Budget

How do you guys do it?Do you use a program or just ol' fashion it and write it down?I'd really like to make one. The hardest part for me is little things, IE a drink at the gas station. It's not in my budget and after a week those can add up and change the whole thing.

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Poopy Jones

My wife and I do it on the computer. Nice clear organized chart spells it all out well. Before that we used graph paper. Use what works best for you. BTW we budget things like gas station drinks under "walking around money" which is how I get my cigars

webmost

You hit the nail on the head -- petty purchases can kill your budget.

Cash is the answer.

An example: I take my walking round money out in cash near the beginning of each month. Once my back pocket runs dry, that's it period. You have to pair each fund with a source. That funny money pocket is funded by one specific client. When his check comes in, that pocket gets filled. No commingling allowed. Ever.

Likewise when I have a project in hand I'll open up a bunk account just for that. A bunk account is where you stash cash under your bunk instead of in the bank. Cash is easy to count, easy to keep apart, and satisfying to watch grow. So, for instance, I recently tore the roof off the porch and replaced it. Started a bunk account in an old wallet stuffed behind the humidor. That bunk account was funded by an over-ride I get on contracts at the main job. When it stacked up to a certain size, I toted the wad off to the Home Despot. Once done, I turned that over-ride toward windows for the porch.

There until the bottom fell out of the motorcycle market, I used to flip a bike every year. Started out by selling an old bike. That was my seed money. Planted the seed in an old bike that had been parked too long. Had to leave a cash cushion for parts and such. Sold that at a profit to buy the next project bike. And so forth. One or two every winter.

Dedicated bunk accounts, each with a dedicated source. No rocket science there. Can't fool yourself. Either it's a wad in your hand or it's a no go.

Course, don't forget a slush fund for when the water heater decides to go teats up on you. Always have to endow a slush fund. Otherwise, Murphy screws you.

Bearswatter gets the entire paycheck, from which she pays the bills. None of this is gas, projects, cigars, nor even drinks from the ripoff store. That's the bills.

perkinke

When I'm on track with budgeting I use Excel and get as many of my bills put on autopay/equal pay as I can so it's pretty consistent and do the cash thing like the other guys mentioned. Considering my grad school loan payments start next month, I gotta get back to this.

jgibv

I usually just write it down .... I have an Excel spreadsheet but I only update it about every 6 months.
My expenses are pretty consistent "month-to-month"

I pay (most of) the fixed monthly expenses (mortgage, utility bill, etc.)
And my wife handles a couple of the smaller fixed monthly bills (gas bill) but she saves the majority of her paycheck and she handles any "big" expenses that come up (vacation, yearly car insurance, home repairs/improvement, etc.)

At work I get a base salary + "bonus" commission, so whenever I get a "bonus" it will either go into my savings account or I'll "splurge" on cigars, a nice dinner out, etc.

And Davis' suggestion of using cash for those "impulse" buys is the way to go.
I take out a certain amount of cash at the beginning of each month for those "non-essential" things like beer, gas station drinks, cigars, fast food for lunch, etc. and once that cash is gone, then no more buying those kinds of items for the rest of the month. If I have leftover cash at the end of the month, it gets deposited back into the bank account.

This site has info on everything related to personal-finance, maybe more than you want or need .... definitely check out their advice on budgeting though. And here's some more info and a good sample monthly budget worksheet to look at. (I based mine off of this one)

Rain

Thanks guys! It seems daunting, but I'm convinced everyone should have a budget...trying to figure out how I've made it to age 24 without one.Off to learn.

Ken Light

Poopy Jones:
My wife and I do it on the computer. Nice clear organized chart spells it all out well. Before that we used graph paper. Use what works best for you. BTW we budget things like gas station drinks under "walking around money" which is how I get my cigars

This exactly, except I didn't start with graph paper.

perkinke

Rain:
Thanks guys! It seems daunting, but I'm convinced everyone should have a budget...trying to figure out how I've made it to age 24 without one.Off to learn.

Hehe, at 24 I didn't really need to budget, after the bills were paid there wasn't enough left to worry about.