HOW TO BUDGET | Imamother

blue eyes

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 10:00 pm

Im married for a while not but we havent really budgeted- idk at first we hardly made ends meet so there was no need- it was a natural budgeting process that if we purchase anything aside from basic groceries there wont be enough for rent. bh I have a nice salary now so we've started putting away for savings everymonth.
I used to have my paycheck deposited directly into my acct and used a debit card- no budgeting- but I always felt that as much as I had thats how much we used. so we started using credit cards to be able to keep track better of whatever expenses we use and we pay it once or twice a month.

I want to start keeping a serious budget- any good ideas? I want to know how much I can put into savings every month, how much I spend on groceires, utilites, take out food, etc etc I've searched google for a good budgeting calander but didnt find a decent one. HOW DOES EVERYONE DO IT?

Isher

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 10:39 pm

You might want to check out these links:

http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-forms/

http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-lite/

Good Luck

finprof

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 11:29 pm

maybe I don't understand what you are asking because I would say that all you need to do is keep track of your receipts using excel. Just make a couple of column headings and start tracking, its really simple.

Marion

Mon, Jul 18 2011, 1:17 am

I use Quicken, but Google Docs or Excel would work, depending on how specific you want to get.

snowy

Mon, Jul 18 2011, 1:36 am

mint.com will do it for you

cinnamon

Mon, Jul 18 2011, 3:08 am

I use Excel you just have to be very strict about writing down every penny.
(I was at first then got a little lax now I am back on the wagon and write everything down again.)

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Jul 18 2011, 5:14 am

blue eyes wrote:

STOP USING THE CREDIT CARDS and only use CASH. This is what we do. We try only to use the credit cards for big purchases (things like, we just bought an oven, thats a lot of money at once) not for going to the store or what not. I think that when we use cash instead of credit cards, it makes us much more aware of what we are spending.
Try it. I really believe it works.

Mrs.K

Mon, Jul 18 2011, 5:19 am

shabbatiscoming wrote:

[STOP USING THE CREDIT CARDS and only use CASH.

1000% agreed!

curlyhead

Mon, Jul 18 2011, 7:09 am

I have multiple bank accounts.
1 which our income come in and I only leave in enough for the basic weekly expenses such as groceries, gas, cleaning help, minimal spending money etc..
2nd is for bills which I tranfer fortnightly the amount needed for rent and utilities after I pay current bills
3rd is saving which is for those large, occasional expenses such as tutition, car repairs, yomtov. If there is any extra $$ after the weekly expenses or bills it goes in this account. Also any bonuses such as Tax return go straight into this account.
I want to open a 4th account for Masser.

I love the ease internet bankung is with transfering $ between accounts.