Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Money Money Money...Monaaay

This blog will probably frequently discuss budget. Not only am I young, I work in freelance. This means I will never know when my next paycheck comes. Eventually I will develop a reputation and won't have to worry about when my next job comes (unless I mess up, but that's negative thinking). For now though, I am pinching the *$#! out of those pennies.

I also have some issues that contribute to my money concerns. I have an anxiety disorder. No major panic attacks or anything but I will almost always be harping on something. My medication helps. As does staying busy but that has gotten me in trouble before. Whatever I'm harping on will be present to the point that it distracts and I can't relax. Sometimes "the thing" is my love life. Sometimes it is my shortcomings as an artist. Sometimes it is my body (those are bad times). Right now, it is money and my lack of income. This leads to buyer's remorse in a big way. Not buyers remorse where I go on a shopping spree and think "hmm, maybe that last pair of jeans was too much." This is buyer's remorse where I'm thirsty and pick up a $1.99 orange juice and beat myself up about it all day. I'm so petrified of developing poor spending habits and watching my life spiral into ruin. Everyone, including my parents, tell my I'm too cautious and can afford to loosen up so I'm trying to rid myself of the guilt but its hard. One thing that has helped is this app on my iPod Touch.



It's called Spend. I believe it's only $.99. Basically you can set your different categories for budgets then categorize every expense. It'll show you the balance remaining in each category and the overall balance at the bottom. I'm still learning how much I need in each category so this is enormously helpful. I've had "unexpected" expenses each month in the form of a new car battery and mop for my flooding bathroom but I know I'm ok because I've ended up with $20+ in "eating out" and "entertainment" so I can pull from other categories to not go over my total budget while still tracking my spending in each category. Now I know I need to increase my "unexpected" budget but I can decrease those other categories.

It makes it so that when I see that -$20 in my "Other" budget I don't have to freak out because I still have $200 in my "Total Available" section and I can calm down about that $1.99 orange juice.

1 comment:

  1. I wonder if that's online anywhere. Neither of us have Iphones, but it would definitely be handy to track that kind of thing...I mean I could do it with pen and paper but who wants to do that?

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