I'm ready to go hard core with tracking where every penny goes. I've looked at several trial versions of various software programs but can't seem to decide. It's obviously not budget-friendly to buy them all, and not all of them even offer trials. One thing I noticed right off the bat is how some of the programs don't actually allow you to create a budget () or don't allow you to categorize as you need to fit that budget.

So, my questions are:

1) How do you track your finances? (paper ledger, Excel spreadsheet, actual envelopes, other)

2) If you use software, what type do you use? What do you like/dislike about it?

3) Have your needs evolved as you've started tracking your money better?

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"When we are no longer able to change a situation — we are challenged to change ourselves."
— Victor E. Frankl

I have been keeping our budget in an excel spredsheet for two years. It works very well for me. First, we use our debit card for most everything. That way it is easier to track exactly what we are spending and where without keeping receipts. I log onto my online banking account every two weeks and print off my checking account activity and plug it into my spread sheet.

this is how do my budget:

1. Start with total income for the month. Please note that the income number is after a 10% contribution to our 401(k) and paying for health insurance.

2. Subtract all fixed costs that must be paid every month. (mortage, car payments, ineternet, satelite, car insurance, life insurance etc)

3. Subract all variable costs that must be paid each month (utilities, doctor bills, home phone, cell phone, etc). I plug in the number form my checking account each month. It took a few months of tracking these until I got a baseline for these. The result is my basis for building the rest of my budget.

4. I have separate line item categories for gas and groceries. I have a set budget for these, but lately I seem to go over every month. I did not have a budget for these items at first. I tracked them for a few months to get a baseline amount.

5. Once I have subtracted my gas and groceries I move onto credit cards. My goal is to starting breaking out credit card expenditures into the appropriate categories. I dont have a bugeted amount for this. We only use it to pay for big things that we may not have the cash for at that moment (i.e. new tires or things for the house) . I pay it off everymonth either from our emergency fund or from our checking account.

6.The final category is miscellaneaous items. I have a line item for each expense listed below. I have it broken into three categories:

(1) Entertainment which includes: aerobic classes, eating out and any other activites that may come up

(2) General Miscellaneous includes: House repairs or anything related to the house, gifts, vet bills, diapers and formula, hair cuts and clothes. My trips to Target are in this category too. I want to start breaking out each item that I purchase into a category. But for now it is just a line item called target.

(3) Cash - this is for the little things that we buy with cash. We spend very little cash since we use the debit card for every thing.

After I have subracted everying from income the net result goes into savings.

I have found that the spreadsheet software that came with my PC is just fine for doing my budget every month. I have the freedom to add any categories that I want. I have even started to do annual averages of everything. I also calcute each item as a percentage of income. I am finding that the longer I have been doing it the easier it has become to track things and anticpate future expenses.

sorry this is soooo long, But I am obsessed with working on our budget! It has been the main driver in keeping us on track since I became a SAHM. Without it I think that we would totally overspend.

i started out on paper. now i use a money program dh put on the computer for me.

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SILENCE IS GOLDEN BUT DUCK TAPE IS SILVER.

I track daily spending on paper--tedious, but sometimes knowing I'll have to enter every little thing keeps me from buying every little thing
Every time I've tried using software, I poop out or just forget to deal with it.
I write down individual items for toiletries, paper products, etc. (including sales tax), but just a line item total for groceries.
I do it daily--never get around to it if I think I'll do all the receipts weekly or monthly.
Bills and the totals for the spending categories go on a 3 month budget table, with + or - totals for actual vs. estimate so I know whether the budget is working.

We have used Quicken software for years. It is great at tax time. I enter in all details from credit cards, every check, etc. Then there are standard report you can print to compare spending to budget, previous month, etc.

The down side - it is info after the fact versus real time.

I guess that's the problem I'm running into. First of all, I am getting error messages nonstop that are aggravating the poop outta me. Then entering in the details from the credit cards, do you do those manually and then just assign where they belong? For instance, I always get my gas using credit card, as I don't want to go in the station and don't like the thought of using a debit card at the pump.

And then, it's just soooo daunting trying to get all this crap in there. I've spent days on it already. It's driving me nuts.

__________________

"When we are no longer able to change a situation — we are challenged to change ourselves."
— Victor E. Frankl

we use quicken in our house----we also have it broken down into tiny sub-categories so we really know where our money goes. It also helps when you need to cut the budget because you can pin point "want" versus "need" spending

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"Families are like fudge... mostly sweet with a few nuts."
~Unknown~