I usually try to log into YNAB once a week and update all my numbers just to be sure I’m on track. But life got away from me and I went over two weeks. Logging in was definitely a scary proposition. I was pretty sure that my budget was fine, but I like being on track just a little bit better.
I did have some expenses this month that I hadn’t planned for, so there were a few issues, but so far, things seem to be okay. I realized this month that my computers have a tendency to die at the three year mark, which will hit for me next spring. I should start saving now. Do I think my current computer will die then? No. But it doesn’t hurt to start setting aside cash for a replacement when the time comes. I’m not as hard on computers as I used to be – all other computers were laptops used in college and grad school, and my law school laptop traveled to and from campus with me every day. That kind of use just wears on a computer. I regularly wore out the keys and had to get them replaced (thank you, Dell). But my current computer only gets sporadic use, mostly for internet surfing and movie watching. And of course, budget keeping. So it’s probably got a number of years left.
I’m trying to be better about really saving up for things long-term, rather than saying “Okay, I need this in three months, so I have to put away <insert large amount here> each month.” It’s not hard to put away $10 or $25 or even more some months, so I should just try to sock away the cash for when I do decide I need it. It will make the big purchases so much easier.
Megan is a 40-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
