothered doing it and I'm perfectly happy to let dear Richard take care of everything. That does not mean that I don't know what's going on in our financial life, though; I make it a point to keep on track with it all. If anything were to happen to Rick, I could pick it all right up. I'll sit down with the checkbook and when I have questions, he always tells me what's going on. And Rick doesn't mind being in charge; he likes it when all the bills are paid for the month and he always says: "Well, we've survived another month!"

We start talking about the next year's budget in late November. We use Quicken and he'll print out the stuff he needs and we'll sit down with everything and figure out where we need to go from that point. (We went over our cat budget in both 2011 and 2012 because we didn't plan on a new cat each of those years....Tabby and Muffin!    This year, we lost Whisper, so we're no longer buying her prescription food. But now BooBoo and Bootser are on meds, so that evened out. Kind of. It's difficult when we have so many geriatric cats. And yes, we do think about that when we're talking about the budget.) By the end of December, we're ready for the new year.

I budget, too. I don't pay cash or check for anything except my rent. Everything goes to my credit card and I pay it off every month. I find this an easy way to keep track of spending, because it is all right in front of me, I can check the credit card activity every day and know exactly what I have bought and spent, and if there is room for that book I really want to buy.

One little trick I have to increase savings. If there is something that I want but don't immediately need, if I talk myself out of getting it, the money I would have spent goes straight into the savings account. That is above and beyond what is allotted for saving that month, I mean.

I plan ahead and save for big items. For instance last summer I knew I was going to need new tires this past spring, and I saved toward that for a full year. The new computer, and the expense of retrieving files and pictures from my crashed computer were not in the budget, but because of those little additions from not buying this or that, I was able to cover those unexpected expenses.

I had some medical expenses at the same time as the unexpected computer expenses. Those came out of the savings account, but I will work toward 'paying it back' for the next few months. I live frugally, but I can always find a way to cut back a little, even just avoiding a trip or two to the grocery store. One trip to the store costs about $2 in gas. Thinking ahead, making lists, or simply making do with what is in the house can save a couple of trips a week. $4 a week adds up, slowly but surely, in two months that covers one co pay. It can be a little inconvenient you know because fresh things usually have to be bought and used up fairly quickly but I just do without salad for a week, or bananas or whatever.

otto said:

but I just do without salad for a week, or bananas or whatever.

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This made me chuckle. My hubby buys salad stuff and bananas all the time...and NEVER eats them. We toss them when they go rotten.

I eat them, but bananas ripen so fast, and I don't like them when they are ripe, so I don't buy more than five at a time. I like to eat a banana every day, but when I am repaying an unexpected expense by restricting trips to the store, I have to do without for a week or so at a time. Once the 'debt' is paid up, I usually resume going to the store at least once, sometimes twice a week to keep the bananas in stock.

I really do feel the difference when I am not getting my daily banana.

My 2nd cousin teaches ballet. But she used to dance on the queens royal ballet team- No joke. Anyways in one of her videos she speaks about how she eats a banana before every dance! that's like multiple a day... otherwise her legs cramp up on the calf.. something about the potassium in them.