[nabs-l] Budgeting

Sat Oct 13 23:29:50 UTC 2012

You need to write it as income minus expenses:
698-230=468
Arielle

On 10/13/12, Koby Cox <kobycox at gmail.com> wrote:
> Nope. Why? And also how did you get that positive balance? Because when
> I do It I get a negative balance.
> 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 5:26 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Budgeting
>
> 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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>> m
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>>
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