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22. Why I Put A Halloween Candy Category in My Budget · The Money Clarity Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Money Clarity Podcast.
• 0:04
  My name is Lindsey Ciarrocca, and I am your host here.
• 0:07
  And today I want to share a little story with you that has to do with Halloween candy.
• 0:15
  So last year my husband and I decided we were actually going to participate in handing out candy.
• 0:22
  We've done it a couple times, but in the last few years we really haven't.
• 0:26
  And for this-- for some reason this year we were like, "Yeah, let's do this."
• 0:31
  So I go to buy Halloween candy and you can probably relate, like oh my goodness, the price of candy is absolutely insane.
• 0:44
  So I bought a little bit and we did our thing and we made do with what we had, and we actually ended up running out and scrounging around for a little bit that we had at the bottom of,
• 0:55
  you know, m- the base- had stashed away in the basement or whatever.
• 0:59
  but it was while we were sitting out there and I think I made the joke of like, "Oh, we should add a Halloween candy category to our budget."
• 1:08
  And I stopped and was like, "Okay, but actually."
• 1:12
  So as we were sitting outside on that night almost a year ago, I added a Halloween candy category to our budget, and I set the target for $5.
• 1:26
  And here we are almost a year later and there is $50 sitting in that category And I know $5 a month doesn't sound like anything, but the difference in how I feel this year in the sense that I
• 1:46
  know I have $50 specifically earmarked to buy Halloween candy, knowing that all the rest of my bills are covered, knowing that I'm saving for all of my other priorities and paying down debt and all of those other things,
• 2:02
  but just knowing there's $50 there.
• 2:06
  This is exactly what it's earmarked for, to go buy Halloween candy.
• 2:13
  The difference in how that feels from last year when, again, I went to the store and was just, like, insanely blown away by the prices of Halloween candy, and I'll be honest, I did not want to spend the
• 2:29
  money because it was coming from other categories.
• 2:34
  You know, using YNAB, you give every dollar a job, so all of our money was already assigned to different categories, and all had jobs and purposes, and I didn't really wanna move any of it.
• 2:45
  But by making this one tiny change, adding in a separate line item for Halloween candy, setting that target at $5 a month and funding it every month for nearly the last year, now I have the confidence and just
• 3:03
  the peace of mind to be able to say, "Cool, I can go spend $50 guilt-free on Halloween candy."
• 3:13
  That is the power of budgeting and the power of budgeting with YNAB.
• 3:19
  So I just wanted to share that quick story with you this week.
• 3:22
  I would encourage you to pay attention in your own life for things that could use their own categories in your own budget.
• 3:32
  Maybe it's just something that you don't wanna forget about there are no right or wrong answers as to far-- as far as what is allowed to be a category.
• 3:43
  It's your budget.
• 3:43
  You can put categories in for anything you'd like, whether that's Halloween candy, treats for your cats, or maybe concert tickets for when your favorite band comes to town.
• 3:58
  Whatever it is, you are allowed to make the decision about your budget, your categories, and fund those categories as you see fit.
• 4:07
  So that's all I have for you today.
• 4:09
  Thanks so much for joining me on this episode of the Money Clarity Podcast, and I will talk to you next time.