I took violin lessons as a child and my parents wound up buying my violin too, it was much cheaper in the long run. I believe my Mom sold it after I was done with it as well. I'm not sure she broke even but she got a bit of her money back.
As far as the $1000 in the savings account. I don't believe Dave ever says how to get it. He just says to get it. So your Income Tax should be fine. I know he recommends selling things of value and getting a part time job to do it faster so you should be fine doing it that way.
It's not quite *that* bad - at least I do have probably 70% allotted to something (the easy things like mortgage, gas, telephone, etc...) but there are several ones going where I had no idea what we bought at X place, so the total went to Misc.
We also don't have go to Starbucks but will spend money at the grocery store for junk food, clothes, bakeware, candles etc. Then the grocery bill is huge and we still don't have real food at home.
Here is a trick that I started using. I separate my groceries into two piles, two receipts, or more, depending on what I am buying.
I usually will have one for groceries, junk food and other misc items(household items/car stuff). I ask the cashier to ring them all separately. Then when I get home(or at the cash register), I know exactly how much I spend on actual groceries, junk food, etc.
It doesn't cost anymore, and it helps me to keep track of my expenses. Let me tell you, the first time I did this, I almost flipped out at how much I was spending on junk food. We only bought a few bag of chips, some sunflower seeds and some nuts, but it came out to more than $20 dollars. What I can do with that much money on actual groceries!!!
I took violin lessons as a child and my parents wound up buying my violin too, it was much cheaper in the long run. I believe my Mom sold it after I was done with it as well. I'm not sure she broke even but she got a bit of her money back.
As far as the $1000 in the savings account. I don't believe Dave ever says how to get it. He just says to get it. So your Income Tax should be fine. I know he recommends selling things of value and getting a part time job to do it faster so you should be fine doing it that way.
Hey Becky - doesn't matter how the 1K gets into savings - just important that it's there, and if it's used, get it back in there.
I had to laugh about the "misc" category in Quicken.
All my best,
Danni
It's not quite *that* bad - at least I do have probably 70% allotted to something (the easy things like mortgage, gas, telephone, etc...) but there are several ones going where I had no idea what we bought at X place, so the total went to Misc.
Becky
CL of 4th, 5th & 6th grade Scoliosis
We also don't have go to Starbucks but will spend money at the grocery store for junk food, clothes, bakeware, candles etc. Then the grocery bill is huge and we still don't have real food at home.
Here is a trick that I started using. I separate my groceries into two piles, two receipts, or more, depending on what I am buying.
I usually will have one for groceries, junk food and other misc items(household items/car stuff). I ask the cashier to ring them all separately. Then when I get home(or at the cash register), I know exactly how much I spend on actual groceries, junk food, etc.
It doesn't cost anymore, and it helps me to keep track of my expenses. Let me tell you, the first time I did this, I almost flipped out at how much I was spending on junk food. We only bought a few bag of chips, some sunflower seeds and some nuts, but it came out to more than $20 dollars. What I can do with that much money on actual groceries!!!
Good Luck.