So there you were, attending to the “needs” column in your budget, ignoring the “wants.” But now you see that some of those wants have moved over. There they are, staring at you from the top of the needs heap, without so much as the decency to displace what’s already there. So let me hear [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Budgeting'
Budget 2010: Progress on the Debt Front
December 1st, 2009 1 Comment
When I last wrote about our two- or three-year plan to pay off all credit card debt, we were struggling up Mount Savings, frequently buffeted by the winds of unpredictable expenses. At that time, the goal was a cushion of $5,000 in savings — a base camp, if you will, from which to mount a [...]
Tags:
Fahrvergnügen? Nein
July 28th, 2009 2 Comments
Image by clevercupcakes via Flickr Our car took a week-long convalescence last week, and the bill came to about what you’d expect for a stay at a swanky spa: $1,258.04. Clunk, indeed. Except that’s the sound of our wallets hitting the floor. The total is about 9 car payments; of course we finished paying off [...]
Tags: repair bill · Volkswagen
Budget, Meet Exceptions: Irregular Expenses Are Gonna Get Ya
June 17th, 2009 3 Comments
Cash Husband writes: There comes a point in any grand plan when circumstances conspire to deliver a seemingly karmic smackdown. June is that point for our budget. So far in June, we’ve racked up the following irregular expenses: $588 car repair (with a note about potential future repairs totaling $2,500) $300 window unit air conditioner [...]
Tags: Budgeting · irregular expenses
Where We Are Now, and How We Got Here
May 27th, 2009 No Comments
If you’ve got a little time, I have seen no better example that encapsulates, in one man’s story, the mania that preceded the housing bubble and its very painful aftermath. His story is jaw-dropping. A financial correspondent for the NY Times Washington bureau, Edmund L. Andrews’s $120,000 salary was never going to support $4,000 in [...]
Tags:
Budget Buzz: Getting Over ‘I Don’t Know’
May 5th, 2009 4 Comments
Budgeting gets a bad rap as a giant drag. If you’re not someone who’s inherently organized, as I’m not, first thinking about the process feels like trying to corral the very air. “Money? I don’t know, I just, you know, wing it.” But winging it always left me uneasy. I’d think, “I must be overspending. [...]
Tags: Budgeting · money psychology
