[speaker001:] okay Vic our topic is budgets
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] do you keep a monthly budget
[speaker002:] uh I talk about doing that a lot
[speaker001:] welcome to the club
[speaker002:] uh I I use a uh computer software program to keep track of all expenses primarily it's a checking
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know a check balancing program but it does categorize categorize everything
[speaker001:] oh how interesting
[speaker002:] and and it allows you to either to go in and create a budget and then compare against it or actually will sort of generate one based on you know how you categorize things over the over the months
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] so I have all the information there um it's just that I haven't been very diligent at at really tracking it and following it
[speaker001:] well uh it's just like the money it's hard to keep track of it as it goes out
[speaker002:] right right what do you do
[speaker001:] uh I'm a teacher and we're at a my husband and I are at a stage in life where we've got one left in college
[speaker002:] okay um-hum
[speaker001:] so budgeting is not our priority since we have one in college their expenses run beyond any budgeting allowances
[speaker002:] right okay okay
[speaker001:] we've quit
[speaker002:] um well the biggest problem that I've had or one of the one of the problems is um keeping track of cash expenditures you know expenditures
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] uh I think that one of the things that's uh makes budgeting very hard is the convenience of automatic teller machines uh the ability to go up and get cash so easily
[speaker001:] okay I see I stopped those four years ago yeah
[speaker002:] really okay well see you have control
[speaker001:] yeah oh yeah now we are you know um well we're at a point in life that we're looking to retirement rather than you know earnings
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] so it's gotten to the point where um yeah automatic automatic teller I only had the card and it was on my own personal account and it got way out of control very fast
[speaker002:] okay huh
[speaker001:] so I have a tendency now I take an allowance and when it's gone it's gone you know I'm finished if it's gone the fifteenth of the month then it's gone
[speaker002:] well that's pretty good uh-huh it's gone huh oh that's great
[speaker001:] and uh we have a tendency not to use cash we pay everything by check
[speaker002:] right yeah that's a good way to do it
[speaker001:] and so that way we we keep control of what we're spending where it's going what it's going for
[speaker002:] um-hum well that's great
[speaker001:] so um you know it I take a hundred dollars a month that's all I take and you know I mean I don't buy groceries out of it it's my own little
[speaker002:] oh wow
[speaker001:] slush fund if you wanna call it that and that's for my little incidentals or running to the grocery store to get a you know gallon of milk or whatever
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah right
[speaker001:] but um after that it's check only
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] so we can you know really know where our money's going and you know what's happening
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] what about how are you on charge cards
[speaker002:] uh pretty good about that that the last few years anyway we did have a Master Card that got out of hand for awhile but we just just stopped using it didn't get rid of it
[speaker001:] good
[speaker002:] there are times uh such as oh some mail order type things uh where it's very convenient to have
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] uh but that's really the only thing it it's used for and uh one one problem I do have is with uh is it I in my job I travel a good bit and have to use my own uh credit card I don't have a business credit card
[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] so I use that and then have to file expense reports and uh it just adds another complication to properly tracking expenses knowing how much of it is reimbursed business expense uh or how much is my own expense for
[speaker001:] well
[speaker002:] yeah I I use uh credit cards not for credit but just for convenience in other words I pay we pay monthly the balance due uh but we do
[speaker001:] okay yeah well this might help you because see my husband travels as well
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and we have separate charge accounts
[speaker002:] okay
[speaker001:] he's got an American Express and that's only traveling
[speaker002:] okay
[speaker001:] then we both have a Visa or MasterCard
[speaker002:] okay
[speaker001:] so anything on his American Express is his
[speaker002:] that's a pretty good way to do it
[speaker001:] and it's his expense now he gave me one and if I go with him on work
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] I only charge on that card I don't put it on my MasterCard
[speaker002:] okay right
[speaker001:] so we've separated those two completely and I know what you mean because at first we used to intermingle our funds and we weren't sure why our bills were outrageous
[speaker002:] um-hum oh yeah it's hard to be sure to be sure right
[speaker001:] you know because his traveling expenses were you know I mean he's a traveling salesman so we're looking at six five
[speaker002:] oh boy