Hello Goodbudgeters – We hope you’ve been enjoying your summer! Congrats again on getting this far on the challenge.
As we all know, budgeting is about learning and trying new things. If something doesn’t work in your budget or with your savings plan now, it’s worth figuring out a new plan that you can experiment with next month.
So we wanna know:
How much you put towards your goal in July 2021.
How much you plan to contribute in August 2021.
As part of this savings challenge, what’s something new you want to try next month? Are you experimenting with shifts in your other Envelopes to make space for your savings goals? Or are you trying out new sources of income to help boost your savings?
I sort of ended up upending everything in July! I made an appointment with my financial advisor - that sounds so snooty, but it’s through our 403(b) at work! With more flexibility in my budget now that student loans are done, I wanted to check in on where I am at with retirement and my goals there. I actually ended up adjusting my retirement “needs” up a bit - tighter retirement made sense when my monthly budget was tight. My employer also just returned a tiny bit of our retirement match after dropping it during COVID, so I had a lot of moving pieces to work with! But it ended up being an excellent budget review - I shifted some categories a bit, set $400 for a Roth IRA monthly - and quit paying extra on my mortgage! I’d always thought that was a smart thing, but the advisor showed me how it makes more sense not to since the mortgage interest is so low.
Long story short - I have a somewhat revised budget plan and am taking a couple of months to live in it and see if it needs more tweaks. But it still includes money to be set aside for both emergency and goal savings.
It does sound like you’ve made lots of changes! I like that you said you’re going to try living with this new budget for a few months and then making further tweaks if needed. I think that’s what budgeting is all about – playing around and seeing what makes sense/works for your current situation Thanks again for sharing!
Hey everyone! The end of the year is fast approaching, so now’s a great time to take a look back and reflect on the challenges you’ve encountered throughout this challenge. By reflecting on the hard stuff, you might be able to identify ways you can conquer similar challenges that arise in the future.
Feel free to share about:
How much you put towards your goal in August 2021.
How much you plan to contribute in September 2021.
What’s been the hardest part of this process for you? How have you dealt with that? For example, were certain changes to your budget hard to get used to? Was it challenging to get family members on board?
I’m still working on a comfortable split between saving for short-term and saving for retirement! Either way, I worry that I’m going to regret not prioritizing the other at some point. But whatever the split, I’ve settled into saving $800/month pretty comfortably, and I’m happy with that. The hardest part for me had just been feeling comfortable with my decisions. When I was paying down debt I felt pretty single-minded about getting it done, and when I was saving for a bathroom I had an immediate goal to keep that focus. Now I don’t have one single purpose, and it feels like I question everything!
Thanks for sharing! I can totally relate! My husband and I have a few different goals we’re juggling right now, and it’s been tricky to know how best to allocate extra money (whenever we have it) towards those goals. Sometimes I think it’d be better to go all ham on one and knock it out, but then, there’s always the worry that something bad will happen if we don’t pay at least a little attention to the others. I’m a textbook worrywart
The end of the challenge (and year!) is fast approaching. Now’s a great time to think about what you’ve been learning on this journey and how what you’ve learned might impact your budget once the challenge ends.
Feel free to share about:
How much you put towards your goal in September 2021.
How much you plan to contribute in October 2021.
What are you learning that you want to incorporate into your budget and/or process once this challenge ends? For example, have you learned skills or tools that make budgeting more successful?
I learned that I can stick to a savings goal and that it absolutely fits in my budget if I prioritize it. And I learned that being out of debt and having solid short-term savings provides so much more peace of mind that I could have imagined.
I also learned that it works really well for me to set an aggressive budget for each month, but leave some money unallocated that I can apply wherever the budget ends up inadequate for the month. Not seeing “extra” in my envelopes keeps me focused on living within my budget, but I know I have some squish money on hand to take advantage of a sale or have an extra dinner out if the occasion arises without having to debate about tapping into savings.
I haven’t really been keeping up with the challenge because increasing our savings wasn’t a priority for us this year, but we’ve been doing really well about putting a great deal into both our regular savings accounts AND an account “bucket” we set up for our and our daughter’s student loans (and they’re massive). With the loan repayments on hold and zero interest, we put the money into an interest-bearing account so that when repayment resumes in January we’ll have made some money in the meanwhile.
Having Goodbudget to review all of our spending (even though admittedly we go over budget FAR too often!) has been a great way to know what we have and where it goes.
Not so long ago we were in an insurmountable amount of debt due to poor spending habits and no accounting. I just spent what we had until we ran out of money, and then charged everything else until our next payday. When the bills came, I paid the minimum credit card payment (on time at least) and dug the hole deeper. It was awful, and we finally had to turn to legal action to get us out of trouble. I wish I’d known about Goodbudget back then!
Goodbudget has been by my side for years now and since then we’ve never carried a revolving balance, missed a payment or been late on any financial obligations, all while building really nice savings (both directed and unforeseen) and retirement accounts. I just don’t know how we’d still be getting along without it!
I also wasn’t really tracking spending or trying to stick to a budget before Goodbudget. Basically, I was living really well in the present with no thought to the future - and without solid savings, every little new furnace emergency got financed out of necessity. Goodbudget was huge for me, too - I had to learn that I was in control of my money and I set the priorities. Being out of debt for everything except my mortgage is such a free and peaceful feeling!
Thanks for sharing! That’s so cool to hear you’ve found a “strategy” that works for you. I.e. giving yourself a budget and trying to stick to that, but also having the assurance of a buffer in case things pop up!
I have a similar story of getting into (quite a bit of) debt and then using GB to help dig myself out! Because of that experience, I’m super passionate about helping people take control of their financial situations. And also, passionate about never letting myself (and my now family) get back there
This isn’t earth-shattering, but I think I’m learning just how important it is for me to not make financial decisions in a vacuum. When I look back over the last six years (which include a few years before I got married), some of the biggest financial decisions I’ve made were made after long discussions with friends and/or family. My life might have been a lot different if I had just decided things on my own. So coming out of this challenge, I definitely want to make sure that my husband and I continue to keep the door of communication open when it comes to finances!
The end of the year is nigh! That might mean you’ve already started thinking about some (budget) resolutions or money goals that you’d like to work towards in the New Year. Or, you’ve thought loosely about your budget in general.
We want to know:
How much you put towards your goal in October 2021.
How much you plan to contribute in November 2021.
Now that you’ve been working on this goal for a year, what are you considering as a goal for next year?
My cat needed surgery this past month, then got an infection - end result of both is a little over $1000 in vet expenses on one paycheck! So I put nothing toward my goals this month, but I was able to cover it all without carrying debt into next month. I still made my retirement transfer since that is set on auto. With Christmas next month, I plan to not do anything other than retirement again, but be able to pay all the holiday expenses out-of-pocket and not carry anything into next year.
My big goals/hopes for next year are some major landscaping outside, and possibly new doors and trim inside. I’m going to stick with $500 monthly into my household fund. It won’t cover all my ideas, but it works with my budget and I’ll get everything done eventually! Long term I have hardwood floors to refinish as well - so my big home improvement projects are probably a 2-3 year savings project.
Congrats on making it to the end of the challenge! We hope you smashed your goal with flying colors! But even if you didn’t, we hope you’ve learned tools and tricks that you can take into the new year so you can accomplish your goals in the future.
As the challenge wraps up, we wanted to take some time to hear about your reflections on what you’ve been grateful for throughout this challenge.
Let us know:
How much you put towards your goal in November 2021.
How much you plan to contribute in December 2021.
When it comes to your savings challenge journey, what are you grateful for? For example, is there something particularly helpful that you’ve learned about yourself or your budget? Did you have extra support from friends and family that you didn’t expect? Or something else?
Thanks for posting! I’m sorry to hear about your cat – I hope they make a full recovery
Despite having some unexpected expenses pop up, it sounds like you’ve been able to make adjustments so that you’re still able to pay for things out-of-pocket to help minimize debt! Great work!
I’m much more successful at saving when I have a specific goal in mind!
Telling certain people was very helpful - unfortunately, letting others in on my goal actually seemed to make them want to make me fail at it. So I guess I learned something about my friends and family that I can apply going forward with who I lean on for support.
I really am capable of setting and living within a budget, and when I do this good things happen financially. Some I make happen, and some I’m just in a position to take advantage of because I have a handle on my spending/saving. Knowledge is power.
Categorize expenses into fixed and variable categories.
Set financial goals for the next six months and one year.
Identify one area where you can cut back on expenses
One of the most important tip is to use coupons to save money, I had a great experience with CouponingBird.com.
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Read your T&C’s carefully before signing up for anything!
Thanks again for sharing!
