Is it just me......Always overbudget

I was just saying this to my mother. I'm so broke. But I try to be good! It's like for every time I exercise willpower and walk away from buying something I want, I break down and get the next thing I see so it cancels out and my willpowering exercising was for naught and I'm still broke

Rule of thumb when you see something you "want". Give yourself 24 hours and if you need it you will be back there buying it. I run a monthly budget with a cash book. This lets me know what has been paid, what needs to be paid and how much real money I have to spend if any.
I budgeted my way out of being three months behind on rent and two months on utilities. No credit card. I even budgeted in Hubby's nights out because he was the one working. Took eight months but I did it. It really makes a difference when you see where you are spending your money needlessly. Much like tracking your food.
Now if I can get the 83 year old grandmother to do one she might still have money in the middle of the month. Hers is gone within 10 days. Then she'd be broke for the rest of the month if it weren't for her kids helping out. Lol

Hey- I can understand the expense for shoes for the kids-but, dont complain when you spend 150 for shoes.Try online companies and ebay canada-a better value and a smaller price tag.Good luck!!!

I do agree thou--I was never ahead until my kids were our of the house. I remember my daughter asking why I had so much more money. I said as gently as possible"I am not buying food for two teens anymore"

By the way, I definitely understand your aversion to buying clothing for your job in thrift stores. No one wants to buy work clothes secondhand when they've been all up in someone else's goodies and reek of broken dreams and daddy issues.

I donate all my clothes any anything I no longer need. I give away everything. I refuse to have a garage sale and sell my things for $1.00. It cheapens my memories.

Oh please. You're really just too lazy to go through the trouble of having a garage sale. :P

You spend $150 on a pair of sneakers? I never go over $60-80 for sneakers for my kid. He loves to skateboard so I know he needs thicker sole sneakers, but it can be last year styles for all I care. When he starts working, he can buy the expensive sneakers all he wants to. I been stop going over my means but definitely needs to budget better.

bump! My husband and I are both students with three kids. We have no idea how to budget and live like financially responsible adults. :embarassed:

There is some really great advice here!

Here is an example. Shoes for kids $150.00 School fees $200, birthday presents for other kids $75.00 come on! New shoes for me $150.00 Needed them.

How did our parents ever make it with one income.

If I wanted to wear plastic rubber faux leather. sure. But i am not talking about online. And thats tax in.

Just going off the first few comments you made above…. #1) I suggest get on a written budget asap. #2) I suggest starting a sinking fund for clothes. You are going to need them so start putting money aside for them in advance. Normally its $100-$200 per person per yr for people that are in debt (anything you owe that’s not including your home. CC’s, loans, medical bills, ect). #3) Go buy Dave Ramsey’s total money makeover and get a better understanding of how to handle your money. Learn what a actual need is. Its defiantly not $150 pair of shoes because you can’t bring yourself to wear p-leather. This might be shocking but many people (like your parents) bought used from thrift stores. Try there, you can find some great buys, name brand and cheap!

Your parents made it on one income because they didn’t go out and “need” a pair of $150 shoes. They went to walmart and bought the fake leather ones that works just as well for the time beings. They made their own deterrents, soaps, unplugged things that weren’t in use, saved up for school clothes or gave you hand me downs from other kids. They scrimped, saved and gave every $1 they got a job, a place to go…. That is what you are not doing and that’s why you have a hole in your budget. You need to find that hole and plug it fast. This is how many people lost their homes in 2008 when the market crashed, because they were not aware of their spending.

Do you have a emergency saving account in case something happens (and it always does)?

Again I suggest you pick up a book of Dave Ramsey and read it, get your budget in place. GL

Personally I've always loved it when people say things like: Get your budget under control - BUY THIS BOOK! Or this program! Or this thing!

budgettracker.com - > Free. Easy to use budgeting.

Or Pen and Paper. Works just as well.

My advice is to write a budget at the begining of every month and stick to it. Have you ever read any Dave Ramsey books? He has awesome advice on how to write a budget and stick to it as well as how to get out of debt. We live on on income and successfully stick to our budget every month. At the begining of every month we put our income in a spreasheet I have written in excel then we give every single dollar a name. If it is not in the budget then we do not buy it.

We also use something called the envelope system where we put cash in envelopes for certain types of spending like groceries, medication, clothing, dining out, pet food etc and when we are out of money in that envelope we stop buying things in that category until the next budget.

BTW: I would never spend $150 on tennis shoes or $75 on birthday gifts. The most I have ever spent on shoes was around $100 and that was for spinning shoes that I desperately needed because I teach spinning classes. I make birthday gifts and most of my Christmas gifts as well.

ETA: Some of the best Dave Ramsey books are The Total Money Makeover and Financial Peace. I also highly reccommend you take The Financial Peace University class. It teaches a whole new way of living and thinking about money.

^^^This chick is smart. I would tell everyone to take note.

For those that are interested, there's a program called "You Need a Budget". or YNAB.com It will get you out of debt. But, it outlines the above method...every dollar has a job. If it's not in the budget, it doesn't get bought. There's no way around it. If you need money for something that came up, something else has to give. I mean, if you think about it, there's no other way you can dfo it. How can you possibly spend more than you have? It is not possible. So, this is a good way to face facts. Also, at first, you will have all kinds of exceptions because you don't know how to budget and you forget lots of stuff that happens. But, over time, probably a year or so, you learn to plan ofr those "surprises". They are not really surprises, you just forget they happen. Like, one of my surprises is always my kids sports. But, I know when the season starts, I know when it's going to hit, I don't know why I act liek it's a big surprise. Put it in your budget and it's no longer a suprise. You budget for that expense.

^^ THIS^^

I feel your pain, I have 2 kids who both play competitive soccer - it keeps me in the poorhouse.

I wear decent dress shoes to work but my trick is to hit the outlet malls when traveling with the kids. I've picked up Bostonians that run $200 here in Canada for $60 (and the current exchange rates are great).

Depending on where you live there are times it makes sense to make a run for the border (I'm only about an hour away from upstate NY). There are a lot of things that are way less expensive in the US (my running shoes are $189 if I buy them at Running Room - online I can get them for $100 and Canada Post rarely collects the tax)