Budgeting

I can never get enough information regarding my and my boyfriend's finances. I sometimes get anxious because one of my top concerns is always trying to figure out if we are ever not living within our means. Money is always a tricky thing because there are always a number of ways to look at it. In-flow, Out-flow, Liabilities, Assets, etc.

However, one of the ways I like looking at finances is comparing it to the month or year before. Building up this information over the last three years has allowed me to track my "base spending" (I made up this term). My feeling is that prior to the economic downfall, most people never really look at their base spending. It's something extremely critical to me though because I always want to know how long I can survive on my current savings should I lose my job. That is what gives me comfort, not necessarily job security (although this helps =] ).

My goal is to be able to live, at minimum, six months should I lose my job today. Since my base spending has been dramatically increasing ever since moving out here, my current savings is inadequate. On top of that I've have been allocating a certain portion of my savings as emergency funds for my boyfriend's family as they have seriously had a series of unfortunate events. Both combined, I'm still nearly four months away from achieving these goals at my current pace. =_= I would achieve it faster if I didn't spend anything in the form of entertainment, vacation, clothing, etc... but I need to live a little gosh. =P

Yet amid all these numbers, there was some finding I learned that made me smile. After much pestering of my boyfriend, I got a copy of his financial records to help me figure out our base spending. Short answer is, he doesn't need a job right away to move out here. =] Alas, he still needs a reason to tell his parents for moving out here. =/