Do you have budgets?

[sibyllevance]

I really hope I'm not off topic here (this isn't about debt but it is about managing money) but I was wondering how many of you allocate a specific budget to an area of their life so they don't spend too much in that area.

Specifically, when it comes to books, DVDs, CDs, concerts, theatre tickets, seeing a movie at the cinema - do you set aside a specific amount of money at the beginning of each month or do you just go with the flow?

I have a friend who goes to the ATM the first day of the month, takes a hundred in cash, goes home with it and then hands her debit card to her parents for the rest of the month.  But I'm trying to do this alone and libraries are not an option. I suppose you could say I'm looking for success stories in that area :) Thank you!

Not sure what tags to use, I apologize.

Comments

[teigh_corvus]

I'm really glad you asked this question, as this is something that I've been struggling with a lot too.

[rivenwanderer]

I don't do that--but what I *have* done is run the numbers so that I know how much discretionary money I have each month (and therefor per week) assuming I pay all my bills, buy the usual groceries, put a good chunk into savings, etc. each month. In the end, it doesn't really matter what that discretionary money is spent on as long as I don't go over that (and putting a lot in savings as soon as I get a paycheck means that if I *do* have unexpected expenses above and beyond the discretionary amount, I can pull from savings rather than going back into more debt). At least for me, it's easier to think of saving money by treating it the same as another bill, rather than trying to avoid spending money and then calling whatever I "manage" to not spend at the end of the month my savings.

[sibyllevance]

For some reason your comment was flagged by Gmail as being junk mail. First time it's happened to me, maybe it's the word 'money'? Interesting, in any case.

I see what you mean, it's very interesting. I find the approach: 'I have this per month. Minus the rent, the bills, the groceries and saving up, I have this left' very effective. Thank you!

[tassosss]

I do the same thing. I pay myself first thing after I get my paycheck. The lump amount sometimes changes depending on how I'm doing, but then what remains after my other bills is discretionary.

[jenett]

I do it this way:

- budget out all the stuff that I need to spend money on (rent, food, all that stuff.)

- have slots in my budget for repeating entertainment related expenses (Netflix, web hosting, internet)

- a general slot for 'entertainment' meant to cover spending on anything else (the number in here depends on other anticipated expenses, etc.)

- and a list of stuff (in my task-management software) of stuff I might want to buy, set to come up when it's available. (so if there's a book coming out in three months I might want, I set the reminder to pop up at the beginning of that month so I know to think about leaving money to buy it that month (and then swap the reminder to whenever I'm likely to buy it - the date it's available, whenever I might be near a suitable store, whatever.)

I use a program called YNAB (You Need A Budget) for my budgeting: it is not cheap (about $60, and the iPhone app to go with it is $10, though they're playing with price point every so often). But it helps me see how much money I've got left in each area very easily, and the other principles the software is designed to support are really thoughtful and useful to me. (And worth taking a look at, even if you don't buy the program.)

[lassarina]

I use Mint.com, which will fetch information from your bank account and credit accounts and categorize it all (you can tweak its categories, and it is smart and learns well). Then it will tell you what you are currently spending on broad categories, and give suggestions for reducing that, as well as compare you to others in your geographical area. You can have it send you e-mails or SMS when you are getting close to one of your budget limits. (I have a friend who uses it to keep herself from spending too much eating at Chipotle!) If you know you're going to have a specific cost in a given month--moving, for example--you can budget a one-time cost into Mint and it'll acknowledge that. (Or you could add $200 to your shopping budget around Christmas, etc.)

[foxfirefey]

I just wanted to say that this is TOTALLY on topic for this community--the only debt I have is some exceedingly manageable and low student loans, and so debt isn't what I'm here for.

[geeksdoitbetter]

yup!

i still like to call that category my allowance ~grin~

when my work is steady, and after i've accounted for expenses + savings, i like to keep my allowance the same from pay to pay

generally, a percentage of the paycheck

this goes into my hands, to be spent however i wish with no forethought beyond "can't get more til next pay day"

when i stick to this plan (and say, don't pay for entertainment out of another line item ~koff~) it's wonderful