Personal Budget related

[Hillbeans]

I'm thinking about making up a very detailed budget for myself and DH....down to the dollar.

We're not really on a "budget" now, and i'm curious if I really tighten the reigns how much I can really save on things. We both make good salaries however it seems like it'd really a good exercise to know exactly where the money goes.

I've already made an Excel spreadsheet with the $ coming in and the set expenses each month (not gas, eating out money or lunch money), but I want to micromanage it down to really see where the money goes. We both have a lot going to savings and 401K and I count that just as straight savings.

Does anyone do this? Do you do envelopes or do you take out a certain amount via ATM every week?? Just curious?

 

[disykat]

We know where every dollar goes. We don't really do strict budget limits, we just keep track of all our receipts. DH likes to go through and put them into categories. So, for example, I could go back and tell you how much I spent for groceries in May of 2001. We don't really pay much attention to the numbers, he just likes to know (he's an engineer and that's just the way he works.) It would certainly make it easier to identify areas we could cut back if necessary.

 

[CEDmom]

Hillbeans,

We don't really budget a great deal. However, I wanted to share an article I read in Parents magazine a few years ago.

This mom decided that she really needed to be better about spending money so she decided as an experiment for a week not to spend any money(no cash/checks or credit) and keep track of what she saved. Before this experiment she did a major grocery shopping and filled the gas tank. Some ways she found to save $ was to make a coffee drink at home each day instead of stopping at Starbucks, have her DH take lunch each day instead of going out, borrow videos from the library or friends instead of renting at the video store, making cookies with her kids instead of taking them out for a treat, going to the beach for a picnic rather than going to the waterpark etc. At the end of the week she'd saved over $200.

It's definitely worth a try. I bet you'll be surprised.

 

[janette]

I'm not very good at budgeting but I do use Quicken to keep track of everything. I don't track cash but could if I wanted to keep track of what I spent it on.

It's very easy to know where you are spending money, all I have to do is create a report.

I download my credit card & bank transactions so I usually know what all of my current balances are all the time.

I've started putting a transaction in for the payment to the card we use all the time and pay off at the end of the month so I can see how that is effecting my ending balance, it helps me not forget to make sure I can cover it at the end of the month.

I can't imagine not using some kind of financial software, I haven't kept a traditional check book in probably 10 years.

 

[Crankyshank]

I also use an excel spreadsheet. I find it easier for me to forecast spending needs and budget things like Christmas shopping.

We have a set amount for pocket money, gas money, and grocery/milkman money every pay check and I use online banking to double check my daily totals.

 

[LuvTigger]

I just read a good book on this subject (for the life of me I can't remember the name -- just remember that the author started a company called "Chequemate"), and I've read other books like Suze Orman's and "Smart Women Finish Rich."

At least one book recommended tracking every single penny for one month. It'll be a pain, but it should give you a really good idea of where your money goes, and where you can tighten things up. I'm going to start doing this, but I think it would be easier to start at the beginning of the month.

Currently, what I do is I TRY to just take out a certain amount of money each pay check to use for spending money. I've dedicated one credit card to grocery, gas, and other necessities. I use another credit card for any automatic payments and online purchases, and another credit card for just-for-fun stuff. So far this system works pretty well in terms of keeping track of expenses, but I'm going to start the log I mentioned above so I can break it down even further.

 

[katerkat]

I track every penny - EXCEPT for cash! Can't get DH to save his cash receipts for stuff. But he usually takes out the same amount every month, and I know it goes to lunches, haircuts and random other little things. And he knows he gets reamed if he takes out more than the usual amount.

Anyway, my Excel spreadsheet looks like this:

Date / To or From / Deposit / ATM / Beauty / Bills / Car / Cats / Clothing / Dining Out / Food / Fun / Gifts / House / Insurance / Lease / Loan / Lodging / Medical / Military / From Savings

Then at the end of the month, any money that wasn't spent is transfered to Savings. And anything that fell in the "From Savings" category was subtracted from Savings. My Savings is split into House / Car / Vacation / Baby / Xmas Presents / Moving / Slush. House Savings goes to my ING account, Car, Vaca and Baby go to my bank savings, and the others stay in the bank checking account (which I get interest on.) (And that reminds me, I need to close out the Moving account, now that we're done moving. Yay, more slush fund!)

Also at the end of the month, I take the total of all the categories and input them into a spreadsheet tracking the amount spent in each category each month, to make sure we're staying in the same range. I also have it set up to automatically calculate the percentages - for example, we've saved 37% of our income in the past year (2004), and 1.35% of our expenses have been on the cats.

Can you tell I'm the daughter of an anal retentive accountant?

 

[LuvTigger]

Katerkat,

I really like the system you have set up, it sounds like something that would work for me.

I have a question for you, if you don't mind my asking...what is the "military" column for? I'm interested since my BF is in the reserves.

Do you keep a separate spreadsheet showing what went into savings and what "fund" it was allocated for?

Also, what is the "bills" category for? Is this where you would include credit card bills, or utilities? (Or would utilities fall under "house"?)

And I laughed when I saw your "cats" category. Mainly because I know several people who spend a lot on their pets...

Thanks, this is an interesting discussion.

 

[katerkat]

Originally posted by LuvTigger
I really like the system you have set up, it sounds like something that would work for me.

Aw, thanks! It took two years to fine-tune it, but I love it now. It's very easy for me to use! If you want to PM me your email, I could send you some of my files. (It might take a day or so for me to clean them up, though!)

Originally posted by LuvTigger
I have a question for you, if you don't mind my asking...what is the "military" column for? I'm interested since my BF is in the reserves.

My military column is for stuff like uniforms (including buying new rank), class supplies while he was training, class parties and such we had to pay for. Anything I thought should be blamed on the military.

Originally posted by LuvTigger
Do you keep a separate spreadsheet showing what went into savings and what "fund" it was allocated for?

Yup! I actually have one spreadsheet for each month - one sheet is the stuff coming in and out of the savings/checking accounts, just so I can balance daily, and the other sheet for the breakdown on what stuff was spent on.

Then I have a second sheet for each year called "savings and flow" for the savings - again, both the ins and outs. The flow sheet is each month's expenses and income in the columns so I track the amounts spent over a series of months.

Originally posted by LuvTigger
Also, what is the "bills" category for? Is this where you would include credit card bills, or utilities? (Or would utilities fall under "house"?)

Bills is the cable (internet and TV) and phone. We live in mil housing so we don't pay electricity or water. When we rented, I had included electricity in the bills and rent had its own category. House, for me, is more dishes, pots, office supplies, etc. (Large "house" purchases, like the washer & dryer, came out of the slush savings.) Credit card bills are broken down into each category (house, food, fun, etc.) I have yet another spreadsheet I use to separate out the credit card expenses.

Originally posted by LuvTigger
And I laughed when I saw your "cats" category. Mainly because I know several people who spend a lot on their pets...

I did because DH complained about the amount the boys' good food costs. 1.35% isn't as bad as he thought!!

 

[Hillbeans]

Wow, all great ideas, thanks.

I like the idea of taking one week and tracking every penny.

A large part of the reason I want to do this is that I find myself spending what seems to be a huge amount of money on food. I like to go to the salad/hot food bar at the supermarket by my work, and lunches and 2 snapples a day have been running me $40 a week. I just realized that's $160 a month - YIKES.

If I bought the stuff in bulk at the supermarket and brought in my lunch and snapples, I bet I could get this down to $10/15 a week.

Because we both work, we do have some "unnecessary but important expenses" like a housecleaner every other week, however we have other things to offset this (prepaid Tracfone, no cell phone bills, no AOL, etc)

Thanks everyone.

 

[LuvTigger]

katerkat,

Thanks for the offer to e-mail files, but that's okay. I don't want you to have to go through everything and clean it out since they're your personal finances! I'm pretty good with Excel, so I think I will use some of your concepts and create a file of my own. Thanks again for the brilliant idea!

Hillbeans,

I know what you mean about the cost of food. I found myself going to Starbucks almost every workday ordering a Venti Caramel Macchiato...$4.17 x 5, $20 + per week, x 4 weeks, almost $80 per month, and just for a coffee drink!!! (Not to mention all those calories!) I also eat out a lot.

I think someone mentioned "bulk cooking." I do that too. Even though it's just BF and I, I can't help but cook in large portions, so sometimes I'll make something big on Sunday and split it up into portions and alternate so we're not eating it every day.

I was also going to suggest what you said about buying a large bag of pre-mixed salad and a case of Snapple.

Another thing that helps me not only save, but to lose weight, is to save part of my meal for the next day's lunch. So many places give such huge portions, and I was eating the whole thing so it woulnd't go to waste even if I was full. Now, I eat until I'm just full, then I ask for a box. Then it's like two meals in one.

I try to limit myself to one lunch a week in terms of going out and getting something.

Thanks again to everyone for the wonderful ideas!

 

[Pugdog007]

Good grief you guys are out of control.

Anal retentive doesn't begin to describe some of these responses! If you've got time to track down to the penny... more power to ya!

 

[Hillbeans]

Originally posted by Pugdog007
Good grief you guys are out of control.

Anal retentive doesn't begin to describe some of these responses! If you've got time to track down to the penny... more power to ya!

Well perhaps I was being a bit too dramatic saying i'd track to the penny, however I find that my ATM card is burning a hole in my pocket and I waste so much money every week on things I really don't need. My DH and I combined make enough money to afford a lifestyle that we can buy what we like in moderation, however I also find that can be a bad habit. In addition, eating lunches and dinners out too many times a week not only wastes money, but it's unhealthy and bad for your complexion - - - and a bad example i'm setting for my 3 yo.

To each their own I guess.

 

[Galahad]

Yep, we do it down to the penny. We use Quicken (until this year we used MS Money but switched). We get cash for the month at the beginning of each month, give ourselves allowances, put the food money, etc in envelopes. Then, when it's gone, it's gone. It works well.

 

[LindaG4458]

We also track finances to the penny but I'm an accountant so I think it's genetic. We are paid monthly, so we take a certain amount of cash each week for spending money. That is only tracked in the allowance category. Other than that:

Originally we used a spreadsheet, one for each month. We entered projected spending, actual bills, and calculated variance.

Then we moved to Quicken. It's easy to use, like entering checks into your checkbook. You can include a budget figure for each category and see if you are above or below projection. You can also print your checks from the computer and save all that handwriting. Also, if you ever have to provide information for a mortgage application or something you have all the figures at your fingertips.

We upgraded to Quickbooks because I wanted even more detail and some other reports (like I said, genetic). It works well for us but is more than most families need.

Good luck. It really makes a difference to see where the money goes and where you can save (or splurge).

 

[gshoemate]

We're not organized enough to enter everything into a spreadsheet but aside from the monthly bills, I get groceries every 2 weeks and have a budget. If I spend under it, then I take out the differnace and use it throughout the 2 weeks on odds and ends like milk, bread, etc. And then we have a set amount that we take out of the ATM every week and that is called our fun money. It's not always used on fun though. We use this money for gas, doctor visits, prescriptions, take out food, etc. If we have any extra left when it comes time to take out the next week, we splurge on something like dessert at DTD.

 

[Rajah]

DH and I just started doing that this month after a near-disaster last month. We've discovered an online bugeting program called MVelopes ( www.mvelopes.com ) and I love it. I never could keep to or up with a budget with Excel or Quicken, but so far I'm doing better with this one because I can check how things are anywhere that I have an internet connection and it really lets us both see exactly where our money is going. I highly recommend it.