Budgeting After Bankruptcy: Step #5 – Use Technology to Help You

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Step #1: Determine Your Average Monthly Income
Step #2: Know Your Expenses
Step #3: Create a Balanced Budget
Step #4: Review Your Budget Regularly
Step #5: Use a Technology to Help You

Step #5: Use Technology to Help You

By this time you’ve completed the “meat and potatoes” steps (Steps 1 through 3) that allow you to create your budget and you should be reviewing your budget regularly (Step 4). Now, how can we make following your budget and gaining your financial freedom even easier? Let’s use technology!

Laptop IconI’ll admit it – I’m a huge technology guy. I use it in all kinds of areas of my life and I think we can leverage the power of technology to make our lives much easier. There are a ton of different pieces of budgeting technology. Here are a couple of our favorites:

Mint.com: This is probably my favorite of all of the online budgeting tools. Mint.com allows you to link your bank account to a budget. It uses 128-bit SSL encryption to protect your information – that’s the same security technology that banks use to protect your online banking. Mint.com will pull your bank account information and categorize what has been spent into different categories. You can then set goals (based on your budget) and it will track your progress towards reaching those goals. One of the best features is that you can look at your budget on any given day and see how much you have spent on each category (food, personal care, bills and utilities, mortgage / rent, etc.) and how much more you have to spend for that month. This is a great way to continually monitor your performance in a visual and easy to understand way. The best thing – Mint.com is free. You can sign up and get started in less than 10 minutes, and they also have iPhone and iPad applications.

Wesabe.com: Wesabe.com isn’t a whole lot different than Mint.com. I think Mint.com is a little bit better at being an overall budgeting package but what I really like about Wesabe.com is it ties in the presence of an online community. In other words, when you sign up for an account you can ask questions and discuss your budget with others. We have seen that people have a greater chance of success when they can voice their accomplishments and potential hurdles with others.

Another option is to create a Microsoft Excel template. This is easy to do and can be done in less than five minutes. However, I really like the way Mint.com and Wesabe.com show you what you are spending in a graphical format. It’s one thing to be told what you are spending money on but to actually be shown is a whole different ballgame.

In the future we expect the two tools discussed above and other online money management programs to use historical data and demographics, including geography, to show you what other people in a similar situation are spending each month.

Regardless, you can use online tools to simply the budgeting process. Do the legwork to put a great budget together then use one of these, or any other online tool to help you lower your expenses and increase your savings and the amount of money in your pocket at the end of each month.

Budgeting After Bankruptcy: Step #4 – Review Your Budget Regularly

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Father and Daughter on ComputerStep #1: Determine Your Average Monthly Income
Step #2: Know Your Expenses
Step #3: Create a Balanced Budget
Step #4: Review Your Budget Regularly
Step #5: Use a Technology to Help You

Step #4: Review Your Budget Regularly
The first three steps in this series are really the “meat and potatoes” of creating a budget after filing bankruptcy. This next step discusses techniques that can be used to ensure that you stick to your budget and the financial freedom you have worked for.

Once your budget is completed it is critical that you regularly review your budget. Contrary to what many people think – your budget should not be set in stone. Instead, your budget is a malleable and ever changing guide. It is important to change your budget as it becomes necessary.

Your budget will largely mirror your life events and goals. If you have children who are preparing for college then you may find it necessary to set aside a little money each month for college savings. Similarly, you may have a car that is 15 years old and you know that you need to be saving for a new car. Your budget will need to reflect your goals and priorities.

It is also important to review your budget regularly because in doing so you may be able to catch “cash leaks” or other areas of the budget that are understated. Catching these pitfalls of your budget early will allow you to adjust your budget and will greatly increase your chances for success.

During the bankruptcy process we will speak with many of our clients about budgeting post bankruptcy. There are areas within your bankruptcy, such as Schedules I and J, which may help you draft your own budget. I typically encourage my clients to take their budget and put it on their refrigerator or next to their computer. Your budget should be strategically located in a place where you will look at it often so you can measure your success or be aware of potential stumbling blocks. Again, this really comes back to that “financial honesty” that we discussed in prior posts.

Reviewing your budget regularly will allow you to maximize your chances of success and, just as important, increase your surplus at the end of each month.

Budgeting After Bankruptcy: Step #3 – Create A Balanced Budget

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Step #3: Create a Balanced Budget

So far we have discussed the importance of getting accurate information for determining your income by reviewing at least the last several months of paystubs and we have discussed the incredibly important task of getting a “financially honest” expense report. The next step in putting together a successful budget after filing bankruptcy is putting it all together to create a balanced budget.

Step #1: Determine Your Average Monthly Income
Step #2: Know Your Expenses
Step #3: Create a Balanced Budget
Step #4: Review Your Budget Regularly
Step #5: Use a Technology to Help You

Pad and Paper IconPositive Cash Flow

The first thing to look at is whether or not you have a surplus of money or if you are “in the red” and have a negative amount of money left over each month. If you have extra money left over each month then that is a good problem to have. I would encourage you to look back over your expenses and make sure that you are using realistic numbers. If you have a budget based on realistic expenses, then have you begun to put money aside in an emergency fund? Retirement? Saving for your children’s education? There is a long list of things that you can always be putting your surplus money towards. Doing so ensures that you become financially stable and secure.

Negative Cash Flow

If you have a negative amount of money then tough decisions are ahead. If you are in the red then you have two choices – you can increase your income or decrease your expenses. Unfortunately, your ability to increase your income is most likely limited. Therefore, look to your expenses. Some of the most common money pits for people are food and entertainment. Look to see if you are eating out too much. Or maybe you’re going to see too many movies? (It’s insane what it costs to go see a non-matinee movie nowadays!) Start chipping away at your expenses until you have a positive cash flow each month.

The “Balanced” Budget

The core of this blog post is to have a “balanced” budget. That term has a couple different meanings. First, we want your budget to be balanced in the sense that we want your income to be greater than your expenses. We hope you will have a positive cash flow.

Also, we want your budget to be balanced in the sense that you shouldn’t cut everything out of your budget that isn’t a necessity. Instead, you need to go to the movies every once in a while. It’s important that you go out to dinner. Your kids should be involved with athletics. Your budget is going to mirror your lifestyle. You can have a huge cash flow each month but if you are miserable because you don’t have any extracurricular activities then you will quickly burnout and abandon your budget. In other words, have a life! On the other hand, if you plan for these extracurricular events but ensure that you do so within your budget then you are more likely to lead a more balanced life, which will greatly increase your chances of following your budget.

Budgeting After Bankruptcy: Step #2 – Know Your Monthly Expenses

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Budget After Bankruptcy | Know Your ExpensesIn our last blog post we talked about the first step of budgeting after filing for bankruptcy, which was knowing your income. I mentioned in that post that I believed determining your income was the easiest of the five steps in building your budget. Unfortunately, I think the second step, knowing your expenses, is the most difficult step of building your budget post-bankruptcy.

Step #1: Determine Your Average Monthly Income
Step #2: Know Your Expenses
Step #3: Create a Balanced Budget
Step #4: Review Your Budget Regularly
Step #5: Use a Technology to Help You

“Financial Honesty”

In building a budget I believe the most important quality is “financial honesty”. So what exactly does that mean? Financial honesty is the ability to honestly look at your expenses and determine what can go and what can’t go.

For example, it’s easy for me to say that I spend $400 a month for food on a family of four. That’s $100 a week at the grocery store and should suffice, right? Probably not. If you budget only $400 a month in food you are setting yourself up for failure. Think about this – that means you spend $1.11 per person per meal. That’s too low. You might be able to make that work for a month – maybe even two, but it’s not a long term, feasible budget for food. The point is, you have to be realistic, or financially honest, with your budget.

There are a couple different ways people can get an idea of their expenses. One way would be to simply carry around a small pad of paper and a pen or pencil to write down your expenses. Write down everything! Literally, everything! Do this for at least one month but ideally you would do this for two or three months. Using this pad and paper you can then go through and add up your different expenses. Categorize your expenses and get your total monthly expenses for each category.

Another way to accomplish the same task is to look at your bank statements. If you are like me and put everything on a debit card then you can easily look back at your statement and categorize your different expenses. However, watch out for cash withdrawals. Unless you write down what you are spending cash on you won’t have an accurate budget that shows what you are spending money on.

Fixed Expenses vs. Variable Expenses

Typically, expenses can be classified into one of two categories. Expenses will either be fixed or they will be variable. Fixed expenses that will remain the same from month to month. Think of your mortgage payment (as long as you don’t have an adjustable rate mortgage), car payments and insurance. On the other hand, variable expenses are exactly what they sound like – they are variable. They change from month to month. Examples of variable expenses include the electric bill (big difference in winter and summer), gas for your vehicle, food and most other expenses.

Your fixed expenses are pretty much set. You can’t do a whole lot to lower those payments each month. However, variable expenses are what can make or break your budget. Knowing your variable expenses is at the core of a good budget.

Hidden Traps of Expenses

I’ve already mentioned one of the biggest hidden traps for budgeting and that is your food. Make sure you track your food budget for a couple months to get an accurate estimate of what you are spending. Other trouble areas we have seen after doing thousands of bankruptcies are things like car repairs and taxes. Let me elaborate.

After tracking down your expenses using your pad of paper and pen or pencil or by using your bank statements if you use a debit card you should have a pretty good idea of what you are spending each month. You may be confident that you spend no more than $200 a month on gas. You’ve tracked the last two months and each month you’ve spent about $190. However, what about oil changes? Tire changes? Other repairs and maintenance to your car? If you don’t budget your transportation expenses a little higher then you won’t have the money set aside for these types of expenses.

Similarly, we have seen a lot of clients who have come in who are self employed. Problem is, they haven’t set aside taxes each month. When tax season rolls around, they are hammered with a tax bill and have no money to pay it. If you are self-employed, a contract worker, or if you receive a 1099, then be sure to set aside anywhere between 20 – 30% of your income for taxes. If you don’t do this then you have dug yourself into a hole that will be tough to get out of. Remember…death and taxes are always certain!

There are certainly other areas that people often overlook when building their budget. It is critically important to track your expenses and look closely at your monthly expenses. After doing this, begin a draft of your budget. Remember, above all else, you have to have financial honesty. The goal is to live below your means and set aside money for emergency situations and savings.

Budgeting After Bankruptcy: Step #1 – Know Your Monthly Income

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North Carolina FlagAs a bankruptcy law firm we have filed thousands of bankruptcies for people all across North Carolina. During our years of experience we have seen almost every scenario you can imagine that would lead to someone having to file bankruptcy – whether it is a sudden illness with unexpected medial expenses, loss of a job, divorce, climbing interest rates on credit cards, repossession of a vehicle or the foreclosure of a house.

There are, without a doubt, times where bankruptcy is unavoidable. However, we most regularly see situations where the road that led to bankruptcy was a gradual process. It was a slow financial leak instead of sudden break of the financial dam. In order to ensure that our clients make bankruptcy a once in a lifetime event, we work hard with them to ensure that their post bankruptcy life is one that is financially balanced and as stress free as possible.

The number one way to ensure that your financial life is balanced and less stressful is by creating a monthly budget. Believe me, I know this isn’t easy. I know it takes time and is more stressful than not knowing the reality on the front end. However, creating a monthly budget will help you avoid the financial pitfalls that have led to bankruptcy.

So, with that said, here are five easy to follow steps to create a budget.

Step #1: Determine Your Average Monthly Income
Step #2: Know Your Expenses
Step #3: Create a Balanced Budget
Step #4: Review Your Budget Regularly
Step #5: Use a Technology to Help You

Step #1: Determine Your Average Monthly Income
Out of the five steps necessary to create a truly workable budget this is probably the easiest. In order to know what you can spend each month you have to know what you are making. What we have found to be the easiest way to do this is to get at least your last six months of paystubs or profit and loss statements. Using these paystubs or profit and loss statements you can get an accurate idea of what your net income is each month.

Can this be done even more easily? Of course it can. However, I fear simply using one month may not be as accurate as necessary. If you are paid every two weeks there will be some months where you are paid three times. If you are paid every week then you will be paid five times in a month periodically. Regardless, a six-month sample allows you to get a pretty accurate estimate of what you are actually bringing home each month.

Another area to closely watch when determining your income is bonuses and overtime. If you get an annual bonus and it happens to be in the six-month period you are looking at then it could overstate your income. Same thing with overtime, if you have seasonal overtime be careful not to overstate your income annually by only looking at your “peak” period.

Failing to spot irregular income such as bonuses or overtime may inflate your income, which will cause your budget to be inaccurate and destined for trouble from the beginning.

Determining your income is, without a doubt, incredibly important. However, in my opinion, the most important step of the five-step process to creating a budget is the second step. If you are unable to accurately determine your monthly expenses, then your budget is worthless.

Can I Pay My Family or Friends Back Before I File Bankruptcy?

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Well, you can, but it’s probably not the best idea.  Family members and friends for the fact of the matter are considered “inside” creditors, as labeled in the bankruptcy code 11 U.S.C § 101 (31)(A)(i).   Because this is a loan from your family or friend and was never recorded, they are not looked at the same way as a regular creditor such as a credit card or a mortgage.

Daughter and Mother

You are required to list any payments that you have made that are over $600 in your petition.  But the court is going to look into where your payments went.  Did you pay your mother back $800 and not any other creditors?  If that is the case, the court could look at it as if you were playing “favorites” (meaning, you were choosing to pay her over another creditor) and the Trustee would have the right to go back to your mother and demand that she turn the funds that she took from you and give them to the bankruptcy Trustee for them to distribute to your creditors.  Meaning that you and her both would lose out on the money.

As in any case, each case is different and if this pertains to your situation you will need to discuss it with your bankruptcy attorney, so that he or she may properly advise you.

Can I File Bankruptcy if I'm Behind on Child Support or Alimony?

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Father and Daughter on ComputerYes! You can still file for bankruptcy even if you are behind on alimony or child support.  However, be aware that child support and alimony payments are non-dischargeable in a bankruptcy.  In other words, these debts cannot be wiped out in bankruptcy.

If you are paying child support or alimony, you may get behind on these payments and the state court may threaten you with jail time for being behind.  A Chapter 13 bankruptcy will usually allow you get “caught up” on these payments, avoid jail time, and pay the arrearages on the child support or alimony back through the Chapter 13 plan payments over three to five years making monthly payments to the Chapter 13 Trustee. The Chapter 13 Trustee forwards these payments to the person entitled to the child support or alimony.  The bankruptcy does not stop present or current child support or alimony payments, but it can help you get caught up on these late payments and avoid possible jail time.

What if Creditors Keep Calling After I’ve Filed Bankruptcy?

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When you file bankruptcy, an “automatic stay” goes into effect against all of your creditors. The automatic stay, Section 362(a) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, among other things, prohibits creditors from contacting you to collect a pre-petition debt. In short, no more harassing phone calls from your creditors! This is one of many advantages the law offers to individuals who file Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Smartphone IconAll of the creditors listed in your bankruptcy will receive notice within 5 business days when your bankruptcy petition is filed. This notice is sent to every creditor, both electronically and by mail. Generally, most creditors will stop all collection attempts immediately after they receive notice of the bankruptcy.

Should you receive phone calls from any of your creditors after you’ve filed bankruptcy be sure and let the creditor know you filed bankruptcy and provide them with your case number, the filing date and the name and phone number of your attorney. It is important that you document all of the phone calls you receive from the creditor by writing down the date and time you receive the calls and the name of the person you talked to. If a creditor continues calling you after you’ve informed them of your bankruptcy filing, they are in violation of the automatic stay and you should contact your attorney to let them know. Most likely your attorney will call the creditor and give them a courtesy warning to stop making contact with the debtor. At that point, if the creditor continues with their collection efforts by calling or sending you bills, your attorney may choose to file sanctions against the creditor for violating the automatic stay.