Making Things Easy

 I've found through numerous trial and error different things that do/don't work for me as far as making things simple financially for me. Some people write down every single penny of everything they spend. This is the LAST thing I want to be a part of.  It comes off to me as being to obsessive, like there is no freedom in spending the money I work hard to earn. That's why I budget the way I do, or don't, whatever one can call what I do!

I mentioned in a previous post that everything over what I have to save each paycheck for bills is pulled out of my bank. What do I do with it? Whatever I please! If I feel like gaining some weight this period, then I'm going to McDonald's a couple times! However, this cash in hand is my gas and haircut money(I religiously get my haircut every time I get paid, $9.00 each time). I do have access to my wife's paycheck as well, which she pays our cellular bill and our babysitter with, $150 and $120 a month respectively.

Anyways, everything that is a monthly bill is automatically withdrawn from my account where I can. The thing I discovered with this is, with a few companies, they don't exactly advertise this service. This is how they can collect late fees from us. By making a few phone calls and visiting a few websites, I was able to get all but one company automatically withdraw my bill from my account. The last one offers this service, but someone on their end is a little illiterate and cannot figure out why my account is the only one in the entire USA that cannot have this service(I'm working on it though!). The benefit of this? No late fees! I don't have to make time to visit, don't have to write out checks, don't have to call and give my card number out to a random person, etc.. That part of my life is automated. Easy enough right?

I found out yesterday that my employer will send my direct deposit to several different accounts if I so please. A lot of employers do this, I've just never put this to use. The major benefit to doing this is that I can save money and never see it actually withdrawn from my bank, so I can get myself used to living on a little less. You can't spend what you've never seen in the first place. With me though, I use a program on my phone that I view all my accounts at once on, and so therefore I know the money is out there. I've combated this in a sense by making my checking account local, but my savings account through INGDirect. It'll take 2 to 3 business days for me to transfer money over to checking, so I'm less likely to put in the effort to do so.  My wife has began to save money out of her check, and soon she will be depositing that into my savings account after I set everything up.

I'm looking for budget ideas, as I'm always looking for something a little easier, or just good idea's in general to add to the arsenal. Comment!

The Budget

I'm not completely sure if what I do can be considered a budget. I'm always looking for easier ways, and the way I'm currently doing things has been working for the past year. It has definitely been tweaked, and I'm still tweaking things today.

I'm paid twice a month, the 15th and 30th. Weekends and holidays juggle the payday at times but that's the schedule we stick to. All of my bills, minus food and gasoline, add up to $1286 a month. I figure $1300 for a round number and for a just in case scenario.  Those bills, divided by 2, gives me $650.  Everything over that amount is withdrawn from my account, and is money that goes to food, gas, haircuts, and general items for the house and my personal "needs."  While that doesn't give me a complete look at where my money is going, it works.

I have my retirement automatically withdrawn from my check so that's taken care of. In my case, however, you're not given the option with the state to put in retirement or not. So for some, that may not be enough.  I was heavily searching into IRA's when I got a statement yesterday detailing what an old 401(k) account I had was worth. I had completely forgot about this. It's only worth about $250 (wasn't at that job long!) but I have it there so rolling it over is an option.  Plus, it's through INGDirect, and that's where my savings account is through.  For my next post, I'll be blogging about how I actually go about paying Mr. Bill.

The Debt

The following is an overview of my debt. I pulled my annual credit report yesterday and have added everything up. There are a couple things on my credit that I won't be paying on, for personal reasons I won't address here. The following totals do not reflect those items.

1. Installment accounts (7 Items) - $3602
2. Medical (7 Items) - $1306
3. Student Loan - $11,000

I will be paying those off in the order listed. I'll be putting some more progress bars up in due time when I began paying on them. I want to complete my small emergency fund before I start this process.