Do you budget? how?
by admin ~ June 14th, 2009 . Filed under: Personal Finance .
polished asked:
Since many people make financial resolutions for the New Year, I was just wondering…
Since many people make financial resolutions for the New Year, I was just wondering…
How many of you actually have a budget? How do you budget - do you use software, spreadsheets, pen and paper?
Do you use your budget just to track spending, or do you actually compare your spending to your budget and make decisions based on those numbers?
I religiously track my spending, and I have a cash flow plan, but I’ve never considered myself a strict budgeter.
How about you guys?
Faye Giambra
June 17th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
nobody plans to fail
they just fail to plan.
we began to to budget 5 yrs ago
now we have a positive cash flow every month
we are no longer slaves to credit slave cards
we have shortened our mortgage with out extra expenses by 10yrs saving thousands
our kids understand debt slavery and car fallacies. they are getting cash cars.
they are planning to live with in their means not to pay for golden severance packages of major companies.
we use simple two column paper cash in cash out. we stop before we run out of money.
June 18th, 2009 at 11:10 am
I have direct deposit to my checking account and check my balances online. Every paycheck i transfer away at least $25 or more to my savings account and it adds up quite nicely. I also make sure I keep an eye on how much im spending . Pen and paper are burdensome for me ..so even though this online method might take a few days to appear in my debiting column in my bank account it works for me.
I also check my credit card online and use it only to buy gas and pay it off right away. I use it to build credit after my bankrupcty a few years ago.
Each pay period i spend about $10 or a bit more to reward myself for surviving another 2 weeks.
These methods not only helps me save money for myself but it also helps me when theres a car emergency or some outstanding hospital copayment or some unusual emergency or something so that I can have a safety cushion and not be stuck having to borrow money or take out cash advances(bad!) or anything like that.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
My wife and I started budgeting about 4 years ago and boy was it an eye opener. We first started with pen and paper and then I transferred it to a spreadsheet. Before every month begins, MY WIFE AND I set down and discuss the next months expenses and income. We alwasy come to and agreement on birthday spending, supplies, miscellaneous expenses. There is an alotment for clothing and spending money for every member each month. Once we right this down and agree on it, it is set in stone and we don’t go over it. That is the hard part. If we need to move some things around during the month we can, but we both must agree to the shuffle. We have a savings acount in place that is just to cover any unexpected emergencies and by emergency, I don’t mean that I forgot to add that I wanted a golf club or my wife failed to mention that her hair needs coloring. I mean true emergency such as car breaking down or water pipe springing a leak. The first few months, we blew it every month. But, we gradually learned and have now got it down to a science. This entire process has aided us financially and emotionally. We don’t fight about money anymore and my wife and I are much closer now. We each know what is expected and our attitudes changed from ‘I deserve it’ to ‘I am lucky to have it”. I’m not saying that this is the only thing that changed my life, but it plays a large role. Everyone gets so bogged down nowadays in keeping up with the Jones or trying to impress someone you don’t even know that the affects are costing us our country. We need to learn to live like our grandparents did. My family thinks we are wierd and now because we save instead of spend, they think we are rich and they can’t relate. I am not wealthy by any measure, but I am rich in the fact that I have a wonderful, healthy family and don’t have to worry about the world caving in if I lose my job tomorrow. By the way, I have been there too.
Thanks for indulging me
June 20th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
My husband made an excel worksheet. He has since upgraded the budget into an access program. It’s pretty sharp. We have some much money a month for food, gas, and allowance each. He pays the insurance, car, rent, other,etc. Some goes to savings each month and some to long term savings. He has most bills set up automatically to pay each month. We got a few big things last September, but this year we’re not getting some big things (like new computer or fancy phone) until a majority of bills are paid off. We have a couple plans already in action to wipe out the credit cards and pay off motorcycle. All in all, everything gets paid on time and we have some spending money. We are looking to invest into a home once we wipe out these bills. We hope to be doing awesome by this time next year:)
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Certainly YES - it’s a must if you want to have any control of your money.
To help me, I have been using a Personal Finance Software package by Australian business Parcus Group - Personal Finance Associate.
The product is very good & simple to use. For AU$29 it costs, you get budgeting, financial planning templates as well as advanced features that typically cost lots more as separate software packages such as investment real estate calculations (mainly based on rental cash-flow analysis) and some value based shares valuations (based on Warren Buffet’s stock valuation methodology)
Their website is
For anyone interested in their own wealth creation this product is definitely worth looking at.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Having a budget is very important to monitor your spending since reports state that most people spend 10% more than they earn, which leads to increased debt over time without we notice it.
see this interesting short report about money management techniques :
it contains very useful information