Mr. PoP here –
Little Bunny-Foo-Foo, I don’t want to see you… busting the budget.
After blowing the budget for the second month in a row, Mrs. Pop and I discussed some ways to keep costs down in November. The frustrating thing about our October expenses was that the stuff we spent too much on was totally in our control. There were really no emergencies or surprise expenses, it was just excessive spending on food and gas (mostly on my part!) that led us to go over our limits.
Here is the process we use when recovering from a bad month, and some things we’ll be doing in November to make sure we don’t have another.
1.) Let it Die
When you’re talking with your significant other about money, the worst thing you can do is get emotional and start pointing fingers. What is in the past is gone and done, and blaming the other person will only make moving forward more difficult. If your DW/DH/BF/GF isn’t ready to talk about what went pear-shaped in your finances the month before, let them cool off until they are.
2.) Do A Post Mortem
You are tracking your budget in Mint, right? RIGHT? Good! So bring up the areas that you went over budget in, and figure out if they were one-time emergency expenses that you couldn’t have planned for (Did a tree fall on your house?), or if it was just a case of your expenses getting away from you. What habits have you changed in the past month that would lead to spending more money?
3.) Develop A Plan And Execution Strategy
If your post mortem was good, you know what went wrong, now figure out what you are going to change and more importantly, how you are going to make sure you change it! Habits are powerful thing, and it can take some time to break them.
After we did the post-mortem on October, it looks like our spending on gas, coffee, and fast-food just got away from us, partly because of travel, and partly because we haven’t been reviewing the finances every Sunday like we aspire to. To make sure we have a better month in November, I’m going to start brown-bagging it some days at work, and running on my lunch break instead of driving to a fast food joint or cafe. Mrs. Pop and I are also going to get back in the habit of reviewing the finances every Sunday.
Mrs. PoP here –
I’m not always the best at “letting it die”, so this step is something I have to consciously do. But, without blame, it was interesting to figure out with Mr. PoP why our gas bills had gone up by about 20-25% from our “norm” in both September and October. When I looked into it, it wasn’t just gas prices. Mr. PoP was filling up his tank (and it’s a big tank) every 4 days instead of every 5 or so like he used to. (For the record, without Mint, I could have never figured that out.)
So I asked – do you think your gas mileage has gotten worse? [Frame it as the car's fault...] Do you think you’re driving more? After thinking about it, Mr. PoP admitted that he was driving to get out of the office at lunch most days. He wasn’t spending tons on any single day – but it was just little trickles that added up. He came up with the idea to do some running to get out of the office at lunch instead of driving for a coffee and I think it’s a great plan. And I think he’s more likely to stick to it than if I had said something like, “Your gas spending indicates that you’re driving MUCH more than usual. You need to stop that RIGHT NOW! Be more efficient!”
And while the past couple of months were hectic for both of us, especially at work, we can’t let that be an excuse to bust the budget. With determination on both our our parts, we’re not going to let holiday craziness be an excuse for this to happen in November or December. And hopefully this public declaration of sorts will help keep us accountable to it.
What are some of the things that you do to help recover from a “bad month” on the budget? Do you struggle with letting it die like Mrs. PoP does?
It sounds like you guys are communicating well:) I like to drive home for lunch each day too. It just gives me a feeling of relief to leave the office for a bit.
I think your right. The most important thing about making mistakes is to let them go. You can’t change what has already happened. Like an athlete, you just need to get back to zero and go from there.
Greg@ClubThrifty recently posted..Top 5 Finance Apps to Keep Your Finances in Check
The problem for us with driving home for lunch is that we have pretty long commutes – mine is the shorter and it’s almost 20 miles round trip to come home for lunch. Mr. PoP’s is closer to a 50 mile round trip, or a 10 mile round trip to the nearest coffee shop. So the gas costs can add up if we’re trying to come home and have lunch with Kitty PoP too often.
I usually let it go. I am not a big spender so when I splurge for something I try to enjoy it while it lasts and not think about the dip in my savings. When it is an unplanned expense like last month I had to replace my tenant’s washing machine, I just pay like you rip off a band aid, it hurts less than pointing fingers at who broke it. My well being is worth that much.
Pauline recently posted..Little house in Guatemala, week 1
One time things I’m usually pretty good about letting go, but when things start to become habits… then the martyr in me wants to say, “Can’t you see how this is hurting us!?!” But I stop myself because that’s unproductive…
Wow, those are some excellent tracking skills. I’ts good to let things go, and move forward, but I think it’s harder for woman rather then men.
Hope November is better for getting your gas and food bills under control!
Mandy @MoneyMasterMom recently posted..Prepping for a group cook!
I am a hardcore numbers geek, so anything that I can track, I tend to =)
Thanks for the wishes on November – we’ve got fingers crossed!
Excellent examples. I tend to point fingers. My husband tends to spend a lot on energy drinks at the gas station, and it adds up quickly. I’m still trying to figure out how to get him to spend less at the gas station.
savvyfinanciallatina recently posted..November 2012 Goals
Yeah, I see $2-$3 charges at the gas station come through once a week or so and I know they’re Mr. PoP stopping for a gatorade or a candy bar. It’s not ideal, but at this point for us, there are bigger fish to fry.
I still can’t believe how expensive energy drinks are, though! One of the guys at the gym was telling me he easily drinks $10-$15 in energy drinks a day if they’re $4-$5 per drink. That’s crazy to me.
Nice post. Open communication is key. We usually get past it with taking ownership and committing to not letting it happen again. We use, largely a cash budget, so that also helps us from going over our budget.
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..You Won’t Reach Retirement Without Saving for It
I’m impressed that you can use cash successfully. For us, cash is the devil since it can disappear and we won’t have a record of where it went.
if our budget ever goes out of whack for a while, it was usualyl because my husband would spend SO much money eating out. he had the weight to show for it too…it would drive my bonkers! He’s gotten so much better, but I think sometimes you do have to consistently remind your spouse that $5 and $10 purchases very quickly add up and they need to get on board the budget train! A better approach would definitely help, but when they do it over and over and OVER again, your patience can get tested. I’m proud that we’ve been doing a lot better budget wise.
Newlyweds on a Budget recently posted..Scaring debt away on Halloween
I’m glad that he’s gotten better and your patience doesn’t have to be tested nearly so often now. =)
I have a really hard time letting things go and always assume I’m right, which is not the best attitude to have. My husband and I are really trying to work together. Him in paying atttention to spending and me on not being preachy. It’s always a work in progress.
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted..Rental Property Series: Let’s Drink to Having Tenants
It’s definitely a two way street, but it sounds like you guys are a lot like we are. And both Mr. PoP and I have to come together and meet in the middle if any financial problem is going to be fixed.
Letting it die is the hardest part! It’s so easy to point fingers and keep bringing stuff up, but I agree, you gotta let that stuff die or nothing will be figured out!
TB at BlueCollarWorkman recently posted..Blue Collar Roundup — License Plates Edition
Isn’t it? But I’m definitely getting better at it as the years in our marriage start to pile up.
We are all about the numbers in the CBB family as we document and budget our expenses to the dollar. This year we have went over budget, screwed up and learned from our mistakes, we all do. Next year though we will carry over the overage for example with our groceries so we can stick to our goals for the year and to motivate us to continue to strive for the goals we set for ourselves. Great post.. shared it on my FB page to see what my reactions my fans have to their spending and budget. Cheers Mr.CBB
Canadian Budget Binder recently posted..October 2012 Canadian Budget Binder Family Budget Update
Thanks for sharing Mr. CBB – you’re absolutely right that we’ve got to learn from our mistakes. Otherwise – what’s the phrase? – we’ll be doomed to repeat them!
Finger pointing can definitely cause problems and nothing seems to get resolved. I tend to use “we” rather than you/me anytime I want to bring up spending.
I’ve heard great things about mint.com, but have been afraid of the site being hacked and having all of my accounts compromised. Maybe I’ll start using it when we track our budget a little closer in 2013.
justin@thefrugalpath recently posted..3 Cases Where Extreme Cheapskates End Up Paying More
As I’ve understood it, mint has the same or better levels of security than signing into your own online banking accounts. HTH! =)
Ah I love Mint! That’s a good tip though to analyze your budget and see if it was a one time expense or not when you go over budget. Whenever I go over budget, I kind of just assume it was an anomaly without really diving into it
Harry @ PF Pro recently posted..Do You Invest in Expensive Kitchen Knives? A Review of my Shun Chef’s Knife
Yeah the first month I was like, oh you must have driven more because of X! But then when it happened two months in a row, I knew I needed to look at it a bit closer. I love that mint makes it easy to do that.
What we do in tight months is to eat all meals in the house, watch movies on television instead of at movie theaters, and and try to keep tract of every stray dollar.
Terry recently posted..The right way to handle tenants who are moving out
We’re in negotiations for a spending cleanse next week to focus on more mindful spending instead of mindless spending. Hopefully that helps us keep our focus!
I think the biggest thing to do is just review your spending, as you suggested. I have a friend who swears by MINT but I’m such a spreadsheet geek that I have a custom database for our spending : ) I love looking at the trend month over month, though the down payment on our home kind of makes it look skewed : )
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted..7 Home Upgrades I Want…Someday
Yeah, big things definitely can skew the trends a bit. I’m a spreadsheet geek at work, but I like to leave that at home most of the time, which is why I think mint is great for us. =)
[...] How To Recover From A Bad Budget Month- Planting Our Pennies [...]
[...] Has your budget been gotten a little bloated lately? The PoPs over at Planting our Pennies has a few ways with How do you Recover From a bad Budget Month? [...]