Weekly Budget for Adults?

[RadioFanatic]

Here's the deal - right now Dh and I just spend what we want. It's not that it's a huge amount, and we have no debts other than car and school loan which are paid off timely, but I just don't thinking we are saving as much as we could. In reality, we could save one of our paychecks each month but that never happens b/c of what is spent on "things". So I would like to approach my dh about a weekly budget for both of us to try to lower the costs. So I have a ton of questions for those of you who do this type of thing.

1. How did you decide and get spouse on board about it? I know dh will think I'm trying to control him by asking this and I want to avoid that. I want it to be something we both do - I'm not directing it at him - I'm directing it at US.

2. What type of things is the budget for? My dh will want to buy lunch, coffee. And no, don't tell me to make his lunch b/c been there, done that, he doesn't eat it and it goes to waste and then he buys something. You know, you can lead a horse to water . . . . Is gas a part of this? Is that separate? We have to fill each car once every 1-2 weeks.

3. What if there is something "special" - how is that taken into consideration?

4. How much do you allow for the week?

Thanks for the help!

 

[disneysteve]

I think the secret is to save first and spend second. If you want to start saving one of your paychecks, set up an automatic investment plan to do that. Then both of you need to look at what remains available for spending and work off of that, rather than off of the total you earn. Out of sight - out of mind.

I can't really help answer your questions otherwise because we don't budget our spending, only our savings.

 

[purplegirl247]

I think going on a budget is a great idea! Everyone does it differently. Some people start with putting savings away first, then using what they have leftover in their paycheck as spending money. Some people take out whatever their spending money will be first, then use what they have leftover to save. That's up to you. The first thing I would do, before you set any type of budget, is for both you and DH to keep a spending journal for about a week. Write down ANYTME you spend money (gas, coffee, a sports drink, a lotto ticket, etc). It's sort of a pain, but you (and he) can really see where the money is going!

For me, I take out a certain amount of cash every week (for argument's sake, let's pretend it's $100). I use it for hanging out with pals, groceries, clothes, etc. Once I'm out of money, I just don't buy anything until the next "personal payday." Oh, and I put gas on my Discover Rewards Gas card, because I get a rebate for that. I only use my check card (tied to my checking account) for the bills for the month.

If there's something special I would like, and it's completely frivolous, I'm careful for a few weeks (spend only $80) and literally put what I haven't spent for that week into an envelope (the leftover $20). When I have enough cash, I buy the item. If it's something we need for the house, I put that on my check card because I consider it a need, not a want.

As far as eating out and things go, eating out really *is* expensive. However, if your DH is bound and determined to eat out every day, put him on a $15/day budget, then knock it down to $10/day, etc. No one *needs* to eat at a sit-down restaurant everyday; sometimes you just have to go to Panera Bread or McDonalds or somewhere less-than-fancy.

Hope this helps!

 

[maxiesmom]

How do you decide how much to allow yourself for play money? I'm trying to pay off credit cards, put some money into savings, plus have a little left for me. How do you decide how much goes where? Please forgive me if this a hijack, but I think it goes with this thread.

 

[purplegirl247]

The spending diary should help you decide that. If you keep it faithfully for two weeks, you can see what areas you need to include in your budget and what areas you were just sort of spending recklessly. I came up with my spending money total through trial and error. I started off with x amount, realized it would never sustain me for the whole week, then bumped it up a bit accordingly.

Or you can do it the opposite way, like disneysteve recommended. Write down all your fixed bills (mortage/rent, gas, food, etc.), calculate how much you have leftover from your paycheck after spending your bills, put most of that away for savings, then use the leftover for your spending money. Similar to the above strategy, if you find you haven't given yourself enough spending money, pull a little (a little!) from your weekly/monthly savings.

By the way, I found it easier to do a weekly budget; when I tried to allocate a fixed spending amount for myself for the whole month, I ended up overspending at the beginning of the month and having NOTHING toward the end. But that's just me...!

 

[disykat]

I would start by putting yourself on a budget and then letting your dh see how much you are saving. Obviously you'll have to do it in a way he can't spend more to make up for it. I just think you'll be more successful in the long run if he makes his own decision to get on board rather than feeling forced.

Hopefully if he sees you saving without trauma, he'll either decide on his own to do it or be open to your suggestion of doing it.

I would do it by figuring out what you are spending and deciding what could be elimimated - then put that amount directly into savings so you can't spend it.

 

[disneysteve]

One thing that helps is to start your savings rate on the low side and gradually increase it. Maybe start with 3% of your income. Increase it by 1% every 3 months. Also increase it anytime one of you gets a raise - put 50% of the raise into savings. Years ago we started saving 6% of take home pay. Then 8%, then 10%. Then I changed it to 10% of gross, then 12%, then 13%, now 17%. Then DW went back to work after 10 years as a SAHM. We were living just fine without her pay all those years so we now save 75% of her salary plus the 17% of mine.

 

[Stein]

My wife and I just sat down and got with the program. I think the first step is to actually write everything down. We found we owed more than we knew and spent more on junk than we cared to think about.

Next, we wrote a budget and decided priority 1 is getting out of debt.

I have heard everyone talk about Ramsey and figured it was just like any of the 10 other books I had read which basically say the same thing, but I went to his website just for fun about 10 days ago and I am now hooked.

I suggest you listen to what he says and see if it is what you want to do. For us, it makes 100% sense and we are on our way to a better place.

It was a bit hard at first to convince my wife, but I laid the facts down and showed her where we were and where we were headed and it wasn't where we wanted to go. It was a bit hard because we weren't in trouble, we were living quite well and paying all of the bills with no problem. But, we are tired of paying all the bills, especially the debt.

As for the "allowance", my wife and I each get $30 per check (bi-monthly) which just covers misc. stuff we want. If we want something else, we figure out how to pay cash for it by either selling something we don't need, or taking the money out of another pot, like gas or groceries (and using less from that pot). The money has to come from somewhere.

Selling junk is great because you get cash plus you have less junk around your house.

 

[RadioFanatic]

How do you decide how much to allow yourself for play money? I'm trying to pay off credit cards, put some money into savings, plus have a little left for me. How do you decide how much goes where? Please forgive me if this a hijack, but I think it goes with this thread.

not a hijack at all and I'm interested in questions. On a good note, I spoke to dh and although at first he was like "no way", he called me back and said okay and let's figure it out this weekend. YEAH! so great thoughts so far and pls keep the ideas coming! thanks!

 

[nightowlky]

Well, if you want a spreadsheet to get you started, you can try this.

The numbers in there are just samples to give you an idea.

 

[meloneyb21]

subscribing..great info.

 

[RadioFanatic]

anyone else with some ideas? I know a lot of you budget - pls help a newbie in that area! (we need a begging smiley)

 

[lisaross]

each month i get spending money - my husband - and then money in an envelope for our family weekend spending

i get 200 month
husband 200 month

we use this money for whatever we want - no questions asked - figure its 50 week - if i meet my friends for lunch or i want to buy myself something or the kids etc.

Gas/food etc goes on the credit card............

weekend spending is about 75per week - either for dnr out - parks misc etc

good luck

lisa

 

[sk!mom]

We budget our savings but not really our spending. We save as much as possible and the spending just seems to work itself out. This has worked great for 26 years probably because DH and I are completely compatible- both savers. Neither of us spends much. We don't like to eat lunch out- I'm a teacher who only gets 30 minutes and he likes to hit the gym at lunch. I pack a lunch and he keeps his office kitchen stocked with sandwich supplies. He even has a french press for coffee and a sandwich maker. Neither of us is a recreational shopper or cares much for clothes. Clothes are strictly a necessity and purchased when needed. We also agree on the luxuries that we spend on- mostly travel and our DD (lots of camps, dance classes, piano lessons, etc...). We have never done personal allowances. We both just buy whatever we want/need. This probably just works for natural savers, though.

My advice to you would be to first set some goals with your DH. Joint savings goals would help get you started. Once you know what your goals are then you can look at your current expenses and set a budget that covers saving, current obligations, and see what is left for spending.

If saving one entire salary is in fact possible then you should be able to come up with a budget that works for you both.

 

[disneysteve]

We budget our savings but not really our spending. We save as much as possible and the spending just seems to work itself out. This has worked great for 26 years probably because DH and I are completely compatible- both savers. Neither of us spends much.

We have never done personal allowances. We both just buy whatever we want/need. This probably just works for natural savers, though.

We are exactly the same way, and I have just never figured out how to explain it to others. I don't think it is something you can teach someone else to do.

 

[dvcgirl]

We are exactly the same way, and I have just never figured out how to explain it to others. I don't think it is something you can teach someone else to do.

I think it's just thinking about your purchases before you buy them....a wants vs. needs thing, with a good dose of self-discipline thrown in.

We track our spending, but probably because I'm just so in the habit of doing that. My DH picked up that habit from me years ago. Before that he kept track of his savings, but not so much his spending. For us now, saving is almost a game..."how much can we do this year" kind of thing. We're both fairly competitive, and this kind of thinking keeps us motivated to save.

Some months in particular you just get slammed with a variety of things. For us, June was "wedding and baby" month. We were invited to several weddings, bridal showers, baby showers, babies were born, christened....we laid out a whole lot of dough in one month for all of those gifts. It's got to come from somewhere, and even though we keep a healthy cushion in our checking account, eventually these items need to be worked into the budget. We keep a pretty high monthly number for discretionary spending so that we don't have to worry about these kinds of things popping up here and there. However, in June, a whole lot of our discretionary income was eaten up by these events, and so we spent very little on us. That's just the way it is. I know a lot of people who get into trouble by continuing to spend on themselves during months just like the one we just had.

This month, unfortunately, one of our dogs has suffered a major knee injury that will require major surgery. The surgery ($$$$) will take up 2/3 of our "fun money" for the month of July. We could go to the emergency fund for this, but we don't have a lot going on this month anyway, and so it will come out of our discretionary spending. If we went to the emergency fund, that would have to be replaced anyway, and so we'll just bite the bullet now and spend less on us.

I don't care how much money you make, without a clear and workable budget, a definite savings plan and some serious self-discipline, you will never accumulate any wealth.