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Does anyone practice Dave Ramsey's cash budget technique for saving?

mkanderson85mkanderson85
in Babies: 6 - 9 Months
We ae looking into starting this so that we can budget our spending.  I am having trouble figuring out how to begin though.  I know that you take money out of your checking account and put it into envelopes and only use the cash there, but how do you begin?   Do you start when your new salary check is entered and then put the remaining sum into savings so that you ONLY use the money from that one check, or can I begin now when my check isn't going to be directly deposited until next week? 
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Re: Does anyone practice Dave Ramsey's cash budget technique for saving?

  • tyke29tyke29 member

    We do the Dave Ramsey principles, but not the envelopes.  We have a budget spreadsheet and I recorded everything by line item.  So we will not go over budget.  It works for us.

    Budget is none by month, but we did not any issues paying everything each month.  We just wanted to watch what we spent and pay off our truck and car before LO was born. 

    So if you have plenty of money in the account and want to do everything in cash.  I would sit down and decide how much per month for everything and then get the cash for the envelopes based on a week or two. 

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  • mkanderson85mkanderson85
    imagetyke29:

    We do the Dave Ramsey principles, but not the envelopes.  We have a budget spreadsheet and I recorded everything by line item.  So we will not go over budget.  It works for us.

    Budget is none by month, but we did not any issues paying everything each month.  We just wanted to watch what we spent and pay off our truck and car before LO was born. 

    So if you have plenty of money in the account and want to do everything in cash.  I would sit down and decide how much per month for everything and then get the cash for the envelopes based on a week or two. 

    We also don't have issues paying anything, we just want to start saving more for a new house.  We are very inconsistent with how much we spend now, and I want to make sure that we stick to a number (especially for grocerys and clothes shopping-- guilty!)

     If you have a document that you wouldn't mind sharing, I would really appreciate it.  PM me if you don't mind sharing and I'll send you my email address.  I don't even understand how to go about starting a budget and what it entails.  A friend of mine does the envelopes, but it seems like a PITA having to go to the bank so often for cash.   

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  • ladybug8510ladybug8510

    We follow some of his principles.  We don't do cash.  But what I found works for us is I have $$ put into savings after each paycheck.  It goes into separate accounts (DD, dog, car, e-fund, etc.) at ING.  I have recently started putting groceries and gas on my amex (for the cash back) and find that helps me spend less.  I can log onto that site and see how much I have spent so far for the month. 

    I'm really bad with cash so that doesn't work for me.  If I have it I spend it and unlike my credit card/debit card, there is nothing to show me what I spent it on.  

     

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  • lasa4641lasa4641

    We use the envelope system and follow Dave's principles.  My husband and I get paid twice a month and we have a budget set up monthly but with "1st paycheck" "2nd paycheck" columns.  I keep the checkbook and when we get paid I deduct all bills, go to the bank and withdraw cash, and so everything that is left in the account is gas money (too many places are pay at the pump).  Going to the bank twice a month is sort of a PITA, but it is the only way we can be sure we stick to the budget.

     

    It sounds like you need to first start with a budget.  We always had a budget (although we were bad about sticking to it) so our missing piece was really the cash aspect of his plan.  Our budget isn't too extensive.  We do, however, have a miscellaneous category which is for all non-monthly expenses (clothes, oil changes, haircuts, etc.)  These purchases much be talked about with each of us before the money is spent.  We also try to carry a balance with that so that we can pay for Christmas. 

     

    Anyway...if it helps, here are our categories

     

    mortgage

    tv/internet

    water/trash

    electricity (we don't have gas)

    insurance

    food

    retirement

    cell phones

    daycare

    life insurance

    date (this is stuff we do together like dinners out or even movie rentals)

    spending (we each get an amount to spend on whatever per month)

    church (tithing...sp?)

    car loan

    student loans

    micellaneous

     

    Anything that is left over goes towards debt or savings.

     

     

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  • Stephanie2167Stephanie2167 member

    I haven't read Dave Ramsey's book but have read Smart Couples Finish Rich.

    This is how we do our budget. Most of the stuff that says what part of the month is an automatic payment.

    Rent (1st of the month)
    Car Loan (15th of the month)
    Auto expenses (gas/oil changes)
    Groceries
    Dining Out
    Haircuts
    Cell Phones/ Internet / Cable (15th of the month)
    Electricity (15th of the month)
    Netflix (1st of the month)
    Xbox (15th of the month)
    Pet food
    Baby Items (Diapers/wash)
    Clothes
    Cards/Gifts
    Daycare (1st of the month)
    Emergency Savings (1st of the month)
    Courtney's Savings (1st of the month)
    Vacation Savings (15th of the month)
    Other Goals (15th of the month)


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  • mrsr09mrsr09
    imagetyke29:

    We do the Dave Ramsey principles, but not the envelopes.  We have a budget spreadsheet and I recorded everything by line item.  So we will not go over budget.  It works for us.

    Budget is none by month, but we did not any issues paying everything each month.  We just wanted to watch what we spent and pay off our truck and car before LO was born. 

    So if you have plenty of money in the account and want to do everything in cash.  I would sit down and decide how much per month for everything and then get the cash for the envelopes based on a week or two. 

     

    Same for us. I made my own budget spreadsheet, but there are some available on Dave's site: https://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-forms/.

    And way to go on even wanting to do a budget. It is hard at first, but it gets a lot easier the more you do it!

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