Thanks for voting!This is Susan’s 4th post in our Customer Blogger series. Read her previous post here.
Now that we’ve moved into our new home and (sort of) unpacked, it’s time. Time to create the dreaded, but necessary, household budget. I committed to doing it when I applied to write for this savings blog. I want to do it. I know it will be good for our family’s financial health.
But where do I start?
I have no clue what the bills in our new house will be. Utilities? Considering this house is 20 years old (versus our former home, which was the ripe old age of 65), I’m hoping modern insulation will mean lower electric bills. But I won’t really know how much lower until we live here for a few months. And water? I’ve heard the water charges in this county are higher than where we used to live. Then again, the previous homeowners wisely installed many water-saving faucets and appliances, so maybe that will balance out the higher water costs. I’ll have to wait three months to see what our trash/recycling collection will cost, because that particular service is billed quarterly.
We also switched phone, Internet and cable providers, because our previous provider was unwilling to negotiate a new (lower cost) package with us when we moved. (That’ll show them, right?) I think the prices will be lower than what we were paying before, but the actual dollar amount you see on your bill never seems to match the amount the slick sales guy quoted you on the phone. (“What the heck is a federal access surcharge, anyway?!”) So that’s something of a mystery at this point, too.
Even our fuel costs will be different in the new house. My husband’s total commute to work used to be around 32 miles a day. Now it’s 54 miles a day. Even though I work from home, I have to commute to my daughter’s preschool and the sitter’s house, which went from a 3-mile trip to 9 miles. Add all that up, throw in some typical summer price-jacking at the gas pump, and whaddya get? Still waiting to see on that as well. Pretty sure it will be more expensive, though.
With all these variables, I can still put together a budget—just with a few question marks and guesses, waiting to be filled in with real numbers once the bills start arriving. I’m using some of the tools and worksheets from ING Direct’s website and creating a budget spreadsheet that fits our needs. Something simple, but easy to see at a glance what income we have coming in and expenses going out. With the money that’s left over, we’re planning to put some into our retirement accounts and some for a “rainy day” fund in our regular savings account.
Meanwhile, I still have some unpacking to do—where’s that darn calculator?
Tags: Customer Bloggers, Susan
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Re budgets. Has anyone connected their ING account to Mint or any other free online software? Mint sounded awesome - directly connecting to my ING acct…until, during the sign in in process they asked for my PIN. I stopped at that point. Is this a red flag? Are there any other users connecting to other online budget accounting softwares?
I LIKE YOUR ENDING NEW AND OLD. THIS WEBSITE ALONG WITH MY HELP SHOULD GET YOU ON THE RIGHT PATH. http://WWW.SANTIAGOMARKETING.COM PASSWORD IS: guest. P.S. CONGRADULATIONS ON DOING WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET YOUR KIDS A BETTER HOME TO LIVE IN.
SINCERLY YOURS ANSELMO & MARIANNE ZIONTS SANTOS.
@Susan - Your realtor may have the numbers you need to create your budget. They may have the averages or at least a few of the payments made by the previous owner. If not, you shoudl be able to call the various service providers and find out what past bills were or what the average is for you home or neighborhood. It may not be exact when the bill comes but it may give you a better idea as to what you should be budgeting for.
I happen to love budgeting, although I’m not the best at sticking to one. ING has a ton of great tools to help craft your budget but I also suggest checking out Dave Ramsey’s website (http://www.daveramsey.com) and taking a look at all the tools that he has as well. Not every system works for everyone and I have to say, Dave’s has really made me change the way that I think about my money and how I portion it out each month.
@Roy - I love mint.com. They are an aggregator, which means that they log on to various bank and credit card websites for you and compile all the information in one place. So, if you use a series of credit cards or have more than one checking account, mint can be a helpful in terms of showing all your spending in one place, as opposed to spread out over multiple websites. Some people are comfortable with this and others are not. I have been using them for years and have never had a problem with security.
When I first started using the service, it was a wake up call when I saw just how much money Bear and I were spending eating out each month on top of our groceries. It was INSANE. I was able to look at those numbers and really start to make changes in how I was spending. Just knowing what’s going on can be so useful.
The best part is that they finally are allowing you to enter cash transactions through their site. I’ve been trying to use cash as often as possible to stay within budget and when you couldn’t enter cash transaction, it was a major paiin. However, that issue is fixed and I’m really happy with the service.
I actually started using Mint as I realized how complex all my finances were — it really does help pull everything together to give you a nice overview of your spending. It might seem a little scary to give up your PINs etc., but it’s got all the right credentials for security. So I gave it a shot!
I’ve never been good with writing and sticking to a budget. I tried to do one recently and nothing came of it. Haha. I spend and save on feel which works for our basic finances right now, but when they get too much more complicated I know we’ll have to do better. Can’t wait to read how it ends up working for you.
[...] Susan: New house, new budget, no clue? This is Susan’s 4th post in our Customer Blogger series. Read her previous post here. Now that we’ve moved into our new home and (sort of) unpacked, it’s time. Time to create the dreaded, but necessary, household budget. I committed to doing it when I applied to write for this savings blog. I want to do [...] [...]