[nabs-l] Budgeting

Sat Oct 13 22:25:34 UTC 2012

It's positive 468. So you have $468 each month to spend on other
things. Do you pay a cell phone bill?
Arielle

On 10/13/12, Koby Cox <kobycox at gmail.com> wrote:
> Arielle,
> So I would put In the doctors bill which Is $110 then I would put in
> $120 for transportation and that would give me a total of 230 then I
> would subtract that total which Is 230 from my SSI income which Is $698
> and that would give me a total of negative 468 Is that right or didI do
> something wrong during the process?
> Right back soon,
> Koby.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Arielle
> Silverman
> Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2012 4:15 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Budgeting
>
> Hi Koby,
> You would need to figure out how much the doctor's bill is and how
> much you pay each month for transportation. Then add those two amounts
> and subtract the total from your total income. The rest is
> discretionary money you can spend on whatever. Every time you buy
> something that is not part of transportation or your doctor's bill,
> subtract it from your total discretionary money.
> Arielle
>
> On 10/13/12, Koby Cox <kobycox at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Arielle,
>> How would you do this budget If you only have a doctors bill and also
>> transportation that you have to pay for?
>> Right back soon,
>> Koby.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Arielle
>> Silverman
>> Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2012 3:51 PM
>> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: [nabs-l] Budgeting
>>
>> Hi all,
>> I think keeping a monthly budget is a good skill for all students to
>> learn. I will describe the method I use for my own budget. You don't
>> have to do it this way, but I do think it is important to have some
>> formal way of tracking how much money you have and how much you can
>> afford to spend on a weekly or monthly basis. I think this is
>> especially critical for those of us on fixed incomes. Once you have a
>> budget, you will be able to tell not only when you need to cut back on
>> your spending, but also when you are "ahead of the game" and can
>> afford to spend a little more.
>>
>> Before creating your budget, I suggest looking at your past three bank
>> statements and noting a few things. First, note exactly how much money
>> you get per month, from all regular sources such as wages from a job,
>> SSI, checks from family, scholarship funds, etc. Also, note all
>> expenses you have that are mandatory or non-negotiable that come up
>> every month, such as rent and bills.
>> I keep my budget as an Excel spreadsheet and when I used to have a
>> Braille Note, I kept it on that. First create an entry titled "income"
>> and enter your total monthly income into that cell. If for example,
>> you earn $500 each month from wages, and an additional $500 from
>> Social Security, and this happens every single month, you would put
>> 1000 into the income box.
>> Below that make an entry called "fixed expenses" and add up all of
>> your bills and other non-negotiable expenses you have to pay every
>> month. Examples might include: rent, utilities, Internet charges, cell
>> phone bill, doctor and pharmacy bills, etc. Note I don't count
>> groceries as a fixed expense because even though buying groceries is
>> required for survival, the actual amount you spend on groceries is
>> flexible and can be changed from month to month, whereas the amount
>> you spend on your cell phone bill is generally the same from month to
>> month. You might want to designate a minimum grocery payment as a
>> fixed expense to make sure you've set aside some money for groceries,
>> and then allow yourself to spend more than that minimum on groceries
>> if you have extra discretionary money (see below). For our
>> hypothetical example of the person getting $1000 per month, suppose
>> that person pays $400 monthly rent, $50 utilities, a $75 cell phone
>> bill, $50 Internet bill and $25 to refill a prescription medication.
>> That person has a total of $600 in fixed expenses per month.
>> Once you have carefully added up all your fixed expenses, subtract the
>> fixed expense total from your total income. What you have left is
>> "discretionary money" which you can spend on anything you want. Our
>> hypothetical person has $400 per month in discretionary money that
>> he/she can spend on whatever. You might choose to further divide your
>> discretionary money into more categories, for example, giving yourself
>> $100 to spend on clothes, $100 for groceries, $100 for transportation
>> and $100 for other stuff. It is really up to you and only you know
>> what kinds of things you like to spend your money on. The big key is
>> just to make sure that in a month you don't spend more than what you
>> have available for discretionary spending, so this person should not
>> spend more than $400 per month on optional or discretionary things.
>> Now, this next part is really important. Once you have your budget and
>> know how much leftover money you have for discretionary expenses,
>> every time you buy something, even if it's just a $5 lunch, go back to
>> your budget and subtract that amount from what you have designated as
>> discretionary money. That way, you will be able to see right away if
>> your funds are getting low and can make a decision not to buy that new
>> party outfit, etc. If, however, it's almost the end of the month and
>> you still have quite a bit of discretionary money left over, you can
>> treat yourself to something nice without feeling guilty, because you
>> will know that you will still have enough money left to get through
>> the rest of the month.
>> If I have discretionary money left over at the end of the month, I
>> will put that extra money into a category called "savings". Once my
>> savings adds up, I can use it for bigger expenses, like taking a trip.
>> If you have money saved from previous months, you won't have to dip
>> into your discretionary fund for the current month when an occasional
>> big expense, like a trip, comes up.
>> The budget is also really helpful for making decisions, like whether
>> to move out of one's family home or whether to move to a cheaper
>> place. If you are putting lots of extra money into savings each month,
>> then you can probably afford to pay more rent, but if you are
>> perpetually running out of discretionary funds before the end of the
>> month, then it might be time to cut back either on the discretionary
>> expenses (i.e. not buying a coffee every day) or on the fixed expenses
>> (i.e. by moving to a cheaper apartment or cutting back on the cell
>> phone plan).
>> In order to make the budget work, it is important to be good about
>> setting it up on the first day of each month (or whenever your payday
>> is) and then recording each and every time you spend money. Keeping
>> regular tabs on your checking account and any credit cards you have
>> will ensure you don't miss an expense.
>> I know this sounds complicated, so I'd be happy to talk more off-list
>> or by phone. I do think it is a worthwhile thing to do in spite of the
>> minor hassle.
>> Best,
>> Arielle
>>
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