Budgeting help

jettagurl

DH and I (I finally convinced him that this would be sooo helpful) are finally going to work out a budget to try to build up our savings again. (We've dipped on occasion since I've become a SAHM, and we'd essentially like for me to never need a FT gig again, so that I can really worry about kids/activities/transportation, and he can just work and show up where/when he needs to). 

So...what do you use to keep track?  Just an excel sheet?

And for your 'fun' money, do you move a certain amount to a separate account, or do you just trust that the other person doesn't go over their allotment?I think we'd do best moving money out of there, then only using that card for bills/groceries, essentially emptying it every two weeks (excess moved to savings before payday....smart?  crazy? 

Any tips?  This is my goal for this week - to get a budget outline - although I'm sure it will need tweaked over the next few months.  

TIA!  

Mrs Manners

If you post over on MM, they will have a ton of suggestions and many of them have very detailed budget spreadsheets that they'll be happy to share. You may also want to consider a free budget service like mint.com that you can link to your debit/credit/asset accounts.

SumnerBride

My H uses a spreadsheet he created back in college.

For "fun" money, my H pulls cash out for the week.  Once the cash is gone, the fun is gone.

jettagurl

SumnerBride:

 Once the cash is gone, the fun is gone.

I had to LOL at this.  Great quote.  That's our problem essentially, we get just get a little more out for a little more fun... 

emilykristene2006

Maybe that why we don't have any fun? We really need some fun money!

j-w

I use an excel spreadsheet.  Fun money comes in the form of cash and also as an expense on our credit card.  We get points with our credit card, so we use it for everything and pay it off in full each month.  So, we have one part of the budget that is just called 'Credit Card' and it has a monthly amount that I allow for.  So, fun money on that can change from month to month, based on what else we need that month.  ie, If we have a big vet bill that goes onto the cc, then, that impacts the overall sum on it and hence, it affects the fun money amount as well.  The cc has its own page on the spreadsheet as well so that we can see where we are as the month goes along.  I try to enter receipts every day.  I am pretty anal!

npeacock

It helps just to know where your money is going. We know what our bills are going to be each month, and we know when to "expect" an unexpected bill (like the annual check-up for the dog or car insurance is due). We plan our fun money accordingly around that.

Both DS and I are anal about money, so we don't pull cash out and use that or put it in a separate account. We just pay attention to what we spend. We do go over on occasion, but when that happens, the next month's budget gets a tweak.

AshlynsMom

I use a spread sheet, DH keeps track (accurately, to the dollar) in his head. 

We do the dump everything into savings right before payday thing and I think it's awesome.  You're not depriving yourself, and it also forces you to stay on budget the next month.  We also budget some to go to various savings accounts immediately after payday, too.  So even if something comes up and there's nothing left at the last day of that pay period, we've still saved some.