Budget Planning

blessed81 · March 2015

Happy Thursday! I am curious to know how far in advance does everyone plan their monthly budgets. Do you plan by weekly, bi-weekly, monthy, or yearly. I do my household budget for the entire year but then i find myself always revising it and before you know it i did 6 different budgets .

AprilZ81 · March 2015

We set a budget that doesn't change from month to month UNLESS our income changes. If something comes up we will discuss reallocating money from one category to another but we mostly leave it be. We budget all year for vacation, Christmas presents, gifts and other known irregular expenses.

Effective Friday we will be down to one income until I find a new job. We have been living off of one income from 3/1/15 in prep for the big hit our income. Anything I've been bringing in has been going to savings and we will move it around as needed after I find a new job.

When we get a one time sum (tax refund, bonus, etc.) we talk about what we want to do with it.

mana8503 · March 2015

I plan monthly, but I do a debt payoff/savings plan for the year. It is usually the same each month, but we decide how to use tax refund and our extra pays, decide on birthday amounts. I don't redo the budget but I do update it regularly.

als1982 · March 2015

We create a budget for every paycheck.

I get paid every two weeks and H on the 30/31st, but each paycheck is allocated pretty much the same each month.

Ex. My first check goes to utilities, phones, internet and mad money, plus food, gas and entertainment. My second paycheck goes the mortgage and then the remainder of the months food, gas and entertainment. H's one check pays for student loans, ROTH contributions and savings.

ETA: You scared the crap out of me with Thursday - And I had to triple check! While I'm ready for the weekend, I still have TONS of work to do this week.

hortons0510 · March 2015

We are still new to budgeting. Neither of us budgeted before we were married and I sometimes wonder how we survived, haha! Right now we just budget bi-weekly for each pay period. We both get paid bi-weekly and on the same day so it helps.

What we do is take both our incomes for that paycheck and budget out bills for those two weeks, gas, groceries, savings, whatever we have planned within those two weeks (like a concert, camping, if we go out to eat, any events....) and then set a "miscellaneous" for any extras that might pop up. We are letting whatever we have left build up and then will put it in savings after a while.

The Wednesday before we get paid, I write it all down (both our paychecks are "pending" so I know what we are getting paid) and as the bills come out or we pay for the other things, I write down next to it just to see if we were over or under.

It may not be the best approach, but we are still learning what works best for us. This way has been working so far (we just started trying a budget in Oct 2014 when we moved to Texas from Indiana).

vlagrl29 · March 2015

We do it monthly. I keep track of all receipts and at the end of every month I calculate them all up and put them in categories. I like to make sure we are keeping the spending in check. For example in Feb. we overspent in eating out so we will try and cook at home more in March. It helps me feel more in control of our money.

short+sassy · March 2015

I have two spreadsheets (same file). The first one is about one month and has a running total of each debt (credit card, car loan, home loan, HELOC, etc.), plus how much I am going to pay it down on which Friday. I update this...change the dates, update the new starting balances...about every few weeks.

Underneath that area, I then have a running total of my biggest loans. The house, HELOC, and car and I plan about six months out how much/when I will be paying those down. This section is a bit redundant from the top and is more psychological than useful. It helps motivate me to see how much I can pay down the bigger loans over a longer period of time. I update this if anything changes (and it often does), but only update and change the dates/starting balances every few months.

The second sheet is just a list on one side of my monthly bills, with estimates for things that vary (like food) and then a list on the other side of my income. Underneath those, I have a calculation that is income-expenses=disposable income. This sheet only changes on the rare occasion when something changes on one of those categories.

simplyelise · March 2015

We do one month budgets, zero-based. I get paid every two weeks and H is going to be paid 15th/30th starting next month. We do cash only for groceries and blow money, then we put every other purchase in our spreadsheet the day the purchase is made.

We've just got the one big student loan we're working on and no kiddos, so our expenses are pretty fixed.

hoffse · March 2015

I do it yearly once I see our incomes.

I also have a savings goal spreadsheet that extends through Dec. 2017 with multiple goals going on at once. I know.... I'm compulsive. But it's also the only way I can keep track of it to make sure we're diverting savings to the correct place at the correct time. It's a cash flow thing.

Every once in awhile stuff has to be moved around or I've forgotten about something, so I'm open to tweaking our budget as I go to account for those things.

Wulfgar · March 2015

MW has the budget excel spreadsheet. Usually once a quarter I look at her spreadsheet and we discuss what changes we need to make. That is when I also update my student loan balances and retirement accounts. We also use this spreadsheet to track our net worth.

lifeonthehill · March 2015

We go monthly. Sometimes bi wieekly if H is feeling a little suffocated by the budget.

brij2006 · March 2015

We do a budget each month. We sit down on the 25th and do the budget for that next month. Then by the 5th, we have last months budget reconciled to see how we came in.
On the 15th of each month I figure up where we're at in each category of the budget so far, and we discuss where we need to slow down spending or if we need to add something in.

We also do a budget for annual things we set aside for monthly.

jessica490 · March 2015

We plan per paycheck as well. We get paid twice a month and all the bills are the same amounts every month, so we know what we need to pay.

Xstatic3333 · March 2015

I plan about a month ahead if the mood strikes me. H doesn't enjoy budgeting but knows to let me know if something is coming up, and always has approval/veto power. I plan a month at a time, but for each paycheck since we get paid about on alternating weeks. For example, phone and internet always come out of H's first paycheck of the month. Electric always comes out of my second paycheck of the month. The "put aside a little each month for yearly expenses" thing doesn't work for us, mainly because H hates it (and he gets a vote!) However, our monthly budget has a lot of wiggle room so we just cash flow things like AAA, car taxes, minor home repairs, etc. We do "self-escrow" for our homeowners', which for whatever reason our mortgage company doesn't escrow even though we have very little equity at this point.

formerlyGDaisy09 · March 2015

We have a pretty much set budget for every month. We plan ahead for know expenses over the year and some for unexpected. We have a good estimate of our yearly propane costs (breaks down to $130/month), we plan out quarterly bills over the 3 months in each quarter (water/sewer and I have one student loan paid quarterly). We also put $75/month aside for vehicle expenses (anything from oil changes to new tires). Most of our budget doesn't change month to month. I put our weekly expenses into the actuals column every friday so we know where we stand on things headed into the weekend, when we tend to do most our spending.

We pay for everything we can on credit cards to work for points, the added bonus is that we can really operate on a monthly budget and the actual dates our paychecks come in matter less.

AprilZ81 · March 2015

formerlyGDaisy09 said:
We have a pretty much set budget for every month. We plan ahead for know expenses over the year and some for unexpected. We have a good estimate of our yearly propane costs (breaks down to $130/month), we plan out quarterly bills over the 3 months in each quarter (water/sewer and I have one student loan paid quarterly). We also put $75/month aside for vehicle expenses (anything from oil changes to new tires). Most of our budget doesn't change month to month. I put our weekly expenses into the actuals column every friday so we know where we stand on things headed into the weekend, when we tend to do most our spending.

We pay for everything we can on credit cards to work for points, the added bonus is that we can really operate on a monthly budget and the actual dates our paychecks come in matter less.

Yes, this really helps our cash flow to not worry about which paycheck allows us to stock up on groceries or fill up the gas tank.

We also try to keep a $1,000 cushion in our savings account for something we can't put on the credit card and have to write a check or use a debit card. It allows us to "pay ahead" on some expenses. Our mortgage is paid out of the last paycheck of the month and it is due on the first.

dragonstarjk · March 2015

We create a budget for every paycheck, which means bi-weekly. We are on the same pay schedule so that makes it easy.

I usually write out about six months' worth of budgets in advance, broken down by paycheck.

We also put everything on credit cards for the points; however, I usually make a credit card payment each payday instead of once a month so I know I am staying on track.

hortons0510 · March 2015

dragonstarjk said:
We create a budget for every paycheck, which means bi-weekly. We are on the same pay schedule so that makes it easy.
I usually write out about six months' worth of budgets in advance, broken down by paycheck.
We also put everything on credit cards for the points; however, I usually make a credit card payment each payday instead of once a month so I know I am staying on track.

@dragonstarjk I like that idea. I just got a credit card a few months ago to use for gas to start off and build some credit. I might transition in to this after a while of getting used to it. I'm so nervous of credit cards!

Xstatic3333 · March 2015

hortons0510 said:

dragonstarjk said:
We create a budget for every paycheck, which means bi-weekly. We are on the same pay schedule so that makes it easy.
I usually write out about six months' worth of budgets in advance, broken down by paycheck.
We also put everything on credit cards for the points; however, I usually make a credit card payment each payday instead of once a month so I know I am staying on track.
@dragonstarjk I like that idea. I just got a credit card a few months ago to use for gas to start off and build some credit. I might transition in to this after a while of getting used to it. I'm so nervous of credit cards!

I actually take it a step farther and pay off credit card purchases as soon as they have cleared. Its easier for me than keeping a running spreadsheet to make sure I don't overspend.

smbenevides1989 · March 2015

I'm a little OCD and like to see everything. I budget weekly, monthly, and yearly.

DH gets a paycheck every Friday. I receive a paycheck bi-weekly. Most of the months payments and allotments are the same. I also tweak it as our monthly goals change. If we need to spend some more money on groceries, we would remove some money from dining (for example). At the end of the day, I make it to the 0 based budget.

Weekly: It's just to keep an eye on our spending. I want to make sure we won't go negative accidently, but it's also to make sure that I don't miss a payment.

Monthly: I create a zero based budget and make sure all the money has a place to go.

Yearly: I lay it out to make sure I'm not overspending on months I know I have more bills to take care of.

I also have other spreadsheets that are for keeping track of what I owe on credit cards and what I have saved up so far in savings accounts.

Erikan73 · March 2015

we do monthly/yearly. Our budget is basically month to month but then the expenses that happen once a year like AAA, license plate renewal, etc. I divide that annual costs of that by 12 and put away that amount each month so when the bill comes I have the money and I don't take a big hit. It sucks that our AAA and both of our license plates are due in the same month so it would be a huge hit financially to that month if we didn't budget all year for those expenses. I do adjust the budget as needed because we have our utilities on a budget plan, just so I know exactley how much to expect each month for the bill, and they adjust that amount every 6 months based on our usage.

short+sassy · March 2015

One odd thing I do, because it just works for me psychologically, is my workplace's bank is the same as the bank with my mortgage. So I basically cash my first paycheck of the month and then pay my mortgage with cash.

But for my monthly budgeting purposes, I don't include my mortgage in my expenses, but then I also only count my income from that check as the difference.

I couldn't even explain why I like to do it that way, because it really doesn't matter, lol. It's just more fun for me to look at it like Paycheck #1-mortgage=disposable income. Except I just focus on the disposable income part for my budgeting.

blondie42107 · March 2015

We do monthly budgets and make a list of things for the future. So right now I have two tentative vacations, three weddings, a handful of birthdays, etc so we're not caught off guard.

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