s/o do you budget?

[crissyy]

There seem to be a lot of threads lately about saving money. With the economy the way it is, I think it is necessary to look at the way my family is spending. So, exactly how do you budget? Do you have a set budget each month? A friend of mine does her budget each paycheck. She sits down and figures out what is coming out and budgets the rest. I would love to budget, but I find it really hard to keep on top of it. I start out with a bang, but then fizzle.

[kohlby]

We don't really budget - except for having certain things taken out of the paycheck automatically. (Things like investments, retirement funds, 529's). Otherwise, we just spend as we wish. However, we live below our means and our spending as we wish is much less than the norm - we consider things like cell phones and cable tv frivilous for us. Having a thrifty attitude to begin with allows us not to have to watch every penny. We're middle class in an area where it's cheap to live though. If we were struggling or lived in a more expensive area, it would be different.

I'd suggest starting by having certain things come right out of the paycheck at the start - things that are constant like retirement, savings, and mortgage.

[vulturemom]

yes We have a set monthly budget.

retirement funds, 529, emergency fund, medical flexible spending, and our mortgage all come right out of DH paycheck too.

[Joyto5]

Yes, we budget. Have been for the last 6 years. (Ever since DH was put on salary) It's amazing what changes you see with grocery prices and utilities when you look back at what you paid a few years ago.

When the paycheck comes in we first pay 10% tithing.

Then put 10% into savings

Divvy out the moneys for both mortgages and place them into each bank. We put a little extra then half each paycheck to cover anything that may come up.

Pay all the utilities that we have.
Power, Gas, City, Internet/phone, (CC.. which we don't always have) kids school lunches.

We have a system where we place a set dollar amount into an envelope system each paycheck for things like, kids clothing, eye Dr, dentist, gifts, Yard, Car Maintenance, Family entertainment, etc... It's usually $100-$150 per paycheck and then it's split up into percentages for each category. Car maintenance being on the higher percent and so on.

Then we have my monthly Grocery/house hold budget. I try to stay around $300-$400 a month.. It's not been easy lately. That's for things like food, diapers, wipes, light bulbs, cleaning supplies, laundry soap, vitamins, etc... Lately, convenience foods have been totally out and I've been cooking things from scratch.

It's been working really well for us till our pregnancy.. I totally forgot to factor in our monthly $400 midwifery payment. That's what's really thrown me off these last few months!

[lolabear]

we sort of budget ... my fiance gets the max taken out for his 401k which is like 12% i think (may vary from job to job) 6% of that is matched by his company. some is pre-tax and some is after tax. i dont really know how all that works tho lol but it goes somewhere. plus we have a savings account. plus we have an account that everytime we use our check cards or online bill pay it moves $1 from our checking to a high interest savings account ... we havent had it that long and we already have $600 in there plus we've made a good bit on interest. i didnt realize how much we used our account until i saw how quickly we got money in there lol its just another way to save money for us so we dont really have to think about it. i always keep track of how much our bills are and how much left over we will have so if we want to go out i know how much we can spend plus i make sure we always will have a certain amount in the checking in case something comes up. so its kind of a low maintanence budgeting for us b/c i am pretty busy so i tried the whole notebook thing to budget like my mom does but i simply dont have the time and this works well for us. every one has their own system tho.

[AuLait]

I would recommend the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey if you're interested in budgets. Its simple and straightforward and its the only budget that DH and I have ever been able to stick with... and we were trying to do it 3-4 times a year previously and just couldn't do it! Using that system, we now have a $1,000 safety net, and are living within our means with some to spare. We never would have thought it possible.

We do ours paycheck by paycheck because it gives us more maneuverability as far as allocating for special events, etc. We also deal exclusively in cash. We have bills set up to be withdrawn from our bank account, but other than that its all cash. No debit cards and absolutely not one speck of credit. We haven't used any credit since July, and prior to that we were putting around $200 a month on credit.

[Justicedog]

No, we don't. I keep meaning to do so, but don't. Years ago, I'd tried to do it all on Quicken, but after having kids and having one month not able to balance my checkbook to the penny, I stopped and it's all overwhelmed me after that so I don't know where to start.

[TuetonicWillow]

Yes and no.

We pay all the usual bills, of course. We have X amount come out every month for investments, insurances and 529s and such. We have X amount come out every month to our vacation account. We have X come out every month to our general savings.

The rest leftover is spent at will. Sometimes we spend it all, usually not. Little things like taking the family out to dinner, buying clothes, toys games, gas for the cars, various entertainment costs, yadda yadda all come out of this leftover.

My paychecks are cut right in half Half is used as 'other' money, described above and half of every check goes right into my Bump & Bundle expense account. I *will* have that place open and operational as soon as humanly possible.

So, there is no real budget but there is designated spending that is mandatory and comes before all else.

[FrznPolarAngel]

After years of struggling paycheck to paycheck, we finally have 3 months worth of expenses in savings. I NEVER EVER thought I would be able to one day say this! A huge step for us.

Years of watching this board (and the other boards), we recently started a semi-budget. I am going to attempt a more structured budget so we can put even more in savings. My goal is to live off one spouses paycheck while putting the second paycheck directly into savings. I 'think' we can do it if we are diligent.

Of course misc bills will come up that is not in the normal budget (such as my d&c expenses) but we should be able to accommodate that without touching the savings. Take a lot of discipline but CAN be done.

[Gigi]

Here's an example of mine (numbers changed for privacy and to make calculations easier because I suck at math!):

Rent: 900
Electric: 200
Water: 100
Daycare: 600
Cable/Internet: 100
Phone: 100
Car insurance: 100
Credit Card: 100
Gas: 200
Groceries: 200
------------------
Total: 2600

Total In: 2700
Total Out: 2600
Leftover: 100


What I do is make my budget based on the very maximum that a bill could be. For example, there is no way I'm going to use $100 worth of water, but it could be anywhere from $60 - $80 so I round up to $100.

My grocery budget includes all paper goods and miscellaneous items and it also covers going out to eat. Any meal out comes out of grocery money since we would have used the money to buy the food to prepare at home (this is usually cheaper for me & Nat because groceries are so expensive).

Also, when balancing my checkbook, I round every expense up to the nearest dollar. For example, if I spent $12.65 on dinner, I would subract $13.00 on my register.

Doing both of these things prevents me from having overdrafts and allows me to save a small amount every month.

At the end of the month, any leftover money is transferred into savings.

[Sputterduck]

We definitely have to budget. We'd have gone under a long time ago if we didn't. Money is rather tight right now.

On the first, we pay all our bills for the month and what we have left over is what we have. Groceries, gas, household supplies, and anything else comes out of what we have left. It's really nice to get the bills out of the way right away so we know exactly what we have to live off of.

[jessiehannan]

Yes, I hae no choice. I do a monthly and weekly budget. I go the monthly budget, including when everything is due, so that if some thing comes up, I know were I can shift money to and from.
Sometimes I stick to it with no problems, sometimes I fail horribly. It sucks when every last penny is gone before you even get it.

[bradpitt]

hello this is brad my budget includes all paper goods and miscellaneous items and it also covers going out to eat. Any meal out comes out of grocery money since we would have used the money to buy the food to prepare at home.
Also, when balancing my checkbook, I round every expense up to the above my level.
=====================
brad

<a href="http://jobs.gov-auctions.org">Job Openings</a>

[dalurker]

We kind of budget in a weird way. We have bills that are designated basically his and hers instead of splitting them. For us, it works out better that way and there is no misunderstanding about who was supposed to pay what or where money went. It's a little harder for me to budget sometimes because my income can wildly fluctuate, but I do prioritize and make sure all bills are paid. I've never been much of a shopper. I mean, I don't particularly care for clothes or vacation a lot (or ever), but I have had a tendency to nickle and dime money away in the past. Frequent though not daily lunches out, stopping for a drink or snack (french fries!) on the way home, that sort of thing. I'm much more aware of spending now and the nickle and diming is virtually eliminated. I stick almost completely to the budget. No more lunches out or stopping for a snack on the way home. I take my lunch and drinks with me every day now and since it's getting into coffee season, I'll be brewing my own at work. It's amazing what a few dollars a day can add up to and I'm a lot happier now at the end of the month.

[nicurn]

I've budgeted with paper for years, but I'm trying to switch to quicken. Joyto5, you really need to come to my house and show me how to do it! Please either post a copy of your grocery list, or pm me, because I have no idea how to feed 5 people a healthy diet for even 3 times what you spend.

[Gigi]

hello this is brad my budget includes all paper goods and miscellaneous items and it also covers going out to eat. Any meal out comes out of grocery money since we would have used the money to buy the food to prepare at home.
Also, when balancing my checkbook, I round every expense up to the above my level.
=====================
brad

<a href="http://jobs.gov-auctions.org">Job Openings</a>




WTH???


One post, and it's a direct quote from my post?


WTH???