Alanz Eyes

Budgeting again

April 19th, 2005 - Posted by Alan Howard

It's that time of year again, it seems, when I do my budgeting again.  Almost a year ago exactly, I started a budget that went well for a while, but then I lost the dedication to follow it.  It happened as a result of doing it with Swee, but then she lost interest in following it, and so did I.  The incentive to follow it wasn't there.  But now that Deidre and I have moved in together, it's important to get the joint budget sorted out.

I updated my budget last night, ending up quite happy with the position I'm in right now.  I'll be able to go on the holiday next week, AND still have money left over.  And then there's the two shifts I did at work on the weekend, to cover for someone who was sick, so that's going to give me some good overtime money coming in NEXT pay. 

Anyway, as a result of my budgeting for myself and 'us', Deidre and I discovered something that she's always known.  She's not good with figures.  For me, the reverse has been true.  I know how to manage the money, I just haven't had the discipline to follow it.  The past few months I've been setting up the odd 'automatic payment' in place, to make payments at regular times.  This prevents me from having to worry about paying them manually, which I never have the time or interest in doing.

So Deidre and I have come to a solution.  I'll work out the budget for both of us, and she'll make sure we both follow it.  I think it's going to work out quite nicely.  It was fun, with a few hours spent organising our budgets, jointly and separately, especially for the upcoming holiday next week.  We're only going away for 3 days, but it's going to involve travel to 2 places, so we were organising probable petrol costs, accommodation and food.  And that's not including miscellaneous costs from rides and souvenirs and stuff.

Entry Filed under: Pre-2006