budget assignment

Starting January 30th you will be tracking your income and expenses with an online financial organizer provided by ClearCheckbook. You will be entering your expenses in the following default categories in ClearCheckbook:

 

1. ClearCheckbook Spending Patterns and Graphs

Over the past few months you have been entering data into www.clearcheckbook.com
i. By looking at representations of your spending over the past 3 months, comment on your general spending pattern. Do you see room for improvement and in which areas? Justify your answer and provide a pie chart for each month.

ii. Look at your expenses over the pastthree months.Are your income sources sufficient to manage your expenses?
2. Individual versus Class Spending
Include ClearCheckbook line graphs that compare your spending to the class average. Briefly discuss the pattern you have observed for each spending category and overall.

3. Budget for Projected month: December
Create a budget for next month and describe it in great detail.
i. Create a calendar and bar graph for Decemberof your projected budget, planning when you will spend each of the five categories. (Housing, groceries, general merchandise, gas, & restaurants/bars ).

ii. Name your budget amount per week; explain why you chose this number and how you will manage this on a week-by-week basis.

iii. Describe two specific action plans you are going to initiate immediately in order to stay within your budget.

 

Part I

1. ClearCheckbook Spending Patterns and Graphs

Over the past few months you have been entering data into www.clearcheckbook.com
i. By looking at representations of your spending over the past 3 months, comment on your general spending pattern. Do you see room for improvement and in which areas? Justify your answer and provide a pie chart for each month.

* For the Pie Chart, Go to ClearCheckbook – Click on Reports – Click Categories – Click Pie – Take a screen shot of the chart
** Remember that there must be three charts present for each month (September, October & November)
After looking at my general spending over the past few months, I observed that it has declined for the most part. For August, June, and July I spent a total of $300 (40% for June, 28% for July, 55% for August, and 38% total) each month for a total of $900 for the term. My housing expenses are the same for each month because this category includes rent, utilities, and cable, which are all fixed costs because I am under a one-year contract for each item. Since I am under a contract obligation, then I cannot improve upon this expense until the term of the contract expires.
For the term I spent a total of $530 on groceries alone. This expense was 22% of my total expenditures (32% for June, 36% for July, and 27% in August), and is definitely an area that can use some improvement. The amount I spend on groceries does vary from week to week, but I would prefer to keep these costs to a minimum since I am under a budget. Also, I spent more on groceries in June ($238) and July ($380) than in August ($150) because my roommates, who I split the grocery bill with, went home after the May semester concluded.
For the General Merchandise category, I spent a total of $237.54, which is 10% of my total expenses. I spent relatively large amounts in June and July ($100 or 13% and $130 or 12% respectively) because I bought a new watch spontaneously and I needed to buy new cloths for school. I only spent $7.54 or 2% in August because I needed a new umbrella the first week of class. This area of spending can also use improvement with a set budget because I tend to impulse buy when I shop, and can easily go over board like I did in June and July.
Another category that I can definitely improve on is Gasoline/Automotive expenses. I spent a total of $237 or 10% of my total for the term. For June ($67 or 9%) and July ($130 or 12%), this expense was weighted because I had to do a lot of driving for my internship over the summer. I also had a few unexpected car repairs in July that inflated this expense. I will be making an effort to improve this area of my spending, and I have already started to reduce this expense. In August, I only spent $40 (7%) on gas because I am walking to more places like my new job at the Starbucks in the Union.
Additional expense that is unnecessary and can be reduced is my Restaurant/Bars expenditure. I spent $190.75 at the bars for the period, which is 8% of my total expenses. Most of this expense occurred in July ($117.75 or 11%) versus June ($32 or 4%) and August ($41 or 7%) because my best friend turned twenty-one, and I bought most of her drinks. That was an expensive night that I do not plan on repeating anytime soon. Plus, I have a reduced income at my new job at Starbucks rather than the high paying internship I had over the summer, and I will need to curtail this category of expense. The last category that I will comment on is the miscellaneous sector of my spending. I only spent $28 or 1% on this category for the term, but I still believe that I can improve. I spent $18 (2%) in June on two movie tickets, $1 (1%) in July on a Den Pop, and $9 (2%) on another movie in August. This is my smallest area of expenditure, but they are still unnecessary expenses that I can reduce or completely cut out. If I just used Red box rather than paying for movie tickets I would have saved $25, which is very close to what one share of Microsoft stock costs.
ii. Look at your expenses over the past three months. Are your income sources sufficient to manage your expenses?
My expenses over the past few months have consisted of rent, bills, gas, groceries/food, shopping, and going out with friends. My parents give me money each month for rent, bills, and food. My monthly budget from them is $500. Of that budget, $300 goes to rent, %50 goes to bills, and the remainder is what I have leftover for the month to buy groceries. I also work a part-time job on campus at the Starbucks located in the union. So every two weeks I have another income besides my parent’s money. This is nice because if I want to go out to eat with my friends or go to the bars I’ll have the money to do it and won’t have to ask my parents for additional money over the monthly budget. After reviewing all my expenses, I would say that my income is sufficient to manage my all expenses between my parents giving me money at the beginning of each month and my part-time job.
2. Individual versus Class Spending
Include ClearCheckbook line graphs that compare your spending to the class average. Briefly discuss the pattern you have observed for each spending category and overall.

 

3. Budget for Projected month: December
Create a budget for next month and describe it in great detail.
i. Create a calendar and bar graph for December of your projected budget, planning when you will spend each of the five categories. (Housing, groceries, general merchandise, gas, & restaurants/bars).

SEPTMBER 2011
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
1 2 3
$10 – Cactus
$300 – Rent
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
$50 – Groceries (Wal-Mart) $20 – Gas $10 – Cactus
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
$10 – School Supplies $8 – Campus Bars
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
$50 – Groceries (Wal-Mart) $20 – Gas $10 – Cactus
25 26 27 28 29 30
$11 – Applebee’s
You can find this calendar at: http://ss64/com/office (Click the 3rd link down – Calendar.dot)

 

 

ii. Name your budget amount per week; explain why you chose this number and how you will manage this on a week-by-week basis.
For week one I will spend a total of $310. Rent is due on the first and I will most likely go to the cactus that Thursday with my friends. Week two I will spend $80. I usually go to Wal-Mart every two weeks on Sunday to get my groceries and spend on average $50. I have a similar system with filling my gas tank, every second Tuesday I put $20 in my tank, and of course on Thursday I will go out to the cactus with my friends. During week 3 I will spend only around $18, which was great compared to the first two weeks. Week four’s spending will include again, groceries, gas, and cactus which will total up to $80. During the last week I will spend $11 eating out for my friends birthday dinner. For the entire month, that leaves me spending $499 of which $300 is for rent. That is a big improvement from my previous months of spending. If I can actually follow through with this budget I have made for myself, I will be saving lots of money.

iii. Describe two specific action plans you are going to initiate immediately in order to stay within your budget.
Action Plan 1: As you can see in my projected budget, I will not be going to the bars as often and will only go on special occasions. That way I will save money every weekend and even on Thursday’s because I will not go to the Cactus every Thursday either.
Action Plan 2: My second plan to cut back on spending is to not go to Starbucks as often as I do now. If I cut back on Starbucks drinks completely I will save a ton of money. To make this plan work, I will get the Starbucks coffee from Wal-Mart in a bag and I make it at home.
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