Am I the only one without a "budget"?

[kcrew]

Although I don't usually post I have spent a lot of time reading this board because I like finding money saving ideas. I am intrigued by all of the discussions on strict budgets, down to the penny spending tracking, and even people following "methods". Recently a friend mentioned something about her grocery budget, and I said that we don't budget and she seemed truly confused. So, I have been wondering....am I really so unusual in my money habits? I have no budget and I track nothing--I frankly couldn't tell you what I spend on groceries or anything else. I am just naturally thrifty(some might say "cheap") and we spend less than we make. Maybe being "cheap" is the best budget you can have?

 

[arthur06]

We don't have a budget either.

But, I am looking into getting onto one. I would really like to cut down on our spending. Just hard to get into a budget mode, when you have never had one before.

 

[dvcgirl]

Here's the way I look at it......as long as you're saving and investing 20% of your income towards retirement and aren't in consumer debt....you're probably fine.

DH and I would be considered "extreme savers" because we save 60% of our net income. In order to hit those goals, we set our savings goals first, then set our monthly budget for and what's left each month is what we have for discretionary spending.

We make enough that we could easily save 20% without even thinking about it....never tracking a single thing. But just by living with some discipline and occasionally saying "no" to ourselves, we've "trained" ourselves to live on 40% of our net income.

This is significant not just because we're able to save and invest so much, but also because we're content living on that 40%. We have many friends who earn what we do....healthy six figure income, and spend a heck of a lot more than we do. And most of them probably couldn't even tell you where it went....it just *goes*.

 

[sydneysmom]

I suppose budgeting isn't for everyone and nor does everyone need it, however, we find it extremely useful not only to track our spending BUT to also budget for savings. We like the structure of knowing where everything is going and what's coming. I don't like surprises. If you don't need a budget, that's awesome, some people do though and like using them alot. It's not a mystery, it's just life.

 

[Pigeon]

I'm pretty much the same way. We are cheap and are savers by nature. We always have followed the "pay yourself first" philosophy. We don't care about keeping up with the Joneses, and we couldn't care less about status items or designer stuff.

But we really don't do formal budgeting at all. I do have a good idea where my money goes, but I don't track every penny.

I know many people swear by him, but if I ever had to do Dave Ramsey and keep cash in envelopes, my head would explode.

 

[gracie1]

I don't have a budget either. But I don't know anyone around me that does!

 

[#1hoosierfan]

My budget????? dh keeps track of the checkbook. If he says we are out of money, I quit spending it.

Seriously, though. We contribute to our retirement, the boys' college funds, we have a long-term and a short-term savings account and we keep a positive balance in our checking account. I don't track my spending. I am also thrifty on many things in order to have more money to spend on other stuff.

Could I save more by budgeting and tracking? I am sure I could, but we are comfortable with our savings and spending lifestyle as it is.

 

[v.t.]

Same here, we simply live beneath our means. If the bank accounts do not grow monthly then we look at what we are spending.
Occasionally DH will see the credit card statement total and throw a fit, until he realizes most of it is his.

 

[MrsPete]

I'd say half and half:

I've always been thrifty (by necessity when I was younger, by choice now).

When my husband and I were first married, we had a budget and stuck to it religiously -- and it always included saving first, even when we were sharing one car and had old bedsheets tacked up over the windows as curtains. During those years we needed the budget to help us learn to spend as a couple and to develop our combined financial values. At that point in our lives, if we'd tried to go without a budget we wouldn't have talked as much and wouldn't have developed an "us" mentality with our money.

Now that we've been married two decades, we no longer pay attention to a budget on a weekly/monthly budget. We have established our patterns, and we stick to our guidelines without effort. Over the years I started paying the bills because he finds it stressful to see the money leaving our account. He is mainly in charge of investments because he enjoys tracking them. We discuss large expenses together, and we almost always agree without difficulty.

For example, today I don't particularly stick to a grocery budget each week. Rather, I know what I'm willing to pay for chicken, and when I see it for a good price I stock up. That might mean that I spend more this week, but it means that I won't buy expensive chicken for the next month. I might spend a lot on jeans and shoes at back-to-school time and at the beginning of summer, but I don't spend a lot in between these splurge-times. My husband and I know what we're willing to spend on Christmas presents, what we spend on a hotel, etc. If we're going to do something "outside the norm" -- like whether to pay for braces outright or make monthly payments -- we discuss it.

As our oldest child approaches college and adulthood, I'm teaching her about budgeting. Like so many other things in life, she needs to learn to play by the rules very well before she can do what her father and I do now, which is improvise.

 

[mombrontrent]

We don't budget either. I have no idea how much I spend on groceries clothes ect. I do all the spending and DH pays all the bills We are also very "cheap"by nature and live within our means. If I had to I guess I would budget but I naturally don't overspend (however my DH might say otherwise )

 

[QVCshopper]

Yup, that's us, too. We don't have a budget, and never have. But, we spend far less than what we make. I think we fall into the exteme saver category as well, saving the max to my DH's 401k, (I was doing 50%, but recently went down to 25%), max to our Roths, max to our kids ESAs, and a monthly amount to their 529s (about $40K last year alone). We also haven't had a mortgage for nearly 5 years.

I think if you're an overall cheap/thrify/frugal person, than you can do fine without a budget. I guess we have a mental one, and usually hit it, but that can change as emergencies and vacations pop up. When I want to reign myself in, I pop over to the no-buy thread, but mostly because it feeds my cheapness and makes me feel good about myself. I'm still proud of 16 no-buy days in a 30 day month.

I watch that Till Debt Do Us Part show, and I like the idea of the jars, but I'm glad I don't have to use them at the same time.

 

[Sagginit]

i have what i like to call a floating budget. i plan out my bills and budget those based on my income. i guestimate what i need for food, gas, transit etc. i then take whats left and budget that for savings. all bills get paid, and i put my savings aside. whats left goes to the other things, i don't track them and usually have extra because i'm thrifty and have become very good with impulse spending. occasionally i have to cut back on savings if a big expense comes up, but i would rather deal with it that way instead of putting the money in a separate account waiting for something to come up.

oh and i have a 401K but i don't think about that because i never see the money, it just goes straight there and i never think about that as part of my income for my budget.

i tried tracking, i tried the mint, i just found it wasn't worth my time because i did not save any more......and time is money.

 

[disneyfreakk]

We don't have a budget either, but we are DINKs. Our income is high enough that we just buy what we want and not have to really think about it. And yes, we do save. lol

 

[dvcgirl]

We don't have a budget either, but we are DINKs. Our income is high enough that we just buy what we want and not have to really think about it. And yes, we do save. lol

I guess this is the part I don't understand. "we just buy what we want and not have to really think about it".

I mean, like I said, we do pretty well, I've shared it in other threads and don't care about the number so I'll say it here......we make a bit over 300K a year. This year more like 312K. And like I said, we save 60% of our net income.

Uncle Sam takes his third....we'll save 125K this year. That gives us 85K a year after taxes to live on. We have no debt at all..... Our monthly bills, including groceries (and that's a generous 800 per month for 2 of us) is $2,435 per month. That leaves us a little over $4,500 in discretionary income each month.

That's a *lot* of money.....but I guess if we didn't set our savings goals, we could just spend like crazy...not even think about it, and still end up with about 20%. By just setting some goals and applying a bit of discipline....we save three times that.

I guess I still can't imagine the "spend what we want and not thinking about it" part.....despite being as fortunate as we are to earn as much as we do.

Don't get me wrong, we go on nice trips, buy some nice electronics....those are our splurges, but those purchases are always in that budget. And still we feel completely satisfied. But we have to *think* about our purchases and set goals.....just like everyone else.

 

[bellarella]

Nope, we don't budget either. A budget would drive me absolutely insane and suck the life out of me. OTOH, we also save and have no credit card debt.

We put our money into savings first, then fixed bills, and then just work the rest out. Some months clothing is really high, some months there are car repairs. We have a good sense of how much money is flowing in and out each month and operate with enough of a cushion that we don't need to categorize and budget our spending to live within our means.

I think this is very much a "to each their own" area. If you have a system that works, no need to fix it because others do it differently.

 

[VAN]

I don't really have a set budget, however, do keep track of my money.

Both DH and I contribute 20% to 401K. Next is when I get paid I have some money put in a "trip account", some in a "big bill" account (for insurances, property taxes, tuition/books ... big bills), and the rest into the general checking account. My DH's check gets split into his spending money (set amount), "extra money" account, and then I get a set amount to pay bills with.

Slowly, I've been switching my monthly bills to auto pay by credit card. I keep a sticky note in my checkbook with my current credit card balance in order to stay aware of what needs to be paid at the end of the month. I check all my accounts on-line several times each week to ensure that everything is accurate and I know what is happening.

We are at a time in our lives where we have a little more discretionary income, however, it still seems like there should be more money in the bank. LOL. With the kids being young adults, we can no longer claim them as dependents ... no mortgage either ... so our income tax bill has been rediculous of late!!

At any rate, we don't have a set budget but we do have things in place that help us direct/manage our income in order to meet our goals.

 

[mrodgers]

I guess this is the part I don't understand. "we just buy what we want and not have to really think about it".

You have twice as much in just discretionary income than most people have for everything including paying the bills. You don't have to budget. You just want to.

You have enough to take 2 trips per month to Disney. There isn't an electronic out there in the world that you couldn't just go and buy. If you make that kind of money, why would you think that you have to budget? Budgeting is a strict outlay of how to spend every penny of your money. If you have $4k+ after saving a ton and paying all bills, what do you have to budget for? I find it would be impossible to budget with that kind of extra money. If you want the latest and greatest iPad, you certainly don't have to set money aside for it when you have 15 times the cost of one sitting around just in 1 month.


Seems to me that people either budget because they are trying to pay off debt, or they have say a $3000 income and are trying to figure out what to do with their $300 extra after bills. $300 extra doesn't allow you to just go out and buy whatever you want, you have to save up that $300 over a period of time to pay for big ticket items.

 

[Swimalie]

We don't budget either. I have no idea how much I spend on groceries clothes ect. I do all the spending and DH pays all the bills We are also very "cheap"by nature and live within our means. If I had to I guess I would budget but I naturally don't overspend (however my DH might say otherwise )

I'm pretty much the same. No budget here. We spend for we need/want, save money each month, pay into our retirement funds and add to our son's college program once a year. We are frugal and will consider each purchase carefully. Right now we're looking at buying a new car. We've been looking for over a year and will consider all options for the best price since we'll be paying cash for the car.

 

[ssawka]

Don't really budget, but we are naturally frugal. I wouldn't say we are "cheap", because we are definitely not affraid to spend money and buy high quality stuff for what we really need/want. We also spend quite a bit on vacations. Yes, I know saving are important, and we have an emergency fund. However, we also live by the philosophy that life is short and must be lived before it is gone!

 

[VAN]

Hey, don't be jealous of DVCGirl ... I have close relatives that make as much or more as us, however, they are always in financial trouble because they literally buy everything they "want." I'm apalled at what I see thrown in their shopping cart on a trip to the store to pick up milk!!!!

They want to take nice trips but - hey, no money in the bank!!! When they do take a trip to visit relatives, they choose to go to sit-down restaurants instead of sandwiches in the cooler, etc.

Just sayin that it's all about choices and priorities. Most people I know that make that kind of money are struggling to keep their heads above water because they spend like they are making $$$.

Choices and priorities ... don't penalize me for having saved my money ... I've chosen to live in a older/smaller house and keep my cars for 10+ years. It works for me.