Sense to Save

What do you do with unspent budgeted money?

On Monday evening, we got back from a quick visit to see family in Indiana. It was our baby’s first time out of the county, so I was a bit stressed about how the trip would go. It took us 10 hours to get to our final destination, and he screamed for a bit and was completely inconsolable toward the end. However, he slept most of the return trip and it went much better! So that’s why I haven’t been posting — I’ve been visiting family and friends.

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Since Shane gets paid monthly, we do our budget month to month. We usually spend most of it on paper and have $50 to $100 left over to use as wiggle room. It’s fun when we get to the end of the month and have a little more left than we had initially planned.

So what to do with it?

Sometimes we roll it into the next month’s budget and use it for a little more wiggle room. I like this option when we have some things planned — like travel or visitors or an irregular expense.

Other times, we take the balance and pop it into savings or toward debt. 

Once in awhile, the money just gets absorbed and spent somewhere.

I prefer for us to have a purpose for the money, whether it’s a purchase or intended for savings.

What do you do with money that makes it to the next payday?

Sweeps update: I’ve won 4 times

Pics of Price is Right prizes and roundup

I can’t believe I forgot to include photos on my post telling ya all about my Price is Right adventure. Here ya go!

Just a baby bear resting in a chair won on the Price is Right.

Baby bear blends in with the bedding, no? The bed has a footboard with similar posts as on the headboard. If I was thinking, I would have stepped back further so you could see the whole bed. And, I would have actually made the bed. I know you’ll forgive me for not.

Check out this post to see a few of the dishes I won. The dinner plate is a little distorted in the pic, but they’re square. 
 

He was so right, it’s scary

Have you seen this YouTube video of Peter Schiff predicting this economic situation a few years back? He got it spot on. Everything he said has happened. Other financial “experts” laughed in his face. 

I’d like to know what Ben Stein and others interviewed in this video compliation would say now.

Peter says that the recession is necessary to correct the economy in the long term. Like medicine, it tastes bad but it helps to heal you, he says.

(Hat tip to Bob for posting the video on his blog)

Avoid prepayment penalties

Mrs Money has a great post explaining how you can avoid prepayment penalties when paying off loans, such as your car loan, before a certain time period.

I thought that if we paid our car off early, we’d owe an extra 1% of the full loan value. Not so! Check out her post to see how I’ll only pay a teeny tiny penalty if we end up knocking out our loan in 36 months or less.

Be careful of oversaving

What’s the point of saving gobs of money if you never have a plan for spending it? I like J.D.’s post cautioning about oversaving.

Save money with a purpose for it. For example, your emergency fund is to be spent in actual emergencies (duh), your clothing budget should actually be spent on clothes, and when you save for a vacation, be sure to actually go on it.

Sometimes, ya gotta spend a little to enjoy life. I have to remind myself that when I get in stealth savings mode.