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Percentage Budget Goals for Sept 2008-2009

August 27th, 2008 at 10:37 am

Housing: 30%
Food: 10%
Auto/Trans: 7%
Insurance: 3%
Cons. Debt: 7% (kitchen remodel payments)
Recreation: 9% (includes travel -- remember, I'm flying to Osaka)
Investments: 20%
Clothing: 3%
Med/Dental: 2%
Miscellaneous: 6%
School: 3%

Food is easily the hardest one for us to cut back on, psychologically; Entertainment/recreation would be second; miscellaneous is third. It's hard to schedule for the sudden:
oh this event came up, we won't have time to have dinner at home.
Oh this is a concert we'd really like to see.
Oh my only surviving immediate relative is getting married in a country that's foreign to him.
Oh someone came in from out of town.
Oh someone I know had a stroke and needs cheering up.
Oh I got rear-ended and want a massage so my back doesn't seize up.
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I did not get the job I interviewed for, which is just as well. Someone else with lower expenses can truck it into no man's land on a daily basis in his or her Chevy Tahoe or Hummer H3: I will look around some more and maybe I'll find something bus-accessible or even walkable. Or I can look for opportunities in Toronto, Vancouver, Kamloops or Victoria.
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Cranky as of late, but a silver lining is that my city's Noise Abatement crew understands that penning two Great Danes in a 20'x40' run and leaving them unattended all day so they can bark out their frustration is a violation of the city's noise ordinance. We're logging the incidents of the dogs' owner's pet abuses. The dogs wouldn't bark in excess of 20x/daily if they were happy or satisfied with attention. Our neighborhood is simply not that dangerous to justify 20x/daily dog barking. Maybe their owners are unaware of the abundant doggie daycare businesses in the city.
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I wonder why my questions are not being answered on the forums. Gailete responded to my search for a 25-day grace period w/no mandatory arbitration card question, but I thought the 'household interest ratio' question was legitimately financial.
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Every time I check my Roth IRA balance I am reminded of the film Groundhog Day: even though I add $400 to it monthly, and have diversified positions (cash, ETFs, Vanguard funds, bear funds) my balance seems the same as it was the last time I checked (three weeks ago).

1 Responses to “Percentage Budget Goals for Sept 2008-2009”

  1. Broken Arrow Says:

    Another nice post.

    Although I budget in dollar amounts, I too think in terms of percentages.

    Sorry to hear you didn't get the job.

    I am glad to hear that the city is responding to the noise complaint. I can't believe any owner would think of having dogs that big but not care for them properly. Don't they realize that it could cause unnecessary suffering to these animals?

    Funny reference about Groundhog Day. Yeah, my own balance has practically screeched to a halt. I know my NAVs are going ups, but they don't make this tidbit readily apparent.

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