It’s a really weird feeling preparing to go into a budget lock down. I mean, I know that next week is my last paycheck, but since I’m still working right now, it doesn’t feel like it.

This month though I’ve been trying to ask myself responsible budgeting questions, like:

• Should I still contribute as much as usual to my IRA?
• Should I still put money into my house, car, computer, brother’s graduation gift fund?
• Should I transfer extra money into my savings account or just leave it accessible for the next three months?

I decided it was a yes on the IRA, since this leaves me at $1,500 to max out for the year. If I don’t put another penny in until my next paycheck at the end of September, I’ll probably still be able to make that.

That decision was also heavily influenced by my nice, fat emergency savings. Because while it sure wasn’t New York City fat, it is definitely living at home with my parents for the summer fat.

The one I really struggled with was putting money into the house, car, computer and gift funds until I started thinking of Tonya from Budget and the Beach’s bucket strategy that I heard about when she was interviewed on Martinis and Your Money and realized that I could easily access any of those funds if I really needed them. And by moving them into their proper buckets, it was less likely I’d just spend them thinking I was doing fine on funds.

Actually, I’ve found Tonya’s bucket strategy to be something that makes me feel a lot calmer about three impending months of unemployment and continuing with this whole freelance stage manager lifestyle. That and knowing the date I have to make it to this time helps as well.

As for that final question, I’ve got a rough budget of $500 a month planned for the entire three months I’m unemployed and an additional trip with my best friend in the works for August that also has a $500 budget that I’m hoping to side hustle by then.

If I stick to this budget, which should be very do-able, the worst case scenario is that my emergency savings take a $1,500 hit. The medium case scenario is that I hustle my behind off and cover that amount. The best case scenario is that I pick up enough stage management gigs over the summer to actually fund my life.

The last time I was in a budget lock down, I was paying off my student loans and I remember the utter depression I felt at times because it seemed like I was pinching every penny and could do nothing.

In retrospect, I think I honestly went a little too far sometimes with that penny pinching and would’ve been a lot happier with a slightly delayed final payment date and a little more fun over the two years of crazy debt pay down.

So the $500 a month should keep the summer fun and interesting and financially stable. Especially since my bare bones budget is about $120 a month. That leaves me with $380 of spending money which feels flat out excessive at this point. The main reason I even gave myself the $500 budget is so that things never get out of control and, because knowing my personality, I will set it as a goal to beat. How little can I spend but still have fun?

I also like $500 because it seems like a very hustle-able number – so in a perfect world, I won’t touch my savings at all.

I also made a “Summer To-Do List” that included several days visiting family and friends in the Maryland/D.C. area. I may turn up on a friend in Vermont’s doorstep, although I haven’t told her that yet. A few projects I’ve been putting off like cleaning all of my stuff out of my parents’ attic (and listing on eBay, so we’ll see how that goes) and actually using the Rosetta Stone I got for Christmas as few years ago. I also want to check out one of the downtown restaurants in my hometown each week, which factored into my budget number, since they’re been trying to revitalize it for years and I want to see how far they’ve gotten.

Finally, I’m really, really excited to see all of my previous planning ahead paying off. My emergency fund is in great shape. My other savings funds are accessible, but really unlikely to be touched, because if that first bucket starts to deplete, I’m going to figure out how the heck to start filling it up. Even funding my brother’s graduation gift was completed as of this last paycheck and I’m not worried about how to pay for that.

Do any of you guys have tips for preparing for budget lock down? Do you think I set my monthly budget too high? Any tips for keeping summer fun inexpensive?