THE GARAGE REPORT AUGUST 2025
Volume 1 “Understanding Spending Habits”
STICK WITH ME | AUGUST 2025
Stick with me as we try out a new title for this report. But don’t worry as the content remains the same and will continue to inform you how to get back, and maintain control of your money.
This title comes from my love of spending time in my garage with friends talking about various things, especially money. We sometimes talk about the trials and tribulations my friends have gone through, and how they overcame them. We don’t try to solve the world’s problems, but occasionally, these friends of mine come up with some great conversation that I feel is worthy of passing along. Here is one…
LET’S GO TO THE TEXT
CHAPTER ONE
At the end of the first chapter of my book I show a budget. Not so you can learn how to budget, but rather to understand your spending habits. Every month that age-old question arises; where did all my money go?
And learning where you spend your money is the basis of starting to take control, thus a budget to see.
But what don’t you see? At the very top of the budget is Fixed costs, and that is a misnomer. I know you think your mortgage is a fixed cost as it’s the same every month, or is it? Once or so a year we get those pesky (being nice here) tax bills, followed by the homeowner’s insurance bill. Now, your taxes may have gone down once or twice in your life, but I’d bet they are higher than when you started making payments years ago, and the same with insurance. What few of us realize is that these additional costs take away from the funds you have for incidental costs.
Much like with our variable expenses like gas and electricity bills. Those fluctuate throughout the year, but they too will slowly climb higher with rate increases. You know, those increases that they claim are needed for infrastructure.
The thing is, these are permanent increases that you typically don’t account for in your budget (the one you never actually put on paper). Again, taking away from the funds you have leftover for the fun things in life like going out to dinner or a movie. But you’ve become accustomed to having a certain amount of funds for incidentals and will continue to spend as if you still have that money.
There’s an old saying I believe in that states “If you want to understand what’s going on, then just follow the money.” Problem is, most of us can’t.
Here’s where it starts to turn into a problem that can grow quickly and get you into trouble without realizing it. Because you expect to be able to spend X amount of money each month on the fun stuff you now need to start digging into “other” funds, which most likely means savings, or worse credit cards. And since you have little savings (don’t lie, I know the numbers), credit cards are the only other option on short notice.
You see where I’m going with this, because when those cards start building debt, you go right back to the variable costs rising with higher credit card payments, leaving even less for incidentals. A cruel revolving problem that can spiral out of control.
If you’ve read the book, you can gain control, stop that spiral, and enjoy more of what life has to offer.
