The Binder In Process

I'm getting ready for the Big 2012 Challenge, and at this very moment, I'm perfectly comfortable with the approach.

I've been planning for a few months and this past month has really pushed me to start the reduced spending a little sooner (of course, the generous bonuses sort of took the edge off and helped me with a few troubling bills) ...

One of the things that I am so hoping that I can stay FOCUSED on is the use of two binders I set up. BOTH binders came from the office, free and were going to be thrown away (gasp) by my boss. I quickly claimed ownership before he could do the toss!

One is strictly for tax purposes, tracking income and expenses. 100%. I anticipate that I will have 3 or 4 1099's at the end of the 2012 so I want to be sure I can get my tax writeoffs where I can. Rather than dreading the month of April (2013), I'm hoping this will help me be way ahead of the game and ready by mid February. The binder is divided into twelve sections, one for each month. There is a cover page for income and a two additional pages for expenses. This should really help me out, I think. I plan on each month having a total for income and total of business expenses.

The other binder is for all income and all expenses. It will also track of the balances of credit cards, month to month (and hopefully I will see them hit ZERO much sooner than if I didn't track them).

Again, it's separated into twelve sections, one for each month. The first page of each month is a breakdown of the budget with a column next to each allowance for the ACTUAL cost.

I will apply the snowball effect on the credit cards with hopes that I will see zero on all by the end of the year. I am dedicated $400 off the top to credit card payments. How crappy is that to have to be back in that situation?

I am also budgeting money towards the savings account each month. This will be treated like any other bill.

I added a page for comments, notes and thoughts. In other words, what was difficult to deal with, what was rewarding, what needs to be re-evaluated and so on. This binder will almost be like a journal!

If you really want to see my REAL BUDGET, then hop over here. I've not included Sonny Boy's monthly money for food as I'm really hoping that he's getting a job and can get his own food. I give him approximately $25 to $30 a week which is nothing when milk is $4 a gallon. This of course will have to be re-evaluated and worked out, I'm sure.

Are you ready for the New Year yet?

Linking up with Works For Me Wednesday and Frugal Fridays ...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Smelly Shoe Fix!

Image
Honestly, we have real good hygiene habits in my house, I can assure you of that! But, lets face it, living in paradise with 125% humidity can be a little trying sometimes ... my running shoes (which have NOT seen much running action for quite a while) get a little ripe smelling ... and oh man, you should smell the shoes that Hubby wears outside in the yard, patio, garage and boat that constantly get wet ... enough to suck the oxygen right out of your body ... whew! Then you have the Boy ... who works out pretty darn hard and doesn't always wear socks, nor does the Princess ... I mean, seriously, I've had to throw shoes away because you could smell them just sitting there. No one wants to be the person that people are wrinkling their nose at when they are walking by you! So when I saw the featured post for the Smelly Shoe Solution (and dang, I'm still trying to find the original post because I had no need to bookmark it, such a simple fix!) Yes. That's IT!...
Read more

Non Toxic Mosquito Spray

Image
Let's face it, living in Paradise does have a few drawbacks with the #1 complaint being ... BUGS. Yeah, bugs.  Mostly mosquitoes that can just ruin an evening of relaxation on the patio ... those pesky little guys can really do a number on you quickly!  Heaven forbid if you are one of those who are very sensitive to the bites (the Boy), you will have welts in no time. So Hubby always decides to spray AFTER everyone starts swatting the air and scratching. We have to gather up our drinks and appetizers, go indoors and wait for 20 minutes or so for the toxic fog to flat away ... only to be swatting and scratching AGAIN in 30 minutes. After seeing THIS tip a few too many times, I figured, what the heck, $5 at Walmart is worth it to try, right? Guess what?  It seems to work!!!  I need to do a few more nights to say for certain but I say it's WAY better than that can of toxic stuff ... and cheaper to boot! You must use the ORIGINAL fl...
Read more

Rice Cooker - Hard Boiled Eggs

Image
One of the things I picked up at Costco was a new Rice Cooker. The one I have, well, I gave that to the Boy when he went away to college (so he could make his macaroni and cheese), not to mention, it was small as heck, like mini size! So, I figured, you know, Hubby likes to make rice occasionally. The Boy makes brown rice in the microwave every other day and leaves the bubbly residue behind for ME to find when I go to heat something up (I hate a dirty microwave, totally wigs me out and sends me running for the windex!) ... so I grabbed the rice cooker ($29.95), a 10 pound bag of organic brown rice and a 20 pound bag of Basmati rice. I'm asking myself now, a whole week later, what the hell am I going to do with 20 pounds of Basmati rice? Anyways. Then I was reading the recipe booklet that came along with the cooker. They had one recipe that said to add the eggs, unshelled, to the steamer basket.  Ok. That made me re-read it a few times. Unshelled? Did they mean out of the shell?...
Read more