budgeting...
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budgeting...
| Fri, 01-14-2005 - 10:34am |
Ok I so need to get a household budget under way. We have been ok so far, but next year we want to buy a house and I think we will need to cut back and watch where more of our money goes.
So I figure putting the plan in place before it happens might be a little less stressful.
Have you always had to budget so you are just good at it? Do you use an excel program, or some other software program?
How long did it take for your family to really adjust to the budget? And any other helpful tips.
TIA
Sarah and Maggie

although Dh brings home the paycheck, I'm the one who handles the finances LOL :o)
I use quicken and online banking to pay bills & track expenses/inflows. We also have a set amount automatically transferred into a savings account every month.
The smartest thing is to NOT use your debit cards... give yourself a cash allowance each week. It's SOOO easy to just whip out that card when you want something, plus there's the temptation of ATM withdrawals & fees you have to deal with.
I also make out a menu every week so that I know exactly what to buy and how much approx. it will cost.
It's a difficult adjustment at first, but you just have to rule out things that are simply not necessary.
Also, if you are planning on buying a house, be sure to check your credit several months in advance to allow ample time to clear up any mistakes/outstanding balances so that your credit score will be as high as possible.
GL!
I use Microsoft Works to make mine. I love it.
It comes in handy to know where the money goes and be able to change it if needed.
OK, gonna do a plug here - DAVE RAMSEY. We were on a paycheck to paycheck kind of lifestyle not saving any money, not watching where the money really went, no budget to really speak of and not paying any of the bills off until November 2004. We had listened to Dave Ramsey's show on the radio for a long time and always said Wow - that'd be cool to call in and say we were debt free. We checked out his books from the library and read them - DH and myself on our own separately. Then we pow-wowed about it all. So starting last November we implemented the envelope system and his step-by-step to a debt free life and more freedom because of it.
Of course during the month of December all of it just went out the window since we hadn't been doing it long enough to have the funds to pay for Christmas and still follow the plan - although we did pay for Christmas completely with CASH.
So now, two weeks into January we have $1000 in our savings account, only use the check book to pay bills...which we have paid off 2 bills already too and are getting ready to pay off a third at the end of the month...and are using the envelope system. This is what works for my family of 5 (we have three kids and a black lab) and these amounts are for a 2 week period:
Grocery (including cleaning products, paper goods and diapers): $175
Gas: $80
Blow (eating out, if $$ permits, and here and there kind of small things): $50
Miscellaneous (hair cuts, mag subscriptions, prescriptions, kids lunch milk at school since they take their lunch, auto oil change, etc. and this envelope is not always used as some things only come around every 6 weeks/3 months, etc.): $65
This makes it for us for two weeks. You will find that when paying cash for EVERYTHING you are more careful about what you are getting.
I made a spreadsheet in Excel from my grocery receipts. When I am ready to go shopping I can just add those items into a certain column and it will total it for me and I know what I should be spedning. If you use your grocery receipts you can also tell which items are taxed then this is where I use 2 columns and put the tax free in one column and the taxable items in the other column and just added the function to add the taxable column, then add up what the tax would be and add that to my total - so then I'm completely ready for the total with taxes included.
It seems like a lot but it really isn't once you've sat down and done the grunt work of it all the first time around.
Good luck with it all.
Sherrie
Mama to
Kaelyn (5-13-97)
Kyle (12-13-99)
Jacob (11-30-02)
Oh yes I use my debit card all the time. I hate to carry cash because I just seem to spend it on stupid stuff. So I need to get out of that habit.
I know our credit is fine since we bought a condo last year so we are ok in the dept. I used to work for a company that did credit reports for lenders so I have seen the horrors. So I have always kept an eye on things.
My dh does the finances because it just seems that he has a better head for it. If I know there is money in the bank I spend it. He is so much better at paying things off and saving more. He just does not have the time like I should to do a better job
Sarah
Here are some links for budget worksheets to print....
http://www.printablechecklists.com/menu/home.shtml
Parentsplace also has some boards for saving money like..frugal living.
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