[speaker001:] well Bonny
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] how do you do your budget
[speaker002:] well we take the rent first you know we need to have a roof over our head
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and then we take the car you know we need a car to get back and forth to work
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and then it's the utilities and then the food uh and then uh the regular bills you know your credit cards and your uh
[speaker001:] utilities and stuff like that
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] uh I I'm trying to think what else phone the phone utilities come last or uh before let's see the utilities come before the food and the bills the uh credit card you know the credit cards and what else is there that we pay you know we got loans
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] things like that they come before the uh uh they come after everything else
[speaker001:] huh
[speaker002:] they're last on it because you know uh they they're never late but they're the least uh bothersome uh bothersome to us you know uh we need a roof and all that before we need anything else
[speaker001:] yeah I kind of think you ought to make make them wait until the last possible minute for it
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] we do ours uh fairly similar course uh we both have married before and uh so what what we do is kind of divide up the bills based on who makes the most money
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and whoever makes the most money course takes the most you know the biggest part of the bills
[speaker002:] yeah well I'm a homemaker myself so he he brings home the money and we just divvy it up the way it
[speaker001:] uh
[speaker002:] should be and or the way whatever way we can
[speaker001:] I wish we could do that unfortunately between two divorces it kind of it kind of taps you out pretty good
[speaker002:] I can imagine I uh you know I haven't gone through a divorce myself I've only been married once but uh I know a lot of people that have and a lot of them's got alimony and child support and all that
[speaker001:] oh yeah it that takes a big hunk out of your budget it costs me about uh three thousand dollars a year for child support
[speaker002:] yeah I bet
[speaker001:] which is after I mean that's net that's right after I pay the taxes and stuff on it
[speaker002:] well that's better than having them living with you
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] they're more expensive right there day in and day out
[speaker001:] that's what I hear although although I kind of miss some of that stuff
[speaker002:] yeah I bet you do
[speaker001:] yeah but you know you know bills wise uh we kind of divide everything up and I take I take the bigger portion of it and uh my wife takes some of hers and we have an agreement that uh if we're going to charge anything over like seventy five or eighty dollars then we uh we talk about it
[speaker002:] yeah oh well me and my husband
[speaker001:] unless of course it's uh it's like for a present or whatever
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and we have snuck some pretty good size presents in here
[speaker002:] I love it when my husband decides to say fudge with the budget and uh sneak a big gift in
[speaker001:] yeah I uh I was trying to finagle our budget around because uh my wife wanted she really wanted a little small five inch TV she could carry around the house or you know back in her sewing room whenever she's watching television
[speaker002:] I've got one of them
[speaker001:] and she wanted one so bad and we were just kind of short on money and so all through the year I I was putting you know five or ten dollars back fifteen twenty whatever I could spare I was putting back in a little envelope in there I was hanging onto it I thought God you know come Christmas time we're going to have that television set come hell or high water
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and sure enough we got it
[speaker002:] well uh my mother-in-law gave us one for Christmas a couple years ago I don't think it's five inches I think it's a little bit bigger than that but it runs on uh car batteries and you know stick it in the lighter and runs on regular batteries and electricity
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah
[speaker002:] so it's a neat little thing to have
[speaker001:] how how do you divide uh you just divide up your uh the money just you just make a deposit in the bank and kind of go from there huh
[speaker002:] uh well they have we have direct deposit that helps a lot
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh and uh first thing he does is we get out our clipboard we got everything on a clipboard from now for three months ahead
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and uh you know he makes the same amount every week uh he's not it's not salary he gets paid by the hour but we know exactly to the penny how much he's going to get unless he works over and then it's
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh you know that's extra uh but he's got us situated to where we pay uh pay two or three of the big ones at the beginning of the month and then all the little ones at the middle of the month
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and uh none of them's ever been late you know the ones that come in the middle of the month are early you know we pay them like two weeks ahead of time and uh
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] it works out real well uh most problem we had was when uh let's see when was it something like we had a three pay uh weekends uh you know it was a late uh uh the long pay period
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and uh we was close to being uh oh shoot I'm trying to think it's been so long uh it was when he was in the military and uh it was something like four weeks in between pay periods and it really blew everything away uh we was close to being late on a lot of stuff and so that was pretty bad but I don't know I like that he's got it mapped out in the uh on the clipboard
[speaker001:] he's got a stable schedule then
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] everything kind of works out well
[speaker002:] yeah pretty much uh with the direct deposit that's what helps you know because he doesn't have the money in hand
[speaker001:] yeah if if if you don't have to go down to the bank for something you can kind of put it in there if you have the tendency to go to the bank you kind of well I'll take five or ten dollars here
[speaker002:] oh well he's he's we got that ATM machine and that and his bank is right there at his work
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] and that's hard you know uh I'm sure you're familiar with TI up here
[speaker001:] oh yeah
[speaker002:] and you know how they got the Texans uh that Texans Credit Union
[speaker001:] uh-huh Tex Tower yeah
[speaker002:] right there he uh he's good at uh getting into that but he's good he's you know we never in my I I've been married to him for seven years and we've never had a check bounce
[speaker001:] that's good
[speaker002:] and uh well no I take that back one time we did uh it didn't bounce but it came close we called our landlord and asked her to hold off on check cashing the check for three days we was overdrawn six dollars
[speaker001:] that's not too bad that that's cutting it pretty close though
[speaker002:] so yeah but uh it was I don't know we've never he we've had problems meeting our bills before but uh we've met them
[speaker001:] well I think everybody has problems meeting bills now not too much you can do about it between the taxes and everything else everything goes up faster than the salary does
[speaker002:] yeah that's what's going to hurt us in April uh we owe on our taxes and that will hurt
[speaker001:] oh yeah so do we
[speaker002:] and yeah that's taking money that we didn't have you know that we had set aside for uh a bill or two and we're trying to finagle now getting ready for it because we got to pay them by April
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah they want their money real quick
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] that's the only bad part we got the same problem however I guess it uh beats the alternative just not having anything to start out with
[speaker002:] yeah well I know how it is to start out with nothing uh you know
[speaker001:] oh yeah
[speaker002:] and uh I'm we're up to where close to where we want to be but we're not quite there yet
[speaker001:] well you get if you just keep trying pretty soon you make it
[speaker002:] yeah I just can I just think that I it would help a lot if I got a job but then I'd rather be with my kids
[speaker001:] well you know kids are important you got stay you have to stay home with the kids
[speaker002:] yeah well you know I've got a two year old and a four year old and uh
[speaker001:] well soon as they get in to school it won't it won't be so bad
[speaker002:] yeah but I know it would help with the bills
[speaker001:] well Bonny it it sounds like a pretty good idea
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] tell you what uh I think we about done our about five minutes
[speaker002:] okay well it was nice talking to you
[speaker001:] okay we'll check you later
[speaker002:] all right bye-bye
[speaker001:] bye-bye