I will say that before mom moved in with us, the budget was much more real. I could only go out for lunch once a week, so I stopped once I hit 4x in one month. I cut my "coffee out" trips to once a week.
Between mom moving in and the job change, we can be a lot more lackadaisical.
Nope, we should though. We both run purchases over $100 by each other, but there have been a few times that our checking account has run dangerously low after paying off our credits cards each month
I put money in savings, towards my cc and make sure I have enough for bills. After that I spend however I want and don't worry too much about categories. I love not having to share a bank account with anyone!
Post by carolinagirl831 on Aug 5, 2015 17:09:13 GMT -5
No, we've thankfully never had to follow a strict budget. But that might be changing since dd2 was born, now we have a car payment. And $1200 in daycare expenses we didn't have before
Basically each pay period I pay the bills (and a tiny bit to savings don't worry) then tell H how much we have to live on for the next week or two weeks. It's always pretty much gone when the next paycheck rolls around.
No. We probably should. I'm usually just aware of how much is in our account and what bills we have coming up. We do need to cut back on some of our random spending though so a budget might help but maybe not, who knows! I'm just not good at saying "oh, we hit our grocery budget for the month so we need to wait until the 1st to buy milk even though we're out" or something. I have been trying to stick to lists though while shopping.. blah. Anyways, short answer is just no, lol.
No but we really really should. We spend money like crazy and need to rein it in and save more. The amount we spend eating out is astonishing, as an example.
I track every penny we spend and it's technically in a budget but a huge amount is discretionary savings so it's rare that I don't buy something I want because it just means that there is less savings that month. We have retirement and automatic savings separate. For large purchases I do put those in to make sure we don't have to dip into savings unnecessarily if I can otherwise space out the purchases and cash flow them.
My budget is more for future reasons, I want to know if we continue on certain trends what our financial picture will look like 1 year, 5 years, 10 years from now.
For the most part, yes. We're using YNAB and in the process of paying off debt. But we're flexible with categories and moving funds where we need it. That said, we have acquired any additional debt since starting YNAB last September and have paid off more than 50% of what we had!
Eh. We're like a 7 on the scale of budget strictness. We know monthly income minus our fixed expenses then $x for spending money and whatever is left we save.
This is more or less us, in general. The problem is that since there is more than we technically need, I spend more, rather than save it.
I chose "no" because we are not strict with our budget even though we do track everything in Mint. DH manages the finances, so basically I just ask him if we have enough in checking for X. He does some moving of money each month to various savings vehicles after bills are paid. We do have some automatic monthly auxiliary savings for things like vacations, home repairs, car insurance, etc. in our bank account.
Yes but I use my cc for any spending like hair, household products, lunch out, etc. I try to pay it off each month but need to be better. I do budget our monthly bills.
Post by teatimefor2 on Aug 5, 2015 19:04:59 GMT -5
SS-- we have a budget. I create it every year and we review it halfway through the year. From the budget, we set-up our auto investments. We do well with the day to day, but the house stuff is killing us. I use Mint and do check it daily.
We do use DH's bonus to cover big projects and additional retirement. We usually spilt it 30:70.
I went with yes but I still don't know if that's right.
I have a budget for our recurring bills and know where every penny goes but I won't cut us off from buying something if we're over in that category. It will make me pause and think "want vs need" and we really try and stay within the bounds of the budget, so that is why I went with yes.
Yes, we started up again in January after a 3 year hiatus. We have some big travel plans coming up and I need to make sure we have the cash to do them all.
We haven't been 100% successful in keeping within every category but we've done pretty well overall.
Yes in a way. A very old school way, with a book and columns etc. but it works for me. Essentially, I am the CFO of our household in that DH only has a basic idea of how it works.
Nope. We are fortunate to live in a lcol area and our salaries will cover our expenses. We've always tended to live below our means. Friends of ours have houses that are $75,000 more than ours but those kinds of things arent too important to me. I would rather have a smaller house and be lazy and not have to budget.
DH does all the bills and money which is probably flameabale but it works for us. I pretty much buy what I want (within reason, I'm not going out and buying $500 purses on a whim or anything) and he just tells me if I need to reign in my spending for that month or he doesn't say anything. We have a set amount from both of our checks that go straight into savings, DH pays the bills and then I spend the rest.