Budget help

[Old55]

On 2/23/2018 at 8:32 AM, Gerald Glatt said:

Must be single eh?  I gave my wife an unlimited budget when we were doing the home....she overspent it/

 

“We” are going through this right now. I feel your pain my friend!

BTW can I sleep on your couch 🛋 tonight?😉

[Gentleman.Jack.Darby]

On 2/25/2018 at 8:18 PM, bows00 said:

The budget is taught in many forms, even financial advisors on the radio have differing opinions.  

For example, "Dave Ramsey" will swear by the budget and recommend his app called "Every Dollar" to plan your spending dollars before the month begins.  "Ric Edelman", on the other hand, doesn't believe in budgets because in his opinion, they never work.  I tend to agree with the later.  But I do recommend using the app "Mint" which I use daily to get an instant look at my finances and net worth.   

I look at it from the point of view that everyone has a budget with the exception of folks like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett since, whether they admit it or not and like it or not, most folks'  assets, income, and most importantly, cash flow is limited and everyone must spend to live

I think the big problem most people have with budgets is that they don't realize that budgets are not cast in stone and that they are guidelines that can and should be changed when one's situation changes.

It's much easier to start with a best-guess budget that will disclose major shortcomings in assets & liabilities and income & expenses and refine it through experience rather than be smacked in the head when one's ends don't meet or a major expense, such as retirement, arrives. Generally not necessary to budget down to the last dollar or peso.

And most budgeting software that I've seen takes what, in most people's circumstances, should be a relatively easy exercise and turns it into something likely not to get done by making the process itself complex, forcing people to learn what is usually a complex and counter-intuitive piece of software, and usually making them pay for the privilege.

Nothing wrong with making one's budget as simple as required by using a spreadsheet or plain-old pencil-and-paper; probably don't even need a calculator for the parts that matter most.

[bows00]

2 minutes ago, Gentleman.Jack.Darby said:

I look at it from the point of view that everyone has a budget with the exception of folks like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet

Wow, you don't have to be the top two riches guys in the world to be an exception.  But I guess it DOES imply to people that have a habit of spending beyond their means. 

[Gentleman.Jack.Darby]

58 minutes ago, bows00 said:

Wow, you don't have to be the top two riches guys in the world to be an exception.  But I guess it DOES imply to people that have a habit of spending beyond their means. 

The only entity of which I'm aware that can spend beyond its means for a significant amount of time, probably forever, is the U.S. government.

I advocate budgeting as a way for folks to avoid the pain, misery, and embarrassment that tends to comes along when the last lender finally says 'NO'.

I've run across a lot of folks with plenty of resources who always seem to be able to find something on which to spend their proverbial 'last dollar' and then some.

[hk blues]

9 hours ago, bows00 said:

Wow, you don't have to be the top two riches guys in the world to be an exception.  But I guess it DOES imply to people that have a habit of spending beyond their means. 

On 26/02/2018 at 10:18 AM, bows00 said:

The budget is taught in many forms, even financial advisors on the radio have differing opinions.  

For example, "Dave Ramsey" will swear by the budget and recommend his app called "Every Dollar" to plan your spending dollars before the month begins.  "Ric Edelman", on the other hand, doesn't believe in budgets because in his opinion, they never work.  I tend to agree with the later.  But I do recommend using the app "Mint" which I use daily to get an instant look at my finances and net worth.   

The bigger the budget, the bigger the expenses perhaps. I imagine most people spend up to their budget but few can afford to go over too often - if they can the budget isn't really a budget IMO.

[Gary Wak]

On 04/01/2018 at 7:43 PM, Dave Hounddriver said:

1000 pesos a month for taxis in Cebu or Manila is low unless you live next door to a grocery store and don't go anywhere.  There are no trikes in the downtown area so jeepneys or walking are the alternatives.  I spend 1000 pesos on taxis in a week when I visit Cebu.

In addition, I don't see 20K pesos a year for Tourist Visa renewals.  Are you on a different kind of Visa? 

When I go through your list and take away the superfluous stuff like your rent, utilities, US bills and insurance then it looks to me like you plan to live in Cebu on 50K pesos a month disposable income.

I could not do that as a single man but others do.  I moved away from Cebu because I was spending too much on taxis and dining out and entertainment.  Its readily available but it costs.  The alternative is to stay home every night or at least cut waaaaay back on the "enjoy yourself" budget.  As a single man that is not much fun but it can be done.

My solution was to move to a place where my money went further.  You will be OK on that budget but it will not be extravagant living.

i live in zamboanga just outside city as  couple we live on about 12,000 a week and that confy miind you the wife cooks all local foods and we dont drink excesively  but its good life .

[Gerald Glatt]

On 2/26/2018 at 10:58 AM, Old55 said:

“We” are going through this right now. I feel your pain my friend!

BTW can I sleep on your couch 🛋 tonight?😉

Not a problem,  my wife just bought a new one along with a recliner and matching tables.   If you stay for dinner......oh, wait kitchen and dinning room are still a painful memory

[robert k]

No secret that rents are cheaper away from the city. It's pretty cheap to hop on an aircon bus if you really want to be in Cebu city for the day. It's not one size fits all, what works very well for me may not work for you at all and vise versa. Be cautious finding a condo to live in because you may not be able to get services at all.

There is a guy on youtube who moved into a 30k php a month condo. The cable company owns the wires in the building because they paid for them during construction. They are not accepting new customers....and no other service can use their wires. He bought a Globe rechargeable pocket wifi and a Smart wifi that plugs into the wall for about 2mbps internet. That would work fine for me, generally I just tether to a phone but it doesn't work for everyone. Don't just ask who has service for the building, make sure they are taking new customers.

[fillipino_wannabe]

Fairly big budget, me and my girlfriend only spend around 50k a month between us, 60-70k when holidays and birthdays are factored in. Wouldn't you be better off having a 1 bed condo and having your DH go home each day? 6k is a decent salary for a maid aswell, ours gets 3,500 lol.

[russellmania]

On 1/4/2018 at 5:23 PM, TunaT said:

Do not plan on always getting 50-1 on the USD exchange rate. I have lived here 8 years and at one point was only getting 42-1. That will take a chunk of your budget if and when it happens again. 

TunaT, the rate lately has been P53 to $1 which is good for Americans with dollars!!