At Green Panda Treehouse, a blog for college students and recent graduates, author D shares some information about how she and her husband manage their family budget. In summary, D and her hubbie divide their income into three piles: hers, his and ours.
I think the key for us is keeping it easy to use and easy to change. We use a Google Spreadsheet for our joint budgeting. It lists our deposits and expenses for the month. We also add a buffer in case we go over. Using Google for our spreadsheet is great as we share the spreadsheet and it notifies the other of changes. We review this on an as needed basis, if someone gets a raise or works more hours, etc. To determine how much each deposits, we go by monthly income and come up with a percentage and then use that to calculate deposits.
Read the story in full here.
“Budgeting”, believes Lauren Fairbanks, editor of New York-based LifeStyler magazine, “is one of those rare art forms that a lot of people never learn how to master.”
To help you along, Lauren lists and explains the five elements of a successful budget plan:
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Step 1. Figuring out your net income
Step 2. Calculating your total monthly expenses.
Step 3. Calculating your monthly savings.
Step 4. Cutting back on monthly expenses
Step 5. Stick with your budget.
Read Lauren’s helpful guidance in full here.
“I don’t like budgets”, admits Uncle Bill of the always-excellent Ask Uncle Bill personal financial blog. “The word smacks of deprivation, denial, not getting what you want.” He continues:
Financial planners and personal finance writers love, and I mean love, to write about how not going to Starbucks and not getting some kind of latte will save you a lot. Stop buying lattes and you are on your way to financial freedom. Get Starbucks out of your life and budgets take care of themselves.
But lots of people like, no love, Starbucks or there wouldn’t be so many of them. And, if you are one of those people, great. Go to Starbucks and order what you want. To me coffee is just a drug but if you want Starbucks, go ahead. I’m not going to stop you. Drink lattes till you drop. But, spend less on something else.
More words of wisdom: “Percentages limit your resources to a definable amount. You cannot have more than 100% of something. When expenses exceed 100% of the money available, you are broke”.
On a practical level Uncle Bill advises that “the key is to cover the basics, the Needs in the Hierarchy, to free up money for the fun stuff.”
Read and learn here.
July 2008 was the first month that Twiggers at In Debt Because I Like Nice Things started keeping track of all of her spending. Her blog “is dedicated to following my long road out of debt, chronicling my struggles with wanting the finer things in life, and somehow reconciling the two!”
About her first month of budgeting Twigger writes:
It was a little bit of a wake up call, but it was also not the most exemplary month … My plan is to keep track of everything for 3 months and then take the average of those months to create a budget! I am also hoping that keeping track of the spending will also show me which areas I can try and cut back in.
Read Twiggers’s full story here.
Over at MyMoneyBlog Jonathan has been tracking his and his wife’s expenditures in search of an answer to the question: where does all the money go? Writes Jonathan:
I am not here to be better than you, or the next dude. Anyone out there could earn more than me, save more than me, or spend less than me. I’m only trying to track our progress, and to consistently try to make our situation a little bit better each day.
But … I think tracking expenditures is a good idea for everyone, so I might as well share what I have discovered.
Read the piece in full here.
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