The envelop please!

Okay, so when I first started thinking about this, it was Oscar weekend. The title had more immediate relevance then, but is also still relevant to my last point...see way below.

That same weekend was also right before I got paid at the end of the month, and I started thinking about where my money goes. This was in part prompted by the fact that I need to purchase some undergarments. I really want to buy good ones that will last and keep the girls up, if you know what I mean. I do not feel I have the money to get a $50 bra though. I also have a college reunion, brother's wedding, and a possible trip back east to appear in court; CF is still looking for a job; I want to move when my lease is up in May; presumably when CF gets a job, we will plan another trip to Germany.

I use Mint to keep track of all my accounts; each of my individual accounts will mostly track categories at this point, but Mint will put them all together. I have budgeted amounts for everything from rent (nice and stable), to groceries, gas, bills (somewhat stable except for electric), pets (cat and outdoor bird feeders), shopping (used to be clothes), gifts, etc.

[DISCLAIMERS: I am not complaining about my income, nor is this meant to be a woe-is-me post. This is a post for me, and maybe you'll learn something about how much you can save on gas and restaurants if you have not thought about it before. If you have any money saving tips, do share. Also, NIH post-doc salary scale is public information, so the amount of income I live on does not have to be any big secret. If any of you know of a job for a dairy/cattle nutritionist with a PhD, do let me know so I can let CF know. Preferably within a long-weekend's drive distance from New England.]

A few things I have noticed that I need to change:

I spend more on bird feeder food than cat food. Thistle is expensive?!
  - When the weather is warmer and stable, that feeder is coming down and the birds will have to deal with cheaper food in the bigger feeder that the squirrels pillage. I should have enough Thistle to get me through.

I spend more on gifts than on myself. I like spending money on other people and donating money, but I do need to replace things like sneakers and underwear. One of the bad budget things I did was not decide a priori what to spend on Christmas gifts. I did not get anything extravagant, but if nothing else, CF and I should have decided on an amount ahead of time. The rest of the family got gifts of approximately the same monetary value.
 - Last year I decided to donate $25/month to a charity. Sadly, I am not going to do that this year. I will still donate money to things if people ask (emails from organizations CEOs do not count), but will not go out of my way to find charities to donate to. This is especially difficult because there are so many organizations I would love to help out just that little $25 bit because of all the political issues our country is facing. I will have to be satisfied with gifts-in-kind this year. Already stopped by the local animal shelter with old towels!
 - Buy birthday and Christmas gifts as I find them if they are a reasonable amount. I went into Urban Outfitters yesterday, and although I wanted to buy myself a $10 wallet, I settled for three birthday gifts all of a similar price. Sorry if you get one of these and now know how little I spent on you. ;-) It is the thought that counts!
 - I was really good last year not to cheat on my clothes budget and will continue to do so. This can potentially put a wrench in my bra shopping too, as clothes for weddings count. No cheating, a dress is clothes! Luckily I already of a dress that I want to wear to my reunion, or this could get really dicey.

NEWS FLASH: Cars are expensive. Because I am commuting, I have to have regular work done nearly every other month. In Boston, those big $500 - $1500 jobs were only once a year at the most. Never mind that I just paid over $40 to fill my gas tank. And CF refused to move, so I do more driving than I may have had to if he had sucked it up.
 - I need to sit back and drive slower. With a 70 mph speed limit, it is SO tempting to drive 80 mph home. I will get one or two miles per gallon better gas mileage if I drop down to 65 or 70. For real. The 18-wheeler speed limit is 60, so I am thinking just truck on behind one of them so they break my wind too. (Pun intended.) That might not sound like much, but roughly speaking if I fill my gas tank every five days instead of every four days, that would save me SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS. Holy crap.
 - I will need a new car in the next one to three years. Mine will (finally) hit 100,000 in the next couple of months, and I need to decide when a monthly payment outweighs the every-other-month mechanic bill.

I need to save again for things like a down payment on a car and moving expenses. Because I mistakenly severely underpaid my taxes last year, literally all I had saved over the year went to our federal government.  Oops.

 - I already do not keep the house very warm. The weather will soon be warming up too, so I will get some disposable income back.
 - Right before Netflix is supposed to renew, I will cancel it. I have only had it for three months anyway. I will also cancel my gym membership. Over a year, these two changes will be somewhere around $600. That is a lot of money when you add it up like that!
- I need to cut out the Groupons, as much as I love them. The one I just got for shoes is one thing, because I will need them come summer. The ones for restaurants or entertainment are not necessary.


Lest any of you think that too much tax money goes to science research, this is how a post-doc must manage her money.

So back to the envelop. My mom claims that when they did not have enough money she used to cash their paychecks and put the allotted money in an envelop for bills/groceries/gas/etc. [I only say claim because my Mom claims a bunch of things, but this I tend to think is true.] I think when I get the credit cards paid off and am caught up again, I will take the same approach. That will help me not go over budget for things like restaurants. Those few dollars or cents left at the end of the month at that point? Rainy day fund.