This is my "Spending Plan" project assignment. Take your time. And thank you so much for your hard work. Thank you so much always. It is quite hard for me. Thank you for your hard work always. Have a great day! :)

Class Project 2 - Spending Plan Option Create a yearly spending plan based on your personal habits and goals. If you are in a relationship with shared income and expenditures, you need to track and plan these things together. Your paper will be comprised of 3 sections: an explanation of the creation of your spending plan, a discussion section, and a question section. Please use headings to help organize your paper. 1. Section 1: Explanation of Plan . Explain the process of creating your plan. Explain your numbers and why you made the changes you did. For example, you will say: I spent this much on this, and this much on that, and this was interesting, and that was shocking, etc. The explanation section will be the majority of your paper. . As you report your numbers in your spending plan, if it makes sense to you, it will make sense to me. 2. Section 2: Discussion Discuss relevant issues regarding spending plans. Reference the Spending Plan article in the reading packet (Section 3). Incorporate the ideas listed there, both when you create your plan and when you explain your plan in this section. 3. Section 3: Thought Questions . Answer the following questions (with headings). Use the question itself as the heading. o How do you feel about having/creating a spending plan? o Were these months typical of your spending? If not, how did you account for the abnormality in your yearly projections? O How are you going to reallocate your spending in the future? In other words, how are you going to change how you have been spending in the past? O What was the most interesting thing you learned about yourself in the creation of your spending plan? o How will having a spending plan affect your future? o How will having a spending plan affect your immediate family? O How will having a spending plan affect society? In other words, if every American had a spending plan, what effect would that have on the economy?Create a Spending Plan Track your income and expenses for 2 months. You must account for every penny that comes in and every penny that goes out. Get a receipt for everything, or write a check for everything, or use your debit card for everything, or write every purchase down in a notebook, etc. Whatever you do, account for every cent. Please include a summary of your numbers in a tracking sheet. You may use the Excel template titled "Monthly Spending Plan" that is provided on the assignment page on webCT. If you do not use this template, please use one that is comparable. Do not turn in your receipts. Total up your expenditures in each category and report your monthly totals. After tracking your habits for 2 months, project for the entire year. You must show a yearly plan (e.g. January - January, or September - September, or whatever). I need to see numbers for every month for an entire year. You may use the Excel template titled "Yearly Projections" that is provided on the assignment page on webCT. If you do not use this template please use one that is comparable. o Your balance at the end of the year should be zero (cell N1 14 on the Excel spreadsheet). If you have left over money, put the extra into short term savings. If you have a negative number, you must make adjustments in your expenses so that you are not planning on spending more than you earn! Use your gross income for your numbers. o Look on your pay stubs and see how much money is withheld for taxes. Did you get a refund last year, or do you estimate that you will get a refund this year? Account for that in your plan. Do you pay quarterly taxes? Account for that in your plan. Make sure all taxes are accounted for as expenditures. O What other withholdings do you have from your paycheck? 401(k)? Child support? HSA? Make sure all withholdings are accounted for as expenditures. Do not forget non-monthly expenses! O These may include car registration, oil changes, gifts, vacations, magazine subscriptions, tuition, books, etc. Creating a Spending Plan is more than just reporting what you have been doing during your tracking period. It involves incorporating your goals, tweaking here and there, and creating a flexible plan that allows you to spend your money where you want. It is not appropriate to say, "I spent $78.99 on personal care for 2 weeks, so my spending plan will have $78.99 in personal care every 2 weeks." It is appropriate to say, "I spent $78.99 on personal care during the tracking period, and I think that is typical and doable, so I will allocate $150 a month to personal care in my spending plan." OR "I spent $275 on eating out during the tracking period, and that is not acceptable to me, so I will allocate $150 a month to eating out in my spending plan. I will take the money I am saving every month on eating out and move it to debt elimination." When you formulate your plan, incorporate your goals. How are you accounting for retirement saving? Debt elimination? Meeting your financial goals? o You may include suggestions made in class (e.g. 60% solution, Zero-based budgeting) or from other sources (e.g. Quicken, money management software, websites). It is important to use the most accurate information possible. Obviously, I cannot double-check your numbers, but the more accurately you do this assignment, the more prepared you will be for your future.Melanie's Spending Plan ' Section 1: Explanation of Plan 0 Creating my spending plan helped me realize how much of an excessive spender I ant. I consider myself organized when it comes to my bills, but it was interesting to see how much it affected my yearly outcome with the spending habits I had acquired over the years. I always use my phone to utilize how I view my expenses. I have Google Calendar which is an amazing app that allows me to put in all my bills and the days that they are due and how much they are. I also put in all the days I go out and how much I spend. This project helped me to lay it out on an excel sheet which was a fun way to visualize my bills and it also helped me see how quickly things start to add up, especially the little things. My monthly bills are always the same and include rent, car payment, car insurance, eye vision, gym membership, phone bill, credit card payment. These expenses are always laid on my calendar and thankfully, I have never missed a payment. If I know I have the money, I will sometimes just pay off the important things and that allows me to see how much money I have left for the rest of the month. Another blessing I have is living with my parents, they provide me with many things. They also pay for my groceries, utilities, tuition, and health insurance. These expenses would cost me a fortune if I had to pay them myself, but they are grateful that I decided to go to school to pursue a degree that will help to further educate myself and allow me to have a successful jobr'life. 0 Those monthly bills all stayed the same for my yearly projections but some of the things that were skewed included gas, shopping, and outside activities. I was honestly surprised at how much I was spending on shopping. Like I said, I knew how much I would spend every month but when I laid it out on the excel sheet, I was able to see exactly how much that would affect my yearly projections. I love to shop, and I am always shopping but I have recently come to realize that I am spending excessive amounts when I could be saving that money for when I move out. With this realization, I decided to cut out shopping altogether for 3 months at a time. I know I cannot go without it, sounds lame, but I know that I have high maintenance when it comes to my appearancefmy shopping habits. I decided to give myself an allowance of $100 every three months to spend on clothing/shopping. This helps me separate the constant urge to spend that much every month, it allows me to save up the money at the end. 0 The fuel amount skews but only because sometimes I decide to fill up $30 rather than $45. I honestly did not make changes to this because I realize that this is something that I must pay for every month, and it will not change. So, I decided to set up a monthly average of how much I do spend on gas which is reasonable to what I have been spending. Eating out has also become a habit of mine. I usually buy a $6 meal every Tuesday and Thursday and I have decided for that to be the only time I eat out. I have been consistently going to the gym and eating healthy and a goal of mine was to completely cut out overspending on food, especially food that is not good for me. With that being said, I have decided to only buy food on the days where I am at work and do not have to spend that much. I set myself a $50 budget and am happy with that. 0 The only other big change I had to make was with going out activities which is not too difcult because my boyfriend and l have already set a budget before this class of not overspending. We decided on $75 each for activities outside of the home and have made major life changes with the other activities that we do that do not require spending money. We go on walks, bike rides, exercise, and enjoy many things outdoors. The pandemic really shifted our mindset of what we need to fuel our minds and heads with, and it left us grateful for the things we have in front of us. We also have a massive goal to move out together to all this really starts to add up. I accounted for state and federal taxes for each month and accounted for the $1200 tax reimbursement I received. This helped a lot with the expenses for the year and it was interesting to see how much it helped with the yearly projections. ' Section 2: Discussion 0 Relevant issues regarding spending plans include the inability to see future problems that will arise and might destroy the very spending plan you worked so hard on. Life comes at you so fast, and most times unexpected problems occur with finances. Most of the time, you cannot accommodate for every circumstance that comes your way. My best friend's dog ate a glass plate just last week and they had to pay for an $9,000 surgery on the spot to save the dogs life. I do not have that amount of money and that would be a massive hurdle to overcome. Yet spending plans alleviate a lot of stress with where your money goes and how much of it you have left over. With my spending plan, I was able to have some money left over but it still is not enough money to make a lot of improvement. Spending plans also allow you to stay out of debt and make budgeting finances a million times easier. Just by being able to see my expenses in front of me, it made me want to change a lot of aspects in my life. I have been given a lot of things and Want to make sure that I take advantage of the time that I have now to budget out my money and not overspend on things that do not help me. 0 Section 3: Thought Questions 0 How do you feel about having/creating a spending plan? I I feel as though a lot more stress has been alleviated from my shoulders. It has helped me to see where my money comes and goes, and it also allowed me to see that I am doing much better than I thought. I can pay all my bills on time and still have things left over for my wellbeing. 0 Were these months typical of your spending? If not, how did you account for the abnormality in your yearly projections? I These months were typical of my spending and I was able to adjust based on these projections. It is fascinating to see how easy it can be to change how much you spend on something, especially when you have it laid out in front of you. 0 How are you going to reallocate your spending in the future? In other words, how are you going to change how you have been spending in the past? I I am going to reallocate my spending in my outside activities and shopping habits. Giving myself a budget restraint is not difficult for me because I have changed a lot of negative aspects in the last couple years and my life has only improved from it. These spending habits that I have had have not done anything for me and have made me miserable with spending unnecessary money. Discipline is one of life's greatest blessings. It has helped me to succeed and if I can save money in the process of budgeting myself, then I can and will do it. Having a winning mindset has always helped me to stay positive and continue putting one foot in front of the other. 0 What was the most interesting thing you learned about yourself in the creation of your spending plan? I I learned that I have a very disciplined mindset already through my monthly bills that are always paid off. I have never missed a payment and have a very high credit score and I am able to make sure I have enough to pay for the important things always. I might have some issues with spending on unnecessary things, but I know that I have to have my bills paid off first. 0 How will having a spending plan affect your future? I My spending plan will only positively affect my future. It allows me to budget and be on top of my expenses and debts. Every single successful person I know, has a spending plan and budget. This helps to stay on the safe side of things and not overspend when there is no money to spend. Making sure bills are paid and your family is happy is the most important thing for me in the future and by having a spending plan and I am getting a massive head start to have those things. 0 How will having a spending plan affect your immediate family? Like I said in the above question, I want to have my bills paid and my family happy. Having a spending plan allows you to make sure you have all the things you need taken care of with spending money available afterwards. Iwant to give my children and spouse an enjoyable life. An adventure of spending time on activities, trips, sports and being able to accommodate when necessary. It is so important to me which is the whole reason I am going to school and taking these classes. 0 How will having a spending plan affect society? In other words, if every American had a spending plan, what effect would that have on the economy? If every American had a spending plan, I think our economy would be magnificent. I cannot even fathom what our world would look like if no one were in debt and we all financed our things with consideration and education. America would ourish as a nation and the people would be happy with their lives. Our economy would boom and so many things would be invented, learned, restored and it would create a very inuential way of life