tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-213545615690983622024-02-20T16:41:00.514-05:00I have no budget... My sword is my budget."Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few
calculations beforehand." -Sun Tzu
<br> <br>
"Knowing is half the battle." - G.I. JoeBudget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-48830488620759681272008-04-30T09:27:00.004-05:002008-04-30T09:34:02.332-05:00The Blade is Dulled, but the Battle is not Over! Fight, Ronin, Fight!<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Why we didn't win.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">First off, I will casually confess I'm somewhat of a defeatist. I typically look on the worst side of things and my outlook is more than occasionally grim. This is regularly vexing to my better half, the Budget Naginata.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">When I get overwhelmed by something, I typically quit. No, it's not very sportsmanlike of me and no, it doesn't really solve anything. I admit all of these things. This is also the undergirding reason why I haven't been posting since the beginning of the year. Things have not been well and I didn't really want to just sit here and write one depressing post after another.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"Yes we spent money. Yes we ate out crappy food. Yes we bought nonsensical goods that don't better us as a financially independent entity."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I wasn't in the mood to do that, so I avoided it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">... so here we are. One year later. (Truth be told, it's one year and four days later, but we set May 1st to be the cutoff date, so there we go).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the broadest sense of the contest, we totally lost. We have spent money on things that were unessential to us and we have plans to expand that in the coming months. I'm not going to break it down to you in dollars and cents, but it's enough.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So normally here is where I would shut down, lower my head and kick at the dirt a bit.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As I geared myself up to write this, however, that not everything is completely horrible. We did accomplish some pretty decent stuff over the past 12 months:</span><br /><br /></span><ol><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">We finished paying off our Budget-Mobile, which makes it completely ours and saves us a bundle each month on payments.<br /><br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">We finished our credit card repayment program. This saves us even more than the car and frees up even more money.<br /><br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">We reconditioned an outstanding school loan and put us in good standing with the institution. Yes, we still owe a boatload on that, but we now can forebear during lean months, whereas before we didn't have that option.<br /><br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Now that we have some money freed up, I started auto-drafting some money into a savings account. It's not much, but it's a good start.<br /><br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">We have used our tax refund this year to make some vital improvements/repairs to our house. We are close to a position to sell our "starter home" and possibly move into a better place closer to where both Budget Naginata and I work. It may mean a bigger house payment, but what we would save in time and gasoline should more than offset that. Should this occur, we'll also most likely eliminate a small equity loan that we had to take out to make some repairs after the first year we lived in the house.<br /><br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The upcoming stimulus package will fix some broken things on the Budget-Mobile. We're very excited about having it in great working order.</span></span></li></ol><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">These are some pretty significant things to happen that impact our financial standing. These are things I should not discount when I think of all the other things that have happened to us. The Budget-Clan is still dealing with a family medical issue that requires us to buy several extra tanks of gas over the course of a month and we all know that's not getting any cheaper. We are also still trying to make some final upgrades to the house to get in selling order and that requires more money. The Budget-Truck has remained unmoved for months due to a faulty starter (we think) and we have not had the money or opportunity to get that fixed.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Seriously, I could go on. Things are better in many ways, but we have a whole array of new problems. This, as I understand it, is what life is like.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I was going to ramble more... but I think I will save that until May-Day.</span><br /><br /></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-92143553850132313302008-01-24T15:42:00.000-05:002008-01-24T15:52:17.883-05:00hmmmm.....Just to clarify...."I'm sure that Budget-Edamame would chime in her praise if she knew that her new rations of marshmallows and noodles will soon be purchased from the salary of said job."<br /><br />Thank you for the kudos on the job, I would like to point out however that Budget Edemame does not just eat noodles and marshmallows. <br /><br />That does it for this edition of "The who in the what now?"naginatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09338219051413250585noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-63053902222867702612008-01-24T11:39:00.000-05:002008-01-24T16:33:22.434-05:00Back and Budget-ier than ever!<div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">So...</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />I guess I'm a bit late and all. Nevertheless, the budgeting goes on! I think there is a certain amount of shame involved in the upcoming post, because I know I've been bad. I blame the holidays. I was looking to spend nothing, like the months leading up to December, but Naginata and I agreed that we needed to spend somthing on Budget <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Edamame</span> since she is totally worth it.<br /><br />The holiday rush also had us buying some meals and cutting some corners on other things as well, with one specific result. The Budget-Mobile remained our burden. We didn't get the chance to finish our payments as I had hoped. That being said, we actually rallied this month to send out that final payment. Currently we are waiting for it to clear so we can put that behind us.<br /><br />So now we can start looking forward to clearing some of our debt. A school loan, an equity loan on the Budget-Stronghold we had to take out shortly after purchasing it many years ago and a small in-collections loan for our replacement AC. I'll cover these more as we get to them, but I think the AC loan should take little time and the house loan might be able to be eliminated inside of two years.<br />Getting back on track is the biggest thing. The holidays threw us all for a loop. Driving to relatives house cost tons in gas and sanity. Quick meals and a couple of big feasts cost more money at the grocery store than we expected and despite Budget-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Naginata's</span> amazingly wonderful crafted gifts and my banana bread, we still had to spend some money on gifts. Mind you, we tried to do it as economically as we saw fit, but out of budget spending is still out of budget spending.<br /><br />Starting next month, I'll be devoting more money to savings. I'd like to have a nice pad of savings to back us up so we are less crippled by life events such as holidays or emergencies. The first of the month will still have our mortgage, which is still like 60-70% of that paycheck, so there will not be a lot of breathing room there, but with the repayment of our credit cards and our car loan, we gain so much the second half of the month. Everything I've read tells me to auto-draft savings so that I'm not even thinking about it. I'm going to set that up today to distribute a healthy amount back to us. The rest I'll use to start targeting our remaining debts.<br /><br />Side-note: A great article here on automating your finances. I'll definitely be "borrowing" some of these going forward: </span><a href="http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/01/13/how-to-automate-your-personal-finances/"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/01/13/how-to-automate-your-personal-finances/</span></a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Along with the other grand news of debt reduction, I can proudly announce that Budget-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Naginata</span> has a new job! I'm very proud of her and everything she's done to help all three of us out. I'm sure that Budget-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Edamame</span> would chime in her praise if she knew that her new rations of marshmallows and noodles will soon be purchased from the salary of said job.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />So with new income on the way and old debt left back in '07, it looks as if 2008 has the potential to be a good fiscal year for the Budget-Clan. I promise you'll hear more from me, good or bad, to keep you all up to date.<br /></span><br /></span><span style="font-family:Arial;">At this point, less than 100 days left in the Mayday challenge. Even though we've fallen off the wagon, I'm going to rededicate myself on spending as little as possible between now and May 1st! Wish me luck!</span></div>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-17807088597917759392007-12-03T13:34:00.000-05:002007-12-03T13:36:06.418-05:00Not Dead!<span style="font-family:arial;">... just tired because of the holidays. More posts to come, honest.</span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-47646032868641843222007-11-16T16:15:00.000-05:002007-11-16T16:20:48.436-05:00WBRFS #7<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong>SHOWDOWN!</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Budget <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Ronin</span> vs. the Fist of the Open Future!</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><em>"Goodbye Old Friend! Greetings to our Newest Adversary!"</em></span><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">That's right. I didn't even start with an apologetic intro. I'm on time today! </span><span style="font-family:arial;">I have, however, spent a good deal of the day kicking around what I wanted to write about. I mean, here I am on time, but lacking something to complain about.<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Thank goodness for the Internet and it's infinite array of diversions. You may be surprised to find that many of the places you go to find out fun and interesting facts are littered with material designed to activate your consumer <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">bloodlust</span>. Yes. I was shocked, too.<br /><br />I'm usually fairly immune to advertising, but occasionally there will be some sort of product that will be lurking in a clever flash sidebar that will grab my attention enough to make me go and look at some flashy thing that I totally don't even begin to "need" in the way that I need food or clothes or beer. After I see it, however, my brain will get all obsessive and suddenly I'll recognize that this is exactly what the advertisers want.<br /><br />Sure, sure, you know all of this already. So what does this mean to you, the readers of Budget <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Ronin</span>?<br /><br />Um? Give me money so I can buy things? I totally want to consume!!!!<br /><br />The halfway point in the challenge is now much, much harder, I came to realize today. Couple that with the fact that we are almost done paying off the Budget-Mobile (the penultimate payment clears this afternoon). The Mayday Challenge after the first of the year will actually be not to break the challenge and buy things that we'll actually be able to afford for a change.<br /><br />I think that it really just "feels" like we'll have more money than we actually will. I've been focusing heavily on the last couple of days to itemize and estimate things on The List. The List is now the new name for all the previous lists. I've even come up with clever acronyms for things. So far we have:<br /><br />1. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">WLI</span>: Wish List Items - Things that are "pie in the sky" things that we'd like to have the money to do once in our lifetime, like taking an exotic cruise around the world or hiking the Cotswold Trail.<br /><br />2. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">LTI</span>: Long Term Items - Things that will most likely require financing. Not that we're planning to get one, but a new car would be a prime example.<br /><br />3. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">STI</span>: Short Term Items - These are things that are outside the scope of impulse buying but don't require financing. These are things that we might have charged to a credit card at one point, but we'd do better at saving cash a month or so in advance to purchase without creating more debt. Fixing the struts in the Budget-Mobile is a fine example of this.<br /><br />4. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">OPI</span>: Outstanding Payment Items - The few random collection agency things or doctor's bills that are not much, but we need to catch up on to resolve them on our credit history. These are tricky, because most of them are just annoying, not expensive, so we fall into the trap of letting them ride for another month because we need to buy tortilla shells instead.<br /><br />So I've got a spreadsheet with all the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">WLI</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">LTI</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">STI</span>, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">OPIs</span> I can come up with. Frankly, even if you drop off the Wish List Items, it's a hefty bottom line. It's made me realize that despite the challenges that we have recently beaten, there are always new financial challenges out there. Has anything really changed? Will I fall back into old habits? Will the sudden rush of money cause me to fall back into bad habits?<br /><br />It's a tough call. I'll confess that despite the excitement or enthusiasm expressed here in my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">interweb</span>-log, I don't really relish saving <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">reciepts</span>, crunching numbers or making lists. I look for excuses to do it and it doesn't take much to derail me if I let it. I guess that's why I try to be as honest as possible here, because I think a lot of being a fiscally responsible person is being honest and transparent. No, I'm not going to give you all access to my online banking to watch me, but I will try to report not only my successes, but my failures right here.<br /><br />For example, since our payoff discovery, Budget <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Naginata</span> and I have already made a new exception to the rule that allows us to order takeout once a month. We started it last month to justify our celebratory dinner and we've let it ride so far because we've both had a bit of extra income from side projects. I'm trying hard to keep this to once a month.<br /><br />So when I re-read my entries to see how amazing I am, instead of convincing myself that it's a good reward to get something new and shiny, I'll be humbled, if just a little, to remember how this all happened and why I got started on the Challenge in the first place.<br /><br />Whew. That was a lot.<br /><br />Better head out now before a cause a market panic in my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">IP</span>. (Look, real market-type talk!)<br /><br />B.R.</span></p>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-56214440759478820332007-11-13T10:10:00.001-05:002007-11-13T10:26:27.248-05:00<span style="font-family:arial;">Holy Carp!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I just fished myself out of the gutter. I've been under a rock trying to get a side-project done, not even realizing that it put me 2 weeks behind for the Showdown. I'm a very bad <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Ronin</span>. No wonder the feudal lords never made a Samurai of me.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Ok</span>. So... We're past the halfway mark! Woo!!!! A week or so past, you know, when I should have been keeping up with the Showdown, I could have actually posted this little fact when it was timely. Regardless, it's still relevant.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So how are we doing on the downhill slide? Things are not too bad at the Budget-Compound.<br />Both Budget <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Naginata</span> and I have some extra money coming in from side projects. Our Budget-Mobile is still on track for being paid off at the beginning of the year. Our credit card debt is now a thing for the history books, at least for the time being and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Naginata</span> and I are trying to get things organized for what's coming up next year.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Already we are looking at funding one big home improvement project that will greatly help the resell of the ole' Compound, as well as making the place a bit more energy efficient and comfortable to dwell in. It will cost some money, however, so we're trying to approach it with the mindset of getting as much of the cost front-loaded as possible and have a timely schedule for paying it off.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We also have repairs on the Budget-Mobile to slot and we're looking forward to and actual perhaps vacation this coming summer.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Other updates: The hot-tub still languishes unsold, unused, unwanted in the back. The Budget-Truck could use some nuts and/or bolts to get it back up to 100% and we still have some miscellaneous unpaid debts that would be great to get rid of.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It looks like we've settled on the following percentages for our Budget Buckets right now: 70% household maintenance, 10% Long Term: Savings, 10% Short Term: Projects, 10% Fun (after the Challenge is over, for now, we'll be putting that extra 10% into Long Term). Ultimately I'd like to get our debt for our household <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">expenditures</span> down to 50% and put more in Long Term Savings and add some to a Charity Bucket. There is at least three more <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">persistent</span> things we pay for, two of which we might be able to resolve inside of a year or two. This is pretty critical, especially if we want to take on the extra cost of the home <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">fixup</span>.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I think I'll save more about what we plan to do to the Compound on a later post (perhaps this week's Showdown).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">That's all I've got for this quick update. </span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-38533963351965163592007-10-29T15:54:00.000-05:002007-10-29T15:56:53.157-05:00WBRFS #6<span style="font-family:arial;">Well... one week on time is a good start. Last week Budget Naginata was away from the Budget-Compound, so Budget Edamame and I held down the fort by ourselves. I took a couple of days off of work to be with her, including Friday. Pardon my truancy.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Showdown!</strong></span><br />Budget Ronin vs. the Perplexing Percentages of Peril!<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>"The alchemy of finance! Don't let your world explode!"</em></span><br /><br />Things I meant to do this weekend:<br />1. Clean out my inbox.<br />2. Work up a budget spreadsheet.<br />3. Talk with Naginata about said spreadsheet.<br />4. Bake some muffins.<br /><br />Things I accomplished:<br />1. Delicious muffins.<br /><br />I just wanted to post that to demystify the oft-glamorized world of the Budget Ronin. An unproductive weekend, aside, I've been looking at some numbers here at work on my coffee break and think I'm looking at some reasonable percentages. Mind you, I am expecting some fluctuation as we continue to pay off some long term debt, but right now I think we' can say that 70% of the income can cover our obligations and expenses, which leaves us with 10% for short term projects, 10% for long-term investing and 10% for fun. That is the standard we'd like to shoot for. I think starting there and then reducing our obligations by 10% so that we can put that over to charity or redistribute to savings. <br /><br />I haven't given it a lot of consideration because it looks like we're overspending on our obligations just over 5% or so. Which means we could trim off that amount from fun and still meet our budget. I have identified close to another 20% of our obligations that is long-term debt. I'm not sure we can escalate the payment of this in any easy way and still save a good chunk of money, but I intend to bring it up to Naginata so we can make an informed decision about it together. If we can move it over, we can easily get to 60% income only to obligatory cost and leave 40% open for savings/investment/recreation.<br /><br />Having 40% of the Clan's income going to exactly where we want it to go makes me very happy. Assuming the car payments go according to schedule, we should be on track for being close to 30% at the top of the year.<br /><br />I'm trying to think of a good way to organize receipts and expenditures. Maybe buckets or folders that get emptied out once a month. Hmmm. I know there are several online services and several computer programs that would let me track expendatures, but I would really like to make things less complicated, not more. Streamlining is what I'm aiming for.<br /><br />If we are hitting our percentages, especially our obligatory expenditures and our LT/ST savings, then I'm not so inclined to be nitpicky over the remaining % points. Again, less worried that spent $5 over on any one thing, more worried if we come in 5% over budget per month.<br /><br />I'm going to try and hammer out something solid with Naginata this week so that this Friday's Showdown isn't another repeat episode.<br /><br />Enough rambling for now. Let me go look at buckets, baskets or bundles for our new receipt accounting.<br /><br />This post came in under budget, but over time.<br /><br />B.R.</span><br /></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-52736747355392841792007-10-19T10:54:00.000-05:002007-10-19T10:59:50.426-05:00WBRFS # 5<div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">Bang! Right to the Weekly Budget Ronin Financial Showdown!</span> </div><div align="center"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong>Showdown!</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Budget Ronin vs. the Crushing Fear of Unseen Expenses!</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><em>"From out of the Darkness, razor-sharp receipts! Beware the papercuts, Ronin!"</em></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;">This is still a tough time for us. Despite the deluge of great news about our debt and car loan, we still don't have money. Just resolving the debt wasn't like winning the lottery as far as our bank account was concerned. So we've still had to be very careful, even though I can tell the mood between Naginata and I regarding our finances is markedly different. We're very excited at the prospect of making progress instead of just filling holes that seemed relatively bottomless.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As part of the changes going on around our house and blog, I'm going to stop blogging my receipts. Taking my last Showdown to heart, I'm going to start planning for a monthly budget report instead. I've done a good job at curbing impulse shopping (all shopping really) and I think the previous half-year (177 days to be precise, but still, pretty darn close) has strengthened my resolve quite a bit. I think at this point, reading that I spent $2 on bananas or 10 quatloos on tribble food. Yeah. You thought my quatloo jokes were done, didn't you?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Anyway, obscure fictional science-fiction currency aside, I am going to start working on a monthly analysis that tells us more of an over/under of where we are hitting on our percentages for the month and year. I kind of screwed the pooch on some receipts for the last few weeks, so I won't be doing October, but November and December still give me ample time to ramp up for our first new year of non-car/non-credit card budgeting. I'll probably try some formats and names out just to see what looks good visually.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So sometime in the next couple of weeks between now and All Hallows Eve, I'm going to try and do some number crunching with Budget Naginata and see where we want to put down our numbers. It's like projecting for the next fiscal year, which is all business-like and far too grown up for my own tastes. Regardless, it's a positive first step and while I don't really want to run our household like a business, projecting a profit for the Budget Clan's 2008 fiscal year is an altogether new and giddy experience that I want to be a part of. I think I might have t-shirts made or something. Let's see the Gamemasters of Triskelion beat that!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Further updates from the Budget Clan?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We still have not sold/unloaded the hot-tub. We're thinking about just giving it away at a loss. Now that the extra couple of hundred does not seem an insurmountable loss, I'm inclined just to reclaim the deck space and my sanity.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Our first credit-card refund has arrive and been deposited. Our second is en route. Our last credit-card disbursement has been paid. I have to verify with the creditor it has bee received, but I'm pretty sure this clears us on all the cards.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Our Budget-Mobile is still slated to be paid off by the end of the year. Yay!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Budget Naginata and I are looking to move banks from Spank of America to something else. Recommendations and/or advice are welcome. Something online would be fine, but we would like someplace we can physically make deposits instead of having to mail anything in.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Well, that's it. Showdown is on time and I am off to work on pie charts... or maybe just some pie.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Compounding intrest daily,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">B.R.<br /></div></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-48796295771804279002007-10-15T15:25:00.000-05:002007-10-16T13:00:21.971-05:00WBRFS #4<span style="font-family:arial;"><em>[Note: I started this on time on Friday, the 12th, which is why I'm so happy.]</em><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Back on track, today, after several personal delays, we are back to the Weekly Budget Ronin Financial Showdown. Setting the calendar reminder was a big help, too. Today's episode is...<br /></span><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong>Showdown!</strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;">Budget Ronin vs. the Spectre of Spending!</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><em>"Don't be distracted, Ronin! Let your aim be true!"</em></span></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />I put the last sum of credit card money into the debt repayment system today. I authorized CCCS to make the final disbursement on my behalf and I just need to follow up to make sure the credit card company gets it in a few days. I can't even begin to tell you what a relief that is. But with the big refunds in the mail, I do feel like we can breathe a bit easier. It doesn't feel so bad.<br /><br />There, my friends, is the challenge. It does not _FEEL_ bad, but it is not necessarily good. It is not as if Budget Naginata and I have a great deal of money saved. Should we run into an unexpected car expense, we still do not have the means to fix it yet. While planning to pay off the car and starting some significant savings sounds like a great idea, I think the sudden rush of money feels very intoxicating. I'm looking at things and thinking to myself: "Wow. In a couple of months I could buy that no problem."<br /><br />It occurred to me today that this is exactly the kind of thinking that got us in trouble in the first place. I don't think we'll rush into getting credit cards so quickly this time, we have plenty of credit building power from our house, a large school loan and paying off some miscellaneous collections. I may consider getting a single gas credit card to put our gas expenditures on that we can pay off in full each month, but right now I'm more concerned with paying off the car and fixing up our broken things.<br /><br />But no single monthly paycheck is going to cover all of this, so we need to look at our newfound income and split it up into discrete sums that we can use to further our goals. I've done some reading online (original authors forgive me, I've forgotten exactly where), but most budget blogs/financial specialists I've studied break it up into percentages of your total income. Here's a couple I remember:<br /><br />Plan A: 60% living expenses, 20% investing, 20% savings.<br />Plan B: 60% living expenses, 10% investing, 10% long term savings, 10% short-term/fun money. (I know I'm missing 10% here, but that's what I honestly recall).<br /><br />I think you get my intentions here. I'm looking at what we spend against what we should save for (retirement and investments) and would still like to factor in some fun. So the question I ask you faithful readers is this... what percentages would/do you chose for your budget? I've got some ideas, but I need to talk it over with Naginata.<br /><br />Ideally, I'd love to get our living expenses down to 50% of my income, but I'm assuming 60% is more realistic. With the remaining 40%, I wonder what I would feel comfortable allocating to Savings, Investment, Charity, and Fun? Do I make it an even split? Do I weight one over the other?<br /><br />This is my big conundrum for the day.<br /><br /><em>[Note: Now it's Monday, the 15th.]</em><br /><br />Still my conundrum, a few days later. Dang, I almost had it all done on time, too. I probably just should have posted as is/was. I have more to talk about, but I'm totally not with it right now. Sorry for the late Showdown posting.<br /><br />More debt-free than ever before!<br /><br />B.R.</span><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><em>[10.16.07 edit: There's a line above that got spell-checked into nonsense, so I substituted something that sort of made sense to me now.]</em></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-87502967816218555412007-10-02T15:48:00.000-05:002007-10-02T15:52:20.170-05:00Mistakes were made...<span style="font-family:arial;">I know I skipped my weekly Budget Ronin Fianancial Showdown last week. I think I was turned around from having to make up for one from the week before. But rather than try to make up and miss another, I 'll just plan to start up again on time. There is, however, a hitch. I'm on the road again for business, so I don't have all my receipts to catch up on. Nor do I have all my Budget Ronin tools and implements of destruction.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So I'll probably do the next WBRFS next friday. Right now this is me setting myself a calandar reminder</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">OK. Reminder is now set.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So... what's been happening since the big reveal last post? More typically good things. We recieved a notice back from two of our creditors that we had not only finished our debt repayment, but that we had actually paid over by a significant amount. After a quick call or so, we now have two refund checks in the mail. Sweet Victory is even sweeter!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We're going to sink that money into eliminating Budget Naginata's overdraft debt that I highlighted a few weeks ago here in the <a href="http://budgetronin.blogspot.com/2007/09/wbrfs-2.html">2nd Weekly Budget Ronin Financial Showdown</a></span><span style="font-family:arial;">. That will put us more square with our finances and take one more card off the table. We are then looking at a better place to start a new account that we will both use.. Advantage: Budget-Clan.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Naginata has gotten some great freelance work, and we're on track for everything. For a change, I have nothing but good fiancial news to report.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I'm on my expense account, so I will be eating craptacularly well today, enjoying every meal. I will probably do another update before the week is out.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I have something else on my mind, but I'm not sure I have the time and/or focus to go into it now.<br /></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-5011012582367407962007-09-26T13:28:00.000-05:002007-09-26T13:35:24.318-05:00Willfully Breaking the Rules.<span style="font-family:arial;">So last night I spent $5.07 on two ice cream treats for Budget Naginata and myself. I know that you ask yourself why the Budget Ronin would both break the rules and how he could get away with it after the last Showdown confession that the Budget Clan was deep in the hole?</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />I robbed a bank.<br /><br />Ok. I didn't really rob a bank.<br /><br />To pick up where we left off in the last post, I did contact some family and they were able to give me the money we needed to put us square with the bank. I picked up a check yesterday and put it in the night deposit last night.<br /><br />I made the decision to get treats for Naginata and I prior to even this? Why? Why would I break my own challenge rules? Well, honestly, because some things deserve a big, damn celebration. And in lieu of fireworks and streamers, we got ice cream.<br /><br /><strong>At the end of next month, October of 2007, Naginata and I will have no more credit card debt.</strong><br /><br />It started with a couple of letters from two creditors telling me that we had finished our debt repayment program with them. I called the agency that had been facilitating this for us, the fabulous Consumer Credit Counseling Service. (I'd provide a link, but it varies from town to town. Google "CCCS" and your town and you should be golden.) They confirmed we had indeed finished those two and had a zero balance with one of the remaining two and a small balance with the last creditor. They encouraged me to confirm this yesterday, so I did.<br /><br />Well, here's my warning to anyone in a debt repayment program. Don't be afraid to knock on some doors. CCCS was mostly correct. We actually had a $9 charge left with one creditor, and the balance on the remaining one was about $10 off. Neither of these is a huge deal and I paid off the $9 charge this afternoon, so we have one last payment to our final creditor scheduled for next month.<br /><br />This brings up our level of workable return income drastically. So much so that we will be able to escalate our last few remaining car payments and be done with paying off the Budget-Mobile by the end of the year. Wow. By the start of 2008, we'll have a paid-off car and no credit card debt.<br />This returns roughly 20% of my take-home income back to me. Considering right now we have about 0% discretionary income, that's quite a big leap.<br /><br />I was so excited, I broke the rules.<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Now back to the nitty-gritty. We still have a challenge to win, a car to pay off and some savings to accrue. I also have one more personal debt I have to pay off. But all this is on the heels of some really great news that has put some spring back into my Budget Ronin <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geta_%28footwear%29">Geta</a>.<br /><br />This was not the result of luck or good fortune. We started this repayment program over five years ago and did not miss a single payment. It's the seed of the plant we are now tending every day, and I can say with certainty that it is because we thought ahead back then that we reap the rewards of that forethought now. I'm taking that very much to heart right now.<br /><br />Wow. By the time the challenge is over, I might actually have my stuff together.</span><br /></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-40871888737570562592007-09-24T15:37:00.000-05:002007-09-24T15:57:20.090-05:00New! With reconstituted ideas!<span style="font-family:arial;">We bought food... you know, so we could eat it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">On Sept. 8th, before our trip out of town, we bought:<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Eggs $1.5</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Milk $1.5</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">=total $3</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Upon our return, Sept. 23rd, we bought:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Apples $3</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Bananas $1</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Yogurt $2.5</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Grits $1</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Bacon $2.5</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Powdered Milk $8</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Jelly $2</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">=total $20</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We switched to powdered milk after we did a test run a couple of weeks ago after reading this article:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/09/08/how-to-feed-yourself-for-15-a-week/"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/09/08/how-to-feed-yourself-for-15-a-week/</span></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So far the powdered milk is a good option for us. It's cheaper, it doesn't go bad as quickly and seems a bit... um... cleaner? It works well for cereal, recipies and I've even used our Budget Cappucino machine to make pasable lattes (our tip on cheap mixed coffee drinks? cheap espresso tastes just as good when you plan to add a heavy flavor like chocolate to your mix). I'll let you know if we plan to change, but so far, it's really nice just being able to make a quart or two of milk rather than having to run to the store for a "fresh" gallon. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So far, no plans to swap out to powdered eggs or freeze-dried beer.</span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-90188761314092151882007-09-24T15:31:00.000-05:002007-09-24T15:37:18.279-05:00WBRFS #3<span style="font-family:arial;">The third installment is late, for reasons explained below.</span><br /><div align="center"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong>Showdown!</strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;">Budget Ronin vs. the Longest Journey!</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><em>"A small victory in the face of overwhelming odds! Ronin refuses to surrender!"</em></span></div><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Last week we spent time out of the house. Although my employer regards it a "vacation," Budget Naginata, Edamame and I were out of town for anything but a relaxing time. I won't go into great details, because this is blog for financial analysis, but Naginata has a sibling in the hospital in a scary and uncertain condition. We have our best thoughts out for their recovery and, if you are so inclined, we wouldn't mind a few positive thoughts sent our way.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As we spent all of last week at their house, trying to help out the family, I ruminated on the cost of the treatments and considered us and them lucky to have a good insurance program to fall back on. I know it is a situation that many people are not fortunate enough for, but all things considered, should Naginata or Edamame have something wrong with them, it is not a concern of ours to whisk them away to the hospital and apply whatever knowledge Western medicine can give us to help allievate their problems.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I say this because it is a comfort in our small world of financial uncertainty. Things really are a roller coaster at the Budget-Castle. This weekend, we were notified by two of the five credit card companies we are in debt repayment with, that our obligations had been fulfilled. They thanked us for our participation and we are free and clear of those two accounts. That is a great cause for celebration.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The celebration is short lived, however, because due to the expense of tripping out of state, we have bounced several large checks and currently owe our primary bank a significant amount of cash, to the extreme that we cannot recover when my paycheck comes in at the end of the week. This puts us in the horrible position of having to ask for assistance from relatives. <br />Odds are we will be able to secure the cash. Having to ask for it, however, is not a position I want to be in. I called my stock broker today to see if there was anything left in any account I had with him. I haven't talked to my stock broker in over five years. I almost considered calling my old boy scout troup to see if I could sell tickets to the Jamboree instead of asking to borrow money. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I'm sure many of you reading this know how humbling it must feel to be a parent and have the expectations of an adult resting on your shoulders and immediately feel transformed back to the age of 14 or 16, trying to con your parents for the keys to the family automobile. It's uncomfortable and often belittling and I want to turn tables so that I'm in a better position than to have to ask anyone other than my own savings account for a little extra money to make up a shortfall.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But thinking of Naginata's sibling and that family dealing with a much more serious crisis really humbles your view on some things. I should be thankful for relatives that would be there for me and would loan me this money. I am thankful knowing that were I the one in the hospital, they would be right there for me. Dispite many of my misgivings, I feel like I have done something very much right in my life to have these people around me and work hard to be someone worthy of their trust and friendship. A large part of my quest for financial stability is not for the best wall-mounted plasma television or expensive vacation abroad, but to be in the position for my friends and family to know that they could come to me and be able to count on my support during their times of turmoil.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I hope this was not overly depressing or preachy. I don't confess to having a lot of answers, just the tenacity to try and make a better life for those around me, friends, family and others. As far as Budget Ronin go, I consider myself lucky to have the friends and family that stand by me. I hope that each of you are equally lucky.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">My wallet is empty, but my heart is full.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">B.R.</span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-46782288984015893332007-09-14T15:10:00.000-05:002007-09-14T15:13:15.451-05:00WBRFS #2<span style="font-family:arial;">Here is the second installment of my would-be ongoing series. My Weekly Budget Ronin Financial Showdown.<br /></span><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong>Showdown!</strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;">Budget Ronin vs. the Overdraft Overlord!</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><em>"Helpless against Service Fee Magic, a new technique revealed!"</em></span></div><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A week or so past, I answered the house phone and got a fun surprise!* A creditor was kindly calling to remind us of a past due amount on a credit card on my Budget Naginata's account. I had a quick chat with her, because I had hoped it was a mistake. I spoke with Naginata and she informed me this was her overdraft account. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I knew she had an overdraft, but neither of us realized it was that out of sorts. Mind you, I'm not blaming anyone for anything. I have an overdraft on my account as well, and it stays mostly maxed out at this point because we can only barely cover the bills we have, which is kind of the whole point of this blog anyway.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So what next? Well, we scrape together the money to pay off the late fees for the overdraft, but it kind of puts us back where we were in the first place, which is more money out of pocket and more in debt. What's a Budget Ronin to do?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I discussed this at length with Naginata and we came up with a few things:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">1. Two overdrafts is easily one overdraft too many. We're getting hers shut off and we're going to pay it off so that it's done, never to be resurrected.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">2. We're looking at closing that account of hers. We have two accounts to cover my steady paycheck and normal bills/expenses and hers as a sort of slush fund for other expenses. This is not really working well, since you shouldn't have to pay penalties for your slush fund. It's supposed to be for extra money, not extra money we don't have.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">3. We've decided to move the expenses she typically concerns herself with over to cash. Typically Naginata writes the check for groceries, Budget Edamame's schooling and gas for the vehicles. We think that by moving them over to cash we have a better chance at maintaining a tighter budget and more control over recognizing what financial latitude we have at any given point.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Here's how #3 is going to work out. Mind you, I don't consider this revolutionary, we've both read of things like this from other sources, but after some review, we think it might work well for us. Cash in trackable envelopes. We're going to mark envelopes with specific amounts of cash that we know we'll need for each of our expenses: Groceries, Gas, Edamame's school. We'll deposit cash in the envelopes for use for those budgeted expenses and withdraw them to pay for the items. That way we know exactly what we have and don't have available to us. Need gas? No overdrafting, get money from the envelope. Extra money is rolled into the next envelope. Hopefully we'll eventually actually get enough extra money to put into savings or something fantastic like that. And so it goes...<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Since we need to know how much to put in, this puts us in the position of budgeting our groceries in a more orderly fashion. Planning for stock items like litter and toilet paper every two months and edibles every other week. This also puts us in the position to splurge less on trips to the store, which has been a vulnerability in our otherwise good plans.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I don't know if any of this will work, but I know that paying service charges on overdraft fees for money we don't have isn't making me sleep any better at night, so we'll try this for now. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />And if think that having loose cash on hand puts us at risk, I should warn you that I fill the Budget Clan Compound with deadly spiders. Hundreds of thousands of deadly spiders. It's so dangerous to intruders that we don't even actually live there anymore.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Unrelated, I'll be trying new catchphrases until I get one I like.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Neither Standard nor Poor,</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />B.R.<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">*</span>note: Actually, not fun at all.</span></em></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-74472763372456550492007-09-10T13:45:00.000-05:002007-09-10T13:58:50.949-05:00No catchy storyNo, seriously, I don't have one.<br /><br />I just have a receipt for groceries. On 9/6, we bought: <br /><br />Cupcakes $4<br />Something $2 <- The receipt is slightly damaged<br />Roast Beef $6<br />Pork Roast $7<br />Spaghetti $1.5<br />Tortillas $2<br />Ice Cream $4<br />Pretzels $2<br />Bagels $2.5<br />Mushrooms $1.5<br />Grapes $1.5<br />Pears $2<br />Tomatoes $3<br />Garlic $.25<br />Sour Cream $1<br />=total $40.25<br /><br />Moral of the non-story. The Pork Roast was delicious.Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-33101525830262167732007-09-07T22:14:00.000-05:002007-09-07T22:20:32.639-05:00And your name is? And we know you from...?Hello! Budget Naginata here. Just popping to say that Budget Ronin has not disposed of me in any way and that I suck at posting. But of course you already KNOW that. <br />I have always been an avid blog reader and I want to post more but it is truly hard for me for some reason. I'm guessing it has to do with a deep seated problem of not wanting to face my fears/stress/life. Or I could just be lazy. A little from column A, a little from column B. <br />Anyway, I am still in on the experiment and I have to say that I've been really impressed with the ability of Budget Ronin to bounce back from some of the budget traumas of the past 4 months. His normal melancholic nature hampers him but he's really worked hard to focus on the learning experience and I for one am proud of him. <br />Go team Venture!<br />Here's to rededicating myself to actually post. Please for the love of God, don't hold your breath! ;)naginatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09338219051413250585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-86938429494787794432007-09-07T11:50:00.000-05:002007-09-07T12:00:21.250-05:00WBRFS! #1<span style="font-family:arial;">First installment here, so bear with me while I work on some sort of formula to make accessible and fun to read. I really should be doing pictures or something. In the meantime I present:</span><br /><div align="center"><br /><strong><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Showdown!</span></strong></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;">Budget Ronin vs. the Dental Dragon!</span></div><div align="center"><em><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">"In the mouth of danger, floss, Ronin, floss!"</span></em></div><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">One of the Budget Clan needs some dental work that we totally can't afford. Steadfastly, they have been holding out so as not to tax our already strained accounts. We went to get an estimate at the dental surgeons and planned to add it to our next year Flexible Spending Account that I get as a benefit of my job. I consider myself lucky to have this benefit and it has already proven itself invaluable. Luckily for us, we can spend any amount of the FSA at the beginning of the year, allowing to schedule as soon as the next calendar year rolls around.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Budget Naginata was called this morning with the estimate on the surgery. It is close to $2000. Perhaps it's my own unfamiliarity with the cost of some things, but it just seems like a lot of money. It seems like a lot of money we already don't have, so I got a bit depressed about it over the phone.<br />That's pretty much where I am with it. I don't have a good plan other than going ahead to extend our FSA by the requried amount to cover the procedure. It really needs to be done now, but we don't have a lot of choice, barring a lottery win or a surprise inheritance from a long-lost uncle Stan (wherever you are, lost uncle Stan, we really wish you no ill).<br /><br />I've been trying to think of what can offset the cost. Thinking positively, this should be a one-time occurance, so we'll only need to expand our budget for the upcoming year (2008). The year after (2009), should see a reduction and more money back in the general funds. Also, 2008 should see the end of the normal payments on the Budget-Mobile. Even with the repairs we were going to do, there should be some left over to put into fixing up the Budget Truck and/or socking away into a savings account. I'm giddy at the thought of that. This also doesn't take into account any yearly adjustment my comapany might make on my salary come review time at the end of the year.<br /><br />Regardless, it boils down to not being ready. I think a lot of what puts people into debt and keeps them there is not being ready.<br /><br />I'm not really sure if this counts much as a showdown, but it's certainly on my mind. I think by writing it out, and by looking at what we might be able to do would certainly help in the future. I know that the FSA is good, but this year we tapped out too early. It's only fault is that we can't plan for emergencies such as this one. Really we need to make sure that we have some sort of solid savings accrued. Otherwise we just perpetuate the vicious lending cycles that led up to the challenge to begin with.<br /><br />This is where my catchy catchphrase would go.<br /><br />B.R.</span><br /></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-33030398682765812662007-09-07T11:14:00.000-05:002007-09-07T11:20:26.397-05:00Big News and New Feature!<span style="font-family:arial;">Wow. I need to be flogged with some sort of flogging device. I've missed an important milestone and have not posted about it.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The Budget Clan is 1/3rd of the way done with our challenge!<br /><br />I'm very excited by this. 1/3rd is a pretty hefty chunk of a year. Four months down and eight to go. I think that in this spirit of revelry that I should rededicate myself to keeping current on all things by starting a weekly feature:<br /><br /><strong><em>The Weekly Budget Ronin Financial Showdown.</em></strong><br /><br />The Showdown will be where I stand and face my current worst financial anxiety with you, my audience and try to make some sense of it. I'll also be recapping any things I might have missed during the week, but I'll try to keep the Showdown about tough decisions and what the Clan and I are doing about them.<br /><br />I'll be posting by the end of Friday, so hopefully that should add some consistency to the blog as well (warm, thick, sugary frosting like consistency - yum!). <br /><br />Let me knock out some old expenses here. It seems on 8/4 I missed $29.03 worth of gas for something. Shopping on 8/25 netted me the following:<br /><br />Bananas $1<br />Tortillas $2<br />Cheese $3<br />Eggs $2<br />Salsa $2<br />Chicken $2<br />Beans $4<br />Tomatoes $1<br />?? $2 <- I can't read the receipt on this. Serves me right for not entering it promptly.<br />=total $19<br /><br />The great thing about this trip is that I took the tortillas, cheese, beans and salsa, mixed it with some rice and ground beef we had at home and cooked up a weeks worth of burritos for lunch. I froze a good chunk of them and doled them for maintained deliciousness. So for like $10, I got a weeks worth of lunch. Not too shabby and something I'd like to do more of.<br /><br />Shopping on the 29th sent me scrambling for gas first ($38.00 worth). At the normal grocery and bulk warehouse store(s), respectively, I stocked up on the following:<br /><br />Cat food $11<br />Apples $3<br />Cat litter $4<br />Snack crackers $5 <-For work. !Yay snacks!<br />Goldfish $2<br />Yogurt smoothie (for the Budget Edamame to snack on) $1<br />=total $26<br /><br />Bulk toilet paper $16<br />Bread $5<br />Peppers $6<br />OJ $10<br />Butter $7<br />Milk $7<br />Potatoes $9<br />Cheese $6<br />Ground Turkey $12<br />Chicken $15<br />Cereal $8<br />Bisquick $4<br />Fruit $14<br />Sugar $4<br />=total $132<br /><br />Ok... almost there. On 8/30 we made one more run to the store:<br /><br />Peas $2<br />Carrots $2<br />Lettuce $1<br />Ketchup $3<br />Syrup $2<br />Napkins $2<br />Mac & Cheese $1<br />Grits $2<br />Pasta $2<br />Cat Litter $4 <-The last time out, I got small sizes of both, so I got more.<br />Cat Food $7<br />=total $29<br /><br />Whew! Ok. So now that I've gotten all those receipts filed, I can tell you about the resurrection of the Budget Truck. We sprung $40 for a battery and replaced it. We deemed it a necessary evil for occasionally making our schedule work now that we have our wonderful Budget Edamame attending tiny-person pre-school during the week. During the swap, I, your normally quick fingered Ronin, dropped and lost a nut for one of the retaining bolts. I had to buy a pack at the local autostore for $2. But it works and I've driven it and for the short while, it is of no further problem.<br /><br />Hottub update: None. No more answers from the online ad either. I'm trying to restrategize this. Please let me know if you have any ideas.<br /><br />I'm actually going to try start off on a good foot and pen a quick Financial Showdown here in a few minutes, so you may get two posts today.</span><br /><br /></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-11424185220612548182007-08-20T14:06:00.000-05:002007-08-20T14:49:15.311-05:00Two days shy...<span style="font-family:arial;">Hmm... 12 days since last post, 2 days shy of a fortnight. I'm sure I could have come up with a clever fortnight title if I waited (e.g. A Budget Ronin's Fortnight Lament), but I feel guilty for waiting this long already. Fortnight just sounds so classy.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Speaking of classy... the Craptastiganza has long since been over. I would have posted about the glorious finish, but I don't really have one. I ate all my neo-batchelor food and enjoyed it. Surprisingly, I didn't get sick or anything, but considering I've done that like once in for-never, I'm really not that surprised. I should do some more laps around the track though. I'm thinking about adding one, which would bring me up to a total of one.<br /><br />I recovered my lovely Budgets Naginata and Edamame on Saturday and we returned reunited as a full Clan. I think there was some lawnmowing in there somewhere, too.<br /><br />I do need to catch up on a couple of receipts. On 8/10, I was all about the buying gas ($31.51) and drinks:<br /><br />Beer/Wine $13<br />Coke $6<br />=total $19<br /><br />On the 18th (8/18), we made a strip to the store for necessary supplies for cooking out all weekend:<br /><br />Coke $7<br />Buns $1<br />Cheese $2<br />Chips $4<br />Water $3<br />Tortillas $2<br />Fruit $2<br />Lunch Salad $2<br />Yogurt $1<br />Eggs $1<br />Ground Beef $10<br />Spare Ribs $20<br />=total: $55<br /><br />And you can't go a couple of weeks without more gas, so $33.14 on 8/19.<br /><br />Whew! Obviously I've been carrying a couple of those receipts around in my pocket for a while. I should really put them down more often. Even if it's just a quick gas reciept. But enough about that, let's do some updates:<br /><br />Hot Tub: No buyer. The most interested prospective shopper sent me many emails, promising to be out this past week. Then nothing. No show, no follow up mails, no nothing. I have no new plan of attack for this one. I might try to just sell the lid, which is in great shape and retails new for like $400 dollars. Maybe give anyone buying it the option of a free hot tub to go with it. Hmmm.<br /><br />Truck: Still without battery power. Currently sitting in the garage.<br /><br />Computer: The motherboard I bought was defective, so I'm having to return it. I am now waiting for a new one. This sucks, but not so badly as not having a machine at all, so I'll count my small blessings.</span><br /></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-7463860212416022182007-08-08T09:53:00.000-05:002007-08-08T09:56:56.674-05:00"Are you adequately prepared to rock?"<span style="font-family:arial;">The Craptasti-ganza continues! Last night a friend came over to keep me company during the vacation absense of Budget Naginata and Budget Edamame. He ended up buying me dinner at a local sandwichery (I don't know if that is really a word, but I'm keeping it). He was also there to witness the spending of the last of my birthday loot.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Yes. Guitar Hero II is currently installed in the Playstation Deuce and I've even decorated my guitar with my kickass Limozeen sticker from my copy of Strong Bad Sings. I am now adequately prepared to rock. It was the last of my birthday cash, and I had to turn in some old games to help make up the difference, but it was totally worth it. We had several rounds of fret-blasting mayhem.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">On the way back from the game store, we stopped to pick up some vital supplies:<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Milk $2</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Kraft Mac & Chee $2</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Beer $9</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">=total $13<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The beer was the most important element. It added to the rock-star mystique. Had there been chicken wire around the TV pit in the Budget-Castle, I'd probably have felt the need to hurl my empties. As it stands, we had a couple of sandwiches, a couple of beers and a lot of fun.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Yes, my fingers hurt. Yes, I will be practicing again tonight.</span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-11290925935611314042007-08-07T11:06:00.000-05:002007-08-07T12:35:43.507-05:00Batchelor Dinner Craptasti-ganza!<span style="font-family:arial;">Anyone who reads the blog knows my unfettered love for the Budget Naginata and our darling Budget Edamame. They are great and wonderful and currently far, far away from me enjoying a holiday at the beach. Travelling with a friend and her daughter, my wife and child have abandoned me to my own devices for a week.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />This makes me sad, because I will miss them, but this also gives me a great opportunity to enjoy wonderfully craptastic batchelor food. Yes, that's correct, when the Naginata is away, the Ronin will eat things that give him heartburn and stomachaches! The Craptasti-ganza has begun! </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Last night, I picked up the following things at the grocery to enable my bad eating habits:<br /><br />Tater Tots $1.5 (mmm... these would go great with)...<br />Fish Sticks $4 (now we're talkin'!)<br />Pizza Rolls $3 (that's right, they're like pizzas, in bite sized rolls!)<br />Pizza $3 (the non-roll variety)<br />Bread $2.5 (for work sandwiches)<br />=total $14<br /><br />I had the pizza rolls last night, and some heartburn to follow it. I learned a very important gastrointestinal fact at that point, when I woke up with a burning windpipe. Ginger. Ginger helps combat heartburn. It's crazy, but it works. After discovering this fact thanks to the world wide Intarwebblogtubes, I borrowed a couple of Budget Naginata's ginger Altoids and felt it subside surprisingly quick. There was also something with Baking Soda that sounded less palatable that I'm glad I didn't have to test out.<br /><br />I'm planning on having half of my fish sticks and tater tots tonight. I know you're jealous, but it's ok, I'll have a few extra on your behalf.<br /><br />I may have to go back to the store later this week for some Kraft Mac & Cheese Dinner. I'm already feeling compelled to do so. It's not my fault, really. I blame escalating tension in Iran over their nuclear program.<br /><br />Hot Tub Update: No one has purchased it yet, but I have an offer from someone for half of what I posted for it. They said they would be able to come get it next week. I told them they could have it, assuming no one bid higher. Right now, I don't see that happening. It's depressing, but it will be out of the way and I'll at least get a bit more back than we paid for the motor repair diagnosis. I find it oddly fitting that I paid extra for our house to keep the hot tub and I spent a fair amount to buy a good cover for it (which it was lacking) and I get next to nothing for it. Consider that when you look at your purchasing habits.<br /><br />Exceptions to the Rule: So when we began the Challenge, Budget Naginata and I agreed that any money given to us as gifts could be spent however we wanted. A week or so ago, it was the birthday of the ever-lovin' Budget Ronin, so I have a small amount of cash to spend. I dropped about half of it to replace my ailing computer processor and motherboard. It is a slight upgrade for a system that is 5 years old. So... It's now like a 4 year old computer. *sigh*. I need some decent bank to buy a more serious gaming machine, so I'm looking at that for the next year or so, when we've absolved some of our debt concerns. As to the rest of my birthday booty, I will be buying Guitar Hero 2 for our console. I will then proceed to rock my troubles away. If you approach the Budget Castle and hear the rock, it is I. You have been warned. </span><br /><br /></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-90154749071208719522007-08-07T09:32:00.000-05:002007-08-07T09:33:58.307-05:00Days of Shoppings Past<span style="font-family:arial;">Found these receipts from the other week, July 30, 07. Looks to be two stops on the way home, both groceries:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Granola $1.5<br />Soup $2.5<br />Muffin $1<br />Cheese $6<br />Strawberries $1<br />Lunchmeats $12<br />Eggs $2<br />Milk $3<br />=total $30<br /><br />-> Stop 2:<br /><br />Cat Litter $6<br />Chocolate Syrup $3<br />Espresso $2<br />Coffee $2<br />Toilet Paper $4<br />Bread $2<br />Cat Food $11<br />=total $32<br /><br />It is here that our tale ends.</span><br /></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-61896821425621370762007-08-03T14:26:00.000-05:002007-08-03T14:31:44.731-05:00A Penny for Your Downfall!<span style="font-family:arial;">Last night it happened. As we sat together in marital harmony, Budget Naginata told me that I should really hear the tune that she had purchased from the iTunes Store that day. It was a catchy thing that had been bouncing around her head all day.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />I stared across the ever-widening gap between us. She looked at me, a look of horror spreading across her face.<br /><br />"Oh my. That's against the rules, isn't it?"<br /><br />I nodded. Her .99 buy across the internet broke the sacred trust of our agreement not to purchase frivilous things. We agreed it was a vanity purchase and that she was wholly in the wrong. We have not weighted a measurement system for the severity of the punishment she should recieve, but it will be mighty!<br /><div align="center"><br />O_o</div><br />Ok, seriously. She did buy the song and thought nothing of it. She had a revalation the minute she told me about it. We had a pretty good laugh and she said she wouldn't do it again. It is against the rules, but there are no penalties. The penalties are inflicted upon us by our creditors and banks. No need for us to make it worse on ourselves. <br /><br />"But that's how it happens, you know," she added during the conversation. "You don't even think about it a lot of time, buying things, that is. And then you've spent your money and don't know where it has gone."<br /><br />She's right. That's the whole point of the challenge. The sharpening of our financial awareness. This year, I grant you, it's about not spending money, but overall the challenge is about spending money better, with analysis and thought, not just haphazzardly. Naginata's iTune song will not bounce any checks, but it serves as a pretty good reminder, this day, our 100th day of the challenge.<br /><br />Happy 100th day of whatever the heck we're calling this! YAY!!! One hundred days later, we're still kicking! Stronger than ever!<br /><br />To pile onto the compost pile of better news, the Budget-Truck isn't as bad off as I thought it was. It was just more far gone than the tiny battery of the Budget-Mobile was going to recover. When AAA showed up the other day, they got it started by plugging me up to their mega-jump-battery. I drove it home. The new assessment is: New Battery required. I hope I can get to that within the next week or so. I'll update you as that progresses.<br /><br />I have recieved a few more inquiries on the hot tub, but I decided to revise the ad and add another picture depicting the "wear and tear" the other interested people had been put off by. I'm hoping this drives more people towards me that will avoid looking down their nose at me.<br /><br />That's all I have to put on the Ronin-report for now.</span><br /></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-4472201094835109492007-08-01T10:13:00.000-05:002007-08-01T10:18:12.682-05:00Broken-down , Waterlogged and Forgotten.<span style="font-family:arial;">So... the Budget-Truck is busted. Currently it's sitting in a parking lot waiting for me to tow it home. I want to tow it to a repairman to get it fixed, but I don't have the cash to make that happen, so I scraped some cash together and renewed my AAA membership for $60. I plan on getting it dragged back to the house this afternoon. As it stands, Budget Naginata and Edamame take me to the public train every morning. It's probably better for our budget anyway, but I will confess I'm a bit angry at the loss of a working vehicle and an unknown cost ahead of us for repairs.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The much ballyhooed Hot Tub is back up on the market. Last night two different people came to look at it and consider my very cheap price. Both turned me down. I know the tub is in good enough condition, but it looks a bit long in the tooth, so people have given me the stink eye about it. I don't really know what they expected. They are looking on craigslist for a used hot tub. Mine is marked way down and I even have in the description that I'm willing to negotiate (i.e. take LESS money) if they want to bother. It's a bit aggrivating to me. You'd think that if they wanted to knit-pick and complain about its imperfections, they would spend their time and effort to buy a new one.<br /><br />And finally... This morning I arrived at the train station to discover I left my new monthly pass at home. I had to drop $13 for a day's pass and the new refillable plastic passcard that the system is using. $13 is about a quarter of what I pay for my discounted monthly pass. I feel fairly violated.<br /><br />Bleh. I suppose this is why it's called "Hump Day."<br /> </span><br /></span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354561569098362.post-65833458146155517172007-07-31T13:58:00.000-05:002007-07-31T14:02:54.426-05:00Ten Times Less Controversial<span style="font-family:arial;">We're almost 100 days in. I started this challenge with just over a years' worth of time (371 days). We're counting down to 273 days on August 1st, tomorrow, and it's been a ride so far. Things are more comfortable now, to be sure. Things are more reflexive now than they were at the beginning. Things also don't seem so grim. We've still had our moments, but if this is the comfortable middle, we're doing fairly well.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So... I got a haircut two days ago. I dropped $40 at a place by the office. I did it for convenience more than anything else, but the cut wasn't that bad. I don't get my hair cut often for an office-dweller, so you probably won't see me expense this again for some time. I don't consider this frivilous because the company I work for has some fairly strict standards on appearance. It's not Draconian, by any measure, but I was getting to the point where I was going to have to use some serious hair product to keep my coiffure in place, so I decided this is no different than shaving and I haven't put an embargo on shaving cream and razors (though I wish I could, I feel environmentally bad about throwing away all those razor-bits). Utimately, I still reasoned I was 10x less controversial than the fabled $400 John Edwards haircut of not-so-longago.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Budget Naginata has some other receipts I know she hasn't entered. That's not a condemnation, I just want to assure you people we're not just eating air and good wishes. This comes from a loose receipt she put down near my things the other day, I swiped it to enter here:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Muffins $2</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Herbs $4</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Zucchini $2</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Granola $2</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Fruits $10</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Salt $4</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Potatoes $6</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Pasta $2</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Onions $1<br />[ Total of $32 ]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This past Saturday (7.28.07), I made a trip to get some fixin's for the superlarge potatoes Naginata picked up. I also got other things:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Haircolor $9</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Sour Cream $2</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Sausage $3</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Cheese $2</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Bacon $4</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Sodas $7<br />[ Total of $27 ]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Haircolor was for Naginata. She doesn't dye like every week and she actually wasn't going to do it, but she recently got her hair cut, too, so she needed a fresh coat. I did some comparisons and got something affordable that would suit her needs. Some may consider them vanity items, but I don't, any more than any other "hygene" product. You don't technically "need" to shave or groom at all, other than staying clean for health reasons, but we all do it because it makes us feel more complete. That's all I'll say on that.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">On Monday (7.30.07), we "splurged" and got sandwiches / sushi at the in-store deli when we picked up a couple of other things. It was a nice treat that is our only built-in cheat other than allowing other people to buy us lunch or dinner on occasion during the length of the contest.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Sandwich $8 (all me, I got a big one)</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Cherries $5</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Sushi $5</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Gummi Worms $.50 (a treat for a well-behaved Budget Edamame who was out later than she should have been)</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Cider $8<br />[ Total $26.50 ]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Well, that's caught us up on some of the spend. I am trying to post more regularly. Sorry I hit a slump a few weeks back. I have other, unrelated news I'll post seperately.</span>Budget Roninhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06919343119940298306noreply@blogger.com0