Prepping for "regular" life

[JusticeM4]

I think I'm going to open a second checking account tomorrow and give this a shot. I have my monthly bills (including groceries, gas, savings, etc) pretty well mapped out, but what screws me up is when I spend "grocery money" on something totally unnecessary, like an "AR15 Lower Receiver". Which then takes gas money to buy the "AR15 Lower Parts Kit"...which then takes money I'd normally put in savings to buy an "AR15 Upper Receiver"...and you get the idea.

I'd like to have a separate account so that when it gets to zero (theoretically) I can physically see that all of my "toy" money is gone and to wait until it is replenished.

It's easy to see $1,852 in the checking account and go "What's $120 for a lower receiver?"

I've been thinking of doing this myself, and open a second checking account to use for "wants". Only put specified amount each paycheck or whatever money is leftover from the main checking account after all bills are paid.

Its definitely self-deceiving to think that spending $70 on a lower is nothing when you have a couple of thousand dollars in your account. But if you haven't paid that $1200 mortgage yet, plus utility bills, etc, then you have to prioritize those first before buying something you don't really need yet.

[Eurodriver]

Went to the bank yesterday and opened 2 new checking accounts. I'll try to get this sorted out and report back with how it's working.

[SeriousStudent]

I'm honestly not trying to urinate in anyone's breakfast cereal, but I would like to pose a question.

For those who have trouble with impulse buying (after you look at your bank balance or not), are you using any sort of budget tool? Like maybe a simple Excel spreadsheet?

I get paid. I pay the bills for the month, I put money into savings, I put money into the various charities I support, then I assign a specific amount into various categories. Firearms, ammo and training have their own categories. So do books, alkyhaul and entertainment with friends.

If you are doing something like that, do you really need to create additional bank accounts? Just an honest question - not jamming a thumb in anybody's eye or staining their Cheerios.

[kln5]

I think that's on the right track. It's one thing to have 100,000 rounds of 5.56 and 300 cases of MREs, but if you don't have the "preps" to handle a temporary loss of employment or a death in the family . . . well, you're doing wrong.

I listen to "The Survival Podcast" and that's one item that he hits on pretty often. That part of prepping is having your house in order, having your debt paid off, having your insurance paid up, having systems in place to be able to get through tough times (job loss, death in the family, injury/incident that keeps your business running), etc. It's not as sexy as a set of NODs or a Barrett .50 cal, but one would be more likely to make use of those "preps"

Hell, having an extra box or two of "feminine products" in the house wouldn't be considered "preps" by a lot of people . . . but I bet the poor guy who has to go to the local CVS at 0-godforesaken-30 probably wishes he had some of them in the bathroom cabinet.

I just read this post to my wife and she was laughing because she bought a case quantity of feminine hygiene products... Then she got pregnant. Who new it would be so easy and glad we got to skip those fertility treatments.
I too listen to the survival podcast... There was a show with a planning attorney toward the end of 2013. She was a wealth of knowledge when it comes to this part of prepping.

[Eurodriver]

I'm honestly not trying to urinate in anyone's breakfast cereal, but I would like to pose a question.

For those who have trouble with impulse buying (after you look at your bank balance or not), are you using any sort of budget tool? Like maybe a simple Excel spreadsheet?

I get paid. I pay the bills for the month, I put money into savings, I put money into the various charities I support, then I assign a specific amount into various categories. Firearms, ammo and training have their own categories. So do books, alkyhaul and entertainment with friends.

If you are doing something like that, do you really need to create additional bank accounts? Just an honest question - not jamming a thumb in anybody's eye or staining their Cheerios.

I have an excel spreadsheet with my budget mapped out to June of 2015. I have all of my bills, income, everything listed very meticulously by month. I've been doing this since at least 2011, and I update it daily with new balances.

I still go over budget on the regular. Its not a "I have no idea how much money I have to spend" thing, its literally an "I don't give a shit, I'll just throw it on the AMEX and pay it off next month" thing. So then I have to take money out of savings to pay off the CC and I try to save more money this month to make up for it, which I don't...

If I have a checking account just for me to spend on my stupid hobbies, and I don't use AMEX or anything for it (not that hard since no gun places take amex ) then when its dry, I physically can't spend anymore. That's the idea for me anyway.

Don't even get me started on motorcycles. I've bought four in 2 years, between depreciation, gear, insurance, etc I've basically leased a bike for $1200/mo for 24 months.

[SeriousStudent]

Okay, I was just curious. I've been using the same savings and checking accounts for eons, along with an Excel spreadsheet.

I gave up motorcycles about 30 years ago, but now have a truly amazing Bourbon collection.

[JusticeM4]

Okay, I was just curious. I've been using the same savings and checking accounts for eons, along with an Excel spreadsheet.

I gave up motorcycles about 30 years ago, but now have a truly amazing Bourbon collection.

I've also been using the same checking and savings account ever since I was in college; (1 checking account for bills, and 1 savings account). I don't use Excel to keep track of my spending though, but that is a good idea. IMHO it may be a good idea to have more than one spending account i.e. credit card or separate checking account with a limited amount. Put only a certain portion of your paycheck in there and that is what you can spend of "wants". When that account is empty or maxed out, then no more spending on toys.

I've only given up motorcycles for over a year now--that was also a money pit. After selling my motorcycle it freed up funds towards firearms. Was planning on buying another bike this year pending funds.

[onado2000]

Im curious, anyone here have kids or pay child support ? How do you guys save money?

[docsherm]

I have children. It takes discipline to balance your life between what you want and what you need. Once you do that the rest is easy.....

[Hmac]

We have four checking accounts...hers, mine, ours, and a joint cash management account. The three checking accounts have separate budgeting...her expenses, my expenses, and household expenses... with a certain amount going monthly into the cash management account automatically as well as whatever excess accumulates every few months in the joint expense account. I think it's important to have 3-4 months liquid cash available but I don't like letting a lot of money accumulate in checking since it returns nothing. At least with the CMA I can get a good return. Last quarter I scored 18% return in equities by riding the Dow. That was easy, and I'm certainly no stock expert. We also have an Ohio 529 plan we just opened for our granddaughter and are funding with dollar-cost-averaging.

Virtually everything is paid for via credit card, bank transfer, or bank withdrawal. I almost never carry cash, virtually never write checks. We travel a lot so I invest in a platinum Skymiles card. Credit cards get paid off every month automatically via bank withdrawal. It works for us.