[speaker001:] hi Ellen
[speaker002:] hi
[speaker001:] um do you uh could you tell me if you uh budget your monthly expenses
[speaker002:] no we don't really do anything formal um I kind of keep up with all the finances you know paying the bills and typically I do most of the spending too as well so uh you know I kind of have a handle on it and I just sort of know what we can and can't do and it you know it's worked pretty well I haven't really gotten into any major problems without having something formal
[speaker001:] yeah how about how about uh long term do you have anything uh for as far as as far as savings go for long term
[speaker002:] well yeah yeah we have uh you know like a typical credit union account for you know just a a basic savings thing and then uh we've got you know the IRA's and CD's and various and sundry you know long term kinds of things
[speaker001:] uh yeah
[speaker002:] how about you
[speaker001:] okay that's uh uh we used to budget when the children were small um things were and there was only one income so we had to watch what we were doing
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and our savings weren't that great but now the kids are all grown up and gone in fact the youngest is is uh finally getting out of college this uh May
[speaker002:] uh
[speaker001:] so we've we don't budget anymore we run basically the same as you do you kind of know what you're going to spend uh week to week or or you have your monthly bills at a fixed
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] um as far as electricity and telephone um we do the same thing we budget not budget but um I have a long term savings goal
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] for retirement you know
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] they take out for CODA and then uh um the IRA's and then uh I also take out for um a savings account but it's it's uh  um it's not really savings it's savings if we don't spend it
[speaker002:] well I know yeah
[speaker001:] it's like a floating you know if something if something comes up
[speaker002:] yeah or if you want to take a trip or something that you you plan it but that's where you get the money is
[speaker001:] yes right yeah
[speaker002:] yeah that's that's the way we work it
[speaker001:] it it it doesn't come out um it doesn't come out of long term savings like we were we were um saving savings bonds too for oh years and years and years and now I'm getting up towards retirement age so we stopped stopped the the savings bonds and we're going maxed out on CODA and then you know other things like you know CD's
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] um but this other it's in the credit union and they and they take it out and it goes in there and at the end of the month but if we want to go on a trip or if something looks good or if we want to go away for a weekend
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] that's what we hit
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] or if we go out for dinner say to a nice restaurant um that'll come out of that
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] rather than put it on a credit card
[speaker002:] oh that's sort of the way we you know do it or at least certainly for some of those bigger things or maybe one of the appliances breaks down you know and we have to go get something new then we've got that little cushion in there that
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] you know will either cover it or partially so you know depending on what it is
[speaker001:] yeah so it you don't have to really dig into long term or or you know well you can't cash in a CD that's kind of ridiculous um
[speaker002:] yeah no I never go like to go into those things that are like you say long term that have penalties and all sorts of other things they
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] uh I I sort of feel like if you leave it there and you don't use it and you sort of don't see it then it's it's safe in a sense
[speaker001:] right the only time you know about it is when it comes due and they'll say you know well you've got to reinvest it back in this or that or whatever
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] but yeah it's it's it's kind of forced on you because you suffer a penalty
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] so that's yeah that's one of the that's one of the ways that we do it you you also have uh CODA
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] so
[speaker002:] definitely I mean that's a good deal
[speaker001:] that's yeah where else can you get that kind of interest to start with
[speaker002:] I don't know
[speaker001:] I mean that's fantastic
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know they match it um my wife used to they matched hers only hers was a little bit better than ours um she hasn't been working for a couple of years her father took sick so she's been taking care of him
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] but that added up too I mean when when she left and the pay out came in you know if we just rolled that over and it just sits there and gathers
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] steam or momentum and you don't realize it you know it just piles up
[speaker002:] yeah that's a good deal well when you did keep a a budget all the time how strictly did you do that I mean was it real precise or
[speaker001:] um yeah we we took out actually my wife she's the one that ran the budget you know I just brought it home and she had to stretch it out wherever it was going to go but she would allocate so much at at at that time when the kids were growing up so much went for groceries
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] so much went for the mortgage because we knew you know that was kind of fixed and electricity you could come pretty close and telephone you could come pretty close uh the oil
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] we heated with oil
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] we they put us on a budget they would run like uh they could really tell how much oil you were going to use
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] so they budgeted it at year round so in the summer time which you didn't use very little oil you were still paying the same thing as in the winter time when you're using a lot but they kind of spread the payments out
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and we stuck to that pretty much so uh groceries fluctuated um we didn't go out to eat that often but as times went on the children got older you know and naturally salaries increased um we kind of fell away from it
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] it it became a chore
[speaker002:] well it is to a certain extent to have to try to keep up with all that
[speaker001:] yeah I talked to to uh  other people and they used to have envelopes they used to stuff so much in you know so much for this so much for that so much for we never really we never really did that
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] we just allocated so much and it went into a checking account
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and at the end of the month hopefully everything came out pretty close so we just kept certain things out for like I said for groceries um but even at that point you know she'd say oh you know we we need this or the budget's not doing this or that uh course me I didn't run it like she ran it like you run it now
[speaker002:] well
[speaker001:] and it's pretty much the same she still does the same thing everything's fixed
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know like CODA comes out of your out of your pay and the credit union comes out of your pay so we don't have to do anything there and the rest of it as far as my salary goes I just have it automatically deposited in into our bank
[speaker002:] yeah I do that too
[speaker001:] so we don't really see anything if if I need something I'll go and you know use the teller machine or if she needs something she'll go and she'll use the teller machine so we don't really um have a lot of cash anymore
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] yeah I I walk around sometimes and I've got if I've got five dollars in my pocket that's that's a lot it's
[speaker002:] yeah I used to take money out for gas and groceries and things like that and I don't even do that anymore I mean I just don't have that much cash on me
[speaker001:] yeah for your automobile
[speaker002:] um-hum right
[speaker001:] you mean gas yeah and now I don't know about down there but up here they got the pumps you just put your because I always put my gas on a credit card and I pay it at the end of the month
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] so you just stick your credit card in there and then it pumps whatever it pumps and it adds it all up and it gives you a ticket and off you go
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] so you don't even have to go in to see the teller anymore
[speaker002:] works pretty good then
[speaker001:] yeah yeah it's not bad so you don't need you don't need money for gasoline you don't need money you know incidentals uh for coffee when I come into work in the morning and things like that but other than that um it looks like we're probably going towards a cashless society
[speaker002:] yeah to some extent I guess so
[speaker001:] because if you're doing that you know and I'm sure it must be prevalent in your area down in Dallas um and we're doing it most most of the people up here that work have already have their their checks uh electronically sent to their banks or the credit union if they belong to the credit union
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] so they don't deal much in cash anymore either
[speaker002:] well if we
[speaker001:] so it looks like we're both running about the same
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] um maybe younger people are different I'm not sure
[speaker002:] yeah they probably don't have enough to that's right
[speaker001:] uh they don't have spendable income right yeah the poor poor things I know like you know I look at mine and he's getting out of school and I'm saying geez you know I'm glad I'm not starting out now because things are kind of tough up here for as far as uh employment goes
[speaker002:] yeah we we're having some problems here too
[speaker001:] still because you guys ran into it a while back
[speaker002:] yeah they're still laying off like over in Fort Worth and a lot of other companies too just here and there
[speaker001:] uh oh yeah it's not just yeah it's not just TI they they're doing the same thing up here and not just uh in yesterday's newspaper they said um IBM's going through they're going to lay off like fourteen thousand world wide
[speaker002:] well yeah that really is scary
[speaker001:] So it's still there unfortunately um