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How many people budget for the year?

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perry

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Not the most exciting thing to do on NewYears day; but today I reviewed my 2009 spending vs budget and built my 2010 budget - complete with a wish list for when I have extra $$$$.

I had actually started this on Tuesday night - but my computer crashed (big time) and not only did I loose my evenings work - but I then spent hours getting it going again and backing up the data - and then went to Milwaukee on Wed night to the apple store (so now I have a new computers to learn to use).

So who else budgets out the year; and what principals do you use.

In my case, I intentionally underestimate my income by a minimum of $5000 for the year (on base wages, tax refunds, etc) and assume no OT. I make that work - and then I know that I can handle a few bumps during the year.

I also make a list of things to do with the extra $ I should have in the year (savings and paying down mortage and the auto loan are well represented along with buying a few things). Of course; I also budget a good amount for buying things during the year anyway.

I find it gives me great peace of mind for the rest of the year. Now I can have a great weekend (and year too).

I hope all of you have a great year too.

Perry
 

kenny

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I never budget.
I just save too much and live well within my means.

Just doing those two things my whole life has served me very well.
 

MichelleCarmen

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I don''t do monthly budgets because my estimates are always way off. Instead, I make sure that we put money into savings every month and that I do not use my credit cards (except for Nordstrom reward points
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) and if I do both of those, I feel I''ve accomplished my "budget" goal.
 

Smurfysmiles

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We will budget probably later this week after we meet with a financial counselor. Once we have some things consolidated it will be easier than having a bazillion different bills to remember to pay each month (private school will do that to you)
 

steph72276

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I always do a monthly budget...things change month to month (electric, for example varies widely in the summer and winter here in FL and also I know money spent on gifts will go way up in Nov. and Dec. for the holidays). I find it way easier to keep up with things for the month rather than the whole year.
 

pennquaker09

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We also budget on a monthly basis. I think we essentially just track our spending mostly, because we''ve drastically reduced unnecessary spending. Like, the plan is to send the twins to private preschool and that''s something we started budgeting for last year. Of course, if they go public, daddy is treating himself to a nice shopping spree.
 

february2003bride

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I do and did it the other day. I have my budget set up through 10/2010 right now, plus long term and short term financial goals.
 

Kunzite

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Yes, we do. I actually finished it a few months ago along with creating a new spreadsheet to track all spending broken down by categories and even made us a balance sheet. We have our budgets for the last few years so I have a lot of data to build the new budget on (for instance electricity usage fluctuations and holiday spending, as mentioned).
 

Bella_mezzo

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We do a rough budget for the year, a detailed budget monthly, and a weekly cash flow (I am a giant dork
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) Things are still pretty tight and we''re not quite in synch with our spending (we just got married/started combining accounts in October) but I think we''ll be better in 2010. Plus I am angling for some Brian Gavin baby bezel studs
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so I have to fit that in in the next few months...
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Haven

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I track every penny that we spend, but we don''t do a yearly budget.
We live pretty far beneath our means, so we set rigid savings and investment goals, but no budget.
 

CaliSun

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We''re pretty on top of our budgeting.
It was difficult for me to keep track of things closely until I began using Quicken, which helped us to set goals and keep up on things a bit more seamlessly.
There are plenty of other programs as well but I was spending so much time sorting through things before I gave in and picked one...
I really like the debt reduction planning feature of Quicken which helped us to pay off all our cc debt much more quickly
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There are other planning features as well which I haven''t used which may be helpful to others..,
I also like how we can see all our spending by categories and set limits. We are also able to compare our spending and saving from last year versus this year which is very helpful.
 

perry

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Glad to see the interest.

Date: 1/2/2010 12:14:35 AM
Author: Kunzite

Yes, we do. I actually finished it a few months ago along with creating a new spreadsheet to track all spending broken down by categories and even made us a balance sheet. We have our budgets for the last few years so I have a lot of data to build the new budget on (for instance electricity usage fluctuations and holiday spending, as mentioned).

That most closely matches what I do.... now. But....

Date: 1/2/2010 8:37:08 PM
Author: MC

I don''t do monthly budgets because my estimates are always way off.

That is where I started long ago. I decided to just track my spending for a year so I could see where my money was going. It was quite the education.

Then I moved to Monthly Budgets

Date: 1/2/2010 8:50:23 PM
Author: steph72276

I always do a monthly budget...things change month to month (electric, for example varies widely in the summer and winter here in FL and also I know money spent on gifts will go way up in Nov. and Dec. for the holidays). I find it way easier to keep up with things for the month rather than the whole year.

The same variability also caused problems with my monthly budgets. I live in Wisconsin and the Utility bills vary far more widely winter to summer than in a lot of places.

Vacations, holidays, projects, not to mention those unscheduled emergent needs just did not seem to fit into monthly budgeting.

I also found that maintaining my check book log was more effort than maintaining a spreadsheet of my check balances.

So years ago I developed a spreadsheet that I turned into a budget. Over 90% of all income and outgo expenses are predictable years in advance (I do a weekly "Routine Cash" that covers groceries, normal gas money, and misc routine purchases).

Because I have years of history on what typically happens in each month of the year - I can lay out a yearly budget. Key is to ensure that my checking balance stays positive although I may allow a minor negative if I know that simple timing of a few payments will resolve the issue (and remember I am deliberately under-budgeting income).

I also track categories so I know what I am spending each year for what. I can do monthly and end of year reviews on how my income/expense went for the month compared to the budget; and which category I am over/underspending on.

Some categories such as Auto or Van (two separate categories) I just budget "X" per month for routine maintenance plus the biannual insurance and annual registration - and then let the balance float for the year. I know that my maintenance cost on my Van will likely occur in only one or two months each year. But, my yearly estimates on how much it cost to maintain the Van are usually fairly accurate (unless I get hit with a major unexpected cost - which I shouldn''t because its in pretty good mechanical condition).

Of course, I do plan to have money for unexpected items. Right now I just absorbed the cost of a new MacBook Pro - without a major budget issue. My CC balances are paid off every month.

Date: 1/2/2010 12:55:29 AM
Author: Bella_mezzo

We do a rough budget for the year, a detailed budget monthly, and a weekly cash flow (I am a giant dork) Things are still pretty tight and we''re not quite in synch with our spending (we just got married/started combining accounts in October) but I think we''ll be better in 2010. Plus I am angling for some Brian Gavin baby bezel studs so I have to fit that in in the next few months...

Ahhh.... Bling. One of the good reasons to plan your budget.
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AmberGretchen

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We did our budget on New Years Day. We usually do a fairly detailed budget in approximately three-month increments, and then a more rough budget for timelines beyond that, and fill in the details as we get closer. We start with non-discretionary expenses, and savings goals, and build everything else around that. We also leave any non-guaranteed income out entirely (bonuses, extra money from consulting work my husband may do, etc...), and have a general rule that "extra" money goes at least 50% into savings, and the rest gets divided to be used on mutually agreed-upon "fun" expenses.
 

Mrs Mitchell

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I don''t budget as such, all our bills and savings come out of our accounts monthly the day after we get paid. Anything left over (such as it is) is for spending. I try not to think about money for a minute longer than I have to, for fear of turning into my mother.
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D&T

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yes, I use a spreadsheet to budget and its a weekly system it keeps us on track, we are only a cash system and have always met our goals. It works well for us but you have to be very disciplined to use our method.
 

rierie26

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I do a monthly budget and try to keep track of my spending - a year is far too broad for me and it''s hard to guess what will happen within 12 months. I use Mint.com so it''s easy to set aside specific amounts for different categories and see how much I''ve spent on things so far.
 

Kunzite

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Bella and Perry our methods sound very similar. Our budget incorporates our cash flow so we can see how even a small purchase will affect the budget for months to come. We also use our spending detail as our bank rec so there''s no way to accidentally leave out purchases (no Enron accounting in our house!). We don''t assume any wage increases in our long term budgets so that we''re not dependent on them. We actually just finished a prelim 2011 budget so we can make sure we can TTC in a few months.... we''re planners!
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elrohwen

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We don't have a budget. We're conservative spenders and save as much as we can each month. We put everything on one credit card and I check the balance often, so if it seems like we're spending a bit too much one month, I'll make sure to cut back any unnecessary spending that can wait until the next month. The credit card gets paid off every month, but I prefer it to cash because it's far easier to track where and what we're spending it on. That's about as far as my budgeting goes.
 

Mara

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i budget for a few months at a time...mostly to track our savings. estimates are not that accurate for spending if i go too much further out, esp if we decide we want to take a trip we didn''t plan 2 months before, or we decide to get something big. we have some combined accts and some separate, we always sync up monthly to make sure we''re on the same track.
 
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