Budgets

[aneesha33]

So I have been trying to get together a budget for our family for about a year now. It doesnt work. We either spend too much or something comes up.

I have just sat down and wrote our bills from tomorrow all the way to Sept 1. I am teacher so my last check will be June 23 and then I wont get another til Sept 1.

So here is my question...

How do you really stick to do a budget?
Ive written out bills, and we should have about 100 extra after I stop getting pay checks. But it seems every summer money is tight.

I need advice on how to stick with it. Also how to get DH on board about spending less now so that we have more later (when I am not getting paid).

Then I would like to know how can we go about starting to save. We are both not the best with money.

TIA (sorry i was all over the place).

[Macaela25]

Divide your annual net pay by 12. That's what you need to live on each month. Get a separate savings account (not your regular savings). Starting in September, anything you are paid over and above that amount goes into the savings account. Do not touch it until summer. You'll have three paychecks sitting in it, waiting for you to pay yourself in June, July, and August.

ETA: If possible, have it done automatically by your bank. It's harder to spend money you don't see. If you find yourself wanting to use the money during the year, think of the beans and rice you'll be stuck eating.

[Dengineer]

Doing a one-size-fits-all budget for every month never works for us either. What does work best for us is to do a spending plan for each paycheck, keeping the big picture in mind. Every month is not the same. We sit down with the bills and write everything out on paper and make sure we account for everything.

[cody82414]

I too do a monthly "expenses" spreadsheet.
You get a better and more realistic idea of what your family spends that way,
versus what experts say you "should" be spending in a set category.

Keep in mind emergencies/unknown/misc. expenses
and graduate your gifts/entertainment categories with your families special occasions. For example, if you celebrate birthdays or go on summer vacations, then in those months, that category will expand a bit.

Like a diet, and to go along with what Dengineer said, one size doesn't do it for everyone. But like a diet, give yourself some breathing room, or you will fall right off and the way most of us react is to spend more, or eat more (unfortunately)

My best to you!

[kookiecrisp]

I use the envelope system. Each time hubby gets paid I take a set amount of cash out and disperse it in different envies. Once the envie is empty, it stays empty till next payday! We have "strayed" a few times but for the most part we do very well.
I have envies for
groceries
gas
medical
my allowance
hubbys allowance
miscellaneous
eating out

[usmcwifex07]

I do the envies as well. Ours is set on a two week schedule
Gas
Grocery
Haircut
All the bills I know that are coming due I write out of the checkbook, and what we have left over is what we have. Most of our bills are set up to come out automatically, that way it is one less headache for me to deal with.

Any extra money we did not plan on, survey checks, Melaleuca checks, rebate checks etc all go into our "debt free" fund. We find we are cutting it very close, then I will touch the fund, if not. I leave it alone. All of our loose change also goes into this jar. I started the fund a couple months ago, with the idea to save everything to pay on a debt. But as time went on, I modified it.
We are on one income at the moment, with me still in school and 15mos old. It was tight over the summer due to me having class during the day, which meant daycare.
We don't eat out anymore, so when we do, I can kinda have an idea of when and save up a bit for it and we can splurge on a nice dinner and a movie.

[joshmamabear]

This is what I did to make sure all utility bills are paid. I got all my statements for each company to view consumption per month. I added them up and then divided by 12 to get average use per month. I did this for all monthly payables. I separated those that are paid only once a year (life insurance, exterminator services, etc) or those payments like trash collection which is a set amount, I pay it in Jan and July with a fixed amount. In the past, I had a checking account set just to pay these bills. NO other payments come out of this account. From the averages I computed, divide it by how many times you get paid in a month. Example: cp bill : $70 and you get paid weekly, you have to set aside 17.50 from each paycheck to cover that amount. do that for all bills and you will have an idea of how much money you need to raise per week in order to be on top of your bills. In addition to that, I add a buffer amount, like $500 sitting on the account for unexpected increase in some bills just to make sure it gets covered. The past 2 years, I have made changes and decided to use CC to pay for my bills; at the end of each cycle, I pay all my balance. Instead of payment coming out directly on my CA mentioned above, I use my Discover CC to pay and when payment is due, it is debited from a CA that I set up under automatic pay. This way, I squeeze some perks from money I used to pay bills. Aside from that, I use a local community bank that gives 4.25% APY on the first 25K balance and 1.25% on the rest. All my bills are paid, including CC and I have never paid late fees or reinstatement fees. For those companies that don't take CC payments, I use direct debit from bank account. I never have to worry about missed payments. That gives me savings in stamps, too. All these savings here and there stack up to keep me debt-free. This plan has saved me a lot of time, I don't have to worry about misplaced bills, writing checks or going to the utility companies. Time saved is money saved :)

Feel free to pm in case you want clarifications, I'd be glad to share.