Life Costs

Q & A

Life Costs

I have started a budget just using an Excel spreadsheet, and this morning as I was tweaking it I noticed that in 10 DAYS I spent $1273 on stuff!!!! And it was mostly stuff for me! I do have a savings account, and I also pay my bills on time. I have no credit card anymore it has been paid off after 4 years. My question is how do I stop from overspending? How do I budget accordingly for clothing, and entertainment? Should I be doing it by percentage or dollar? Because now that I look at the spreadsheet I'm thinking "where did all the money go" and "did I really need a spring jacket when its still winter?"
Thanks in advance. I love your show.

Jill Irwin

I applaud you for getting on a budget and tracking your expenses. It's a real eye-opener, isn't it?

Life - which includes everything from food to clothes to entertainment - should use up only about 25% of your budget. I encourage you to try Gail's Interactive Budget, which will not only help you see the various categories and how much is going into each (which you can adjust until you've got the formula right) but also puts the money into the jar categories.

Yes, my girl, I'm going to tell you to get thee on cash. Uh-huh. That's what you need to do until you've created a new set of realizations about money and the fact that you only have so much to spend.

One of the things my fams say is that living on the jars makes them way more aware of what they are spending on. I expect you could use that lesson too.

You can still use your excel spreadsheet to keep track; just transfer the numbers you've worked out on Gail's Interactive Budget to the spreadsheet and start from there.

Let me know how you do.