Budgets - Phooey on them!

Well, not really. But we spent last night on the computer, working on our 2011 household budget. We went through last year's budget and found that we kept pretty much on track with everything, but cat supplies. When we did our budget at the beginning of last year, we didn't really count on Mollipop coming to live with us at the end of March, so we had decreased the spending for food and litter. And ended up going over by about $25. Still not too bad because we had some extra vet visits due to her kitten shots and her spay. We adjusted our Cat Stuff accordingly for 2011 and should be OK.

I honestly thought that we'd end up way over the amount budgeted for groceries, but we didn't. With the price of foods increasing (and packaging amounts decreasing) so much in 2010, I thought it might be ugly. I was pleased that we stayed within our set amount. Our budget for Restaurants and such were OK, too; we don't do the restaurant thing that often because neither of us really enjoy it.

So we have our budget set for 2011.....had to make some adjustments b/c DH took a cut in pay, but then I got a nice increase so it wasn't too bad. It always take awhile to figure out where we're going from year to year and there's usually some muttering and grumbling, but eventually it passes for both of us. (We're easier to deal with than Washington!! )

Several years ago, DH and I also made an agreement that if we want something that costs over $100, we talk about it first. And then, if we both agree, we'll buy it. It might be something he wants or that I want, but we have to agree on it. That seems to work well for us. (Last summer when he was in Vegas and I found my Le Cruset chicken roaster on eBay that I wanted so badly, I called him to talk to him about it before I bid on it. And when there was a certain sports card that he wanted, he talked to me about it first, too. Doing that works for both of us.)

Do you have a set budget? We've been working with one now for several years and have found that it really helps. When we budget for an item, it's a lot easier to pay for vehicle tires and maintenance, vet bills and such. We have several types of Savings categories in the budget, too, and that helps us to save money.

We don't have anything as extensive but we do budget by week. I mark down on a calender week by week what needs paid when. We are lucky where more everything is spread out but the last and first week of the month take some juggling because we have 4 big bills due both weeks. Rent is automatically taken out of his paycheck so that is a no worry payment. Our big omg ughhhh bills are his weekly snap on and mac payments but when we get tax money back we are paying both off and then no more buying from them. We are generally pretty good about keeping up with things but winter is tough because he is on a no overtime rule which sucks because without overtime we can't really finish the remodeling all at once like we prefer we have to budget in the paint and wood in seperately instead of taking a weekend and getting it all done.

By my mental calculations our most expensive thing is the explorer between gas insurance and now maintenance (we need to replace the springs and possibly the struts which could cost $1000 and that's bf doing it himself)

I budget for the bills, but other than that I don't at all. We spend money like it's going out of style... That's why I set up the savings for the kitties, so that we would always have emergency money available for them when needed because usually if we have money in our hands, we spend it.

DH maintains our budget (even though it stresses him out and I offered to take over) and every so often he'll complain that we went over in one area or another. I just look at him. And he goes, "I know, it's my fault. I should know where we are and keep it up to date more often, etc. etc."

What's killing us now are my cravings. Being this far along, I'm also eating more, and wanting more fast food. He gets frustrated but he learned early on that telling me that we can't afford for me to eat what I want is probably not a wise thing (the last and only time, I burst into tears). But I told him if we keep going over, maybe we need to readjust the budget.

It's not that we don't have the money. We do, it's just not exactly in that fund. *shrug*

We'll have to be a lot more careful this year, with the baby coming, daycare costs and a new car payment. But we'll manage.

The thread title made me think of this NYT article:
Why a Budget Is Like a Diet — Ineffective

Part of the reason so many people spend too much, or fail to stick to self-imposed budgets, is because parting with our money has become an abstraction in our increasingly cashless society. Credit cards provide immediate gratification, but no immediate consequences. Plucking actual dollars from your pile of cash, research suggests, is more painful, and leads you to spend less.

There’s another factor that prevents people from being model financial citizens (besides, of course, uncontrollable circumstances like joblessness). As a species, humans are notoriously poor at following through with their plans.

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We are HUGE Dave Ramsey fans, so we budget monthly. A budget is simply telling your money where to go rather than you not knowing where your money went. Some categories don't change due to the expenses being set (phone, mortgage, insurance, and etc), but some categories change from month to month. This month, we had to include gardening expenses because it's time to order seeds and some other supplies like compost for the garden bed. Mark and I sit down and do it together so we both have input on how the money is spent. That way neither of us feels cheated out of having a say or feel like something is being imposed against us that we don't like.

There's lots of good resources on the Dave Ramsey site as well as his radio show you can listen to. Being debt free, except for our house, and having a very cushy emergency fund in the bank has helped us survive the past 2 years with DH unemployed and receiving no unemployment.

Originally Posted by Winchester

Do you have a set budget? We've been working with one now for several years and have found that it really helps. When we budget for an item, it's a lot easier to pay for vehicle tires and maintenance, vet bills and such.

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It sounds like you've got the proper attitude on budgets, Winchester. I heard some wise words somewhere saying Budgets are not to restrict you but rather they are for getting you what you want! That being said, I admit I don't have a budget because my attitude about them still stinks I should take those wise words to heart

Me and my boyfriend have been living together 5 years but we always keep our money separate. I'm glad about that because our money styles are WAY different.
I budget everything down to the last cent
He spends and worries about how it'll work out later, would drive me nuts
In our house it is easy because the cats and ferrets are mine and the dogs are his. Sure we both love each other's animals but there is a definite line drawn of who takes care of what.
I'm much more of a parnoid, vigilent type of animal "owner" and he is more laid back and strong belief things will just "work out".
All our animals are happy so I guess both ways are working the total of animals just fine.
I am a worry wart though, I have a savings fund for emergencies whereas he figures he'll work out the emergency when he comes to it

Originally Posted by Winchester

Several years ago, DH and I also made an agreement that if we want something that costs over $100, we talk about it first. And then, if we both agree, we'll buy it. It might be something he wants or that I want, but we have to agree on it. That seems to work well for us. (Last summer when he was in Vegas and I found my Le Cruset chicken roaster on eBay that I wanted so badly, I called him to talk to him about it before I bid on it. And when there was a certain sports card that he wanted, he talked to me about it first, too. Doing that works for both of us.)

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We do that as well. Unless it is something for hubby's job, which he pays for out of his business account, of course. But if it's something either of us want to spend $100+ on, we have to talk about it and see if it's 1. worth doing; 2. have the money to spare for it, etc. Usually he tells me "if you want it, get it" but I've had no luck getting him to say that about a 2nd pole ($330). We're in the process now of deciding what to spend on the Mustang - $900 on wheels/tires for drag racing; or $700 on a tuner, rear seat delete, and exhaust system

We dont have a set budget. We've tried to set one up before, but we never keep track of it We make sure we have enough money for the bills (mortgage, car payment, electric, cable/internet, car insurance) and after that we get what we want. No grocery or out to eat budget. We have a cash box here and keep cash in it that is our back up money or "extras" money but try and maintain $3-5k in it at all times, usually more.

I budget for my bills. I have a separate account that my child support goes into and I rarely touch that except for Christmas, birthdays and school stuff.

Oh yeah, we have a strict budget and it's like boot camp. It allows us to go on trips, have a new car, and we should be able to buy a house this summer!

We don't really have a budget. We also don't really have any large "bills" other than the new car & our commercial lawn mower. If need be we could pay that loan off. My husband is an accountant so we pay our bills all at once keep a few hundred in the checking account and put the rest in our money fund to invest every other month.
I do like to get an okay if I spend more than $100 on an single item. I have no problem spending more than $100 in one day (for instance).

Yeah. I don't like budgets either. I really need to sit down and make up one for myself again. I've been spending way to freely on things like graphic art supplies which I am not even using, rings...and just frivolous things like that as seen on TV strainer that I didn't need, but wanted

You can download the Dave Ramsey Quickie Budget and Monthly Cash Flow forms from his website. They're great to help you get going.

http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-forms/

The quickie budget form is great for a simple budget plan. It's also great to get you started. The Monthly Cash Flow form lets you see where your money is going and to allocate your money accordingly.

I'm a Dave Ramsey fan, too. Not quite as dedicated as he is though....unfortunately. But he has a ton of great ideas.

Our very first budget was the hardest. Trying to sit down and figure out where the money goes? Not easy. We keep track of every single penny now in Quicken and, even though I complain about having to enter things once or twice a week, it really does help. DH does the biggest share of the work and usually early Saturday mornings will find him on his computer and muttering away about how things aren't adding up properly. But he manages to figure it out.

We don't have a lot of large debt items anymore. Our house will become "our" house this year! We have only a few payments on DH's truck and my car has been paid off for years. We don't have high credit card payments. Other than our mortgage, our savings is probably our highest ticket payments right now....and that's a good thing.

Yep, that first budget is the hardest! The cool thing is that you can continue to revise and tweak it until you get something that works for you. If you've not taken Financial Peace University, you should. It really is fun!