Budgeting tips

I posted this recently under the money board and no one responded.

I'm looking for all of your good budgeting tips.

I feel for the most part, I am pretty good in this area, but still feel like I'm overspending. Especially now that I am getting paid bi-weekly instead of weekly, I find myself reaching for the credit card until pay day again.

(Note: I pay that off completely every month and it's rarely more than $200).

I am guessing it's because of food. I like to buy a lot of stuff fresh every week, like deli and such for lunches.

ETA: Also a lot of my larger bills are due those first 2 weeks of the month (car, student loan).

Message edited 8/11/2013 2:18:04 PM.

Budgeting tips

Honestly from what I have read of you here, you seem to have a great handle on budgeting - I know you have responded to my own threads on budgeting tips and had good ideas. . Not to sound like a stalker but I know you're active here and I like your posts and sort of wish we could do yoga together

My tip I do ... I have an automatic amount dumped into a separate account. I do like 100 a week. It adds up, I never miss it, I forget about it until I need it. I also have a general savings account but this forces me even more to pinch pennies during the week. Maybe you could allot some on the side?

Message edited 8/11/2013 2:20:02 PM.

Re: Budgeting tips

I haven't been to yoga since the beginning of the summer so need that motivation.

Anyways, that's a really good idea about the savings. I have a joint savings but hate to touch that. I do have a certain amount transferred every week into a separate savings already so that's a thought......maybe I will just need to increase the amount by an extra $50 or so.

Re: Budgeting tips

What has really helped me is to have a complete budget.

What I mean by that is that I used to just have a list of bills. I get paid $x, all my necessary expenses are $y (housing, utilities, insurance, phone, daycare, etc) and I tried to allocate the leftover. Some months I did well and had money leftover, some months I had to dip into savings. I am on another board and discovered zero balance budgeting. All expenses that fluctuate and/or would normally be considered miscellaneous (I.e. car maintenance, clothing, food, home maintenance, personal care, etc.) should be part of your overall budget. Once you do that, then you can truly identify the excess and earmark that for savings (retirement, college, general, vacation, etc.)

Some things I have done recently to save money:
- drop landline and cable. $110 savings each month
- beef up my allowance and have that cover all eating out. Once the money is gone, it's gone and I have to wait to the following month
- meal planning as much as possible. This is tough for me as a FTWM but necessary to keep my food budget under control.
- free activities with the kids such as fairs, parks, etc.

Re: Budgeting tips

Budgeting tips

I'm not the best budgeter myself, but I have made few small changes recently and its really hellping pay off our CC debt faster:

I stopped buying takeout everything, except pizza once a week. I used to go to DD every morning for coffee (2.28 a day!) but now I make it at home. I also started making my lunch, etc. DH thinks that I'm a penny pincher, but saving over $10 week on coffee alone DOES add up.

I also stopped getting my nails done. This was a bit of a hardship, to be honest, mostly b/c I looked forward to my bi-weekly pedicure more for the relaxation factor and less for the nice nails. I try and go once every other month and keep it up myself at home. It really adds up - I was spending $25 every other week for a spa pedi.

So, between the nails and coffee alone, thats an extra $100 a month. I know its not a TON, but baby steps do help.

Budgeting tips

One thing that I do is pay 1/2 my car payment biweekly. I do the same for my student loans.

Re: Budgeting tips

Posted by MorningCuppaCoffee

I posted this recently under the money board and no one responded.

I'm looking for all of your good budgeting tips.

I feel for the most part, I am pretty good in this area, but still feel like I'm overspending. Especially now that I am getting paid bi-weekly instead of weekly, I find myself reaching for the credit card until pay day again.

(Note: I pay that off completely every month and it's rarely more than $200).

I am guessing it's because of food. I like to buy a lot of stuff fresh every week, like deli and such for lunches.

ETA: Also a lot of my larger bills are due those first 2 weeks of the month (car, student loan).

Re: Budgeting tips

Thanks ladies. I am going to try a combination of these tips and see how things go.

I also like to pay a little extra on my student loan so some months I have to pay even less.

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I gotta try that too.

It seems like a lot of things I buy are more out of habit---not that I actually NEED them, or to do a shop. I always pick up groceries on the weekend because it's engrained in my brain that this is what weekends are for.

I've also been spending A LOT lately at the café next door to my job when my clients leave for the day.

I look at it as a treat, but it adds up.

Re: Budgeting tips

Hi ladies. I decided to take advantage of a Chase offer for $150 if you deposit $100 and just opened a new checking.

I decided to have X amount of money directly deposited to this account for basics I spend money on like gas, groceries, morning coffee and spending money.

I am having the remaining balance of my paycheck directly deposited into our joint checking for our bills and savings.

I am hoping this helps even more.

Re: Budgeting tips

Just wanted to bump this back up:

I am finding I am doing so much better having the 2 separate accounts.

I have not gone over budget this way at all and am finding that I have a lot of extra "padding" in my spending $$$ account.

Highly recommend doing this!!!