Do you have a monthly budget?

[Exterous]

We don't and it works for us. The money goes to retirement accounts first and then we can spend the rest although in practice we don't tend to. That under spending lines up well to cover the occasional high spending months (travel, unexpected bills etc)

 

[pete6032]

The budget is that we need to put x amount into savings, retirement, mortgage, travel account, health insurance. We go out to eat once per week at a mid tier restaurant. Everything else can be spent on whatever. We don't categorize things beyond that.

 

[lxskllr]

I buy what I need, rarely stuff I want aside from food, and the rest gets saved. Not much of a budget.

 

[brianmanahan]

i live on less than 1/6 of my gross income, so no need for budget

guilt prevents me from splurging on almost anything non-essential that has a negative ROI

 

[biostud]

I don't have a budget, but every month I put my spendings into an Excel sheet, so I keep track on what I use my money on.

I don't think I've used it to set any limits to myself, I just like to insight into my life.

And as long as I don't spend more than I earn, I guess it's fine.

 

[Mai72]

I use a budget program called YNAB (you need a budget). I love it. Its only $50 a year and IMO very worth it. You don't need a program like YNAB and can go old school and use an Excel spreadsheet. Its all great.

My budget is about $1800-2000 a month. I have it broken down like this. Take the dollar you make

You have a dollar. I break it down into 60/30/10 That means .60 cents is spent on me (food, rent, fun), .30 is spent on my investments and .10 cents goes into my saveings. The savings is important because at a minimum you need to have $2000 set aside for emergencies. And eventually, 3-12 months set aside. So, if I spend $2000 a month I should have $12,000 set aside just incase something major happens. That covers any issues that may crop up. Its also a nice 6 month cushion. I have that btw.

That is all the money you should be keeping in your bank, because the interest paid with the traditional banks is pathetic. Its like 0.001% I'm currently looking for another bank that will give me a 3- 6% return on my money. I'm currently using Bank of America to just to pay bills and to keep my $12,000 emergency fund in. That's about it. Oh, and I practice the if I can't buy 5 rule I can't buy 1. This means that say I'm looking at a car worth $25,000 Well if I can't buy 5 of those with cash ($125,000) then I can't afford it. You can always play with this rule. You can bring it down to if I can't buy 3 rule I can't buy 1. I like the 5- 1 ratio though. It keeps me honest. If more people practiced this rule we wouldn't have most of the US population living paycheck to paycheck. Cars are the biggest waste of cash when you think about it. They depreciate quickly. And yet, most people go into debt because they are insecure and need a new car to gain validation from strangers they don't even know. But, if they took that $250- 500 they are spening on that car and only invested it they would be on their way to having a very nice retirement. And possibly retiring much earlier. But, most people have got to have a nice car that they won't even remember 20 years from now. Just saying.

 

[snoopy7548]

Nope. Pretty much the same as OP - retirement accounts before anything else. The rest sits in checking/savings and part of that goes into an investment account if I'm not expecting any large expenses.

 

[Spacehead]

Not really.
Car payments are covered & i put x amount into my retirement each month. Any OT worked gets added to that x amount. IRAs are maxed at some point in the year too.
I deposit my check each week & get $100-$200 cash to spend for the week. That's for groceries, gas & other day-to-day spending.
If/when my checking account get too much accumulation in the year that goes to retirement also. Though i do need to fix my driveway so i need to keep some for that this year.

 

[hardhat]

18% directly to retirement/investment. Maintain enough to cover emergencies and save for longer term expenses and emergency fund for 6 months. Use the extra to meet short term expenses (eating out, shopping, monthly expenses, taxes) and then move the excess balance into more investments if it gets too big.

 

[ultimatebob]

Budgeting never really worked for my family, mostly because my wife is the primary spender. So, my job is basically to put the required money into retirement and emergency/planned savings before it goes to the shared account.

Once it goes there, I can count on my wife to spend it all, sometimes on questionable choices. While it's annoying, at least I know that the rainy day fund is there to save the day if unexpected expenses come up.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

No. Monthly savings rate is >85% post tax when I factor in my 401K match. I buy whatever I want when I want but aside from vacations & booze I don't have anything to blow cash on.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Nothing specific, though I probably should, just never think of setting anything up. I've done it before where I used a basic web app to track my spending then it turned into a chore and I kinda stopped. I'd have to get into it again though. I would also setup all my monthly expenses into it so it would basically give me how much I'm "allowed" to spend this month and then that number would go down as I add expenses. I just have not bothered to set anything like that up.

In general I kinda mentally take note of large expenses though, like if I buy something that costs say $500+ I know that's basically more than my entire month's left over money after bills, so I make sure not to spend that kind of money the month after so I can make up for it. I also look at my credit line balance at the end of the month after the 2nd pay vs 30 days before and if the number now is higher then I know I blew my budget. At least, roughly.

Sometimes if I see something that I know I'll need and it's on sale now, then I'll buy it knowing I will have to spend that money anyway.

In general though I try to avoid big purchases as I really don't have much money left after all bills come out.

 

[deadlyapp]

I've got some auto deductions that are the extent of my budgeting - car, 401k, HSA. The rest pretty much goes to our expenditures, which we don't rein in much and it balances out monthly. We have a business that is cyclical and which pretty much all that goes into savings or covering additional expenses.

 

[skyking]

Another NO, we are on the retirement glidepath and are frugal by nature, so no budget needed. I track the expenses for retirement planning purposes only.

 

[Charmonium]

I hear that word "budget" all of the time but I don't really understand. I prefer strip mining my retirement fund. I intend to die penniless and I've made a damn good start on that. Hehehehe

 

[nakedfrog]

I keep track of my spending in an OpenOffice Calc spreadsheet, but I don't really budget anymore.
Back when I was still married and raising kids on a single income , yeah, everything was budgeted, down to the monthly grocery trip and my ex's crippling alcohol addiction.

 

[ultimatebob]

I keep track of my spending in an OpenOffice Calc spreadsheet, but I don't really budget anymore.
Back when I was still married and raising kids on a single income , yeah, everything was budgeted, down to the monthly grocery trip and my ex's crippling alcohol addiction.

OK, I gotta ask... How did you budget for an alcoholics drinking expenses? One of the first things they'll do when you confront them about their drinking problem is to start paying for their booze in cash so you can't easily trace it.

 

[nakedfrog]

OK, I gotta ask... How did you budget for an alcoholics drinking expenses? One of the first things they'll do when you confront them about their drinking problem is to start paying for their booze in cash so you can't easily trace it.

Probably not all alcoholics are in the same situation. I didn't want to get hit or stabbed, so she got her 1.75L of vodka per day. She did occasionally take money out of my wallet, but wallet cash had it's own entry and wasn't explicitly included in the budget.

 

[Captante]

Probably not all alcoholics are in the same situation. I didn't want to get hit or stabbed, so she got her 1.75L of vodka per day. She did occasionally take money out of my wallet, but wallet cash had it's own entry and wasn't explicitly included in the budget.

She sounds just like my ex-girlfriend except mine was hooked on opiates too.

I'm SO glad I'm not prone to addiction to alcohol ..... it's by far the worst drug to have problems with since it's both socially acceptable and widely available cheap nearly everywhere.

Alcohol is also as physically addictive as heroin (although it takes longer to get hooked) and is far harder to safely quit using or even just to detox from.

 

[nakedfrog]

She sounds just like my ex-girlfriend except mine was hooked on opiates too.

I'm SO glad I'm not prone to addiction to alcohol ..... it's by far the worst drug to have problems with since it's both socially acceptable and widely available cheap nearly everywhere.

Alcohol is also as physically addictive as heroin (although it takes longer to get hooked) and is far harder to safely quit using or even just to detox from.

Yeah, it was kind of a fucked up situation with one of the rehabs we tried to get her into, they often give you benzos to treat withdrawal symptoms, but you get tested for benzos before admittance to rehab and won't be admitted if you have them in your system (at this specific facility, no idea how common it is elsewhere). I was just thinking earlier today how it's nearly 7 years she's been dead...

 

[Captante]

Yeah, it was kind of a fucked up situation with one of the rehabs we tried to get her into, they often give you benzos to treat withdrawal symptoms, but you get tested for benzos before admittance to rehab and won't be admitted if you have them in your system (at this specific facility, no idea how common it is elsewhere). I was just thinking earlier today how it's nearly 7 years she's been dead...

That sucks ..... sorry.

My ex just vanished..... I have no idea if she's alive or dead. (still hurts too)

 

[nakedfrog]

That sucks ..... sorry.

My ex just vanished..... I have no idea if she's alive or dead. (still hurts too)

It was a relief for me, we split up in 2012, sucks for the kids though.

 

[nOOky]

Not really. I keep my income and fun money separate from my wife's. With my income I put 24% into my 401k, $7,000 a year into a Roth, and I put about $3,000 a year into an HSA. I pay the cell phone bill and buy groceries etc.

My wife makes about 3 times what I do. She does not ever balance her personal checking account, which irritates me, but she does her business through Quickbooks etc. She pays all of the other bills including the house payment and electric etc. She recently paid her business off so we're looking at ways to invest that extra $4k a month. She has her Roth and some mutual funds, but mostly her business account with her profit has just been getting bigger because she doesn't do anything with that as of yet. She has given out generous raises lately to keep up to current wages in the area to retain employees.

I hope to wake up one day and think "hey, we can retire!" although that's not soon.

 

[purbeast0]

I haven't had any kind of "budget" since I stopped living paycheck to paycheck which was quite a while ago now.

I am like the OP in that we usually don't spend the money made left over (after maxing 401k, hsa, kids 529b, mortgage, utilities) and then we end up blowing it on some vacation a few times a year. It's been a little tighter since my wife is no longer working and we have a second kid, but I think she will go back to work when he ends up in school, even if it's part time.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Fuck no, chaos reigns.