Budgeting

Let me tell you right now: I am shit at budgeting outside immediate expenses. Convention in 6-months? Can totally plan for it if I get the hotel first. I’ve been going to conventions annually since 2004 and know the ins-and-outs of financing for it with both myself and my sister like the back of my hand. Of course, they’ve never been further away than a 3-hour drive. So planning to surprise and take me and Jess to Comic-Con for her graduation present next summer? Totally daunting. That’s airfare, hotel, food, spending and emergency funds for both of us, and that’s only if I can manage to get us passes when they go on sale. They sell out within minutes of posting!

With my last federal tuition check until this Fall semester coming at the end of this month, I’m really screwed money-wise. Especially with a $200+ car insurance payment to my mom every month. I’m working part-time at my campus bookstore and 2 hours a week in my church’s nursery: I’m not making that payment without another job. Hopefully I get this job at GameStop, too. I love video games so much, might as well earn money for it, right? My love and knowledge of certain fields is why I’ve worked the jobs I have. My internship is scheduled for this Fall, so I’ve got stuff to do this summer and empty pockets to prove it.
So in essence, I need to learn some budgeting and I need to learn it FAST.

Which is why I’ve spent the last 5 or so hours prowling the internet for tutorials on doing so instead of sleeping before my 6-hour shift in 4 hours (as of typing this sentence). Tumblr people, you haven’t failed me yet; you get to keep those perfect scores on troubleshooting research. I found awesome links and Excel sheets to use before I hit the first goldmine: Mint.com. Love it for it’s simple complexity, although having to connect it to my bank account through the site skeeved me out a bit, but some user reviews put me at ease on that. I drew the line at putting in my SSN to find my credit score, though; that was a bit much for me at 11:30 PM.

It made up a trending budget based on my bank transactions and showed me what categories I spent too much on in comparison. I used that to add up monthly totals on a spreadsheet I’d found and promptly scared the f**k out of myself on how much I spend on food and iTunes. Needless to say, I’d better godsd*mn enjoy the new Fall Out Boy album and free Rooster Teeth podcasts until Daft Punk’s new album drops and start bag lunching. Outside of that, though, I got stuck. I see where I spend a lot and save nothing, but how do I plan out future stuff in a more customized fashion?

Enter You Need A Budget.com, an interactive budgeting software and lifestyle method for creating and managing a flexible budget, despite a variance in your monthly income. Their goal? To get you to the point of living on last month’s paycheck. It’s $60 for the full desktop version, but they have a 34-day trial before you buy it. Not to mention online webinars and a mobile app for Droid and iOS, though I think you need the full version to use those.

Either way, it’s beautiful and I love it immensely. Fully customizable on what I need to budget for, awesomely visual for an ADHD person such as myself, and doesn’t lock me into an unchangeable money schedule outside of what I want it to. It even helps you manage your credit cards and cash! And that’s without connecting to your bank account!

To put it simply: I now have $5 put away for both Comic-Con 2014 and PAX East 2015, with a budget for my current balance of $65. I’m already feeling empowered. Amazing what chatting with your friend about her finding a new apartment can do.