okay so um yes we do keep uh well we started out keeping a budget about two years ago we have a
computer here at the house and i made a Lotus spreadsheet and went through the year using all of our our checkbook to figure out what we spent each time and whether we were over or under for each month
uh-huh
uh-huh
and then basically since then what i've done is is keep track of it through the checkbook so that based on
whatever we've got coming in check coming in and how much i'm spending each half of the month and then trying to also spend
and because our house payment is once a month that's our our biggest uh expense so i take half of that amount out of my checkbook each with each paycheck even though it's really still there
uh-huh
uh-huh
so that i can keep a a good balance running total yeah through the month what do y'all do
a running total
yeah
uh we've we've uh taken how much we have you know write down how much
we have coming in each month and then uh we've at the beginning of the year we sat down and determined how much we could spend we sat down made up different accounts like
you know we've set a budget for each you know household expenses or food and clothing and
entertainment and then our our own fun money and just stuff like that and then we write down each each time we spend something we write down in a book and end of the month we tally it up to see if how close we've you know we we try to stay within a certain budget so
um-hum is it is it hard to keep track of it or does it work out pretty well
um it takes some it takes some dedication to do it but it it works out real well so
um-hum and and you're staying within your budget and keep everything is working pretty good
uh-huh
yeah yeah i stay within i have to stay within it so i
yeah i found
you know and then we have that you know if you can't stay if something comes up and you can't stay within it then we have uh you know a budget for you know like we call our slush fund or something and something unexpected unexpected comes up then you're not
um-hum
yeah
you know you don't feel it so strapped
you don't have to go out and borrow it somewhere and and do that
right yeah because we don't you know we don't charge anything that we can't pay off by the end of the month
yeah
that's a good choice we've been trying we're trying to uh do that this year we've budgeted
the money that we used to spend we were spending on a CODA account with TI and then money we were also buying stock with for that year we've taken that this year and said we're gonna pay off all of our credit cards and uh
uh-huh you got paper under your table
uh-huh
we have a another loan with the bank and so we hope by the end of this year that by doing that we'll be free and clear
uh-huh
to be out of debt
free
yeah the only thing we have it to pay off is our is a automobile loan and our house payment and that's the only thing we ever we try to stay out of debt so
yeah
that's good to be in that kind of shape what are y'all trying to do long term
uh-huh oh as long term we just he has you know his retirement plan and then to CODA and stuff like that that's all we've and you know we just have our life insurance for right now
uh-huh
so we don't have any long term you know in stocks or anything like that right now so
yeah mostly what we're doing we've worked we've done the uh CODA account with TI where they we put in so much a month and then they or so much a paycheck and then they match it
yeah that's what we're doing so
and so that that has worked out pretty good and then i used to work for TI and i have when i retired from there or left i took the money that i had in mine and put it in an IRA and we had an out
yeah
uh-huh
we had an existing IRA so we have both of us have some money in an IRA that we're also trying to figure to
put it we're putting it in CDs right now and then we're also looking at it in possibly getting a mutual fund
uh-huh
yeah whenever we get enough saved we we stick it in a CD for a while and then uh
um-hum
you know and then when we if we need it we wait till it it's expired and then so
yeah the other thing that we've done that that was really nice to see we had one of the financial companies um
Hancock oh John Hancock company came out and their agents did a long term analysis based on salary and uh what we were planning what
what what our uh goals were on a long term budget in terms of retirement kid's college paying off the house buying a different house
uh-huh
um special thing buying land and building our own house and they did an analysis for us based on what we were putting in and the time frame that we wanted to look at
uh-huh
and then gave us a good idea back you know some good information back on whether or not we were going to achieve those goals and yeah or not or what we needed to do so that we could achieve them and money we could put in at what time
or not yeah
uh-huh that sounds interesting we've never done anything we have you know just our our life insurance guy has come out you know and he's set up uh you know determined how much we need to
um-hum
you know we need if something were to happen
um-hum
yeah that
you know
that's the other financial thing i guess that we've done is with our life insurance is since i'm at home now is is figuring out uh what we would need if something happened to my husband or what he would need if something happened to me
yeah
right yeah you you know if i would sell the you know if he something would happen to him i wouldn't stay in Texas i would uh
that's a a big thing to think about
sell the house and move back home you know to my home town and and uh i wouldn't stay here in Texas so
um-hum
yeah
you know i don't know what he would do but
okay
i guess that's most of my um financial plans right now is is there anything you'd like to add
yeah mine too
nope that's about all for mine
okay well it's been nice talking to you
nice talking to you too bye-bye
bye-bye
