Ok money guys. Budget ideas

We already do that. Minus eating out. It's just waseful and I'd like a better way of tracking. I already spreadsheet everything and average months as well as track deficit and surplus as well. My wife who never looks at anything is where the helpnis needed I think. In her defense she has 3 under age of 5 to deal with as well as two major hospitalization from me this year. She has a lot to track and I thought cash would help...

You say she never looks at anything....what exactly does this mean? Who does the grocery and household shopping? If it's her, then does she stay on budget with the weekly targets? Sit down at a kid free time and explain what you want to achieve with your budget, and ask her what her goals are. You may be motivated to save for one thing when she really wants to work toward something else. If she's truly loose with the spending, give her an incentive to economize....if the grocery weekly budget is $50, tell her she can keep X percentage of whatever's left over at the end of the week, with Y percentage going toward joint savings.

Cooking at home is the easiest way to save money, but it does put the burden on whoever cooks regularly. If this is her, perhaps you both could spend some time cooking freezer meals one Sunday a month, then she won't feel so under the gun on busy weekdays.

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I download my bank statement every week or two and assign a category to each purchase and roll it up by month. I have some budgeted averages I want to hit and compare to those. Even if you don't have budgets for categories, the data collection can lead to some "holy shite" moments when you look at the monthly or yearly roll up.

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Is there a program you downlaod to? I excexcel in a breakdown of all shopping but it is uncategorized. They are broken down to things like krogers/Walmart/target/insurance/gas, etc...

It seems like having too many accounts would become cumbersome and easy to lose track of.

What I like to do is pay my bills for the month, then transfer everything out but what I budget out for two weeks. I can easily transfer it back, but when I transfer back, its a mental reminder that I failed my goal.

I do plan on opening one additional checking account though to serve as a day-to-day expense account. I think it'll help me see what I'm actually spending on food, eating out, alcohol and whatnot.

I download to excel (comma separated values), delete what columns I don't need, and copy and paste the rest into my spreadsheet. I basically end up with three columns of data: date, description, and amount. Then I enter the category and the rest is automatic.

Using capital one 360 you can open a bunch of online savings accounts for free with like a .75% interest rate, which happens to be really good for a savings account. I have some earmarked like you're attempting to do - house fund, emergency fund, etc.

Mint.com.

Try to renegotiate your insurance with another company. I just saved over $400 a year doing this... Simply switched to another one of the majors.

I have 3 accounts:

-I have a checking account for all my bills and fixed expenses (rent, cable/internet, insurance, phone, water/sewage, electricity). I keep only the exact amount of those expense plus about a $100 buffer in that account. The rest goes into the other 2 accounts

-I have a checking account for daily expenses (gas, groceries, bars, restaurants, movies, etc.). Every month I budget how much I plan to spend on these things, and put that amount in the checking account. That way I basically give myself a cap on my spending. I know that if I have to transfer money into the account before the month has ended then I have failed my goal.

-I have a savings account with the rest of my emergency fund and savings for large future expenses. If I were you, I would not open multiple savings accounts as it just seems like a waste of money. Just keep a spreadsheet or something that helps you track it. So for instance, I have a spreadsheet that outlines how much is for an emergency fund, how mush is saving for a vacation, how much is saving for a down payment on a house, but those are just figures I made up to track it within the same account.

Hope that helps

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Thanks for all the responses. Taking all advice.

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I'll leave the multiple accounts / structure to other folks, but you should definitely consider a Mint account. It allows your to easily track all of these accounts in one seamless, electronic location. This is a lifesaver even for someone with simple financials.