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re: How do you and your SO budget?
Posted on 11/3/15 at 9:34 am to lynxcat
Posted on 11/3/15 at 9:34 am to lynxcat
We use an excel spreadsheet broken down weekly. We get a paycheck weekly (both of us are paid every two weeks, but on alternate weeks) so this works out very well for us. Typically I lay the rough budget out and then get her input.
I start with the take home, our recurring bills are already slotted for a particular week of the month to be paid. Gas, food, daycare/school and savings are pretty much the same week to week. Any special exspenses are added in and any left over at the end of the week is shifted to savings or added to the mortgage payment.
I start with the take home, our recurring bills are already slotted for a particular week of the month to be paid. Gas, food, daycare/school and savings are pretty much the same week to week. Any special exspenses are added in and any left over at the end of the week is shifted to savings or added to the mortgage payment.
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Posted on 11/3/15 at 10:09 am to bwallcubfan
quote:
(not the cash envelopes though)
My SO and I are trying this. I've got all the envelopes with the cash in them sitting in my house and wonder how long we'll be able to keep it up. The convenience of ordering something on Amazon may be too luring and plus typically you can save a few bucks which adds up.
We're going to give it this month to see how it works and see if it truly is inconvenient.
Posted on 11/3/15 at 10:14 am to CHiPs25
My wife & I have a spreadsheet that I maintain monthly to manage spending and track savings & debts.
Its basically a zero based budget and we take some time each month to go through each section and see where we are in the current month and plan for the coming months. The hardest part is being discipline enough to keep up with it. We typically spend as we want within the constraints of the budget and talk if there are any times we want to make purchases outside of this. (ex- I'm want to spend $200 on something for my boat, or she needs to do some clothes shopping).
Mint.com is a good resource for seeing all of your accounts in one place, but its a not the best budget management tool.
Here is an example template of our budget (the numbers are made up):
- You plan your month by filling out the 'Projected Cost' and then put in your actuals as you go through the month
- at the end of the month you see how well you held to your budget or where you need to adjust next month
- Also, I try to set up all my bills to be paid in the 1st or 3rd week of the month so I know when they hit
- Green shaded cells are auto withdrawal
I have a monthly snapshot of my budget in this form going back 5 years now, so I can track how my income and spending has changed over the years.
It's not easy or fun to keep track of, but it pays off.
If anyone wants this template I can email it...
Its basically a zero based budget and we take some time each month to go through each section and see where we are in the current month and plan for the coming months. The hardest part is being discipline enough to keep up with it. We typically spend as we want within the constraints of the budget and talk if there are any times we want to make purchases outside of this. (ex- I'm want to spend $200 on something for my boat, or she needs to do some clothes shopping).
Mint.com is a good resource for seeing all of your accounts in one place, but its a not the best budget management tool.
Here is an example template of our budget (the numbers are made up):
- You plan your month by filling out the 'Projected Cost' and then put in your actuals as you go through the month
- at the end of the month you see how well you held to your budget or where you need to adjust next month
- Also, I try to set up all my bills to be paid in the 1st or 3rd week of the month so I know when they hit
- Green shaded cells are auto withdrawal
I have a monthly snapshot of my budget in this form going back 5 years now, so I can track how my income and spending has changed over the years.
It's not easy or fun to keep track of, but it pays off.
If anyone wants this template I can email it...
Posted on 11/3/15 at 10:26 am to lilsnappa
quote:
Mint.com is a good resource for seeing all of your accounts in one place, but its a not the best budget management tool.
Are you using Mint to feed into your Actual Cost buckets?
You can export Mint transactions and then do SUMIFS using the line item criteria and the month to automate your template a bit.
This thread makes me feel like I am terrible at money management
Posted on 11/3/15 at 10:30 am to jimbeam
quote:
What do yall consider needs/bills? Do vehicles count or is that a personal thing? What about furniture and stuff? I could see a female saying a blah blah sofa being necessary and the man not agreeing, or likewise an f250 necessary when the wife doesn't care about vehicles.
We consider a bill something that is either a utility or something that we pay every month that is approx the same every month. For us, that is the following:
Mortgage
Natural Gas
Electric
Solar Lease (the house came with it)
Water/Sewer
Auto insurance
School Tuition/ Before and After Care
Daughter's dancing classes
Life Insurance
Student Loan
Cell Phone
TV/Internet
Lawn Care
Alarm Monitoring
Christmas Club (int rate sucks, but our CU offers it, and it's an easy way to save for Christmas - we are actually getting our check tomorrow!!
) We also generally take a vacation once a year either a cruise or an all-inclusive package somewhere, so we will make a payment on that each month and we consider that a bill.
We put a pretty significant amount of money in "savings" each paycheck. (outside of retirement accounts). Basically, we use our "savings" for large one-time expenses. This includes things like auto and home repairs, trips, etc)
We have two paid off vehicles, but we are probably going to replace one in the next 18 months. (hopefully we can go a lot longer, but time is catching up on us). When that time comes, we will probably take some money out of our savings account to make a sizeable down payment and will then have a note, which will become a bill.
Neither one of us are big car people, we just need something to get us from one place to another.
Oh, furniture: we just replaced a bunch of it when we bought our new house earlier this year, so we should hopefully be good for a while. We paid cash. My wife does have a Rooms To Go card with no balance on it, that if we ever needed to buy new furniture, we could use that and get the no interest for so many months, and treat it as a bill.
This post was edited on 11/3/15 at 10:37 am
Posted on 11/3/15 at 10:43 am to CHiPs25
quote:
We're going to give it this month to see how it works and see if it truly is inconvenient.
I would think paying for gas with cash would be the most annoying thing.
Plus always going to the bank. I just can't bring myself to do this in 2015.
This post was edited on 11/3/15 at 10:44 am
Posted on 11/3/15 at 10:55 am to lynxcat
quote:
Are you using Mint to feed into your Actual Cost buckets?
I use Mint a lot, but it has some limitations. It's great for see where you are at this moment and what you are spending on, but its not good for planning. Example, I know Christmas is coming and my wife is going to start shopping for presents, I can't plan for December in Mint until we are in December...
Posted on 11/3/15 at 11:01 am to CHiPs25
I keep track of all our recurring spending (utilities, groceries, gas for the cars, etc). My wife is horrible with money so we simplified her spending by restricting it to charges on her VISA. I in turn, never buy anything with a VISA card. Therefore, my monthly VISA statement = all of her discretionary spending.
To maintain a consistent savings she is limited to 1,500 a month. If it comes out at 1,200 I say "Very good." She smiles.
If it comes out at 2,000 I say "Calm the frick down!" She says "OK, I'll do better."
We end up saving about 15% to 20% per month.
To maintain a consistent savings she is limited to 1,500 a month. If it comes out at 1,200 I say "Very good." She smiles.
If it comes out at 2,000 I say "Calm the frick down!" She says "OK, I'll do better."
We end up saving about 15% to 20% per month.
Posted on 11/3/15 at 11:20 am to CHiPs25
we started the process but I bailed on it. We will revist in the new year but I have a lot of personal shite going on and it wasnt a priority.
We do have a rudimentary budget that works. I get $X amt deposited every month, if we spend more than that we cut back the next month. Works ok, but I do think we could shave off 10-15% spending if we were to budget.
We do have a rudimentary budget that works. I get $X amt deposited every month, if we spend more than that we cut back the next month. Works ok, but I do think we could shave off 10-15% spending if we were to budget.
Posted on 11/3/15 at 11:30 am to CHiPs25
YNAB
Posted on 11/3/15 at 12:49 pm to lilsnappa
quote:
If anyone wants this template I can email it...
What is the YNAB that several of you have mentioned?
This post was edited on 11/4/15 at 10:07 am
Posted on 11/3/15 at 1:06 pm to JamalSanders
quote:
What is the YNAB that several of you have mentioned?
YNAB = You Need A Budget
youneedabudget.com
If you have access to a .edu e-mail address, its free. Otherwise its $60. Best personal finance software out there.
Posted on 11/3/15 at 1:47 pm to lilsnappa
Can you shoot me an email with that template? Darnol91@gmail.com Thanks!
Posted on 11/3/15 at 1:59 pm to anc
quote:
Best personal finance software out there.
It really is the best. It helped me out A LOT a few years ago. I still put all my transactions in the software but tend to ignore the budget side like an idiot.
Posted on 11/3/15 at 2:06 pm to lilsnappa
ell13td @ gmail
Posted on 11/3/15 at 2:12 pm to lynxcat
quote:Same. I'm likely going to buy a house and a car within the next few years, so any way of budgeting and saving that is better than what I normally do (which isn't very organized) is appreciated.
This thread makes me feel like I am terrible at money management
Posted on 11/3/15 at 2:14 pm to lilsnappa
Lsutigerz2001 at yahoo.com
Posted on 11/3/15 at 2:14 pm to ell_13
Mine is simple as i am a simple person I know its not the best way of doing it buy i dont like making a budget if i am going to bust it every month.... I keep 10k in my checking account. 20k in a savings account. Me and ole lady contribute a lot to retirement. We take my 4 checks + her 1 check every month and put in our checking. We pay all bills by checking and everything else on credit cards. Every month on the last day I pay off all credit cards. If we still have 10k in checking were good. If its less we spend less the next month.... Only live once...
Posted on 11/3/15 at 2:49 pm to lilsnappa
(no message)
This post was edited on 11/3/15 at 3:13 pm
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