Comments on: The “Beat Last Year” Budgeting Challenge!

By: Leslie

Leslie — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 19:22:55 +0000

I don’t really have good numbers for January or February last year. I think I’m going to look month to month and lower my eating out costs by that comparison. In January 2019 we spent $756.07 eating out (which is crazy for 3 people). I’m aiming for at least 50% to 70% less for February. This will be a super difficult challenge because my girls don’t really like the food I cook, but I’m trying to get better. So two challenges! :-)

By: J. Money

J. Money — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 10:51:36 +0000

In reply to Cathy. I've set up a calendar item to ping you in a month and check in ;) You can do it!!

By: Cathy

Cathy — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 03:44:34 +0000

I’m down. I am so down. I’m not on any social media but if anyone wants to email me for an accountability buddy message me @ xkittnx13@gmail.com.

Eating out is my downfall every single month. Hundreds of dollars that could have gone towards paying down debt went towards diners and fast food. This will definitely help me cut back because I’m putting it out on blast.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 19:48:32 +0000

In reply to Chris @ Mindful Explorer. Interesting! I wonder if what you spend on each in reality will match what you *think* you're spending on each :) Let me know if you see some big behavioral changes over the months due to splitting it up!

By: Chris @ Mindful Explorer

Chris @ Mindful Explorer — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 19:04:34 +0000

For the last few years in MINT for my budgeting I put all food related expenses just under the food and dining category to monitor the entire amount for food. I just now before reading this decided to break it apart as Restaurants and Groceries each with their own budget. This will help me dial things in better and also watch eating outside the home closely as that is a budget luxury.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 10:51:57 +0000

In reply to Susan. I just got one of those watches for my birthday - super fun to track!

By: Susan

Susan — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 02:07:30 +0000

I did “beat last year” with my step count in 2018. I beat every month. It’s a great tool because you can average over a month to give yourself grace for bad days.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 19:30:45 +0000

In reply to paula. Also a very good point, yup... but you could prob still do better generally spending less there too if you wanted to, since you certainly purchase more than just the essentials, yeah? (or are you Superwoman?? ;))

By: paula

paula — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 18:37:46 +0000

In reply to Laura.

I like this better… Amazon as a category makes it really easy to just put the spending somewhere else. I buy necessities like paper towels and such from amazon. If I’m just trying to beat spending there, I could wind up just buying them at the grocery. There are so many categories of spending on Amazon…

By: J. Money

J. Money — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 11:34:36 +0000

In reply to carlotta. The trickier areas for sure ;) If you find zeroing them out becomes too hard, you can always try to cancel them out by picking up a side hustle too! I bet you could find a way to earn an extra 50£/mo?