rethinking my budget

i’ve now been seriously on a budget for about two months, and I’ve been thinking a lot about the ways to make it best work for me.  Since I started this blog (and my budget), I feel like i’ve taken a lot of positive steps towards financial health, but i also feel as if I’ve gotten – dare I say it? – a little too obsessed.  I think about every single dollar, and I’m starting to get stressed in situations like eating out with my friends, or having coffee after work.  The point of my budget is supposed to be to eventually lead me to less stressful existence, not more. And, I just want to be happy. Bottom line.  Stressing all the time does not make me happy.

So I think I’ve figured out a (pretty basic) way to still keep an eye on my budget without thinking about it all the time.  It’s such a simple solution, that I feel kind of stupid for even writing a whole post about it.  Basically, I’m going to stop budgeting for all the miscellany in my life – food, entertainment, gas, beauty products, etc… I’m still going to keep track, I’m just not going to budget by category anymore.  I’m still going to budget very rigidly for all my fixed and necessary expenses – rent, utilities, car, debt, etc…  but everything left over is going to a general pot (aka my ing electric orange account) where I can use it for whatever I want, whether that be groceries, a hair cut, a new book, whatever. What I have left over is not a lot, by any means, so I still need to watch my spending, it’s just that I’m getting too stressed out by alotting an exact amount of dollars per category.  As I mentioned a couple days ago, I’ve also started a short-term savings account, and now, instead of putting just “found” or extra money in that account, I will begin putting a certain amount every month towards it, and then, if I need to (i.e. if I don’t have enough money in my checking account) I will be able to use that money for my miscellaneous irregular expenses throughout the year (e.g. my AAA membership, expected car maintenance, etc). And once my short-term savings account reaches a certain amount, say $500, then I will transfer anything over that into my e-fund.

But I’m not allowed to use my short-term savings for regular monthly expenses, like groceries, eating out, etc… I have to make do with what’s in my checking account (which is a specifically budgeted amount).

I think this way is going to get better for me. Since I keep my necessary expenses in a separate checking account from my unecessary expenses, I don’t really ever have to worry that I won’t have enough to pay my rent or student loans or whatever.  i’m still budgeting, but just a little more flexibly. It will be good.

AND… in other news….

I found out that I’m going to be received a 7% merit increase at work, so that’s money right into my savings.  And since next month is a three paycheck month for me, I have plans to take that third paycheck AND my increase and put it all in my misc savings accounts.  So next month I will be able to save $1375, which I’m pretty excited about. For me, that is a LOT of money.