The House Budget Committee

There was one goal I didn't talk about in my September of Self-Improvement post.  Honestly, I didn't want to admit to this goal because that would be admitting to my embarrassing shortcomings.

But here it is: I am not on top of my household finances in the way I'd like to be.

I'm not saying that we're in some kind of massive debt.  Well, I mean we're not in any kind of credit card debt.  Obviously we have some debt in the form of student loans and mortgage, but those debts are more just realities of life than major financial blunders.

Let me be clear: We are not irresponsible with our finances.  It's just, up until now, my budgeting strategy has been "Have more money coming in than going out."  Which, you know, is kind of a good financial strategy in its most basic form, but I think we can do better in terms of being aware of where our money goes.

Like, are we putting away as much as we can for retirement?  Are we putting our money in the smartest type of fund possible?  Could we cut back more on the smaller things like groceries and the utility bills?

Answer: Utility bills, yes.  Groceries: probably not, because we have three people in our family and we each like a different type of milk.  Milk, right there, is costing about $20/week.  Additionally, this could be a post in and of itself, but I think everybody has to determine his/her own personal strategy when it comes to grocery frugality, because some people are okay with the level of energy/time expenditure it takes to scour grocery ads, clip coupons, and shop at a variety of stores, while others are not.  I, personally, am not.  I'll clip the occasional coupon for a brand-name item when we insist on getting the brand-name, but otherwise I find you're just better off getting the generic.  And, if given the choice of two similar items, I will pick the one on sale, but I do not scour ads to find out about sales and then draw up some kind of detailed multi-store, coupon-laced shopping battle plan.  

But I digress.  The point is, I want to be more in control of my finances.  I'm not suggesting I can understand the finer points of finance in one month, but I can take the first step and be more aware of how we spend. 

So, I set up an Excel spreadsheet.  The sad thing is, I had forgotten how to set up an Excel spreadsheet.  At first I thought I could get around my lack of Excel skills and download a pre-made budget spreadsheet template.  And while I did find several templates to choose from, all were a bit too complicated for my liking.  They were all broken down into a bazillion categories, things like "electric bill" and "clothing," and then they had a column for the amount budgeted and another column for the amount actually spent. 

Now, first of all, that is like the graduate level of budget spreadsheets, whereas I needed to master Budget Spreadsheets 101. 

Secondly, I am far too over-analytical to ever break a budget down like that.  I get to thinking things like, How can I budget a set amount for electricity each month, when the electric bill is way higher in July than it is in January?  Or, If I buy light bulbs at the grocery store, does that count as groceries?

Instead, I just want one big category called "Credit Card Bill," which, yes, is very vague because it includes everything from car repairs to groceries to Nathan's preschool tuition, but that's about as specific as I want to get right now. 

So, I needed to make a basic In/Out (a.k.a. Credit/Debit) spreadsheet.  Again, I totally forgot how to create such a thing.  I found an online tutorial created by the Microsoft people themselves.  I felt like an older housewife trying to get up to speed before re-entering the workforce after being home with her kids for many years. 

The tutorial went very slowly, starting with "What is a spreadsheet?" and, "Note that spreadsheets have columns and rows denoted by letters and numbers."  So I fast-forwarded, got the information I needed in about 90 seconds, and ... voila! ... my budget spreadsheet was born! 

The spreadsheeting is going okay.  It's hard to remember to put an expense in the spreadsheet and pay it online.  And, really, I'm kind of feeling like the online banking really was sufficient for keeping track of finances, so the spreadsheet might be a little bit overkill.  Which, phew!, I wasn't such a complete failure before, but also I guess it is good to break it down a little more and become more aware of expenditures.  I think awareness is particularly important in these days of direct deposits and withdrawals, when it's very easy to just sort of view your money matters as kind of all just happening outside your control. 

And yes, I know how lucky I am that I'm not living hand-to-mouth with a dwindling wad of cash that we store in a shoebox.  I am aware that a huge percentage of the world lives like that, or even worse.  But as a person whose money moves around electronically, I have responsibilities to keep good track of it and make sure it's being used wisely. 

And I've been meaning to do this financial analysis for quite some time now.  I remember once declaring "October of Financial Improvement."  That was probably October 2009, and unfortunately I was a total flake.  So I'm hoping after September of Self-Improvement's financial spreadsheet-making, I can pave the way for 2011's October of Financial Improvement.

Oh and also, I really need to stop coming up with dopey theme months.