What do you save for???

[rnorwo1]

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!

 

[Aristomommy]

When we started saving, I built an emergency fund for things like car repairs, deductibles or any need we would not be able to wait or save up for. Once that account was beefy enough, I started funds such as birthday fund, vacation fund, Christmas fund and home repair funds. We had a goal for a new kitchen, so all extra money went into that fund. I actually keep all these in one account, but keep a spreadsheet of what each category has. I also started an orthodontist category as we will need braces for DD soon. I also try to save for kids summer camps because that can add up also. How about a new car fund if yours are paid off?

 

[diznee25]

I do a gift category. Not just for Christmas but also for B-Day gifts, Mother's Day, Father's Day, any weddings or graduations for the year, etc. All this adds up fast!

I'm not sure if you included gift giving into your monthly budget or not. Just thought I'd mention it.


diznee25

 

[DISNEYNV]

If you have pets don't forget the vet bills! They can add up. Also daycare (if you use it) or childcare/sitters, etc. Huge expense right there! Saving accounts? Investments, etc (such as IRA/CD or 401K)?

 

[dreamin_disney]

I do a gift category. Not just for Christmas but also for B-Day gifts, Mother's Day, Father's Day, any weddings or graduations for the year, etc. All this adds up fast!

I'm not sure if you included gift giving into your monthly budget or not. Just thought I'd mention it.


diznee25

Great idea! Dh has a habit of buying giftcards for his side of the family usually $25 for adults and kids. I told him we can find good gift ideas under $25 especially if we know what the person likes and look for deals.
Just in Jan next month we have 3 adult B-days and 2 kids birthdays thats
$125 things will be changing next year-lol!


My savings list for next year is....

1. I dont get paid one month in the summer so I will save for my car payment and hopefully a lil extra cash so i dont have to use creditcards

2. DD might need braces, we find out in Feb. If she needs braces we will wait until July

3. X-mas fund for dd

4. I already have an emergency fund so I would try to add a lil more to that.

 

[njcarita]

my budget( from husbands income) includes pretty much everything..Like the fixed expenses Plus things such as car repairs...medical copays ,,birthday gifts .

I have 4savings account set up for those things not budgeted...
i fund with money from my part time job...
1) 3month emergency account
2) christmas fund
3) new car fund
4)disney fund...

 

[beansmom]

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!

Bravo for you! We also save a portion of DH's social security payments for taxes....apparently they do NOT take federal and state taxes out but they will assess them at the end of the year!

We have been living far above our means. Time for that to end.

 

[neatokimmo]

I do a yearly budget. I'm not concerned with when money goes out as much as what goes out towards what. These are my categories.

Groceries
Garden set up
HBA
Tacos @ work
Chinese meals out
McDonalds Breakfast
Gas
Car Insurance
Car Oil Changes & tire rotation
netflix streaming
Cable Modem
House taxes
House insurance
Christmas - Natalie
Christmas - Other
Angel Tree Kid
Operation Smile
Birthday - Natalie
Birthday Mom & BF
Preschool
Daycare
Power
Water
Vacations
401K
House repairs - basic
Bedroom remodel
Landscaping expense
Cats
Clothes
Gymnastics
Ballet
Cell Phone
School Supplies
Kindergarten Lunch Account
misc
Learning Materials
Allowance
Student Loan Payment
Roof payment 3% employee card
Etsy shop start up costs for materials
life insurance
medical
ss
medicare

 

[rnorwo1]

Thanks so much for the ideas, but now I am about to have a panic attack! We do live under our means and we have no debt except our house, so when something comes up, we just take it from the excess. So like for vacations, all of the excess goes to that for a few months prior so it's paid for before we go. But I'm sure we're not saving enough money for retirement and we haven't started 529s yet and I'm sure we'd feel better having money "assigned" rather than just juggling things around. But now that I look at all of these categories I'm wondering where it's all going to come from?? Even though we've always made it ok before writing it down! Does that make sense? I'm really wanting to try this, I hope it becomes less painful.

Please keep the ideas coming, I want to make it as accurate as possible (if I can make myself do it now!)

 

[neatokimmo]

I'm sorry, I know my budget is anal. I just had a big misc column that was my catch all and now its $30 a week.

If it helps any, I started with retirement. Then I split stuff out to required (insurance, utilities, grcoeries....), really wants (ballet and gymnastics) and the nice haves (eating out, lots of clothes, vacations) and funded each group.

I tweaked it for a month before I finalized it.

 

[lovemygoofy]

Thanks so much for the ideas, but now I am about to have a panic attack! We do live under our means and we have no debt except our house, so when something comes up, we just take it from the excess. So like for vacations, all of the excess goes to that for a few months prior so it's paid for before we go. But I'm sure we're not saving enough money for retirement and we haven't started 529s yet and I'm sure we'd feel better having money "assigned" rather than just juggling things around. But now that I look at all of these categories I'm wondering where it's all going to come from?? Even though we've always made it ok before writing it down! Does that make sense? I'm really wanting to try this, I hope it becomes less painful.

Please keep the ideas coming, I want to make it as accurate as possible (if I can make myself do it now!)

I don't have all the categories that others have. I'd loose my mind looking at all those different areas. I do have a system to my madness though.

For our emergency savings/big savings account I keep a set amount in mind always so if we dip into it for something it's rebuilt until I hit the "happy spot" again.

After I hit the happy savings spot, I start splitting the difference that goes into savings. I have an extra account for things like gifts, big dinners out, other good things. We both have automatic deductions taken for retirement accounts. We do it twice a month so it really doesn't hit the money that bad.

One thing I do different is that I budget in our food is eating out for the two weeks of the budget. If I need to do a big stock up in my pantry that cuts into the eating out budget, which is just too bad.

I also budget entertainment which includes the netflix subscription, movies out, concerts or whatever that is fun. Because I consider this a unimportant category, this is the first one to have money withdrawn from or cut completely.

One last tip I have is to split the difference if you receive any kind of raise. When my husband receives a raise, we up the amount sent to savings and to his retirement account. We already live comfortably so we really don't "need" the extra at hand.

 

[Pembo]

When I tried to do a budget with all the categories, I couldn't figure out how we pay everything! A few things we do...I have a Christmas Club at the bank. It is an automatic withdrawal to a savings account. They send me a check in October, instant Xmas cash. I save for summer, I teach and am paid only 9 months a year. I recently added saving for school in my budget.

I too use extra money for vacations. Typically it is our tax return...

Every pay we take a set amount of money in cash that is used for whatever...eating out, milk, stamps, movies, etc. This money is above our grocery money (I shop every other week).

Remember, do what works for you.

 

[crisi]

We don't budget, but things that have us dip into savings:

cars - we pay cash for cars, but obviously that's a "saved for thing."
vacations - see above
property taxes and insurance.
emergency or large vet bills
repairs and home improvements - including things like "the washer broke"

Also, retirement and college.

 

[DawnM]

I don't have that many categories, BUT, here is what I do......

I start by ONLY including what DH brings home AFTER health insurance, savings account automatic deposit, retirement accounts, and 403b are taken out.

So, I only work with the spendable portion of his salary. I love that our savings is automatically deposited so that I don't even see it or think about it.

I have ING accounts for those things I need to just save for.

Here are my ING accounts currently:

1. Vacation fund
2. Car insurance (since we pay twice a year)
3. New computer savings
4. Gifts/Birthdays/Christmas

and then each child has an ING account.

Then I budget everything in a program called YNAB (You Need a Budget). I LOVE it. You assign every dollar a "job" or a category and you put your projected budget for that category for the month in, then, every time you spend you plug it in there and it tells you how much you have left in each category.

Here are my categories there:

• TRANSPORTATION: repair fund, gas, train pass
• HOUSING: mortgage, electric, taxes, insurance
• FOOD: Groceries, eating out
• BLOW MONEY: His, hers, kids' allowances
• TITHE/CHARITY
• ENTERTAINMENT: Cell phones, computer/internet, Directv, extra-curriculars
• PETS: Petcare, Vet, meds, dogfood

[/LIST]

I may have a couple more, but you get the idea. Each dollar is assigned to the above through YNAB and that way I know exactly what budget I have.

I too am looking at what I can cut in the new year. We currently have APs and a couple more weeks of condo prepaid, but after that is over, we may take a Disney break for a year or so at least.

 

[mom2t]

Trips and Christmas

 

[hffmnheidi]

We make a Christmas list of who is getting how many gifts and buy from that main list all year round. It helps out the budget to get stuff throughout the year, especially when it's on clearance and sales.

 

[rnorwo1]

I don't have that many categories, BUT, here is what I do......

I start by ONLY including what DH brings home AFTER health insurance, savings account automatic deposit, retirement accounts, and 403b are taken out.

So, I only work with the spendable portion of his salary. I love that our savings is automatically deposited so that I don't even see it or think about it.

I have ING accounts for those things I need to just save for.

Here are my ING accounts currently:

1. Vacation fund
2. Car insurance (since we pay twice a year)
3. New computer savings
4. Gifts/Birthdays/Christmas

and then each child has an ING account.

Then I budget everything in a program called YNAB (You Need a Budget). I LOVE it. You assign every dollar a "job" or a category and you put your projected budget for that category for the month in, then, every time you spend you plug it in there and it tells you how much you have left in each category.

Here are my categories there:

• TRANSPORTATION: repair fund, gas, train pass
• HOUSING: mortgage, electric, taxes, insurance
• FOOD: Groceries, eating out
• BLOW MONEY: His, hers, kids' allowances
• TITHE/CHARITY
• ENTERTAINMENT: Cell phones, computer/internet, Directv, extra-curriculars
• PETS: Petcare, Vet, meds, dogfood

[/LIST]

I may have a couple more, but you get the idea. Each dollar is assigned to the above through YNAB and that way I know exactly what budget I have.

I too am looking at what I can cut in the new year. We currently have APs and a couple more weeks of condo prepaid, but after that is over, we may take a Disney break for a year or so at least.

I just looked up the YNAB program, it sounds great, I'm going to try the free trial today. I tried to do all of this with quicken a few years ago and it was a disaster, but this looks more simple. We have a credit union checking account that pays over 5% interest, so I want to keep the savings in there, but I need to have the money named so that it just doesn't disappear, especially since it's a checking account. So maybe this program will help with that.

We are doing WDW several times this year with an AP also (we have DVC, so then we'll just have to pay for gas and food), and then we're taking a couple of years off to save for other vacations elsewhere.

So thanks to everyone for all of the suggestions... many of you I am in AWE of how detailed and organized you are! I've made lots of notes and this is what I'm going to do tomorrow!!

 

[AmongMadPeople]

Making our budget was a process that took several months. First, I just started roughly categorizing our spending (bills, groceries, eating out, and misc). Then, after I started to see our spending habits, I made appropriate budgets for each item. Any time before we tried to make a budget from scratch we wondered how the heck we were getting by, and gave up because the numbers weren't making sense. So, definitely give the process some time and as you get used to it it will become a lot less overwhelming.

As for your original question, this also evolved over time. We have an ING emergency/loss of job savings, and ING vacation savings, a regular gift savings, and one last regular savings which covers anything that is regular but not monthly. This includes co-pays and other medical expenses (which are pretty predictable), homeowner's association dues, bi-annual car insurance and jewelry insurance (well, that's all I can remember off the top of my head!).

Good for you to decide to start doing this! Getting a grip on your money should be a resolution for everyone!

 

[karice2]

I was just thinking of doing the same thing. I have a tendency to overthink a lot of things. I decided this year that I will create a real budget that will allow me to save for a new car and stuff I want to do to my house. All big ticket items, new windows, new countertops, and HVAC.

I will be pulling out the spreadsheets and the calculator this week for sure. I know I spend way too much money on some stuff and waste on other things(mainly food).

Part 1 of my plan is to do a major bulk shopping trip that should last me 6 months for non-perishables and the like.

I have to consider saving for auto repairs because I don't want to purchase a new car just yet.

 

[indimom]

The only category I haven't seen mentioned yet is Donations.

I have another suggestion to add:

Make sure you track what you spend in every category. If you make a point to do it weekly, it only takes a matter of minutes. Budgets and expenses can change over time and it's difficult to really detail how much to put in each category unless you track what you are purchasing. This makes it easier to see changes year to year and make adjustments to the budget as needed.

By tracking what you spend, you will also see the items that are not "worth" what you pay for them. For example, I was buying cheap off-brand tennis shoes early in our marriage because I could save $15-20 over name-brand. After a couple years tracking the budget, I realized that my husband was getting double the wear out of his shoes that cost a mere $15 more than mine. I wouldn't have noticed this without the budget because it was months between purchases and the frequency wasn't registering on me. But I was wasting money by having to buy new shoes more often.

Also, some budget items may change month to month (like electric or gas if you don't do an estimated bill) and this will make it easier to see WHEN and WHERE your money is going. We've used this information to make adjustments over time to simplify our budget. For example, since we pay for our homeowners insurance, (two) car insurance and my work insurance annually, we pay one of those each quarter, this way there is always enough money in the insurance fund to cover them. The first couple years, three of the four bills came in the first quarter, and we hadn't "saved" enough into that fund to cover the bills. We would have to borrow from another area to cover the bills.

By tracking your expenses, you will always know what areas need adjusting at the start of the new year.

Hope this helps and don't let it overwhelm you. It's more of a process rather than a plan. You are blessed to not be "behind" so it's won't be nearly as painful as it could be!