I am sorry for being absent from the posting here. We have been busy spending money in February to make up for our January fast. Sadly, I ended the last post by saying, “The January fast will not prove to be very effective if we go over budget by $800.00 this month.”
Well, despite the short month, we did go over our budget, not by $800, but by over $500.00. I told you we would mention our victories as well as our set backs. Here is a setback. We all have setbacks and go over budget from time to time. What I would like to write about is what are we going to do and not do about it.
1. Revisit Your Expenses/ Determine What Went Wrong
Simply looking back on your expenses is a great starting point for learning which areas you are overspending.
We spent $703.43 on groceries compared to our $440.00 monthly budget. Ouch. There’s almost $300 of our overspending right there.
Our dining expenses were $261.49 compared to our $160.00 monthly budget. There’s another $100.00.
The third area was an eye appointment that sent us back $200.00 (compared to our budgeted $100.00) There’s the remaining $100.00. The $200.00 was with vision insurance. The doctor called our insurance the “Rolls Royce of vision insurance”. I don’t even want to think of the damage without this insurance, though I can now say we have a Rolls Royce.
2. “Can you Control It”?
Asking the question, “Can I control the above?” can help you filter whether the above problem areas were unforeseeable or something that can be altered with some modifications. For us, the Answer is yes, yes, and no.
- Groceries? Yes
- Dining? Yes
- Eye Doctor Bill? No
We could have altered our food and dining expenses during the month. I suppose you can make the case that we could have foreseen the eye exam, but I didn’t. Therefore, I am classifying this as something we can’t control.
3. What Will We Do About It?
What’s done is done. We can’t go back and change the past. We can only move and deal with the next month. Here are some things you can do and shouldn’t do:
- Refocus and tighten the belt. Dana and I like this one. We will simply need to refocus and make sure this doesn’t happen again anytime soon.
- Use the envelope system. My debit card doesn’t tell me that I am over my grocery limit for the month. However, if I allocate the budgeted amount in cash in an envelope, it’s very clear where we stand for the month. We have done the envelope system at our house, especially when things are tight and will go back to it if we continue to go over on groceries and dining out.
- Alter your budget. If you have already tightened the belt and are using the envelope system, and still are going over budget consistently, you may have the budget set unrealistically low. Raising your budget to the appropriate level will alleviate some pressure and make your budget less of a bully and more of a realistic road map.
Don’t:
- Dwell too much on it. Learn from your setback and move on. Dwelling on the past gets you nowhere.
- Quit. Blowing your budget doesn’t mean you should quit. Click here to read further if you are struggling to make your budget work.
- Blame your spouse. Work with them not against them on this. I was the poster boy for passing the blame (“So, Dana, how was Panera Bread this afternoon? I can see the $7.47 debit in our bank account. I thought we decided not to eat out for lunch this week. ”) I have since learned to chill out, thank goodness. (and Dana says, ‘Amen.’)
Coming Up:
Set and Forget It: What we do to automate our bills/savings/investments
I have a lot to say about cars and their affect on our finances. More to come on that this month.
What other topics do you want to read about? Please email me or make a comment.
