[speaker001:] do you happen to have a system for budgeting your money
[speaker002:] um just sweared I heard that beep but usually you can hear the tape or you can hear it starting um
[speaker001:] oh I've never go ahead
[speaker002:] uh no no I am a very organized person that believes I ought to have all those things and we don't
[speaker001:] uh-huh so you it's not just you you have a family
[speaker002:] yes I'm married I have two kids um young four and a half and three and as far as sitting down and putting a formal budget paper and pen you know and following it no we don't do that um I have a very good idea of what our expenses are and how much we can afford to spend and can't spend and you know so it it's not like we just totally don't have a clue as to what's going on but I wish we were a little more organized a little more
[speaker001:] you know when I think about it there are certain parameters we work about
[speaker002:] faithful to a budget
[speaker001:] but we don't have a budget where it says its so much for this and so much for that but we do put a certain amount in checking account each month which we should pay for the mortgage and the electric bill and all that
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] and I know there's a certain number I put on my grocery and pocket money and sometimes I have a little left over and I kind of put it away but the next week I pull it out and add it to that number
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] and I know that I don't go above that and I know that when we empty out the mortgage and the electric bill money and all that that you know you got to stop spending but you know I I don't know if I can say I guess with the grocery and pocket money I do have a particular number but
[speaker002:] that's right that's right
[speaker001:] you know you never know if if you own a home you never know if something's going to break and you're gonna need more
[speaker002:] that's right well it's very difficult my husband is in is self-employed he's in uh financial planning and and so all of his income is commissions it's very hard to sit down and budget because you don't know what he's going to make uh you know we kind of think you know he usually brings home at least this much and I can base you know base it from there
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] but there's months that he brings home uh you know three times that much and there's some months he doesn't bring home anything it just depends on where the commissions fall and so you kind of have to you know I have in in my mind I know the basics I know what we've got to meet each month you know and and my salary helps towards that because mine's set you know but um I think that we could probably save a little better or afford to do more things for fun that we'd like to do if I did follow a you know pencil and paper budget but
[speaker001:] do you folks get to save
[speaker002:] well differently I mean do I have a savings account sitting in the bank no but uh we do have you know universal life insurance on him we have um a 401K a CODA plan preretirement plan on me through my work uh so there are things that we have money invested in you know I have a profit sharing and pension uh savings more toward retirement now savings sitting at the bank that hey let's plan a vacation no when we decide we wanna do something like that we start saving for that and when we get it we go
[speaker001:] right you know cause I I'm finding more and more that people don't have so many dollars left after they spend on what they have to spend I I think it's the rare person who says well I'm just putting money away for my kids and and every week puts in fifty dollars or something I don't I think people aren't having much left at all nowadays
[speaker002:] right I think it's more and more difficult I do have savings accounts for my kids at work and um and I use that for their uh life insurance investments uh but I also pull from that and from mine if we need the money you know if you need it for something or like you said the something comes up on the house and you've got to have it well you go deplete those funds and use it you know
[speaker001:] right that come from somewhere yeah I work part time I'm a substitute art teacher
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] so you know we try to live on my husband's salary and when I want something frivolous that he probably wouldn't agree to I just you know spend my own money or chip it in when you know something big comes up
[speaker002:] that's true now we have an interesting arrangement my husband loves golf and I'm glad he has I mean it's his release it's his time each week where he's not dad and he's not husband and he's not employee and he you know what I'm saying it's just a release
[speaker001:] I thought you said when he's not dead not dad well jeez
[speaker002:] and no dad dad not dead I'll have to work on that uh and and I'm glad he has that I'm glad he enjoys it but I used to resent it because I felt like all of our spare money went to his golf I don't particularly have anything I like to do from week to week or day to day or or anything like that and that's fine um and so what I started doing and he's never said you know if I wanted something I'd look in the checkbook because I'm to practical and say nah I'd better not spend the money
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] well he's never held me back you know he's always said if you want something go get it but I didn't feel comfortable so now when he goes and golfs I take you know if he takes out ten bucks or fifteen bucks or twenty bucks I take the same amount and I stick it in a savings account that I have at the credit union at work
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] and I save for something I want because