[speaker001:] okay you've do you have a uh monthly budget
[speaker002:] uh-huh well um we we do but not an official one I mean basically we know we have I I think I'm a little crazy in that we keep so many different savings accounts
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] we'll have our checking account that's just the the money that we use and spend
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] and then we have a savings account which is money where we work our credit cards in such a way that we charge everything and then we write it out like it was a check
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] so we're never we pay off our bills in full we're not paying any interest but it's not a big surprise if we get a large bill because we have it all written out already
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] and then we have another checking account another savings account which is like for heavy duty savings you know that's just taken out of our paychecks every week
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and then we have a a fourth sort of CD type arrangement um where you know it's in a CD and we can't get to it so I guess our budget is just what's in our checkbook we don't say we have x amount for entertainment x amount for gas it's just we know some weeks we might be able to go out for dinner two times some weeks one time some weeks three times um so there's nothing really that we have written down for a budget
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] but I'm a saver I would rather if I had twenty extra dollars I would rather save it than spend it and that's my philosophy and um
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] sometimes I I you know I think that that's not necessarily the best way to live but I I always think that you're going to need it for a rainy day you know how about you
[speaker001:] right well we're very very similar we I have worked
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] for a goal of saving three months' salary
[speaker002:] wow
[speaker001:] and and we put that uh in a account
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and we just leave it there that's our emergency account if the car breaks down I mean we can take money out of that but you know then our goal after the next month is to rebuild it up to three months' salary
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum right
[speaker001:] now we've only we've recently done that so now we have extra money we don't have to slap in that account so we're looking into mutual funds or uh just uh common stock you know anything like that that we can get a higher return on our money
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] uh see we do have the checking account we have Carla works for TI so she has a CODA plan you know where she puts in if they put in a dollar she she puts in a dollar you know TI pays fifty cents
[speaker002:] oh oh that's great
[speaker001:] it's sort of like a matching fund then she gets like eight percent interest on top of that so that's been uh
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] pretty juicy for last couple of years
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah that's wonderful
[speaker001:] and
[speaker002:] one nice thing that my company does um and I know this is going on all over the country but they allow you to put into um a certain fund
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] whatever you think some of your major medical expenses are going to be for the year such as any prescriptions um if you wear glasses or contacts any expenses you might have for that any dental expenses you anticipate if you have kids day care that sort of thing um outside of a major medical hospitalization problem anything that that might be medically related
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and so you claim that amount at the beginning of the year let's say you determine that's five hundred dollars
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] they'll withhold five hundred dollars from your paycheck um broken up into fifty two weeks so whatever that is divided by fifty two
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and what what in in a sense happens is you end up paying those bills in pretax dollars
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] do you have something like that
[speaker001:] no well they may have we just haven't taken advantage of it
[speaker002:] it's really wonderful in our case we don't have that many medical expenses thank God and so I only claim two hundred dollars
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah
[speaker002:] so I my salary in a sense was lowered by two hundred dollars
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] and they break that up into three dollars and eighty five cents a week that's taken out automatically and then if I go and get my teeth cleaned for thirty dollars I pay the thirty dollars and then I send it in to the it's Blue Choice I send it in to them and then they send me a check back for thirty dollars but the nice thing is that that thirty dollars I wasn't taxed on
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] initially because it it almost looked like I never made that thirty dollars and it's really wonderful if I this is the first year we did it and uh next year I I'm just going to claim a lot more if you don't spend it all then you do lose it but I feel we could have benefitted from even two hundred dollars more from it
[speaker001:] huh so
[speaker002:] but uh it's a nice little savings account and then they they tell you if you'd like you can put the money that you save by not paying taxes into a savings account and they'll do like what you mentioned about matching it and that sort of thing
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] but um
[speaker001:] so if you don't use it in one year you lose the hum
[speaker002:] yes if you don't lose it so if you decided to claim or or put aside five hundred dollars and you only spent four fifty they let you know each quarter and they'll let you know you have three hundred dollars left two hundred dollars left but if it gets to be the end of the year and you haven't spent that fifty then you do lose it
[speaker001:] yeah well it's time to go get your teeth cleaned again
[speaker002:] yeah right or just buy a new set of glasses or or whatever
[speaker001:] oh yeah that's that's true too
[speaker002:] but I I don't know how people can really live on a budget our I mean a budget that's really written out
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] um you know this amount of dollars because you your life just fluctuates so much and I mean each week is so different some weeks you're just going to go over that and some weeks you're going to go under and so to me it's just easier to
[speaker001:] yeah well there again we both have the natural tendency to save and like so if we have the extra money we're going to slap it away as opposed to someone else who goes out and blows it
[speaker002:] I don't know yeah that's true that's true right that's true yeah a very good point
[speaker001:] so for those people that are in debt like you said you pay your credit card off at the end of the month and so do we because I hate interest
[speaker002:] yeah right oh I hate it too
[speaker001:] so I mean but some people don't care about interest
[speaker002:] well you you know some people look at their their credit card limit as a loan in a sense and they um
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you know if their limit is twenty five hundred dollars if they have a hundred left they'll spend that because they think they have it
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and then will just end up paying interest for the rest of their lives practically
[speaker001:] right it's a vicious circle
[speaker002:] yeah it really is
[speaker001:] yeah credit cards are good if you use them correctly
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] but they can be very dangerous if you don't
[speaker002:] oh they sure can that's for sure
[speaker001:] especially yeah that interest is terrible
[speaker002:] I know and you know they send these applications out to college kids and college kid gets an application that says y ou've been approved for this amount of credit
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] automatic approval and they get them and then these kids start charging and and they get themselves into some deep trouble before they even start making money they're already in debt you know let alone loans and stuff
[speaker001:] oh yeah  no kidding
[speaker002:] but
[speaker001:] but yeah that sounds like you uh now what are you doing you've got your big master savings account that you're going to use to retire on or something or
[speaker002:] well it'll be a long time before that's something we can retire on but um it's yeah it's just uh something that's automatically taken out of our paychecks each week and uh it goes for an emergency we had a disastrous storm here about seven weeks ago and
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] Rochester was in a state of emergency for three weeks and everyone lost their power and we had to pay over five hundred dollars to have a tree removed
[speaker001:] oh man
[speaker002:] and it wasn't covered by insurance so that's something where you you don't plan on it's not something that you can you know you're not saving for a trip or whatever it's boom here it is and you just have to pay for it so it's an emergency fund but when we got married we you know obviously got some money and that that's what's put in the CD
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] and to me I I try and forget that we even have that because I don't want to think about that um
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] but it would be nice to just not always think about saving like have a have a twenty dollar bill and think oh maybe we'll just go out and buy something with this and it'll come
[speaker001:] yeah yeah we I just did that my wife's birthday was yesterday and yeah so
[speaker002:] ah really
[speaker001:] I'm very tight you know with my cash and we haven't really we don't go to malls and shop because they're too expensive and you know we'll buy things here and there but she had we haven't really went shopping for her
[speaker002:] um-hum oh yeah it'll um-hum oh
[speaker001:] and you know but she's been really good and she hasn't really said much and I go well look you know today we're going to go out and get something so we went out and blew about a hundred bucks but you know for us that's a that's huge for me you know but you know some people do it every weekend
[speaker002:] oh isn't it great oh I know you mean um-hum oh it's incredible
[speaker001:] but
[speaker002:] we really do I I I like discount stores I have no problem with buying an a no name brand of something
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] um I'm not into labels and that sort of thing
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] our fire our smoke detector's going off making French fries
[speaker001:] uh oh you're not cooking are you
[speaker002:] um my husband's making French fries or burning French fries one or the other but um
[speaker001:] that's funny
[speaker002:] I feel fortunate that my parents instilled in me you know a sense to save and and you know watch where your money goes
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and I that's very valuable yeah yeah
[speaker001:] well that's good that's good sounds like uh you know what you're doing
[speaker002:] yeah I hope so we do you too was your wife always like this or was she did you have to
[speaker001:] did I have to train her
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] no she she's really good she uh she didn't uh you know she doesn't go out and buy clothes without me knowing it and like Blondie in the cartoons you know she doesn't do anything like that she's not big on sales and all that she's just really she's really great she's really content and just uses what she has and then
[speaker002:] um-hum I know kind um-hum that's great
[speaker001:] you know she just you know some day