What do you save for???

[RachaelA]

Our budget does not include the 10% that automatically goes into our ING savings account (nor does it include the 10% for retirement, health insurance, etc).

I like mint.com for tracking spending.

We had originally just been pulling from general savings for everything extra like vacations, home insurance, property taxes, etc, but starting this year, I'm going to have separate subaccounts within ING. We have 6 months worth of expenses in our e-fund and then we'll have separate subaccounts where I will deposit our monthly savings for vacation, home projects, car fund, property taxes/insurance, and our baby fund. All of these are a line item on our budget so there will be savings put into them each month.

 

[angierae]

I just pulled up my 2011 budget:

I write my husband 2 checks a month for my share of the house payment and utilities, so that's all in one chunk.

I have categories for:

House maintenance/supplies
Auto Fuel
Car Repairs
Registration/License renewal (I put like $5 a month into this)
Doctor copays
Medication copays
Vet bills
Gifts given (christmas and birthdays)
Charitable donations
Groceries
Personal supplies
Clothing
Expenses for DD16
Lunch money for DD16
Lunch money for me
Salon/barber (this also isnt much since all I have done is my eyebrows and a haircut every other month)
Netflix/XM/Audible (I may be cutting out Audible this year, not sure yet)
Games ($5 a month to use towards apps on my phone. This is probably too high.)
Movies/Theater ($10 a month because we only go a few times a year)
Concerts/Plays (we usually only go to one a year but I want to be able to buy tix when I decide to, instead of being disappointed I don't have $)
Books
Hobbies (Both books and hobbies are under $20 a month)

Accessible savings (Money to cover things that might be budgeted for but I don't have right at the moment - say if we get a big vet bill in March and we've only got $60 in the vet "account" we can dip into accessible savings.
Long-term savings (this goes into the ING account that we do not touch except for emergencies like the roof falls in. )
401(k)
Disney
Student Loans

 

[rnorwo1]

I'm finished with my categories (for now at least!), and I think I've realized why I was having so much anxiety. We keep a cushion in our checking account at all times, and when we come anywhere close to it, we shut down all spending immediately and are very anxious until next payday. I really think "spending" that down to $0 for this budget made me feel like we were flat broke! Even though I "know" it's not spent and it's just assigned to a savings or spend category, I cannot stand to see $0 there! It's amazing how much anxiety I have been having over this. I may need therapy to deal with this, but then I'll have to find room for that expense too

 

[lisaross]

Besides the usual savings, i save for Vacations that i have planned - for example we're going on a cruise in july of 11 so been saving since our 09 Disney trip! Also save a bit for weekend getaways..save for the holidays - i'm saving for my son's braces that he'll be getting in the next year - i saved for living room furniture which we just got - anything big i try and save for - also i have a summer acct to help pay for the pool maintenance such as chlorine etc.

During the kids' naps today, I started on the new year's budget. Although we live frugally, we don't really follow a budget and I really want to start one for the new year. So I have the regular month to month expenses, and I thought of some of the yearly or semi-annual expenses like insurance and I thought I was done. Then later I thought about saving for Christmas (crazy day to forget that one ), and then later I thought about vacations, so now I'm wondering what else I've forgotten?! So I thought I'd ask the experts, what other categories should I have in there? Happy Holidays!

 

[nunzia]

I have a simple written budget for monthly bills..I do better with paper and pencil than the computer programs. We have savings accounts for vacation, long term savings (as in retirement) emergency (like job loss), Misc (like repairs, etc). We have enough wiggle room in the budget for odd things that can come up by just shifting stuff around a little for a month or so. This year I'm determined to use a small savings account that has been sitting pretty empty for Christmas shopping savings. I put money monthly into my ING checking account (which also has long term savings in a different account) for DVC dues and APs. This is not counting what goes into retirement savings through our jobs. I have all this stuff at ING, 2 local credit unions and a bank. Alot of the savings things are auto deposit so it just comes out twice a month.

 

[JamesMom]

For the last 3 years I have a detailed excel spreadsheet to list our budget.
This *hopefully* is the first year we actually stick to it! Hubby isn't as big on the 'details' like I am LOL.

Category Name Subcategory Name
Car Maintenance Repairs
Car Maintenance Registration & Inspection
Car Maintenance Oil Changes
Charity Church
Charity Other
Clothing Me
Clothing DS8
Clothing DS5
Clothing DH
College Me
Credit Car
Credit Card
Entertainment WoW (World of Warcraft)
Entertainment Netflix
Entertainment Keller Pointe (Gym/Pool Membership)
Entertainment Me (Monthly Mad money)
Entertainment DS8
Entertainment DS5
Entertainment DH
Food Restaurants
Food Groceries
Food DH work/after work
Food Kids School Lunch
Food Pet
Gas Gas for Car
Holidays Anniversary
Holidays Birthday - Other Family
Holidays Birthday - DS8
Holidays Birthday - Me
Holidays Birthday - DS5
Holidays Birthday - DH
Holidays Minor (Super bowl, Valentines, Easter, Mother/Father Day, July 4, Halloween, Thanks, New Years)
Holidays Christmas - Other Family
Holidays Christmas - DH
Holidays Christmas - DS8
Holidays Christmas - DS5
Category Name Subcategory Name
Holidays Christmas - Décor
Holidays Christmas - Me
Holidays Christmas- Misc (Gift cards, baking, etc)
Home Maintenance Repairs
Home Maintenance HOA
Home Maintenance Pest
Home Maintenance Mowing
Home Maintenance Fertilizer
Home Maintenance Landscaping
Insurance Health (includes HSA)
Insurance Auto
Insurance Life
Insurance Dental/Vision
Kids Activities Camps
Kids Activities Scouts
Kids Activities Piano
Kids Activities Babysitter
Medical Deductibles ($0 because of HSA)
Medical Office Visits
Medical Perscriptions
Medical Pets

Category Name Subcategory Name
Misc Newspaper
Misc Office, School Supplies & Postage
Misc Haircuts & Color
Misc Magazines Subscriptions
Mortgage Mortgage (PITI)
Utilities Gas
Utilities Tel/Cable
Utilities PCS
Utilities Water
Utilities Electric
Taxes Federal
Taxes FICA & Medicare
Trips Great Wolf
Trips Aunt Beth
Trips Cruise
401(k) 401(k)

 

[QVCshopper]

I'm impressed by some of these budgets. But, I'm not sure they have to be so detailed for everyone. My dh and I operate a little differently. We save to the max in his 401k, half of my pay into mine, put in money to our kids 529s, and automatically pay insurance. After that, we fund our Roth iras to the max. Everything else gets pooled into one big account. from there, we pay off our monthly credit card; we charge everything for the rewards (2% on all purchases into a 529). We paid off our mortgage about 4 years ago, so I know that puts us in a little different category. The pool of money is for anything we need, like repairs, cars, vacations, etc. I generally know all of my bills mentally, as well as my accounts. I guess I'm just saying you don't need to over think a budget necessarily and make saving a priority.

 

[angierae]

I'm impressed by some of these budgets. But, I'm not sure they have to be so detailed for everyone. My dh and I operate a little differently. We save to the max in his 401k, half of my pay into mine, put in money to our kids 529s, and automatically pay insurance. After that, we fund our Roth iras to the max. Everything else gets pooled into one big account. from there, we pay off our monthly credit card; we charge everything for the rewards (2% on all purchases into a 529). We paid off our mortgage about 4 years ago, so I know that puts us in a little different category. The pool of money is for anything we need, like repairs, cars, vacations, etc. I generally know all of my bills mentally, as well as my accounts. I guess I'm just saying you don't need to over think a budget necessarily and make saving a priority.

The detailed budgets are more helpful for people who find themselves "bleeding money" and need a good way to figure out where their money is going. If I am budgeting $75 a month for eating lunch out at work, and then the month goes by and I spent $125, I have my budget to look at and go "Oh, okay. I need to be better about bringing my lunch."

Without a detailed budget, I'd get to the end of the month and go "Hrm, I seem to be short on money this month" but without breaking down my purchases like that I didn't have a good idea of where it was all going.

Also, adjusting my budget numbers here and there show me what's important to me and what I can easily cut.

This level of detail isn't neccesary for everyone, sure. But if you're just starting out budgeting, it can really be eye-opening.

 

[Karenj2]

I YNAB!

Other's have already mentioned it, so I won't get into it, but I think it's great that you're trying the free trial. It's worth the money!

Because we use YNAB, we don't have separate accounts for the general spending categories, but we do have:

- Christmas Account (ING)
- Emergency Fund (ING) - we've decided that we WILL NOT TOUCH this one unless one of us looses our job. It's not a "crud - we need new tires" emergency fund.
- General Savings (ING) - this one is our "oops, we had an 'emergency' fund"
- Baby account (ING) - a savings account for our DD

Our vacations come out of the general spending - if it's Disney, we pay for it in installments so that it's not one huge bill.

 

[blessedby3]

I pull out money and transfer to savings accounts for :
Christmas
Vacation
Car Insurance
Life Insurance
Pool Fund (we have an inground which eats up lots of money in the summer for chemicals and maintanance)
Dog vet/grooming

I cant get too detailed as some of the others are. I would go crazy

 

[Leshaface]

I keep seeing people mention ING...is this a bank?? Or just some type of savings account?

 

[RachaelA]

I keep seeing people mention ING...is this a bank?? Or just some type of savings account?

Its an online bank. You can have savings or checking accounts through them. Their savings account rates are usually a bit higher than normal banks. I think its at 1.10% right now for the basic checking accounts. I think their CD rates are pretty good too.

ing.com

 

[Leshaface]

Its an online bank. You can have savings or checking accounts through them. Their savings account rates are usually a bit higher than normal banks. I think its at 1.10% right now for the basic checking accounts. I think their CD rates are pretty good too.

ing.com

Thanks for the reply!

Is there an annual or monthly fee on the accounts? And do you have access to your money at all times?

 

[nunzia]

Thanks for the reply!

Is there an annual or monthly fee on the accounts? And do you have access to your money at all times?

I have no fees at all and I can get to all my accounts right away by transferring funds into my local account. I also have a debit card for the checking account so that would allow instant access too..and if I needed cash from savings to go into checking to use the debit card, I could transfer that online quickly also.

 

[rnorwo1]

I am having significant difficulty downloading the YNAB, I used all the tips they had on their support site and emailed for help but still haven't received a call or anything yet to help with it. Does anyone have a # to call them? I can't find one on their site.

Although I am overwhelmed with all the details that most of you have in your budgets, I do think I also need to be as detailed. I am hoping that once I bite the bullet and do it, it'll actually be liberating because I won't be worried each time an expense comes up. Right now it's overwhelming because I keep thinking of other things that I need to track/save for. It's just really hard to face what we're actually spending and not remain in denial!

 

[Figment1990]

I use Quicken. Admittedly, I don't track everything as closely as I used to (not since DS turned 1 and my life has gotten busier), but this is one of my 2011 resolutions to get back on track. I evolved to quicken from a basic excel spreadsheet and I love to be able to look up how much I tipped the newspaper girl, or how much I donated to whatever charity, or what I spent on gifts for weddings, showers, etc so easily. I also still use a spreadsheet to forecast our savings over time (like, 5-15 years out). It is a nice way to see the impact of saving a little each year.

One habit I particularly found useful: Back when I was not working and things were tighter, I would keep a few envelops in the kitchen - Entertainment, Groceries, Necessities (cleaning supplies, toiletries etc), Dining, Clothing, Gifts. These were my big "discretionary" categories that I could actually affect (as opposed to cable bills, etc). I would write the monthly budget amount on the top of the envelop and paperclip a blank strip of paper to it. Then as I had a receipt for something it went into the appropriate envelope and the amount was listed on the paper. (I use a credit card for everything and then pay it off - easy for me to track everything AND get the rewards points.) I kept a running tally through the month, so I knew right away if we needed to slow down.

I am at work so I don't have all my Quicken expense cateogories in front of me to list and PPs have just about covered it. I use fewer categories than some on here, but that's cause I consolidate things like "gifts given" and use the memo field in quicken to track the recipient.

The only thing I wanted to add was that I liked that I could use the Quicken software to differentiate between mandatory and discretionary expenses. Or as I really saw it, "fixed" and "variable." Fixed didn't mean the number was the same each month, it just meant I spent an amount towards that on a regular basis and couldn't really affect it. Like property taxes, medical prescriptions. This helped me narrow down what I COULD work on, like "household" items (such as that item that catches my eye in target), as opposed to things we felt committed to (like our home security system).

HTH!

(ETA- I used to get in a really sour mood on those months when more money went out than came in, but overall, as long as we were headed in the right direction, I knew the painful exercise of watching our money closely was worth it.)

 

[tomthebarncat]

I am saving for a Lady Dior Handbag, it retails for 1,100 euros. I am almost there!

 

[rnorwo1]

(ETA- I used to get in a really sour mood on those months when more money went out than came in, but overall, as long as we were headed in the right direction, I knew the painful exercise of watching our money closely was worth it.)

I'm glad I'm not the only one! Thanks for the encouragement.

I'm impressed by some of these budgets. But, I'm not sure they have to be so detailed for everyone. My dh and I operate a little differently. We save to the max in his 401k, half of my pay into mine, put in money to our kids 529s, and automatically pay insurance. After that, we fund our Roth iras to the max. Everything else gets pooled into one big account. from there, we pay off our monthly credit card; we charge everything for the rewards (2% on all purchases into a 529). We paid off our mortgage about 4 years ago, so I know that puts us in a little different category. The pool of money is for anything we need, like repairs, cars, vacations, etc. I generally know all of my bills mentally, as well as my accounts. I guess I'm just saying you don't need to over think a budget necessarily and make saving a priority.

WOW! These are all of our goals that we want to reach soon. We have been paying a considerable amount extra on our house so hope to pay that off in the next couple of years, and I'm hoping by managing the rest of our money a bit better we can increase retirement and 529s. I didn't know there were reward programs out there for 529s, I'll definitely look for those.

Thanks for the tips everyone... hopefully I can update this in a few months and be in a much better place financially!

 

[SarahandPaul]

Another vote for Quicken here. I am OBSESSED! I am the daughter of an accountant, so it's a must that I have our accounts reconciled to the penny weekly. I will be the first to admit that I am a little crazy. I look at our budget weekly, as well as viewing it in a monthly and year to date format. Some months cost more (such as Christmas with gifts),but staying under budget all year long allows me to spend more that month. This budget doesn't set us to $0 and we have autotransfer to savings two times a month with DH's paychecks. I have a 3 month emergency fund already and am currently saving for a new car (Our 95 Jeep won't run forever!)

My husband and I just set out the budget for 2011, adjusting as needed based on spending in 2009 and 2010. Maybe you'll get some new ideas off of our categories!

Charity (We give a set amount to the church, but have extra cushion for anything along the way like Christmas Angel or church donation drives)
Household (items purchased for the house like a new rug, furniture,etc and pets)
Clothing (for both my husband and myself)
Gifts (for the entire year)
Auto fuel
Auto services (includes DMV, DEQ, oil changes, repairs)
Groceries (I pull out $200 cash to start the month, adding to last month if any leftover...I am a crazy couponer, but have a bit of cushion in the budget if needed)
Home Repair (all repairs and improvements, inside and out)
Medical Visits
Medications
Telephone (cell phones)
Cable
Gas
Electric
Water
Trash
Entertainment shared (eating out, golfing, movie together)
Entertainment DH (hobbies, video games, etc)
Entertainment me (usually nails, coffee out, lunch with girlfriends)
Haircuts
Car Insurance
Mortgage
Vacation (I set an amount to set away monthly so we guarantee that we go somewhere....good for our mental health!)

Hope this helps!

 

[FINFAN]

TRAVEL. One kid in college out of state, family out of state, the need to get out of our OWN state....I do what I have to for all living expenses, like all that you guys have listed, but my
splurge" account is travel. Any extra $, rebates, insurance checks, change jar etc., it all goes there.