This is the very basic of budgets for this month. I am trying something new, so I am starting small.

Here is my plan.

Since I am a server, I have added up all of my bills for the month, and then divided them by four. That is the amount of money I need to make per week. Each night after work, I am dividing the tips I make into envelopes for the day. I am keeping these in a box until the following Thursday. Thursday is payday. On Thursday morning (or Wednesday night depending) I am going to sort all of the money that is currently in the envelopes. Hopefully, I will have more than enough to pay the bills.

I am going to take the money for the bills and put it directly into my checking account. I don't touch the money that is there, I have been very good about going cash only the past couple of weeks. I am debating on paying something like, my car payment, as soon as the money is in there so I am not tempted to spend it. I don't know if I need to do this, but it is something I am considering.

Then, the money that is left over at the end of the week, half is going to be deposisted into my savings account, the other half is going to be sent to a bill, for debt reduction. I think this is a good idea for me ... and again, this is my trial month, so we shall see.

I am also putting aside $5 bills. I read a very interesting article about a woman who didn't spend $5 bills, and the amount of money she saved. I am going to be striving to use the $5 to pay off debt this month.

My paychecks are usually around $70/week. This month, I am saving these for Christmas. In the coming months, I am going to be putting half towards savings and the other half towards getting out of debt.

I wonder if this makes sense to anyone else. It makes sense to me, which is hopefully enough.

Here's the numbers for this month:
Car Payment: $325 (my actual payment is $273, but I am hoping to be able to pay it off quicker)
Car Insurance: $100
Gas: 160
Groceries: $200
Entertainment: $100 (see October goals of cheap/free entertainment for Juliette)
Debt Paydown: $225. This is min. payments for all of my debts. Obviously, my plan is much much larger.
Christmas/Birthdays: $150 (with the holidays so close, I have to up this, and quickly. I also have Juliette's birthday and my parents anniversary the week after Christmas. My grandmother, sister and my cousin's birthdays are also in Jan.
Dining Out: $50. I doubt we hit this, but it's good to have the money in here, just in case.
Vacation: $200. (We're going to be at Disney for Halloween and again in November for the Christmas party. I want to have tickets for the Christmas party paid for, as well as gas, though I think I Should be able to pull the gas money out of my regular gas budget. I checked it tonight, and I live 1.7 miles away from work, woot!)

So, here it goes. I know things are going to pop up, but I think these numbers are managable.

Month totals: 1510
Weekly Totals: 377.50
Daily Totals: 75.50

So, per shift, I need to make $75.50. I know on average this is possible, so let's see if it works out in black and white.

October Income -
October 1st: $70



October Spending -
October 1st - $0