Til Debt Do Us Part Question...
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Til Debt Do Us Part Question...
| Sun, 12-27-2009 - 7:25pm |
I've been DVRing that show recently. I'm really interested in her percentages. She wants you to spend 35% on housing, 15% on transportation etc. But what I don't get is if these percentages are based on your pre-tax or post-tax pay. It makes a big difference! I'm guessing that she wants you to base these numbers on the cash that you actually bring home. This new year I'm going to revamp my budget and make sure that I'm living within my means.

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This is one of my favourite - how to get control of your finances show.
I would say that the percentages would be of after tax monies.
Sharon
Gail stresses that all budgetting be done on take home pay.
I think housing costs are just what you said, mortgage, insurnace, heating and utilities costs.
She is a pretty smart lady, with a pretty easy plan to follow.
I watch Till Debt Do Us Part all the time :) It's one of my favourites!
I believe cable, internet, cell phone and related costs are considered discretionary budget items as opposed to essential (rent, food, utilities).
I'm going to look to see if the show or Gail have a website with more information.
Anne
For anyone interested here is the link to Gail Vaz Oxlde's website...
http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/
Anne
I just put together a budget using her spreadsheet. Pretty easy! Here's the link:
http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/resources/interactive_budget_worksheet.html
Here's what I came up with. I spend 37.78% of my income on housing. I'm supposed to spend 35%. That percentage for me includes my mortgage, my condo fee, my electric and my home insurance. I didn't even add in maintenance and my home insurance is low in my opinion and I'm already over! I guess my maintenance if I need it has to come from my Emergency fund. The only thing I could lower here is my electricity consumption and I'm going to work on covering my windows and air drying more of my laundry. I think that will help.
I spend 16.33% on transportation and I'm only allowed 15%. This includes for me, car payment, insurance, gas, maintenance, registration, tolls and parking. I budget in $750 dollars a year on service and maintenance and that's a little low as well! The only thing I could change here is my auto insurance, which is $114 dollars a month for 2 cars. I'm not sure if I can get that any lower. I already have my deductibles at $1000 dollars and my junky car only has liability. I can try though!
My Life expenses are at 29.71% and they are supposed to be at 25%. I currently have my debt repayment at 8.60% but I'll be debt free in 3 months and my EF savings is at 7.44% but it will be funded at $1000 dollars in 3 months as well and then I can raise it once my debt is done.
I did balance my budget even though I'm going over my percentages by cutting categories down like dining out, groceries, clothing, and cutting the allowances for now. We do have some money coming in from DH's part-time job. It could possibly be $300 dollars this week and $100 dollars the next and I could definitely use that to help pay off my debt faster than 3 months! Once my debt is payed off, I can start saving a lot more! I'm also going to work on sticking to this budget using cash. I'm not sure how this is going to work as there's no way I can just take a whole months worth of cash out at once. I guess I'll have to take it out weekly and stick it in envelopes because I don't own any jars and I'm not buying any! HA! Actually, I have to consider how a cash system would work for me...I honestly don't know if I could make it work! My husband would never be able to do it...and asking him to save receipts, that never works! But I've got to do something different. We've improved by leaps and bounds this last year, but it's still not enough in my opinion.
That's pretty interesting.
I like that sheet, as it is pretty much idiot proof. And there are days when I really need things set out for me in the most simple way there is.
I plugged in a few numbers that I could remember. I'm at work so am just guessing at alot of the numbers, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I'm 34% for housing, 12% for transportation (no car payments now) 37% for life(way over) 13% for debt repayment, and 2.5% for savings (way under)
so when I get home today, I'm going to pull out the files and put in the actual numbers and see how far off I am.
My goal for 2010 is to get my books on to the computer and use Quicken instead of just letting it live in my computer doing nothing.
Abby
I have to give you all the credit in the world for trying to learn about budgeting. So many will not even try
I will pass on what I know then you do what is right for you. Ok
25% in the housing would be mortgage payment and yes your condo fee and if you have the room your payments on the back condo fees and your late fees. Anything that has to do with the roof over your head. In my case I pay principal, interest, homeowners and taxes to the bank They pay the
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