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Last night I went home and gave alot of thought to all the great advice and posts I read yesterday.  I cannot thank you enough.  I really thought I had a handle on budgeting because heck, I made one, but I really did not.  Maybe before I wasn't thinking with an open mind or something because it never really clicked until last night.  I don't keep cc statements or bank statements except for the copy of the cancelled child support check should we ever need it, so I can't really go back and look at statements for help.  I made up a list of categories for what I could think of and while I know we are all different, I was wondering if something was blaringly missing from this list.  I don't own a home and my car is paid off (well I paid it off with a low interest check from my cc but I don't make monthly payments on it).  I'll give some more thought to it over the weekend as well.

child support

rent

groceries

dish network

verizon

life insurance

car insurance

gas and electric

cc 1

cc 2

cc 3

cc 4

cc 5

student loan

school uniforms

shoes

school pictures (fall and spring)

glasses

dentist

doctor co-pays

school birthday parties

pto events

pretzel money

haircuts

book sales at school

SD christmas

SD birthday

SS chirlstmas

SS birthday

Daughter christmas

Daughter birthday

hubby Christmas

mom birthday

mom Christmas

dad birthday

dad Christmas

dad father's day

stepmom mother's day

stepmom christmas

stepmom birthday

stepdad father's day

stepdad christmas

stepdad father's day

nephew 1 birthday

nephew 1 christmas

nephew 2 birthday

nephew 2 christmas

cousin 1 birthday

cousin 2 birthday

cousin 3 birthday

school supplies

entertainment

priniter ink

clothing me

clothing hubby

clothing daughter

shoes me

shoes hubby

shoes daugher

gas

vacation

cousin wedding

light rail pass

aunt christmas

aunt christmas

aunt christmas

uncle christmas

mother-in-law birthday

mother-in-law mother's day

mother-in-law christmas

father-in-law birthday

father-in-law christmas

father-in-law father's day

car maintenance

brother christmas

sister-in-law christmas

church donations

daughter's allowance

I know that it looks like I spend a fortune at the holidays but I have gotten alot better over the years.  I really used to spend alot but now I have about a  25 limit per person except my parents.  They are both extremely good to me and while I know they don't expect gifts, I enjoy giving them to them.  The amounts I spend are just under 100 each.

As for the ccs, 3 of those have balances under 1000 each.  One has a balance of about 8,000 and the last has a balance of 22,000.  The student loan is at about 9500.  I have to check the exact numbers.

After I go through and try to make sure I didn't forget anything, I will go through and figure out when the amounts for each is due (dentist is november 10 but car insurance isn't until March for instance). 

Some of these amounts are small - like pto events only require about 50 bucks for the year.  My daughter's allowance is only 5 bucks a week.  Some may think she should do chores just because she lives in the house but I don't want her to make the same mistakes I made.  So we take 3 of the 5 dollars and put it in the bank, as well as all of her birthday and/or christmas money.  She has enough know that she could fully fund my EF with some leftover.  lol  But seriously, I want to teach her about saving and not getting into the mess I have been in.  If she listens and absorbs half of what I tell her, she will be lightyears ahead of me when she becomes a young adult.

I'm sure I have more to post but that's enough of my babble for now.

Michele