Personal budget question?

[mendsley]

I am not sure if this is the correct area to post this, but here it is.

 

Let me start by saying I have moved over from the divorce and coping section so I am thankful I can worry about other things other than my ex, although after 2 years I am still going thru my issues I can finally move on.

 

With that being said, one of the first things I want to improve on in my life is my personal finances. Right after High School I got married and went into the military and both my ex and I have never cared about our expenses. Well now that HAS to change, so i did some research and found a budget calculator http://www.cnbc.com/id/26641187/ and have decided to use that over all the others I have found.

 

My question is, where would child support fall into mu budget? I thought maybe dividing it among multiple categories, but is that the right thing to do?

 

Mike

[keane2010]

If you are paying, why not just treat it like debt, like a house payment without interest?

 

When I started budgeting, I was often fooled by the seemingly inconsequential purchases, like coffee,snacks, subscriptions. They really added up. I think it totaled about 10% of my income. Finally, I lumped them into the budget and really got a hold on my budget.

 

Also, I helped a coworker put together a budget a couple of years ago and he was surprised to find several automatic deductions from his checking that he didn't even remember any more. Like a ten year old gym membership and a magazine subscription at a previous address.

 

Most importantly, don't forget about the time value of money. If you can put any amount regularly into a 401k or other tax deferred fund, you'll be surprised by how it suddenly adds up down the road. Maybe you've seen the 401k calculators that show the benefit of putting a small amount regularly for a long time? Me, I had to just put it in automatically and forget about it.

[mendsley]

Hmm, very good information. The 401k is something I tend to do ASAP since my job will match half, I would be stupid to pass up free money.

 

Now the child support is tough because, according to my budget calculator that I am following, I should only allow $369.06 (10% of my net income) for debts and the child support is $500, so that alone will put me well over budget. Without the child support my debt comes to $217.07.

 

Now when I look at my overall budget I am well under in some categories so I could shift some money from one category to another, but I am not sure if that is smart.

 

I feel like a freakin child with all this stuff and I am 33, lol. But, in order to better myself it's time to learn it.

[threebyfate]

Click on the link at the bottom of the calculator and it breaks down what each of those categories entail. Childcare has been clumped into the "Everything Else" category.

 

For ease, if it exceeds your everything else category, break out a reasonable percentage into your food category since child support includes food.

 

Or you could break up your child support costs into almost all the categories by dividing the number of categories into the cost, since child support affects all of them.

[Leia]

That is a good link. Didn't know that exist. So I can calculate in my currency?

[threebyfate]

As long as you don't mix currencies in your costs, currency won't matter.