I Have Never Stuck to A Budget in Um 12 yrs. Of Marriage.

We
Do...

Pay Bills On Time

Have a Certain amount taken out weekly for 401k

Have a Certain amount transferred to Savings each week

Mainly stick within 1000.00 for Groceries , entertainment and dining out a month.

Plan For Trips and Bigger Home Projects


So I Don't think we are too Bad ....

But I Seem like I Am the only one without a Set Budget.

no budget here either. we pay all our bills on time. we carry no credit card balances, never have. i just can't stick to one...it's too time consuming!!!

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Mabennett - Proud Mommy to a Yankee, a Tarheel, and a cheerleader

We don't have a budget. I couldn't tell you how much we spend on "entertainment" or "eating out" or anything like that. All my utilities, car payment, house, insurance are automatically deducted. I have not balanced a checkbook in 18 years. I do check my bank account online to ensure the correct amounts are taken out and that we don't overdraw, altho we have overdrawn, but we have protection for that as well.
We have plenty in savings, investments, 401K. 2nd car will be paid off in 5 months. House is 3/4 paid off. I am a careful shopper - I always find deals for gifts, clothes, etc. At the same time, if we want a new dyson - we buy it.

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I keep a spread sheet for each month, labeling all the basic bills. On the bottom, I have a "Short-Term Debt" category for any bills I know are coming up that aren't in the typical month (co-pays, gifts, etc). This helps me keep track of all the major information.

As for a Dave Ramsey style budget, it just doesn't work for me. In order for that to work, I'd have to have so much extra money set aside for emergencies, much more than we could afford.

We don't have any debt, and are slowly building an emergency fund, so it's working for us.

No, BUT I could do a much better job of managing our money. I think a lot of what we earn is wasted. I don't think a budget is necessarily a must, but I do think some pre-planning on my part is in order.

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"Poor people work for their money. Rich people make their money work for them."

My "budget" is what is left over after rent, bills and retirement are paid. I do have an amount I try to stick to every month for food, but that's because I love to grocery shop and will end up with way too much food if I don't restrain myself My dh doesn't give me a set amount of money I can spend each month. We have what's left in the account and my babysitting cash, we use it on things like gas, food, eating out, shopping and when it's gone, it's gone. (I have many friends who are "given" money by their dh for groceries etc. and when it's gone, they have to "ask" for more, that's not my thing at all)

We don't have a budget either... we've tried a dozen times to have one but it just doesn't work for us, we can't stick to it. We pay what we can, when we can and hope & pray that it all gets taken care of.

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nope... i don't budget... i'm horrible about that sort of thing... but i do make sure that the bills are paid (not always on time and not always in full..we pay what we can) and that the checkbook is balanced

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Mary
mom to Jacob 6 yrs. old (first grader!!)
Nathan 5 yrs. old (registered for kindergarten!!)
wife to Matt for 7 yrs.

We don't have a budget either. I am frugal by nature, so we just spend wisely (except for that bad eating out habit). We never carry credit card balances and our only current debt is our mortgage. If at some time we became more cash poor I imagine I could do a budget, but right now it doesn't seem necessary.

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I don't really have a budget either. I just have cash. I use what I take out for everything groceries, gas, entertainment, etc. When it is gone it is gone.

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