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Budget Categories: The 4 Things You Can’t Leave Out Of Your Budget

April 24, 2017 By Thinking of Someday

Last week we talked about how to get started with doing a zero-based budget. Well this week, we’re going to talk about budget categories – more specifically the four categories you can’t leave out of your budget. They just so happen to be some of our favorite budget categories! 

Budget Categories: The 4 Things You Can't Leave Out Of Your Budget

1. Saving

If you’re not out of debt (yet), then you should have a little money saved up for emergencies. This way you’re not tempted to use credit cards for any emergencies that occur. And if you’re out of debt, then you should have even more money saved up for expenses. Dave Ramsey recommends 3 to 6 months worth of expenses. However, we like the sound of 6 to 12 months worth of expenses.

If you have already completed your emergency fund, saving is still not over. If you want to stay out of debt you’re going to have to learn to continue to save for the things you want and need. Think about it. You’re still going to need a car. You’ll still want to update your home. You’ll still need to retire someday. I could go on and on. If you won’t be borrowing money to do these things (I hope you won’t) then you’ll need to learn to stash money away and not touch it.

2. Things You Pay For Yearly

Sometimes when you do your budget you might forget to add the things that you have to pay for yearly. What you want to avoid is forgetting about it until the last minute and then wondering where you’re going to get the money from. You can either plan to take your lump sum from your paycheck when the bill is due or you can save for it throughout the year so that when it’s due, you’ll already have all the money.  

We use to debate about this very thing. I always wanted to save monthly for big expenses, but Kim preferred to do a lump sum payment out of our paychecks. Most of the time we did it using Kim’s preferred method, but now there are a lot more things that we have agreed to save monthly for. Either way works, but the point is to make sure that you have the money. 

3. Date Night / Family Night

Date night and family night are very important. Even if you’re focusing on getting out of debt, you can still have a little fun however often you see fit. Date night and family night don’t have to be about the amount of money you spend, but more so about the experiences you’re creating with your spouse and your family. You can be as creative as you like with your ideas. For example, if you’re choosing to have a night at home, you could cook a special dinner and dessert with your spouse for date night. For family night, you could go for ice cream with the kids and then have a game night.  

4. Blow Money 

This is one of my favorite parts of the budget; I look forward to it every time. Sometimes I save it up and sometimes I spend it no sooner than I get it! If you don’t know what blow money is, it’s just what it says – money that you can spend on whatever you like. It’s like your own personal spending money. It shouldn’t be an amount that’s too little nor should it be too much. We have found that the sweet spot for each of us in regards to blow money is $60 bi-weekly.  

Some people say that you shouldn’t spend blow money on things that you should include within another category of your budget. I somewhat agree with this. We don’t use blow money to buy gas for the cars or groceries. We will sometimes use it at a restaurant if we’re randomly treating the other person or going dutch – Yes we go dutch sometimes! And there are times that I might use it to buy a new purse or a shirt. So ultimately, I say it’s up to you (and your spouse) on how you choose to use your blow money. 

Have you ever forgot to put something in your budget? How did you handle that once you realized you forgot? 

** If you need a budget template to use, subscribe to our blog for a FREE one that will calculate everything for you! **

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Filed Under: Personal + Finance Tagged With: budget, budgeting, zero-based budget

See what’s happening on Instagram…

thinkingofsomeday

#tbt To last Thursday (1/7/2021) when we became mo #tbt To last Thursday (1/7/2021) when we became mortgage free!! Yes, you read that correctly! We are 100% debt free! Like debt free, debt free. 🤣
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
To be honest, it’s been a week and it still doesn’t feel real to us yet. But it was real watching that money disappear from our account and no longer seeing our mortgage balance when we signed into our credit union account. We must say, our credit union works pretty fast! Lol.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We didn’t even get around to sharing our mortgage payoff goal for the year with one of the little cute pictures explaining how we were going to do it. But here’s a quick recap of the numbers that we were working with...
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• mortgage principal: $54,507.37
• mortgage interest: $35.84
• reconveyance fee: $69.00
• paying off our mortgage... definitely not priceless, but oh so worth it!! 😂🙌🏽
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We’ll share more in depth details soon because you’re probably wondering how we came up with that amount of money 7 days into January. It definitely wasn’t from hitting the lottery! Lol. But until then, just know that...
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
WE’RE MORTGAGE FREE!!! #piecesofsomeday
So we took some Christmas / family pictures back i So we took some Christmas / family pictures back in 2020 (as if that was so long ago), but I never got to share them. 😩 So here’s one. I actually like the fact that it’s in front of our house. #piecesofsomeday
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
And I also wanted to add that we finally did another blog post after quite some time. Maybe we’re the world’s worst bloggers. 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♂️ But if you’re interested, we’re sharing a recap of quarter 3 and quarter 4 from our mortgage payoff journey. We’re also sharing what our mortgage payoff goal is for 2021. We’re a bit excited about it! You can check it out at the link in our bio.
2020. This has been a year that I’m sure none of 2020. This has been a year that I’m sure none of us will ever forget. While this year has been ok for us for the most part, there are many people that it’s been a really really tough year for. Whether it’s been financially, emotionally, health wise, etc. etc. etc. So here’s to hoping that next year will be much much better, for everyone, but especially for those who had a tough time this year. ✨♥️
We started 2020 off with owning 43% of our house a We started 2020 off with owning 43% of our house and we now own 69% of it. We had paid off 39% of the mortgage loan and we’re finishing the year out at having 66% of it paid off. (These 2 numbers are not the same for us because of our 5% down payment as well as when we refinanced to a 15-year mortgage.) It’s been really exciting to see these numbers increase this year.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
(Annnnnd this concludes our December numbers. I can’t believe I managed to share them all before the end of the year!! 😂)
Q4 was our best quarter by far, mostly due to the Q4 was our best quarter by far, mostly due to the RSUs that we were able to use. However, even if we hadn’t been able to use them, Q4 would have still wrapped up nicely thanks to us still being able to stick to our 70/30 plan.
For December we were able to color in 4 rectangles For December we were able to color in 4 rectangles. This puts our mortgage balance for the end of 2020 at $54,507.37.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 132 rectangles total
• 88 rectangles colored in
• 44 rectangles to go!!
The total of our mortgage principal payments for D The total of our mortgage principal payments for December was $3514.74.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
$995.13 came from our regular payment and $2519.61 came from our budget.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This put us at meeting our second stretch goal of putting a total of $45,000 towards our mortgage principal for the year! Yes, we did a little magic with our budget in order to get it at exactly $45k, but I’m sure that’s what we all do in when we’re trying to hit a certain number!! Haha.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We’re soooo happy that we were able to meet this goal because we really weren’t sure if it was going to be possible or not!
Am I right? Or am I right? Throughout parts of thi Am I right? Or am I right? Throughout parts of this year it seemed like the days, weeks, months were going soooo slow. And then all of a sudden summer was over and school was starting. Then it went drastically slower again, but yet here we are with only a couple of days left in this year.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
And as usual, time has gotten away from me when it comes to sharing our mortgage payoff numbers. So starting later today and over the next couple of days, I’ll be sharing our December numbers in the hopes of getting them all in before January 1st! 😆 We’ve enjoyed seeing everyone else’s numbers though!
Merry Christmas!! #christmas2020 #piecesofsomeday Merry Christmas!! #christmas2020 #piecesofsomeday
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Comments

  1. My Sons Father says

    April 24, 2017 at 10:44 am

    Great list! I’ve definitely been guilty of neglecting the second one. But have since made the adjustment. Fool me once…

    • Kim says

      April 24, 2017 at 12:30 pm

      Shame on you! We were guilty of that one too. Luckily we never racked up any debt to take care of those things.

  2. Chad says

    April 24, 2017 at 11:44 am

    3 and 4 were easy to neglect for me when I got into heads down bill repayment mode… it’s easy to forget there is a life to live while you’re working down the debt. Neglect of those things can lead to resentment and stress… great list!

    • Kim says

      April 24, 2017 at 12:33 pm

      They most certainly can. We all have to remember that although we’re trying our best to secure our future, we still have to live now as well. It can be a fine line, but I think it’s doable.

  3. Jessica says

    April 24, 2017 at 4:12 pm

    I agree with the other readers, great list! I try to limit #3 when I know that #1 is not where it needs to be or if I have to actually tap into it for emergencies and need to replenish. It is stressful and no fun at times, but if there is nothing in savings or an emergency fund and something happens it would definitely be less fun than sacrificing going to a movie. Lol! Cheap and free dates work so the fun is not completely taken away though, so I survive. Lol! Thanks guys!

    • Kim says

      April 24, 2017 at 4:31 pm

      I can’t say that I disagree with you there! There were/are times that we have to make the sacrifice as well. It’s not fun, but it’s literally worth it in the end.

  4. Vany|misscoilyhair says

    April 24, 2017 at 10:42 pm

    This is so accurate. I’ve been guilty of leaving “blow money” out and it adds up quickly. So important to keep track of.

    • Kim says

      April 24, 2017 at 10:48 pm

      It most certainly does!

  5. Amanda says

    April 26, 2017 at 10:33 am

    I just registered with Mint a couple months ago and quickly realized there were yearly expenses I needed to budget for, such as vehicle registration and paying taxes. Now that I think of it I need to add car insurance, I get a discount for paying in full for the year so I pay it for the year instead of monthly.

    • Omar says

      April 26, 2017 at 7:52 pm

      Yep. Paying yourself monthly for those yearly payments definitely takes the stress out of it. You have the money right there and you don’t have to make huge changes to your budget just to get it paid.

  6. Neda says

    May 1, 2017 at 10:19 pm

    I’m so exciting about implementing this concept!!! I’ll keep you posted

    • Kim says

      May 2, 2017 at 8:36 pm

      Please do! And let me know if you need any help or have any questions.

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Hey! We’re Omar + Kim.

A married couple making someday a reality all while balancing family + finances + avoiding debt. Find out more about us, here.

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See what’s happening on Instagram

thinkingofsomeday

#tbt To last Thursday (1/7/2021) when we became mo #tbt To last Thursday (1/7/2021) when we became mortgage free!! Yes, you read that correctly! We are 100% debt free! Like debt free, debt free. 🤣
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
To be honest, it’s been a week and it still doesn’t feel real to us yet. But it was real watching that money disappear from our account and no longer seeing our mortgage balance when we signed into our credit union account. We must say, our credit union works pretty fast! Lol.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We didn’t even get around to sharing our mortgage payoff goal for the year with one of the little cute pictures explaining how we were going to do it. But here’s a quick recap of the numbers that we were working with...
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• mortgage principal: $54,507.37
• mortgage interest: $35.84
• reconveyance fee: $69.00
• paying off our mortgage... definitely not priceless, but oh so worth it!! 😂🙌🏽
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We’ll share more in depth details soon because you’re probably wondering how we came up with that amount of money 7 days into January. It definitely wasn’t from hitting the lottery! Lol. But until then, just know that...
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
WE’RE MORTGAGE FREE!!! #piecesofsomeday
So we took some Christmas / family pictures back i So we took some Christmas / family pictures back in 2020 (as if that was so long ago), but I never got to share them. 😩 So here’s one. I actually like the fact that it’s in front of our house. #piecesofsomeday
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
And I also wanted to add that we finally did another blog post after quite some time. Maybe we’re the world’s worst bloggers. 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♂️ But if you’re interested, we’re sharing a recap of quarter 3 and quarter 4 from our mortgage payoff journey. We’re also sharing what our mortgage payoff goal is for 2021. We’re a bit excited about it! You can check it out at the link in our bio.
2020. This has been a year that I’m sure none of 2020. This has been a year that I’m sure none of us will ever forget. While this year has been ok for us for the most part, there are many people that it’s been a really really tough year for. Whether it’s been financially, emotionally, health wise, etc. etc. etc. So here’s to hoping that next year will be much much better, for everyone, but especially for those who had a tough time this year. ✨♥️
We started 2020 off with owning 43% of our house a We started 2020 off with owning 43% of our house and we now own 69% of it. We had paid off 39% of the mortgage loan and we’re finishing the year out at having 66% of it paid off. (These 2 numbers are not the same for us because of our 5% down payment as well as when we refinanced to a 15-year mortgage.) It’s been really exciting to see these numbers increase this year.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
(Annnnnd this concludes our December numbers. I can’t believe I managed to share them all before the end of the year!! 😂)
Q4 was our best quarter by far, mostly due to the Q4 was our best quarter by far, mostly due to the RSUs that we were able to use. However, even if we hadn’t been able to use them, Q4 would have still wrapped up nicely thanks to us still being able to stick to our 70/30 plan.
For December we were able to color in 4 rectangles For December we were able to color in 4 rectangles. This puts our mortgage balance for the end of 2020 at $54,507.37.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 132 rectangles total
• 88 rectangles colored in
• 44 rectangles to go!!
The total of our mortgage principal payments for D The total of our mortgage principal payments for December was $3514.74.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
$995.13 came from our regular payment and $2519.61 came from our budget.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This put us at meeting our second stretch goal of putting a total of $45,000 towards our mortgage principal for the year! Yes, we did a little magic with our budget in order to get it at exactly $45k, but I’m sure that’s what we all do in when we’re trying to hit a certain number!! Haha.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We’re soooo happy that we were able to meet this goal because we really weren’t sure if it was going to be possible or not!
Am I right? Or am I right? Throughout parts of thi Am I right? Or am I right? Throughout parts of this year it seemed like the days, weeks, months were going soooo slow. And then all of a sudden summer was over and school was starting. Then it went drastically slower again, but yet here we are with only a couple of days left in this year.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
And as usual, time has gotten away from me when it comes to sharing our mortgage payoff numbers. So starting later today and over the next couple of days, I’ll be sharing our December numbers in the hopes of getting them all in before January 1st! 😆 We’ve enjoyed seeing everyone else’s numbers though!
Merry Christmas!! #christmas2020 #piecesofsomeday Merry Christmas!! #christmas2020 #piecesofsomeday
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