budget talk

Thorn Bird

Forum Mom
May 24, 2005
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does anyone here work on a budget? what's your method? does anyone use cash? how about the old-fashioned multi-envelope way?

guess what i'm doing today. :eek: i've got to completely retrain my brain to do this, and i need help. :(
 
Quicken. Get it. Project out your entire year in a weekend's worth of work, and then just enter in everything as it procs. I'm highly sold on it being worth the work of getting it set up.
 
I know how much money we have to spend on non bills each paycheck, but I'm not very good at actually tracking exactly how much gets spent.
 
I take my monthly wages and subtract all the bills and savings amount out, then a gas estimate, and grocery estimate. The leftover is split between unknown expenses and extra spending money.

KISS.
 
Quicken is nice, I used to use it... But I stopped caring that much. :hs:

It was a godsend as I was getting ready to buy a place. It let me run a ton of different scenarios so I could get a real good grasp of what is in my price range, what leaves me a comfortable cushion, and what leaves me struggling.
 
So Thorny, in addition to the budget worksheets and everything. I use a cash system except for gas just because I don't like going inside gas stations. I have an secondary checking account (ING) and I transfer my gas money for the month to it. At the end of the month, I take the extra and transfer to one of my ING Savings accounts (all free to set up). I have them set up for upcoming expenses like Sweet D's vet (for example) or goals (like vacation). I am incredibly forgetful so I have to be super organized with this stuff.
 
i think i have figured out that i am very visual...meaning i have to see it in front of me for it to register. stupid and juvenile, yes, but i have to start taking hard looks in front of the mirror, and this is what i've found. the problem for me is nickel and diming it, and also swiping is the same motion whether it's a dollar or a hundred dollars. it's all the same, and it all comes from some magical place that i never see. so it doesn't work for me.

so now i'm wondering if i need to do old-fashioned envelope systems or what. once i find a system that works for me, i use it. but it has to work, and i have to see and feel something, i think. the quicken might be ok so long as i can print and write. it's all the same on screen, you know? i don't do technology well i don't think.

ugh i'm sick and now i've exposed my underbelly to you but hey. we all have vunerabilities, right? :eek:



:(
 
i think i have figured out that i am very visual...meaning i have to see it in front of me for it to register. stupid and juvenile, yes, but i have to start taking hard looks in front of the mirror, and this is what i've found. the problem for me is nickel and diming it, and also swiping is the same motion whether it's a dollar or a hundred dollars. it's all the same, and it all comes from some magical place that i never see. so it doesn't work for me.

so now i'm wondering if i need to do old-fashioned envelope systems or what. once i find a system that works for me, i use it. but it has to work, and i have to see and feel something, i think. the quicken might be ok so long as i can print and write. it's all the same on screen, you know? i don't do technology well i don't think.

ugh i'm sick and now i've exposed my underbelly to you but hey. we all have vunerabilities, right? :eek:



:(

Quicken doesn't work for me. I HATE having to sit down and enter everything in and remember where this went and that went, and then things get missed cause Knyte spends money and doesn't tell me or whatever. I would rather just do cash all the time, but Knyte hates dealing with cash, so we are working on a system there, I'm thinking a reloadable visa card with Knyte's allowance every month loaded onto it, then he can use that for whatever he wants, and it doesn't come from teh main account, and then I can use cash for groceries and what not. I haven't put them into play yet, but those are my plans.
 
Quicken doesn't work for me. I HATE having to sit down and enter everything in and remember where this went and that went, and then things get missed cause Knyte spends money and doesn't tell me or whatever. I would rather just do cash all the time, but Knyte hates dealing with cash, so we are working on a system there, I'm thinking a reloadable visa card with Knyte's allowance every month loaded onto it, then he can use that for whatever he wants, and it doesn't come from teh main account, and then I can use cash for groceries and what not. I haven't put them into play yet, but those are my plans.

In many cases, quicken will download your transaction history straight from the back. All you have to do is a couple clicks per transaction to have it set right. Of course, this only works if you deal mostly in plastic. I rarely use cash for mostly this reason.

If it weren't for the occasional door cover. :eek:
 
In many cases, quicken will download your transaction history straight from the back. All you have to do is a couple clicks per transaction to have it set right. Of course, this only works if you deal mostly in plastic. I rarely use cash for mostly this reason.

If it weren't for the occasional door cover. :eek:

But if I'm doing that I might as well just regularly check my bank website.
 
My monthly bill money goes into one account, where automatic bill pay takes care of it. The rest goes into another account where I blow it on hookers and blow.