The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

A re-cap of the rules:

1) You must create a budget.
2) You must document every cent spent.
3) You aren't allowed to buy clothes or accessories.
4) You aren't allowed to make impulse buys.
5) You must prepare all meals at home.
6) You can't drink any "served" alcohol.

And then you have to share your updates with others.




And one day in, I'm already having issues.  Since Comcast sucks (as I've documented on here many times), their autopay isn't working.  Because of that, I paid manually on their website.  Then, the next day, they charged it again.  So, now I paid my February bill on Jan 31st.  It doesn't really matter, but it screws up my accounting.  They also do this weird thing where they charge you for a setup and then credit it back later.  It's all screwy.

I think I'm going to look at the bill and whatever is supposed to be the regular bill, I'm going to put toward the February budget.  But then that brings up other questions...do I amortize the cost of things like XBOX Live or Satellite Radio, even though they're paid all at once for the year?

I'm not participating because every month is frugal for me, but I just switched to YouNeedABudget and HIGHLY recommend it for those trying to get their cash in order. I've used Quicken for years (I seriously know where every penny has gone for almost a decade), but never cared for their budgeting features. YNAB is the bomb!!!

I'm the same way - been using Quicken since 1999 or so, and I can tell you every penny spent in the part 14-15 years.  I do my budget in excel.

Dave, I started off budgeting monthly for things like xbox live and sirius, but I found out that it causes trouble because you have to set up little sub accounts to stash the allotted money each month until its time to pay the bill.  I also do this with property tax, etc.  I ended up just budgeting it separately on a annual basis.

I tried using Excel to budget, and it just didn't work for me. Or maybe I just hate Excel. :-)

Week 1 Roundup:

I brought lunch everyday and haven't made any purchases.
I did spend a lot on a Super Bowl party for food, but none went to waste, and I was able to take it to work to share on 2 consecutive days.  And even that grocery trip came in under budget.
I got gas once and have not driven too much.
I played basketball and kickball in the last week, which was fun and free.

This last week was hard, for some reason.  I'm starting to get stir-crazy, but I don't think it's because of a lack of money.  I think it's just that I'm at home a lot and work is stressful.  Also, my baby has been sick, so it's jumping from one stressful environment to another, without a break.

I have played basketball, but it was cancelled this week.

Kickball starts tonight, so I will have some escape there.  I will have a challenge to spend no money at the bar, though.

I do want to make a recommendation to everyone.  I signed up for a free website (they also have phone apps) called Personal Capital.  It imports all of your financial holdings, from Banks, to IRAs and 401K, to Paypal, to Loans, to Credit Cards.  Then it graphs everything for you.  It shows where you money is going, your net worth, etc.  It's really cool.

^^ Interesting.  Quicken does all that, but you have to buy upgrades for it.  (Wait, a new thing I hate paying for!)  I wonder if there is any security risk of having all that personal information, account numbers, etc linked together on a free web site.

This particular website has super security.  They make you verify yourself via mobile phone and email address, as well an giving you a pin code, security questions, and an image to create.

Sure, I don't doubt that, but I wonder if a hacker could do serious damage by getting sensitive information.  Those kind of online things make me nervous.  I use Quicken exclusively locally and don't "backup" my stuff to their online backup for that same reason.

The answer to that question is, there is a threat putting that information on any website. If the federal government can get hacked, anyone can.

All this particular website is doing is acting as an aggregator for other info out there that already exists.

So, Frugal February is over.

All of my changes saved me about $700-$800 (depending on how you do the accounting) over the course of the month as compared to January, but big, big savings from December (which counts gifts and a lot of money for food and drinks).

I didn't account for things that I purchased using gift cards or paypal...only things that affected my bank account or came from my wallet. 

Strangely, despite only eating one meal out (on my wife's birthday), I actually spent more on that one meal than in the previous month eating lunch out.  I also spent more on gas, both for myself and because I bought gas for my wife twice.  Groceries were also more expensive, because we hosted a Super Bowl party.

Interesting summary.  In fact, our February was exactly the opposite of frugal.  While we do most of "frugal February" activities throughout the year, due to schedules and work and other interference, we ended up eating out more than usual in February.  Add to that, we had to book some trips and buy some birthday gifts this month, and it is one of our biggest-spending months in a long time.

We have already resumed "frugality" so March should hopefully be better.  Wanna work on Miserly March?