Personal Budget Planning

I’ve been abusing my personal expenses account. It is easy to do so and make excuses. I trick myself into thinking I’m saving money by taking it out of my personal expenses account. Sure, if I spend it out of there, it’s not coming out of my planned therefore I’m getting purchases without budgeting more money. But if that is the case, I should reduce my budget and put the extra money into my planned account, otherwise I’m defeating my own cause.

Here are my current offenders:

• eMusic subscription $14.99 a month
  I set this up because I wanted to buy some music, and told myself it was a personal expense and didn’t want to budget any more.
• website registration / initial hosting ( approx $50)
  When I think of an idea for a new website, I register it and sign it up for hosting. What account do I use? My personal account, because this is a one off fee. I’m spending a little of my allowance on an investment.
• website continued hosting
  Since I originally used my personal account, it continues to bill me after the initial setup. I originally told myself I didn’t want to clutter up my planned expenses with these small hosting charges. Regardless of the size, if it’s planned it shouldn’t come out of my personal expense account.

How I just fixed it:

• eMusic
  I switched my billing over to my planned expenses account and I added it to my budget spreadsheet.
• website costs
  I applied for a new business checking account. These bills are business expenses and it’s time I start accounting for them as such. When the account is fully opened, I’ll switch over hosting to the new information and create a monthly transfer (budget) to fund new adventures (till the business become self sustaining).

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