tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post1211161115248329941..comments2024-03-26T08:18:42.915-04:00Comments on Cob Jockey: How I BudgetJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04292565760924146966noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-86172106624465517542019-02-08T15:10:18.852-05:002019-02-08T15:10:18.852-05:00That makes me so happy to hear that those early da...That makes me so happy to hear that those early days impacted you as much as they did. My income has gone up since then, but the way I think about money hasn't changed. I could afford custom saddles, but I'm still rocking the CWD I paid for by selling most of my worldly possessions and a used Dressage saddle that has cost me more in flocking adjustments than I paid for it new.<br /><br />Yeah, I know my process is more manual than it needs to be, even though it still only takes me a few minutes a week. Working in the tech industry, I have an inherent distrust of computers (ha) and it feels good to me to manually pay those bills, or more accurately, to get to calculate what goes into my savings at the end of paying those bills.<br /><br />That's a good point about paying yourself a salary out of savings. I used to be a waitress and budgeting with that job was hell, but not impossible.<br /><br />So good to hear from you again in the comments!!! :)Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292565760924146966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-14016471051816335862019-02-08T15:05:47.179-05:002019-02-08T15:05:47.179-05:00As someone who works in the financial planning fie...As someone who works in the financial planning field, I think this is excellent. I found a lot of inspiration in the early days of your blog when you were working off board and carefully searching for saddles online to fit your needs and budget. I was in much the same boat, without endless amounts of money to spend on my horse habit, even though it seemed like other bloggers were routinely writing about $1000+ show weekends and buying new custom boots, new custom saddles, new custom everything! <br /><br />I'm not as exact with my budget because all my savings and bills are on auto-pay. I do look at everything annually, and adjust my saving level if I get a raise. Thankfully my horse expenses are pretty predictable since I don't own a horse, I just lease and have my hunt membership.<br /><br />The one thing I would add is that if you are not a salaried worker--you can still pay yourself a "salary" from a savings account, in an amount that is enough to cover your monthly core and discretionary expenses. It just requires establishing a base level of savings first to cover those leaner times.Frugal Foxhunterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16809814739719676349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-64746702311340398332019-02-04T17:56:14.457-05:002019-02-04T17:56:14.457-05:00Don't even get me started on my car.... everyd...Don't even get me started on my car.... everyday I feel like I'm using "The secret" to keep it going.L.Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05052638724440787772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-63313287669066894762019-01-29T13:09:03.220-05:002019-01-29T13:09:03.220-05:00Yeah, I didn't even get into my investing/reti...Yeah, I didn't even get into my investing/retirement/net worth tracking. I know they don't necessarily need to be, but for me the two are intertwined. Although my FIRST thing I do when I get paid is not even get paid - as I've gotten raises over the years I've put them straight into raising my 401k/IRA contributions, so my net pay really hasn't gone up at all over the years.<br /><br />I don't even know how I would budget for a legit wedding, so good on you for any strategy around that. You have like one year to plan for an expense that can cost as much as a car?! Crazy.Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292565760924146966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-41216328824139724052019-01-29T12:11:03.522-05:002019-01-29T12:11:03.522-05:00At some point in my adult life (maybe after sellin...At some point in my adult life (maybe after selling Ramone or once my retirement account reached a sum that felt substantial to me) I stopped paying attention to the monthly burn rate of my spending and focused more on my net-worth and different ways to increase that. I still do my best to save - Well maybe not anymore since I'm paying for the wedding, I feel like that's going on the cc and every month I just pay it off with the cash I have on hand rather than moving money around the buckets. That is a tough one to wrap my mind around the not moving it back and forth but just leaving it in the deposit bucket. L.Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05052638724440787772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-53874892834589788832019-01-29T08:16:07.358-05:002019-01-29T08:16:07.358-05:00Food is tricky for us too. I have to avoid wheat,...Food is tricky for us too. I have to avoid wheat, and we've both followed the keto diet for the better part of a decade now, which is pretty expensive. I'll be honest and say we have separate finances and the food comes out of my husband's budget since he does all of our cooking and it's a hobby for him. The biggest thing we've done to save on food is buy a deep freeze so that he can buy up all the Manager's Special meats when he sees them, but outside of that, we just accept we have to have a higher food budget than most people.Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292565760924146966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-825185853130878252019-01-29T07:09:27.890-05:002019-01-29T07:09:27.890-05:00This was a very interesting post! Never heard of A...This was a very interesting post! Never heard of Ally...Will be checking that one point for sure. The New car strategy is genius.<br /><br />I do the credit card thing too and always pay it down to zero each month. A tricky place for my family is food. Our food bill is basically a second mortgage. We have been looking for ways to shrink it, but we avoid certain ingredients for health purposes and because my daughter has food allergies. Healthy food is expensive.<br /><br />Valhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07335385366138424092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-30507032411774497422019-01-28T21:27:19.466-05:002019-01-28T21:27:19.466-05:00Yeah...I had that eye-opening moment myself a few ...Yeah...I had that eye-opening moment myself a few years ago when I saw how much I was spending on him. That's not to say I'm going to sell him or anything, but I am hyper-aware of every dollar he costs.<br /><br />Your savings accounts don't need to be as dedicated as mine! As long as they work for you.Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292565760924146966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-79779975610781201152019-01-28T19:00:16.176-05:002019-01-28T19:00:16.176-05:00Really neat to see your process! I've been slo...Really neat to see your process! I've been slowly readjusting my spending habits to minimize the damage the horses do to my pocketbook in preparation for building a house, and it's been.... Eye opening! I also have multiple savings accounts although not quite as dedicated as yours haha. TrainwreckInTealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10557554448624901955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-7133729563320829422019-01-28T15:16:29.808-05:002019-01-28T15:16:29.808-05:00You are so welcome! I actually weirdly enjoy help...You are so welcome! I actually weirdly enjoy helping people with this stuff too, so feel free to hit me up if you have specific questions.Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292565760924146966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-80274211667361726152019-01-28T15:13:08.919-05:002019-01-28T15:13:08.919-05:00This is incredibly helpful! Thanks for writing thi...This is incredibly helpful! Thanks for writing this! I am def going to start using a few of these strategies (hello - using Credit Card rewards to pay for shows - GENIUS). I am not that great with managing money, and I really should be. Thank you!Karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11609268980526224486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-43378530542161271262019-01-28T12:28:20.950-05:002019-01-28T12:28:20.950-05:00Thanks!Thanks!Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292565760924146966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-85844159981000691172019-01-28T12:19:57.007-05:002019-01-28T12:19:57.007-05:00very organized!!!very organized!!!Cathrynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15652933884652697666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-43995714110107825582019-01-28T11:52:08.750-05:002019-01-28T11:52:08.750-05:00She reads this blog, you should ask her :D
No e...She reads this blog, you should ask her :D <br /><br />No end in sight that I am aware of, although it does get tough sometimes. Support your breeders, people!Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292565760924146966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-39596286245508825252019-01-28T11:50:43.965-05:002019-01-28T11:50:43.965-05:00I've got $$ set aside as well for a certain br...I've got $$ set aside as well for a certain breeder. I just hope she's still breeding by the time I need a youngster. You have any insight on that?Erikahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04862898176284766826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-49118552351963394722019-01-28T11:20:31.485-05:002019-01-28T11:20:31.485-05:00I think you hit the nail on the head! If I don...I think you hit the nail on the head! If I don't allocate my savings before what I can spend, I spend it all, and that's just taking money away from my future self that I want to do REALLY cool things with.<br /><br />You're right about the forward looking part being important. I don't feel like any part of my financial strategy really kicked into high gear before I started doing that. The more sophisticated way to track that is with a program called You Need a Budget or YNAB for short, if you're interested. I found it too complex for me, the Notepad file works great for my purposes.Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292565760924146966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-77729923574794529102019-01-28T11:17:02.167-05:002019-01-28T11:17:02.167-05:00definitely agreed with keeping a "forward loo...definitely agreed with keeping a "forward looking" approach to all this. for me, the biggest motivator in getting more serious about budgeting was knowing that there are things out there that i want to DO. opportunities i want to SEIZE. places to go, things to do, people to see, objects to buy haha. being as realistic about that at the outset really helps me stay disciplined in the application (or lack thereof) of my money to lesser causes hahaemmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05686949099663199382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-78133939800858041942019-01-28T11:05:10.868-05:002019-01-28T11:05:10.868-05:00Yeah, you'll never hear me saying a certain wa...Yeah, you'll never hear me saying a certain way is the right/only way to do things. I do think there's a logical order to approaching finances in a broad way that is right for everyone, but I didn't touch on that at all here. My way of doing things especially would cause some people to pull out all their hair. Some people may like it though.<br /><br />I would say I don't really need to do this anymore either, as in, my finances would be fine if I didn't approach it like this (I mean, a lot of this came out of my husband being unemployed, and at that point I REALLY needed to do this), but I probably always will now. It's kind of a hobby at this point lol. Maybe if I'm REALLY rolling in it someday, that will change.Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292565760924146966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-34978093648915414072019-01-28T11:00:07.173-05:002019-01-28T11:00:07.173-05:00You're so organized. I used to do all this and...You're so organized. I used to do all this and then I didn't need to anymore. But I really would like to keep better track of the backwards picture. I have a general idea of what I spend on a monthly and yearly basis, but I am very sure it's not really accurate since I know I add on little things here and there that do add up. I'm not a big fan of the multiple savings accounts instead of one thing, but I feel like people should do whatever works for them. I used to read a lot of financial/budgeting bloggers and the ones who try to convince people they MUST do things a certain way drove me nuts.Olivia @ DIY Horse Ownershiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16138490796669110523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-19861236633671049892019-01-28T10:27:08.172-05:002019-01-28T10:27:08.172-05:00I did not get to this point overnight, that's ...I did not get to this point overnight, that's for sure. My emergency fund was at zero just a few months ago because life happens. Hang in there and keep working toward it, even a little progress is better than none. <br /><br />Yeah, that's basically what the splitting it out method is for, it's making it easier to plan for those things. We don't know exactly what they're going to cost, but we know around what they'll cost, and we know roughly when they'll occur. It's just making it easier on yourself to put the money aside ahead of time for something like that.Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292565760924146966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-16330076039348003022019-01-28T10:19:58.761-05:002019-01-28T10:19:58.761-05:00Awesome post! Thanks for sharing. I'm trying ...Awesome post! Thanks for sharing. I'm trying to get closer to your level of organization and planning, but life keeps bumping me along the way. Splitting out the larger expenses (shows and vet bills for me) and /12 makes it much easier to plan for in my opinion.Laurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07940386405998853917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-64058826728648535462019-01-28T09:22:11.824-05:002019-01-28T09:22:11.824-05:00TBH I pulled a back muscle yesterday and didn'...TBH I pulled a back muscle yesterday and didn't feel like moving, so it took me most of yesterday to write this lol.Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292565760924146966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846330497859393721.post-12808961447226230522019-01-28T09:21:32.934-05:002019-01-28T09:21:32.934-05:00god dammit jen youre so organized. I do all this b...god dammit jen youre so organized. I do all this but in no way would I be able to convey that back in any kind of coherent form!!Purple Meganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17179696153116063779noreply@blogger.com