Where is your money???
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Where is your money???
| Wed, 01-04-2006 - 12:33pm |
How on earth do you keep your money in your account--in order to use it for bills? That debit card is what we use all the time. We never write it down when we use it.
Do you do online banking? Do you take a certain amount of "cash" and put it in envelopes---for gas, groceries, etc?
We don't even "think" before using our debit card. Before we know it-----we just spent $300 in one week for fast food!!
How can dh and I get on the same page when it comes to all of this. I can't control what he buys when he is out and about. He also goes out at least once/week with teh guys after basketball---for dinner---but that cost $20. He tells me its "his" one time out!! I never go out!! I shop---for necessary things!!
Anybody with a dh not cooperating?
Holly

We don't use a debit card. DH gets $40 a week to spend as he wishes. He puts gas and other essentials on the credit card. I know alot of people on here don't agree with a credit card, but we use it for everything. We pay it off monthly and get the benefits of the cash back. I'm sure DH spends more than he should using the credit card, but he doesn't look at debt the same way I do. He doesn't buy alot though. Mainly cigarettes and occasionally McDonalds.
Donna
Hi!
I use my debit card for purchases at the grocery store or for clothing or dh's workshop needs (hardware type stuff), and what works for me is to put my receipts, right as the cashier hands them to me, into my wallet. They don't go anywhere else in my purse. I just stuff them into my wallet. I don't even bother to fold them nicely. Just stuff. Then, each evening (or once I'm in the car, if there's time), I sit down and record each transaction in my checkbook register. Then I take my new balance, deduct my list of bills and expenses for that pay period (which I carry with me at all times), and that gives me the amount we have for 'leisure' spending. Sometimes it's nothing. Sometimes we have enough for a special lunch out or a movie together. I have to say I'm almost compulsive about doing this since I had my last overdraft in July. It was a pure accident. I forgot to record a receipt that I'd stuffed in my pocket. It went through the wash, and I never thought much about it. That is, until I got the notice from my bank saying we were overdrawn.
I do check my checking account online each and every day. I check to make sure everything matches up, that I haven't missed anything, and then on weekends, I update the whole week's transactions in our Quicken program. The daily online account checking began, also, with my last overdraft.
Has your husband seen your household budget? Maybe you could show it to him and see if he agrees that he needs to cut back on spending. My husband used to do this in the early years of our marriage (we've been married 13 years), but after he'd come home from work several times with me waving an overdraft notice in his face saying, "You just HAD to have a new computer game, didn't you!?!", he started to call and ask if he could spend money on something expensive. What works for us on weekends is to not eat out at all. Believe me, I'm tempted. I love to go to a nice sit-down restaurant (not fancy...just something like Chili's or even Steak-n-Shake), and eat with my family, but I just force myself to respond to my son's "I'm so hungry!!" calls from the backseat with, "No problem...I'll make you something as soon as we get home. Think about what you want, ok?", and that will usually hold him till we get home. We used to get trapped by my son wanting Burger King Vanilla shakes, so we'd stop and get him his shake and a kids' meal, and then get lunch for ourselves. Now I just get some inexpensive vanilla ice cream at my Super Walmart (the kind in the big tub with the plastic handle, like a big bucket), and make milkshakes in our own blender at home for a special treat. Much cheaper. :-D
Pat :-D
Hello,
Ask your husband to keep his receipts and give them to you each day. I have a whiteboard near my home computer with the monthly budget on it, broken down into categories (Mortgage, Utilities, Food, Car, Pet, Medical, Entertainment, Misc) with the totals at the bottom. I have three columns labeled "Budget", "Actual", "Snowball". Every couple of days, I'll take a piece of paper, list all of the receipts and expenses (from online banking) and total up the amounts that should be added to the "Actual" column. Since I'm writing the "Actuals" on a whiteboard, it's easy to update the amounts. If we spend less than the Budgeted amount, I add the difference to the Snowball column, so I can watch it grow. I send the "snowball" amount immediately to debt, using an online payment option, even if it's just a few cents. However, I like watching the snowball amount grow.
It's a nice visual way to see how we're doing, and using the whiteboard means I'm not erasing pencil or re-printing a spreadsheet.
Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke
Got Dot? Why Not? It Pays!
http://www.website.ws/runsamok/show/
Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke
Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished
Woahhhhhhhhhhh..... your debit card is your checking account! You HAVE to write down what you spend! It's absolutely necessary in my opinion. Not doing so is the same as writing a whole bunch of checks and not keeping track of them. You might as well give your checkbook away to a stranger and tell them to write as many as they want.
Here is the quickest solution for you. Keep all your receipts from EVERY transaction you use your debit card for. Put them in your wallet or in some kind of basket or something in a place you will not lose them. On a regular basis, preferably at least a few times a week, record these receipts in your checkbook register and balance your checkbook.
I really recommend getting financial software like Quicken, but you probably are not ready for that just yet. You need to get a handle on things first. I record my receipts in Quicken 2 or 3 times a week. It has really helped cut down on my spending and helps me stick to a budget.
Cheryl
Yes, Yes, Yes!! I know!!!
We are very bad!!
We do get on the computer every day and check our account to see what's gone thru. Most of the time----the debits go thru immediately. I don't like that!!! Dh can be sitting at home and at the same time--know how much I spent at Walmart the second I go thru the line!!
We've never worried aobut money--it's always been there. We buy what we want and pay the bills. But it's getting to be too much $ on credit cards.
Holly
We just started a new system a few months ago, and it's great. On my DH's paydays (2 per month), his $$ is deposited to our joint account. Then, the same day, we have it set up that the bank takes a certain amount of it and transfers it to my account. From my account, all of the bills are on autopay. That way, it doesn't ever look like there's tons of money in the joint account that is ready to be spent. When DH checks the account and the balance is low, he knows not to spend.
For us, that works like a charm. Good luck!
That's why my boyfriend and I are not going to merge our bank accounts when we get married, it causes too much confusion and too many arguments!
Good luck!