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

[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.)