Tweaking the budget

This business of writing down where every nickel goes is an education.  Whew.  Because we've had enough funds around here during the past ten years to do pretty much as we pleased, we've gone hog wild.  
Just when I think I've listed every expense we'll have after retirement, I think of something else.  
Like Cliff's XM radio.  $14 a month.  
In the last two months, Cliff has put $250 worth of diesel fuel through various tractors.  No biggie now, but it has to be budgeted in somewhere, somehow.  There won't be an envelope for this one; he has to use a credit card to buy diesel close to home, so we'll have to keep that amount in the bank.  
I'm dropping subscriptions to a couple of magazines and a local newspaper. I won't really miss them that much.  
I'm very careful with my grocery shopping now, because once the money in that envelope is gone, I'm done shopping.
I stay under my grocery budget most weeks, so I'm building up a little extra.  That means before long we can go to Sam's Club.  
Walmart at Richmond has a tent sale going on, with some excellent buys on bedding.  Then there was a nice set of T-Fal for $50 over which I salivated for a minute.  A month ago, I would have bought it.  The truth is, my old set is serving me well.  I stop to think about every purchase now, and most of the time I walk away from those fleeting temptations empty-handed.  
I love tulips; you can get fifteen bulbs for $5 at Walmart, and I had enough in my grocery funds to get a couple of packages this week.  
But I just couldn't.  I may get them next time.  
In practicing for retirement, I'm no longer asking Cliff to use his pocket money if we eat out, because he won't have so much pocket money after he retires.  Eating out has to come from our "fun" fund, and so far, I haven't wanted to eat out badly enough to deplete that fund.  
I know I tend to get on certain bandwagons for awhile and then jump off (some of you might remember my on-again, off-again alliances with Flylady); but this is something that is for keeps, because there's really no choice.  
And to tell the truth, all this budgeting is rather addictive.  


Some of you may notice I haven't made mention of a certain bovine creature lately.  That's because I'm ignoring her existence until she does something useful, like having a calf.

Wakeup calls

A crop-dusting plane passed over our house repeatedly yesterday.

Thank goodness the Culligan man is coming today to fix our water softener; as soon as I got the call yesterday I started loading up the dishwasher so it would be ready.  No more hard-water coffee for me, either.


Now that I'm starting to watch where our money goes, I've made a big discovery:  Most of our main bills... cell phone, house phone bundled with Internet and Dish, electricity, the propane level-pay, car insurance, gasoline credit card... fall in the first ten days of the month.  Not usually a problem unless it's that every-third-month when we make our quarterly house payment.  Like this month.
And it wouldn't really have been a problem this month except that I am putting money into envelopes that would normally be available to pay bills.  I could have skipped the envelopes and started up again later, but I didn't.  I'm anxious to get this thing to the point where it works; and work it will, once we're a month ahead.  So I used money I have tucked away here and there in savings accounts and proceeded.
Here's the thing:  Because Cliff makes good money and we don't have a lot of bills, I've been living it up through the rest of the month when all those pesky bills have been paid.  Need a birdhouse or a new printer?  Need to take a little vacation?  How about a new laptop?  Do it the last half of the month, we're good.
Then comes the crunch again as a new month rolls around.
This works fine at present; it won't float, once Cliff retires.
Can you believe I'm sixty-six years old and just figuring all this out?
On the plus side, we learned a long time ago about credit card debt, so that lesson is behind me.  

Did you know cows play hide-and-seek?

First week on the envelope system of budgeting

Yesterday, Cliff's payday, I got enough cash to put some in the following envelopes:  groceries, dog, clothing, doctors-and-pills, and fun.  Hey, they're my envelopes, I'll name them as I please.  
I'll be fine-tuning this thing for awhile; I've designated $75 weekly for groceries, and I really don't think we'll be spending that much.  Yesterday I got by for under $50.  The only thing  that has made my grocery bill seem high in the past is that when we shop at Walmart, we're liable to be buying $20 worth of oil, a $30 pair of overalls, and so on.  For now, Cliff will buy oil out of his pocket money (he gets a pretty healthy allowance), and overalls will come out of the money in the clothing envelope.  I do count toilet paper and paper towels as grocery items.  Which reminds me, when did paper towels start costing $2 a roll?  I think I'll be using my micro-fiber cloths more, in the future.
The system sounds so simple.  And I will tell you that it made me quite conscious of what I was buying yesterday, which always means I spend less.  
I've allotted $20 a week for the dog, which sounds like a lot.  But there's her pricey dog food and those expensive heartworm pills and the monthly flea stuff.  Plus the fact that if we leave for more than one day, we get her boarded to the tune of $15 a day.  Now that I think about it, I may have to allow more for the dog!  Good grief, is it possible a dog can cost $80 a month?  
But that's what I like about this system; it makes you realize where your money is going. 
I had my first rude awakening yesterday when I stopped to pick up a couple of prescriptions I hadn't planned on.  My generic blood pressure tables are only $10 for a ninety-day supply, but Cliff's Niaspan is  $90.  Yes, friends, a dollar a day.  
Since I just started this envelope thing, I had set aside $35 for meds.  But my first $35 just covered Cliff's deductible at the cardiologist's office, leaving me with an empty envelope.   So, how would I pay for the prescriptions?  
Luckily, Cliff is still working, so we have the money.  And some extra money came in this morning, so I was able to put the allotted amounts in each envelope.  
It's a good thing I'm getting this going before he retires.  It's going to take a year just to get ahead of things.

Thinking about retirement

Cliff and I went and talked to our insurance man today.  We raised the deductible on both the old house and this trailer house to $1,000.  With a little apprehension, we took off some things that we had been insuring.  
Why?  
I have told Cliff for some time that we would need to do this when he retires; we won't be able to afford the cost of that much insurance.  Today he said, "Let's just do it now."  
When we got home, for the first time ever, I wrote down a list of expenses we'll always have, even after retirement.  
I made another list of things we can reduce or cut out entirely:  Dish TV, for example; that's $40 a month.  I told my husband I'm not giving up Internet unless I'm starving; after all, it's my main form of entertainment.
We don't have a big retirement fund; we will have to try and live on our social security.  Scary, isn't it?  Cliff's 401K isn't a huge amount, and we'll put that in savings as our nest egg.  
It appears that we could manage to stay here on our place with proper budgeting, at least for a few years.  Unless Social Security goes the way of the dinosaur; in that case, we'll be on the streets with signs that say, "Will work for food."  
As I was doing all this figuring, something made me think of Dave Ramsey and his envelope system.   It's actually a plan to help you get out of debt, and except for our property, our debts are paid.  But it could help us stay on track.
I believe the idea is that you allot so much each pay period to groceries, clothing, medicine, and so forth; each of these has its own envelope.  When the envelope is empty, you do without.  Of course, this would not apply to medicines; you'l have to try and budget the proper amount for that, or a little extra.  Cliff pointed out the high cost of owning a pet, and I labeled an envelope for Iris' care and feeding.    
I decided to go ahead and use the envelope system right now for the things I can; this won't include utilities, house payments, insurance and so forth, because I pay those with checks.  But using the envelopes for what I can will help me fine-tune our budget so I'll have a realistic idea of how much we really need when we retire.  It might help me spend less, too.  
You can spend $19 plus shipping on some sort of fancy envelope holder and special envelopes from Dave Ramsey's website, but I'm using plain old business-sized envelopes.  What's the point of budgeting if you're going to pay $20 for envelopes?  
Wish me luck.  I'll keep you informed.

That's a partial arrowhead and a couple of pieces of flint I found when Cliff and I were walking in the pasture the other day.

Sadie and I walked today after Cliff went to work; he had his every-three-month doctor visit this morning so the doctor could ask him how he's feeling, and to get his blood work done. Once you've had CABG surgery and go on all those prescription drugs, you get to see a doctor regularly.

A couple of weeks ago, I vowed to patronize the small-town grocery stores around here. Last week I spent only $68, and today I spent $63. Trouble is, today's money was spent at Walmart.

I know, I wasn't going to do that. But the grocer in the town where our doctors' office is had to close down due to competition from Walmart. I don't drive. It was either patronize Walmart or make a special trip someplace else, and I hate to make Cliff drive extra miles in his free time. So on the second week of my "patronize local grocers" vow, I folded. Hopefully next week I'll get back on track.

I've found I watch my grocery dollars more closely if I take a certain amount of cash, rather than using the checkbook. So that's another practice I'm implementing.

We are not in dire straits; but we're in our sixties, so I know the time is coming when we won't have Cliff's steady, quite generous paycheck to count on. I may as well get used to budgeting now.

On this gloomy, gray afternoon there's a cold front coming through, possibly bringing rain. Sunday may bring sunshine and sixty degree temperatures, say the weather-guessers. If it does, we'll get on the Gold Wing and head out on the open road for a few hours... if the good Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise.