Just curious on how many of Just curious on how many of you live on a strict budget where you know exactly how much you can spend on each item (ie house, food, travel, car, etc.). Right now my income is much more than my expenses so I don’t monitor my budget closely. I know generally how much I make versus how much I spend. Now that I am looking for a house a budget is becoming a much bigger deal.
UCGal
March 23, 2009 @
4:50 PM
I track our household I track our household income/expenses in Quicken. Once a year, when I feel like shocking myself on how much we spend on any given thing I import it into a spreadsheet…
This way I can see if there are things we can trim to either increase savings, increase travel, or some combo of the two.
drboom
March 23, 2009 @
5:19 PM
We maintain an old-fashioned We maintain an old-fashioned paper ledger and it is The Law in our house. I fill about three pages a month.
It’s a PITA, but it ends all arguments about money in our house and we live within our means.
SDowner
March 23, 2009 @
7:53 PM
yup, have a strict budget and yup, have a strict budget and stick to it too, most of the time. recently revamped the budget thereby triggering the vacation poll question in our household.
SDowner
March 23, 2009 @
7:53 PM
yup, have a strict budget and yup, have a strict budget and stick to it too, most of the time. recently revamped the budget thereby triggering the vacation poll question in our household.
SDowner
March 23, 2009 @
7:53 PM
yup, have a strict budget and yup, have a strict budget and stick to it too, most of the time. recently revamped the budget thereby triggering the vacation poll question in our household.
SDowner
March 23, 2009 @
7:53 PM
yup, have a strict budget and yup, have a strict budget and stick to it too, most of the time. recently revamped the budget thereby triggering the vacation poll question in our household.
SDowner
March 23, 2009 @
7:53 PM
yup, have a strict budget and yup, have a strict budget and stick to it too, most of the time. recently revamped the budget thereby triggering the vacation poll question in our household.
scaredyclassic
March 23, 2009 @
9:58 PM
i think better than a budget i think better than a budget is just to be cheap as hell, witha good sense of what’s going on with the main numbers. we used to budget and spend a lot more…
temeculaguy
March 23, 2009 @
11:27 PM
No budget whatsoever. I No budget whatsoever. I maintain fiscal responsibility through smoke and mirrors to fool myself, the same way I set my alarm clock ahead 15 minutes, make it the only clock in the room and know that every day I will forget and will panic myself out of bed thinking I am late.
So here’s the trick, multiple accounts, automatic savings withdrawals to accounts and investments that I cannot access online and have no atm card or checkbook to spend it easily. Institutions that have no branch in the town you live in is another trick. I have my montly operating cost plus about 25% put into the main checking, the rest gets sent off to other hard to find places automatically. I know I am too lazy to drive to the various institutions during business hours to get at my money so it sits. I also have an escrow account for the house because I’ll piss it away and have an unusually high tax witholding so I get Christmas in March, which I know is bad but it works. I also like illiquid automatic investments, one example, every paycheck I have payroll buy me savings bonds, have been doing that for 20 years. I’m totally aware that it is a horrible investment with a horrible yield but my credit union wont cash them and I do not have an account at a bank that will, so guess what, I still have them, stacks of them, never cashed one, have no idea what they are worth or the energy to turn them into real money, I filled a safe deposit box with them and haven’t seen the key for years (another fine trick). Ignorance isn’t just bliss, it’s mandatory, i can’t spend what i can’t quantify. If i knew that I had 70k worth of bonds, I’d already be at the porsche dealer, since I don’t know, I’m safe.
So there you have it, the ultimate non budget, just trick yourself, make it too hard to spend a fair chunk of your income that you give up and end up saving. Every bill is also auto pay so I have no clue when it is pulled out and am too afraid to go below a certain level of money in my checking for fear of not covering, so I maintain a certain floor in the checking to cover a month, because it could all be due tomorrow, i have no idea. because i lack discretion, I prevent myself from having too much disretionary income, it’s quite simple when you take a step back and look at it.
CafeMoto
March 24, 2009 @
8:47 AM
With input from all of you at With input from all of you at this site, I have learned so much. Thank you, your comments and links have elevated my understanding & the personalities are great. I track my regular bills and most other expenses in a simple spreadsheet that has my saving & investment goals too.
zzz
March 24, 2009 @
10:51 AM
I have a lot of friends who I have a lot of friends who get overwhelmed with the idea of budgeting. Its really simple. You know what you take home each month. Spend less.
Everyone has fixed expenses such as housing, car, insurance, utilities, etc. After accounting for these things, it pretty much leaves an amount for everything else, or savings. My approach is the non rocket science approach. I simply have discipline when it comes to buying things. I know what my priorities are and choose accordingly. On the same note, life can be short. You have to balance enjoying it now and saving for the long haul. So if I really want something that I think is not outrageous, I buy it, but this splurge happens no more than a few times a year. If you like to buy nice expensive things every other week, and then wonder where all your money went, then its pretty obvious what the problem is. If you buy your lunch every day, or you eat and drink out every other night, then you’ve consciously chosen to spend on that aspect of your life. I don’t know why people are surprised when they see their credit card bill. You’re the one spending the money! I know people who enjoy pouring over every line item of what they spent per month. I just don’t see what value there is in documenting how I spent $3.25 at In n Out, etc. Its more important what the trends are.
Its all about tradeoffs. I buy whatever I want at the grocery story, but we don’t buy really expensive meals out often. I buy in bulk for the non perishable items. I buy mostly organic fruits and veggies. We don’t eat processed food, but I don’t shop at Whole Foods aka Whole Paycheck often either. I often buy what’s on sale. We enjoy traveling so we usually take 1-2 big trips a year and then 3-5 weekend getaways. We have nice things, but they are not extravagant. I was taught very early on, go for quality, not quantity.
You don’t have to use Quicken or spend hours analyzing your statements. I look at all my accounts about every month and plug the numbers into a spreadsheet. If my net change is positive, that is ok with me. If its not, I think about what I’ve spent the last month and adjust accordingly. This takes me all of 5 minutes.
I have used this approach since I started working and it has never failed me. I save about 55% of my net income right now, but couldn’t have told you that until I just pulled up my spreadsheet. Its also the time / period of your life. In my early 20s I spent most of my income, but at the same time I wasn’t earning as much. I thoroughly enjoyed all the money I spent though eating out, traveling, experiencing. It was an investment in myself.
This shouldn’t be a stressful thing. Nor do I think it should be complex.
Anonymous
March 27, 2009 @
7:44 PM
Nope. No Budget.
We don’t Nope. No Budget.
We don’t have a budget. My wife and I have tried several times to work out a budget. She is a former Accountant, now stay at home mom, and I am an Engineer so one would think us capable of planning and sticking to a budget.
You would be wrong! Every time we start budget discussions, we start fighting. Eventually we decided that ignorance is bliss and gave up budgeting our finances.
patientrenter
March 28, 2009 @
11:11 AM
TG, hilarious response. You TG, hilarious response. You should think of ways to get paid for your writing skills.
I have gone all over the map on how to budget, but I always make sure I spend less than I earn. Currently, I auto-deduct my target savings monthly from my bank account to my bokerage accounts. I auto-pay all regular bills, inluding paying off any balance on my credit card. I use my credit card only when I have to (for online or big purchases). I take out $400 cash from each visit to the ATM to cover all other little day-to-day expenses. That means I can fiddle around all I want on spending, but I must stay within overall limits or else my bank account runs dry. I really notice it if I have to go the ATM twice in a week.
Every once in a while, I’ll itemize and analyze my spending in great detail to see where the money is going, and rein in any wasteful habits. I keep separate accounts for occasional bigger purchases, like a replacement car, or vacations, or furniture, or taxes, so I am not surprised, and so the money building up doesn’t lead me to spend too much on the little things, like meals out etc. It also tells me instantly how much I can afford for my next car, and my next vacation. That means my regular bank account has just enough to support my day-to-day spending goals, and I just need to keep a balance of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars at any time.
March 23, 2009 @ 4:43 PM
Just curious on how many of
Just curious on how many of you live on a strict budget where you know exactly how much you can spend on each item (ie house, food, travel, car, etc.). Right now my income is much more than my expenses so I don’t monitor my budget closely. I know generally how much I make versus how much I spend. Now that I am looking for a house a budget is becoming a much bigger deal.
March 23, 2009 @ 4:50 PM
I track our household
I track our household income/expenses in Quicken. Once a year, when I feel like shocking myself on how much we spend on any given thing I import it into a spreadsheet…
This way I can see if there are things we can trim to either increase savings, increase travel, or some combo of the two.
March 23, 2009 @ 5:19 PM
We maintain an old-fashioned
We maintain an old-fashioned paper ledger and it is The Law in our house. I fill about three pages a month.
It’s a PITA, but it ends all arguments about money in our house and we live within our means.
March 23, 2009 @ 7:53 PM
yup, have a strict budget and
yup, have a strict budget and stick to it too, most of the time. recently revamped the budget thereby triggering the vacation poll question in our household.
March 23, 2009 @ 7:53 PM
yup, have a strict budget and
yup, have a strict budget and stick to it too, most of the time. recently revamped the budget thereby triggering the vacation poll question in our household.
March 23, 2009 @ 7:53 PM
yup, have a strict budget and
yup, have a strict budget and stick to it too, most of the time. recently revamped the budget thereby triggering the vacation poll question in our household.
March 23, 2009 @ 7:53 PM
yup, have a strict budget and
yup, have a strict budget and stick to it too, most of the time. recently revamped the budget thereby triggering the vacation poll question in our household.
March 23, 2009 @ 7:53 PM
yup, have a strict budget and
yup, have a strict budget and stick to it too, most of the time. recently revamped the budget thereby triggering the vacation poll question in our household.
March 23, 2009 @ 9:58 PM
i think better than a budget
i think better than a budget is just to be cheap as hell, witha good sense of what’s going on with the main numbers. we used to budget and spend a lot more…
March 23, 2009 @ 11:27 PM
No budget whatsoever. I
No budget whatsoever. I maintain fiscal responsibility through smoke and mirrors to fool myself, the same way I set my alarm clock ahead 15 minutes, make it the only clock in the room and know that every day I will forget and will panic myself out of bed thinking I am late.
So here’s the trick, multiple accounts, automatic savings withdrawals to accounts and investments that I cannot access online and have no atm card or checkbook to spend it easily. Institutions that have no branch in the town you live in is another trick. I have my montly operating cost plus about 25% put into the main checking, the rest gets sent off to other hard to find places automatically. I know I am too lazy to drive to the various institutions during business hours to get at my money so it sits. I also have an escrow account for the house because I’ll piss it away and have an unusually high tax witholding so I get Christmas in March, which I know is bad but it works. I also like illiquid automatic investments, one example, every paycheck I have payroll buy me savings bonds, have been doing that for 20 years. I’m totally aware that it is a horrible investment with a horrible yield but my credit union wont cash them and I do not have an account at a bank that will, so guess what, I still have them, stacks of them, never cashed one, have no idea what they are worth or the energy to turn them into real money, I filled a safe deposit box with them and haven’t seen the key for years (another fine trick). Ignorance isn’t just bliss, it’s mandatory, i can’t spend what i can’t quantify. If i knew that I had 70k worth of bonds, I’d already be at the porsche dealer, since I don’t know, I’m safe.
So there you have it, the ultimate non budget, just trick yourself, make it too hard to spend a fair chunk of your income that you give up and end up saving. Every bill is also auto pay so I have no clue when it is pulled out and am too afraid to go below a certain level of money in my checking for fear of not covering, so I maintain a certain floor in the checking to cover a month, because it could all be due tomorrow, i have no idea. because i lack discretion, I prevent myself from having too much disretionary income, it’s quite simple when you take a step back and look at it.
March 24, 2009 @ 8:47 AM
With input from all of you at
With input from all of you at this site, I have learned so much. Thank you, your comments and links have elevated my understanding & the personalities are great. I track my regular bills and most other expenses in a simple spreadsheet that has my saving & investment goals too.
March 24, 2009 @ 10:51 AM
I have a lot of friends who
I have a lot of friends who get overwhelmed with the idea of budgeting. Its really simple. You know what you take home each month. Spend less.
Everyone has fixed expenses such as housing, car, insurance, utilities, etc. After accounting for these things, it pretty much leaves an amount for everything else, or savings. My approach is the non rocket science approach. I simply have discipline when it comes to buying things. I know what my priorities are and choose accordingly. On the same note, life can be short. You have to balance enjoying it now and saving for the long haul. So if I really want something that I think is not outrageous, I buy it, but this splurge happens no more than a few times a year. If you like to buy nice expensive things every other week, and then wonder where all your money went, then its pretty obvious what the problem is. If you buy your lunch every day, or you eat and drink out every other night, then you’ve consciously chosen to spend on that aspect of your life. I don’t know why people are surprised when they see their credit card bill. You’re the one spending the money! I know people who enjoy pouring over every line item of what they spent per month. I just don’t see what value there is in documenting how I spent $3.25 at In n Out, etc. Its more important what the trends are.
Its all about tradeoffs. I buy whatever I want at the grocery story, but we don’t buy really expensive meals out often. I buy in bulk for the non perishable items. I buy mostly organic fruits and veggies. We don’t eat processed food, but I don’t shop at Whole Foods aka Whole Paycheck often either. I often buy what’s on sale. We enjoy traveling so we usually take 1-2 big trips a year and then 3-5 weekend getaways. We have nice things, but they are not extravagant. I was taught very early on, go for quality, not quantity.
You don’t have to use Quicken or spend hours analyzing your statements. I look at all my accounts about every month and plug the numbers into a spreadsheet. If my net change is positive, that is ok with me. If its not, I think about what I’ve spent the last month and adjust accordingly. This takes me all of 5 minutes.
I have used this approach since I started working and it has never failed me. I save about 55% of my net income right now, but couldn’t have told you that until I just pulled up my spreadsheet. Its also the time / period of your life. In my early 20s I spent most of my income, but at the same time I wasn’t earning as much. I thoroughly enjoyed all the money I spent though eating out, traveling, experiencing. It was an investment in myself.
This shouldn’t be a stressful thing. Nor do I think it should be complex.
March 27, 2009 @ 7:44 PM
Nope. No Budget.
We don’t
Nope. No Budget.
We don’t have a budget. My wife and I have tried several times to work out a budget. She is a former Accountant, now stay at home mom, and I am an Engineer so one would think us capable of planning and sticking to a budget.
You would be wrong! Every time we start budget discussions, we start fighting. Eventually we decided that ignorance is bliss and gave up budgeting our finances.
March 28, 2009 @ 11:11 AM
TG, hilarious response. You
TG, hilarious response. You should think of ways to get paid for your writing skills.
I have gone all over the map on how to budget, but I always make sure I spend less than I earn. Currently, I auto-deduct my target savings monthly from my bank account to my bokerage accounts. I auto-pay all regular bills, inluding paying off any balance on my credit card. I use my credit card only when I have to (for online or big purchases). I take out $400 cash from each visit to the ATM to cover all other little day-to-day expenses. That means I can fiddle around all I want on spending, but I must stay within overall limits or else my bank account runs dry. I really notice it if I have to go the ATM twice in a week.
Every once in a while, I’ll itemize and analyze my spending in great detail to see where the money is going, and rein in any wasteful habits. I keep separate accounts for occasional bigger purchases, like a replacement car, or vacations, or furniture, or taxes, so I am not surprised, and so the money building up doesn’t lead me to spend too much on the little things, like meals out etc. It also tells me instantly how much I can afford for my next car, and my next vacation. That means my regular bank account has just enough to support my day-to-day spending goals, and I just need to keep a balance of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars at any time.