If you have a very defined budget

noah-bear

How do you break things down? 

I'm setting up a notebook to write down what and when I make purchases and pay bills along with how much we have allotted for each category.  I am hoping this will get us in a good routine where I don't have to be so defined on it all, but right now, with LO coming and our having moved recently, we need to be tight.

lraley

I used to be an accountant, so I love using spreadsheets.  You can do calculations in the cells that automatically calculate.  I do all my budgeting and calculations in there.  Break it down into categories (utilities, daily expenses, necessities, etc.)..whatever fits your life style best.  Good luck and happy budgeting!

trizzie

I use an excel spreadsheet broken down into categories: household, groceries, Costco, DD&DS, gas, gifts/other.  I have an overall number that I strive to stay below each month - I have a budget for each area but I am okay if I go over as long as I stay below the overall number.  Every time we spend money I enter in the spreadsheet.

celiabwatson

mint.com

noah-bear

celiabwatson:

mint.com

I used to have an account with them and I went in and updated it to add my accounts and budget and goals, but I'm confused by it.  

nekorayne

I have a spreadsheet that is separated into check by month- so usually two checks a month since we get paid bi-weekly). Then I assign our bills to a check and budget each bill separate. So electric, phone, etc...

Then each bill has a gas budget, grocery budget, fun money budget, and what goes into savings.  EVERYTHING is budgeted and we budget down to $0 so every cent has a home.

kcisthebombdotcom

https://quicken.intuit.com/

We use this.

We have all our set bills--mortgage/electric/cable/phone etc come out via online bill pay every month. Savings is set up via direct deposit at DH's work. We automatically transfer $100/week into savings, and the rest of his check goes towards our bills.

The rest (groceries, gas for cars, discretionary spending)--we use in cash. I waitress 2 nights a week, so I take home $200/week in cash (sometimes more if I have a good night or 2). $60 goes towards groceries, $25 goes towards gas (DH works 5 minutes away, and I live in the burbs so I can go out everyday and still go through little gas), $50 for daycare (the kids go one afternoon a week), and the rest is split between discretionary/extra savings.

Any money left at the end of the week that I didn't spend on miscellaneous stuff goes into a jar. If I need to go over for any reason, I use some of another week's overage to make up the difference (I always leave an extra $100 in there). At the end of the month, I deposit the extra cash (minus the $100) into savings.

jw87

I think keeping it simple is best.  I use excel.  I also have all the dates marked for automatic withdraws, so we don't have surprises. 

It's also important to be realistic.  I also think setting goals is EXTREMELY important.  Goals for savings, etc. 

Temp6313048411121614

All of our fixed bills (utilites, mortgage, credit cards, etc) stay in our checking account.  The rest we cash out and use for groceries.  There's usually not much left over after groceries and that's our "spending" money.  We live on a very small budget.  Like  PP, I keep track of everything in excel and have a bunch of formulas set up.  Our bills are around $3k/month and we spend around $600 on groceries monthly.

WhitePicketFence

nekorayne:

I have a spreadsheet that is separated into check by month- so usually two checks a month since we get paid bi-weekly). Then I assign our bills to a check and budget each bill separate. So electric, phone, etc...

Then each bill has a gas budget, grocery budget, fun money budget, and what goes into savings.  EVERYTHING is budgeted and we budget down to $0 so every cent has a home.

This is almost exactly what I do, too.

In Excel, I created a spreadsheet that assumes 2 paychecks per month. I then broke down each paycheck so that there is a category for each bill that needs to paid during that period and record it's due date. I then created categories under each paycheck for groceries, household items/toiletries/baby items, gasoline, and spending money. Lastly, I have a category under each paycheck for savings (Roth IRAs, 529 plans, kid's savings accounts, and general savings).

DH's income varies since even though he's salaried, he's nonexempt and still gets paid overtime + bonuses. This means that I sometimes have to go in and adjust our budgeted amounts, but it very easy to do. Also, I don't factor in the 2 "extra" paychecks that DH gets each year. Those typically get thrown either to debt repayment or savings.