Do you have a household budget?

[npmommie]

How did you set it up? How did you come up with percentages you would allocate to each category?

I am terrible with money, I admit that. I spend too much, I don't save and I know I should. I only work part time, my money is really extra, hubby's covers all our expenses, but I spend every dime I bring in.
It just seems to flow thru my hands
My dh on the other hand is good with money. He is the saver.

I would like to come up with a plan that I stick to, so that we can save even more for retirement, college, etc etc etc.
when I think about how much money I blow, it bothers me, and I know I can do better.

 

[sameyeyam]

I have a budget and I set it up by going thru my credit card and checkbook to see what I had actually spent in prior months. It will give you a good idea of how much you are spending in each category.

My categories are groceries (food & non-food like shampoo, etc), transportation (including insurance & license), medical, utilities, housing (including property taxes & insurance), entertainment, clothing, savings and blow money for both DH and myself.

If it's too hard to figure out what you spent in prior months, just start keeping track of every penny for the next month. It really does give you a good idea.

I actually have an Excel spreasheet set up that I put my actual expenses in and then have a spreadsheet that takes the monthly totals and comes up with an average.

Dave Ramsey has some free budgeting pages on his website that are a little more detailed.

I don't stick to a strict budget, but I do keep track of every penny that I spend. I think just knowing where your money goes helps you not spend as much. When you suddenly realize that you are spending $900 a month on groceries, well trust me you work on getting that number down and start buying a few more generics.

 

[npmommie]

I have a budget and I set it up by going thru my credit card and checkbook to see what I had actually spent in prior months. It will give you a good idea of how much you are spending in each category.

My categories are groceries (food & non-food like shampoo, etc), transportation (including insurance & license), medical, utilities, housing (including property taxes & insurance), entertainment, clothing, savings and blow money for both DH and myself.

If it's too hard to figure out what you spent in prior months, just start keeping track of every penny for the next month. It really does give you a good idea.

I actually have an Excel spreasheet set up that I put my actual expenses in and then have a spreadsheet that takes the monthly totals and comes up with an average.

Dave Ramsey has some free budgeting pages on his website that are a little more detailed.

I don't stick to a strict budget, but I do keep track of every penny that I spend. I think just knowing where your money goes helps you not spend as much. When you suddenly realize that you are spending $900 a month on groceries, well trust me you work on getting that number down and start buying a few more generics.

Thanks! I just found my way to the Dave Ramsey site.
My problem is the frequent trips to the ATM, $100 here and there, and not even knowing where it goes half the time.
I will have to start writing down every penny, thats a good idea.
I spend at least $900-1000 a month on groceries, plus some eating out.

 

[sameyeyam]

After I started seeing where I was spending my money, I started going shopping way less. It is amazing how a few trips a month to Target or Walmart can really add up and suddenly you have no idea where all that money went.

Another thing I do when shopping is to look at each item and say "is this a want or a need?". If I truly "Need" the item I put it in the cart. If I only "Want" the item, then I say to myself "on a scale of 1-10, how bad do I want this?". If the answer is less then 7 or 8, then put it back on the shelf. You will be amazed at how many things you start to put in your cart that you give a 2 or 3 rating on the want scale! I can't begin to tell you how much money this has saved me. Sometimes I do it as I'm shopping, but sometimes I go thru the store and then right before I go to the cash register I do this. Usually it involves a mad dash thru the store putting things back, but I've saved literally thousands of dollars with this method.

 

[sameyeyam]

Some people like Dave Ramsey and some don't. He can be a bit abrasive at times. But I do think his budget system works good. Once you figure your budget out, then you can start putting cash in envelopes for each category and when it's gone, well it's gone!

He recommends the E-Mealz plan and I started using that in July. Our groceries were costing us between $700 and $1100 per month. Now I'm averaging about $550 a month for 4 people (and that includes eating out).

 

[npmommie]

Some people like Dave Ramsey and some don't. He can be a bit abrasive at times. But I do think his budget system works good. Once you figure your budget out, then you can start putting cash in envelopes for each category and when it's gone, well it's gone!

He recommends the E-Mealz plan and I started using that in July. Our groceries were costing us between $700 and $1100 per month. Now I'm averaging about $550 a month for 4 people (and that includes eating out).

Thank you for that! I am going to look at E Mealz, it seems like it could save me a lot.
Planning is another problem I have
I don't make a menu so I end up at the store too much and of course unplanned things go into the cart.
and those trips to target for "one" thing, yep, they turn into $100 trips.

 

[TnTWalter]

Hubby has an elaborate spreadsheet in Excel that I always hated. Too complicated for me.

When I took over this year I bought YNAB [you need a budget]. I like it.

Although I must admit, I have SLACKED big time since becoming debt free.....oy. I feel so unorganized so this is a good wake up call.

The thing that was easiest for me was to take envelopes and write the amount budgeted on them. My envelopes were GROCERIES ENTERTAINMENT [EATING OUT BOWLING, ETC.] CLOTHING HOUSEHOLD ITEMS CAR REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE HEALTH [DOCTOR, DENTIST ETC.] BEAUTY [HAIR, LOTIONS, ETC.]

DH has always tracked our expenses so I could go back through and see how much we typically spent. But you could do that by looking back through a couple months of receipts or your checking account and/or credit card statements.

OR you can ...
Write total take home pay for month on top of a sheet of paper. Then write the monthly bills that are 'fixed'....house, car payment, cable, phone, gym, etc. Then write the average utilities that fluctuate but are paid monthly electric, gas, car gas, etc. Now you are down to variable expenses [food, clothing, entertainment, etc.]. You can now play around with these amounts until you find numbers that work.

If the numbers are not looking good try to figure out what you can cut out for awhile, also change your withholdings if you get a large tax refund. If you need the money in your monthly budget, put it there. Tweek the numbers until you get just a little back but don't owe.

So I had my envelopes and my amounts available for the month written on each envelope. Whenever I shopped I would subtract the amount from the ledger and write a new amount. Then I would put the receipt in that envelope. If I went to Walmart and spent $50 on clothes and $100 on groceries then I would write the amonts on 2 envelopes and put the receipt in the clothes envelope in case I had a return later.

Good luck.

There's power in knowing where your money is going. You start to control it instead of it controlling you.

Trish

 

[figment3258]

I think writing down what you spend will really help. Also if you plan ahead for your meals it will save you money. Check out the thread Eat at home on the budget boards a lot of people post there menu plan each week in order to stay on budget.

 

[eliza61]

How did you set it up? How did you come up with percentages you would allocate to each category?

I am terrible with money, I admit that. I spend too much, I don't save and I know I should. I only work part time, my money is really extra, hubby's covers all our expenses, but I spend every dime I bring in.
It just seems to flow thru my hands
My dh on the other hand is good with money. He is the saver.

I would like to come up with a plan that I stick to, so that we can save even more for retirement, college, etc etc etc.
when I think about how much money I blow, it bothers me, and I know I can do better.

One suggestion, go with the strengths of you and your husband. My husband is a waay better saver than I am, so outside of our individual 401K's he keeps the 6 month emergency cash. He and his siblings were almost homeless for a lot of his childhood so that has scarred him. He can handle having cc debt but he will never be without an emergency fund.

I on the other hand am the better bargainer. I can squeeze a dollar until it squeals like a pig, so I handle the shopping, trip planning and day to day expenses.

If money flows through your hands, put it in some one elses hand. I'm weird that way also. If I have $100 bucks in my hand, I'll spend it but if I only have 25 bucks, that's all I'll spend or I'll make it last. So now I give the $75 bucks to the dh to save and live off of the 25. That's just an example, not saying you should strive for that specific dollar amount.

generally we have a "rough" budget but every month we'll sit down and plan on any "extras" that may creep up. For example, Cirque du soliel (sp?) is coming to philly over Christmas so I'd like to take the family. tickets are 85 bucks a piece so next month I'll budget in the extra $360 bucks to buy tickets.

 

[marie1203]

I've used a spread sheet since day one. I divided in categories and first put all the utilities and the needs:
Mortgage, Gas, Food, Cellphones, Car payment, Car insurance, Water, Electricity, Cable and internet.
Then I set aside some money for fun things and then some extra money for the unexpected (that if we don't use it goes to savings). I go over my budget every month and include anything that I know will be extra that month like one of our dogs annual check up, oil changes, birthday gifts, etc.

 

[punkin]

I don't stick to a strict budget, but I do keep track of every penny that I spend. I think just knowing where your money goes helps you not spend as much. When you suddenly realize that you are spending $900 a month on groceries, well trust me you work on getting that number down and start buying a few more generics.

This is us generally. I have never had an actual written down budget (well I had them, I just never followed them). My life is too chaotic for that. I do know where every penny is going and I have set savings goals: retirement, college, emergency. We live on whatever is left and nothing gets charged that I can't pay for by the end of the month without dipping into savings (or the emergency account if it is an emergency). It seems to work for the most part. Sometimes, I can even squeeze out some extra money from operating expenses to get in a quick, cheap trip to Disney.

 

[DawnM]

I am loving YNAB!

YouNeedABudget.com

We have done Crown Financial through our church 4 years ago and now we teach it and teaching it helps us stay on track!~

We are HUGE budgeters. Every penny is now accounted for. I thought I would HATE it, but I am actually really enjoying it now and so thankful I have stopped hemorrhaging our account with stuff I don't need.

I am actually now seeing where I can cut even more.

You can also go to these Dave Ramsey forums for FREE......LivingLikeNoOneElse.com

Dawn

 

[Karenj2]

When I took over this year I bought YNAB [you need a budget]. I like it.

Although I must admit, I have SLACKED big time since becoming debt free.....oy. I feel so unorganized so this is a good wake up call.

I am loving YNAB!

YouNeedABudget.com

We have done Crown Financial through our church 4 years ago and now we teach it and teaching it helps us stay on track!~

We are HUGE budgeters. Every penny is now accounted for. I thought I would HATE it, but I am actually really enjoying it now and so thankful I have stopped hemorrhaging our account with stuff I don't need.

Ditto these two! I use YNAB (although I've been slacking a bit). It's allowed us to find out where we spend our $$$ and instead of nickel and diming ourselves, we're putting money aside for an emergency fund, a Christmas fund, and a fund for our daughter! All with money we didn't "have" before because we were frittering away our money.

I also checked out the Crown Financial site for percentages, but generally just decided to track what we currently spend, then adjust it to what we feel it SHOULD be (and try to stick with it).

As for tracking cash - I have an iTouch & have two apps for tracking cash (one is YNAB's ap, the other is free and it's called CashFlowFree). Cash is our family's biggest problem - which is why we use our CC for as much as possible (and pay it off every month).

 

[fallcolors]

Suze Orman is at times difficult to watch & listen to .... but she has great tools and effective advice. You can find her tools at her website plus she has regular T.V. shows. I recommend that you check her out.

 

[bettymae1121]

Well, I tell you...I don't have one budget...I have twelve!!!

I have a budget for each month, because I found that no two months are the same when it comes to spending. Some months we spend a ton on gifts, another month the car registration fee is due. Once a year I have to renew AAA and Costco memberships. Our water bill isn't every month but every other month. It was those "occasional" expenses that would throw me off most months.

So, in Excel I made up a typical monthly budget, then copy it into twelve and for each month, add in my expected monthly "extras". In February, AAA is due, in March it's Costco, in April it's my DH's birthday so I need gift money, in May we have about 6 birthdays in my family so I have to budget for that....and so on.

I also leave a bit of wiggle room for unexpected expenses, like if the brakes on the car need to be done. Sure it's expected maintenance on the car, but it's one of those things you never quite know when you'll need to do it. So I leave about $100 to $200 each month for "surprises". Take this month for example. DH hates to buy clothes so I never budget a monthly "clothing" expense for him. This month he decided he needs a bunch of new stuff so goes out and starts buying new clothes. That came out of the "surprise" line item of the budget (especially since he didn't tell me ahead of time that he went clothes shoping...I found out when I downloaded the CC transactions into Quicken).

At the end of the day, whatever system that makes the most sense to you is the one you should do.

 

[Mickey1Fan]

Gail Vaz-Oxlade also has a great budget web site with downloadable excel worksheets.

http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/resources.html

 

[justbishop]

We just recently started Dave Ramsey, and although I wouldn't say that we're "gazelle intense" about it, we're sticking pretty much to the baby steps and it's already taught us SO much! a few suggestions:

1. Do the envelope system! I have my personal spending money (we do set allowances for each of use per pay period), a restaurant fund envelope, a grocery envelope, a gas envelope, a pet supplies envelope, and an "overages" envelope for any cash left over from groceries/gas.

2. Take the debit card completely out of your wallet and store it somewhere safe at home! This has been my saving grace. I used my card way too much, and have found that it feels totally different and really makes me think about what I'm spending when I have to dig into my wallet, count, and hand over cash. We used credit cards VERY sparingly even before this, but I was blowing through so much of our extra income just using the debit card.

Hope that helps!!

 

[DawnM]

My goal for this week is to sew some nice envelopes to use for our envelope system! I don't have a pattern though, so not sure how it will turn out!

Dawn

We just recently started Dave Ramsey, and although I wouldn't say that we're "gazelle intense" about it, we're sticking pretty much to the baby steps and it's already taught us SO much! a few suggestions:

1. Do the envelope system! I have my personal spending money (we do set allowances for each of use per pay period), a restaurant fund envelope, a grocery envelope, a gas envelope, a pet supplies envelope, and an "overages" envelope for any cash left over from groceries/gas.

2. Take the debit card completely out of your wallet and store it somewhere safe at home! This has been my saving grace. I used my card way too much, and have found that it feels totally different and really makes me think about what I'm spending when I have to dig into my wallet, count, and hand over cash. We used credit cards VERY sparingly even before this, but I was blowing through so much of our extra income just using the debit card.

Hope that helps!!

 

[ccgirl]

Well, I tell you...I don't have one budget...I have twelve!!!

I have a budget for each month, because I found that no two months are the same when it comes to spending. Some months we spend a ton on gifts, another month the car registration fee is due. Once a year I have to renew AAA and Costco memberships. Our water bill isn't every month but every other month. It was those "occasional" expenses that would throw me off most months.

So, in Excel I made up a typical monthly budget, then copy it into twelve and for each month, add in my expected monthly "extras". In February, AAA is due, in March it's Costco, in April it's my DH's birthday so I need gift money, in May we have about 6 birthdays in my family so I have to budget for that....and so on.

I also leave a bit of wiggle room for unexpected expenses, like if the brakes on the car need to be done. Sure it's expected maintenance on the car, but it's one of those things you never quite know when you'll need to do it. So I leave about $100 to $200 each month for "surprises". Take this month for example. DH hates to buy clothes so I never budget a monthly "clothing" expense for him. This month he decided he needs a bunch of new stuff so goes out and starts buying new clothes. That came out of the "surprise" line item of the budget (especially since he didn't tell me ahead of time that he went clothes shoping...I found out when I downloaded the CC transactions into Quicken).

At the end of the day, whatever system that makes the most sense to you is the one you should do.

Ohhhhh.....I LOVE THIS! I am going to do this. I had the same budget every month and averaged what my gas should be over 12 months. But...I live in MA so, during the winter it can be $400 a month. Even though I 'budgeted' throughout the year, I'm sure I spent the money already. So...this weekend I am going to be working on my different budgets. Thanks for this!

 

[NVDisMom]

Ohhhhh.....I LOVE THIS! I am going to do this. I had the same budget every month and averaged what my gas should be over 12 months. But...I live in MA so, during the winter it can be $400 a month. Even though I 'budgeted' throughout the year, I'm sure I spent the money already. So...this weekend I am going to be working on my different budgets. Thanks for this!

We do this too. 12 individual monthly budgets. It makes it so much easier with the gas, electric and water bills which are all over the place month to month. Even groceries vary greatly month to month because of entertaining, holidays, seasonal cooking and harvesting the garden. It also makes it easier to plan for school fees, birthdays, car registrations, season ski passes and our Disney APs!