Do you budget for each month
By Robert
@lokisdad (4226)
United States
January 15, 2016 10:46pm CST
Do you budget your life every month? Do you wait til the bills come in and sit down and try to figure it all out? We have a budget our bills are the same every month. Our electric is prepaid so we know how much we use. There are only a few bills that we have that fluctuate.
We write all of our debts down and enter the amount beside each. We put our minimum amount of income. We don't use the actual because it fluctuates usually more but it can range IE from $2000-3,000 so we use the lowest amount that we know for sure we make.
Then we take any remaining money and extra unaccounted for money from earnings and we decide what portion we will save and assign what is left to expenses to make repairs and whatever else we have for unexpected expenses.
Do you budget and if so how do you budget? Is there a method to your madness.?
12 people like this
17 responses
@Shavkat (140097)
• Philippines
16 Jan 16
I do this thing. Whenever I do it, it spins my brain out of mind. I do think we need to plan in budgeting in a monthly basis. We need to maximize all the resources and save some extra cash.
@infatuatedbby Yes my dear friend. We need to save some of our earnings.
3 people like this
@lokisdad (4226)
• United States
16 Jan 16
We do a hand made one which lets you be creative and simple without having to use the computer spreadsheet. When we do it using colors to let us know what is being subtracted usually red. Whats coming in is usually green. then the black is usually ending balances and we take those and divide them into savings and other things we want or need.
1 person likes this
@softbabe44 (5816)
• Vancouver, Washington
16 Jan 16
Is there a possibility that we could see something that would help sort all theses things out.
2 people like this
@lokisdad (4226)
• United States
17 Jan 16
the link is to a post I made just to show a fake demo budget sheet so others can get and idea
I wrote a post about making a monthly budget and I had a request to show one so I have. I made this Fake Budget Sheet so that people can see an easy way to make...
1 person likes this
@softbabe44 (5816)
• Vancouver, Washington
18 Jan 16
@lokisdad Really good idea.
1 person likes this
@scorpiobabes (7225)
• United States
16 Jan 16
I've been trying to set a budget, but this last year has been awful!
With my husband on disability, and the insurance company only wanting to pay once every six weeks(!), we became late a number of times on various bills, although our rent was always paid on time.
I try to make sure that our 'four walls'-rent, utilities, transportation, and food are paid first-then everything from there. Since we recently paid off a court-ordered judgement, we are using that money to pay some other overdue bills that have been in collection.
I have a spreadsheet that I created, outlining our expenses and our income (as it were), but honestly, I haven't looked at that in about a month-life just got away from me!
Wish my husband was better at following the budget-he HAS improved, but money management is NOT his strong suit!
@scorpiobabes (7225)
• United States
18 Jan 16
@lokisdad Unfortunately, he's a true 'spender'. He's always coming to me, and saying how he 'needs' this or that-trying to teach him the difference between wants and needs has largely fallen on deaf ears. But thank you for your compliment-I've been working hard to rebuild my credit, but this insurance company is about to make it worse-we didn't get paid yesterday.
@lokisdad (4226)
• United States
19 Jan 16
@scorpiobabes that sucks sorry to hear you are going to have to just stay in charge of the finances until he learns the difference. Izzy would probably make me a card the size of a debit card and one the front put need:items you can't survive without IE:utilities ,food,air and on the back needs,things you want movies ,gizmos,fast food. lol
1 person likes this
@lokisdad (4226)
• United States
16 Jan 16
you are on the right track though and that is good. Stay on him about it and he will keep improving over time. Maybe putting your spreadsheet where you can see it daily might help Izzy(wife)keeps it right on her desk she has a glass desk so she tapes things like calendar she makes and budget all there and she can just look at it anytime shes at her desk.
1 person likes this
@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
16 Jan 16
I do not write a detailed budget anymore.
My broad goal is to save for retirement and save for investment.
When I save $10,000, I will buy stock or put into the retirement account that is held by the government.
Once the money goes in, it will grow and I cannot touch it until many years later.
2 people like this
@Marilynda1225 (83064)
• United States
16 Jan 16
I have a fixed income so I have to budget my money every month. I try to stretch my money by buying things on sale and only buying what I need.
2 people like this
@lokisdad (4226)
• United States
16 Jan 16
That's a great start to achieving your goal.
Its a link to get free stuff through moneyless auctions we get things we need free even toiletries which saves us money and we have more to save or spend.
Listia helps you get rid of old stuff and get new stuff in return for FREE. See what your friends are sharing today.
2 people like this
@KristenH (33392)
• Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
16 Jan 16
I do have a monthly budget for me to maintain. I pay the rent and any bills I have (cable, utility) at the first of the month. Then I have plenty of month leftover for miscelleanous items for shopping and sometimes a treat to myself.
@lokisdad (4226)
• United States
16 Jan 16
@KristenH lucky you to have them it is very helpful. Using coupons and a discount card if the store has one also while shopping sale items and preparing meals that are filling healthy inexpensive and leave plenty of left overs will help that last even longer. Yesterday we bought a pork butt and it was i think $16 but with store card we paid half price almost and we brought it home with the other food sliced it up half for a roast and some pork chops.
1 person likes this
@kaka135 (14931)
• Malaysia
16 Jan 16
My husband handles all the financials and does the budgeting. Our expenses are more or less the same every month, so we usually do not have much surprises, unless something went wrong. This month we need to spend extra as our washing machine finally broke down, and we need to buy a new one soon.
1 person likes this
@Fishmomma (11377)
• United States
20 Jan 16
I make a budget, as think its important for everyone to have money in savings for a rainy day. My parents use to say rainy day often and we certainly ended up depending on the rainy day fund when my father ended up having to retire early.
In my adult life, I was laid off for several months while the company moved their offices and really was glad we had the rainy day fund to pay the bills that had to be paid each month like the electricity.
I know several people that ended up having to move in with others because they weren't prepared and that would be hard for me to move into somebody elses house now.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (168112)
• Boise, Idaho
16 Jan 16
I budget myself about three months in advance.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (168112)
• Boise, Idaho
17 Jan 16
@lokisdad ...It does. Wish there was more wiggle room though.
1 person likes this
@maezee (41988)
• United States
17 Jan 16
I definitely think having a budget is smart, and definitely alocating some of that into savings if possible. It sounds like you are doing a good job budgeting. Unfortunatley for me, I only tenatively do so - I pay the bills of course, but act a little more "loose" with my extra money - which is something that needs to change.
1 person likes this
@cherriefic (10399)
• Philippines
17 Jan 16
I do make a monthly budget as it makes everything easier for me.
1 person likes this
@cherriefic (10399)
• Philippines
17 Jan 16
@lokisdad I agree. Plus you can really see where your money is going.
1 person likes this
@lokisdad (4226)
• United States
17 Jan 16
@cherriefic Yes not seeing where it was going was mostly why i would be broke and not know how but this way i am more aware.
@Morleyhunt (21744)
• Canada
18 Jan 16
We budget. We've been in the debt trap and hope to avoid it in future.
1 person likes this
@lokisdad (4226)
• United States
20 Jan 16
@Morleyhunt lucky you i have never known life without debt. Always a bill for something or something we need or want always debt lurking around the corner just waiting to enter my life.
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21744)
• Canada
20 Jan 16
@lokisdad I enjoy life more without debt hanging over my head. My vacation costs me less and I don't worry about how I will pay the bill when I get home.
1 person likes this
@infatuatedbby (94914)
• United States
16 Jan 16
No budgeting here, but I definitely should start though! 
1 person likes this
@BigMoney25 (1286)
• Philippines
16 Jan 16
yeah I do it is important so that I know where my earnings are going and also for me to learn how I can save bucks for each month. That's it, and be wise with your money don't spend it on things you wont' be needing after 1 or 2 or maybe 3 months from now. Happy mylotting!
1 person likes this
@lokisdad (4226)
• United States
17 Jan 16
Using your online earnings will be good for that because it fluctuates and you won't have to worry about bill money. It will motivate you to do online work and you can take it and split it have some for spending on others and spend some one you.
1 person likes this
