Looking for expense pointers
Hi!
I have seen people talk about living expenses and to make sure that your budget is correct. Does anyone have personal experience and things to share to help with this? I am planning on filing May 21st and I want to make sure that my living expenses are correct because it will play a big role in how we live "with the plan".
Some ideas I have are: 1) We heat our home with propane and I am going to see if I can get on a monthly pay plan instead of just filling up our tank when needed during the winter months.
2) Count all of the little stuff, i.e. stamps, yearly personal property taxes divided into 12 months, oil changes into monthly amounts, etc. This is where I'd like some ideas. You know the stuff you only pay once in a while but it does affect your budget every month.
3) How do you really figure expenses that fluctuate like gas for your car or (in my case) babysiting? When gas was almost $4/gal and now it is right at $2/gallon how can you plan for that? Also, I am a part-time employee and I only pay my babysitter when I work. I am on call 6 days a week and some weeks it is dry and others it is busy. Do I just budget for the upper end of cost?
I have started keeping receipts for absolutely EVERYTHING (it's driving my husband nuts) so that I have a better idea of what we're spending money on. I hope that this will give me some better insight and be able to fill out my living expenses within reason.
I have seen people talk about living expenses and to make sure that your budget is correct. Does anyone have personal experience and things to share to help with this? I am planning on filing May 21st and I want to make sure that my living expenses are correct because it will play a big role in how we live "with the plan".
Some ideas I have are: 1) We heat our home with propane and I am going to see if I can get on a monthly pay plan instead of just filling up our tank when needed during the winter months.
2) Count all of the little stuff, i.e. stamps, yearly personal property taxes divided into 12 months, oil changes into monthly amounts, etc. This is where I'd like some ideas. You know the stuff you only pay once in a while but it does affect your budget every month.
3) How do you really figure expenses that fluctuate like gas for your car or (in my case) babysiting? When gas was almost $4/gal and now it is right at $2/gallon how can you plan for that? Also, I am a part-time employee and I only pay my babysitter when I work. I am on call 6 days a week and some weeks it is dry and others it is busy. Do I just budget for the upper end of cost?
I have started keeping receipts for absolutely EVERYTHING (it's driving my husband nuts) so that I have a better idea of what we're spending money on. I hope that this will give me some better insight and be able to fill out my living expenses within reason.
), but I think the Trustee will take the "average" of the last 6 months, so let's keep our fingers crossed that gas prices won't go back up...darn, I should have filed when the gas prices were at it's highest 
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