MOMania

By Katie

July 1, 2008 7:38 AM | Link to this

I balance my check book and don’t live beyond my means—period. Too many poeple try to live caviar lives on hotdog budgets. Those people are just plain stupid.

By Belle

July 1, 2008 7:52 AM | Link to this

I get daily balance reports from the bank in email and then I use Quicken for the rest.

By teach1

July 1, 2008 7:55 AM | Link to this

The cash system is best for us. If we try to use a debit card or cc, it is easier to lose track of amount spent BUT if the cash is gone, you know you are done!

We do not do 25 envelopes though, just grocery and gas together, and then misc.

By Ryan's Nana

July 1, 2008 7:58 AM | Link to this

I am one of those “envelope” people. I took a Dave Ramsey course last fall, and it has really helped our family to live within our means and save money. Best thing I ever did for myself and my family.

By JJ

July 1, 2008 8:19 AM | Link to this

I don’t have a budget, per say, but I try to keep the weekly grocery bill under $100.00.

I don’t have any credit cards, so it’s debit or cash. I too, live within my means. I have NO debt, other than my mortgage and related monthly bills……

What I would like to do, is put more money into savings. Everything I buy something, and I save money, I immediately go to the computer, get on line with the bank, and transfer any amount I saved, into my savings. Like for instance, at the grocery store, when you get the receipt and it shows how much you saved, with their store specials and coupons. That amount gets transferred to savings.

By Kathy

July 1, 2008 8:31 AM | Link to this

Other than utilities and other household bills, we use our credit card for everything. We have a Disney Visa that awards points for the $ you spend. Everything that we spend goes on the CC. We give ourselves a target limit and we have been very good about staying within about $50 of that limit, unless something big comes up, like vacation. It has been very good for tracking expenses and we pay it off every month. I sit down at the beginning of the month and make a rough estimate of what the needs will be for the month and about how much we need to spend. For groceries and gas however, that amount is set in stone….a certain amount for each. Now, my hubby is about to change jobs and take a pay cut, so we have already talked abou the budget getting a lot tighter.

By Ebaby

July 1, 2008 8:44 AM | Link to this

I used to keep an excel sheet and we strictly used check cards for all of our spending so that we didnt have to keep track of cash. I find that if I have cash in hand, I am more likely to take a taxi than the subway, or buy a lottery ticket, etc.

We started the spreadsheet to monitor our spending habbits and then after several months set some limits on certain categories like food. Then, if we over spent one month, we cut out restaurants the next month and tried to even it out.

By Jeff

July 1, 2008 8:50 AM | Link to this

I personally use my debit card and online banking. I can typically see within a matter of minutes (MAYBE hours, OCCASSIONALLY up to a day or two) exactly what I’ve spent and how much I have available.

I’m not sure what system T uses, but I know that she typically pays her bills at the local office of whatever. (For example, she drives to the local electric company’s office to pay that bill, to Lowe’s to pay that bill, etc. Only when she has NO other option - such as with our RAV4 - does she mail in a check.)

I’ve got to put more storage on our desktop at the house, as I’m trying to combine all the various files on our 4 computers into ONE computer, but once I get that done I’ll be putting Quicken or similar on that machine and tracking both accounts using it.

BTW: We might be down to 3 machines here soon…. reason: I’ve got an interview in ALBANY!!! (Trying not to get overly excited until I have a job offer from them, but it is hard!)

By faye

July 1, 2008 9:33 AM | Link to this

Like JJ we have no credit cards, so it’s either cash or debit, and like Jeff, we use online banking to check daily how our money is doing.

Becuase of how my husband and I get paid, that sort of budgets for us - acts like envelopes as it were - as a teacher, I get paid once a month, so that typically goes towards the “big” bills - mortgage, ultilities, etc. We do take advantage of online bill pay.

My husband’s weekly paycheck goes towards gas and groceries - since he’s in sales, and things have slowed down, we’ve cut back. We’re shopping smarter (lists, menus, and coupons) and driving less. We also have been trying to cut back on ultilities. Like Ryan’s Nana, we love Dave Ramsey, and we’ve been able to save some, even in this budget-crunching time.

My sister does the envelope things - she loves it, and is very good at it - she still balances her checkbook by hand - she thinks it’s relaxing…to each his own, I guess.

By Magenta

July 1, 2008 9:35 AM | Link to this

My husband and I generally keep our funds separate, though we share freely, depending on who needs what. He pays for some utilities, gas and groceries as well as most meals out. I pay the rest, including the mortgage. Because my paycheck is predictable, I am able to enter the amount into Microsoft Money for the entire year, and then plug in the anticipated expenses in between. This enables me to project several months in advance. I look at the smallest balance that shows up and say “We can’t spend more than $_ between now and October 1st (for example) or things will be tight.” We also try to throw a regular amount into a savings account, in addition to my 401K, which is a godsend.

I’ve found that the one thing that’s sure to throw everything off is credit card use, so we are trying very hard to eliminate it.

By Jeff

July 1, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this

faye:

We are similar, for similar reasons. Of course, ALL of the bills other than my two credit cards and student loans are in her name, so that is also another reason she pays the bills. Right now we’re working on a system of me transferring x amount to her account when I get paid, and that is what pays a couple of the bills as well as groceries and SOME entertainment. The rest of mine currently goes for my credit cards and gas.

HOPEFULLY all will go well later this week and I will begin to save nearly $450 in gas every month!

By DB

July 1, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this

Quicken, baby! With the household account, two business accounts, a personal account, and tracking money in and out of investment accounts, I’d have a hard time keeping track if it wasn’t for Quicken.

At the end of the month, we take the credit card statements and parse them out into the different spending categories so that we can track the spending — i.e., entertainment, clothing, etc.

By kgirlatl

July 1, 2008 10:05 AM | Link to this

I have a budget, and I pay EVERYTHING I can on my credit card, including bills. I do this for one reason: cash back. I earned $300 last year, which I used for Christmas presents, and didn’t pay a penny in fees or interest. I also keep track of everything in Excel, and check my balances and verify transactions every couple of days.

By Theresa

July 1, 2008 10:10 AM | Link to this

This story is on the front about cutting grocery costs — but I want more info from this lady — http://www.ajc.com/eveningedge/content/eveningedge/stories/2008/06/30/savingonfood_0701.html

By nurse&mother

July 1, 2008 10:34 AM | Link to this

Kathy, I too have a Disney Visa. I am accumulating points to go to a Disney Cruise. I put most everything on my card. I DO pay it off every month. I don’t use a debit card because I would probably lose track of what is coming out of my account. I am also afraid that someone will steal it and wipe out my personal account. With a Visa, I am only responsible for $50 if it is stolen.

Most of the time I do a good job of staying in budget. Occasionally, I don’t and the next month I have to really buckle down and watch what I spend. I keep a little padding in my account for such situations.

If I carried around cash, I would spend it all on the nickle and dime stuff. So it helps me to not carry cash and only use my credit card.

By el Martin

July 1, 2008 10:35 AM | Link to this

U se AMEX for all purchases and pay off the bal;ance each month.

Debit cards are the WORST deal for consumers….why do you think the banks push them so much.

NEVER let any organizations get direct access to your ban account. Use a credit cards and pay it off monthly and set up that barrier.

Plus credit card companies are better at handling billing dispute than banks are with debit cards, they have to be or you will just get a different credit card.

By JJ

July 1, 2008 10:49 AM | Link to this

When I use my debit card, I write down the purchase amount in my check register. It’s easier to keep up with.

However, I need to SEE my money. I like to have cash in my wallet. (I am so sick of keeping up with debit card receipts.)

At the end of the week, I clean out my wallet. All debit receipts go into a file at the computer, and all cash under $5.00 goes into the jar.

All money in the jar is going towards a trip to Europe in 2 years.

By Penguinmom

July 1, 2008 10:55 AM | Link to this

We use Check cards not cash. I like the tracking of having the transactions show up on the web. Most places will take a check card as a credit card if you just don’t type in your pin. I just say ‘Credit’ as I hand it over or swipe it.

We used to use credit cards but found the temptation to overspend and to not pay it all off was too great. Using the check card keeps us from overspending (can’t spend what you don’t have) and gives us benefits of tracking. Using the check card doesn’t give a store anymore access to your account than a check. They send in a transaction and your bank transfers the money.

I use software my husband wrote to track our expenses. I balance my expenses in the program with the information on the bank’s website at least 2 times a week. I also put my expenses/deposits into budget categories (like envelopes) so I can tell where most of our money goes.

I can tell you right now exactly how much money I have in the bank and how much money I actually have available based on outstanding transactions.

By Penguinmom

July 1, 2008 11:04 AM | Link to this

One other thing, I’m not good at keeping up with receipts so I just enter round numbers into my program at night. (Usually rounding up from what I remember.) Then, when the transaction hits the bank web site, I go back and edit for exact change. Yes, I’m trusting them. But as long as I have a good idea of what it should have been, I can tell right away if it is grossly off. Haven’t been burned by this yet.

If you like the envelope system, you can get software that tracks your expenses that way, I believe it’s called Money Map.

By Charles

July 1, 2008 11:20 AM | Link to this

I used to be terrible about budgeting, but now after listening to Dave Ramsey, we are a lot better at keeping and following one. I use a simple Excel spreadsheet for the budget itself, to project every dollar of income and expense for the coming month and it all adds up to 0 at the bottom. That is, every dollar is either spent or saved, in the spreadsheet before I start paying bills. This has allowed us to focus and plan better.

Then, I use a free accounting program called GnuCash (GnuCash.org - it is like MS Money or Quicken, but uses the double entry accounting method) to track how much I have in each account (ie to balance the checkbook.) I check the bank statements online about twice a week against my GnuCash account registers.

By jsmom

July 1, 2008 11:52 AM | Link to this

We use Dave Ramsey’s Gazelle Budget software through his Total Money Makeover site. LOVE IT. We had free access to it while we took FPU last year and it was so much easier to track things there. (Just a personal preference)

We do live on a budget (and have for 2 years now, but a ‘strict’ budget for 9 months)and we will have an emergency fund finished by next month. We tried envelopes and I can’t handle having cash. We have weekly budget meetings to make sure we are on track and make any adjustments that need to be made.

It’s also nice to have a built in excuse for not going out to dinner-we blame Dave!

By ESR

July 1, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this

I live on a budget but I can’t seem to get my wife to realize we need one. Both of us grew up in poor households, somehting that motivated us both to do better than our parents. My wife retired with a healthy six figure salary, one she knows she’ll have until her last breath so it’s hard to get her be frugal. She just looks at me like I am nuts when I say we shouldn’t be spending money the way she sometimes does. Even though we can afford her binges of spending money like a drunken sailor at times, something about just spending because you have it really bothers me. It’s probably the poor growing up part but still…..it irks me at times.

By Alecia

July 1, 2008 2:48 PM | Link to this

No fancy worksheets here. However we do an expenses audit every quarter. I look at what we spend and focus on cash flow. We double check our phone/cable plans, decide whether or not we need extras like Chemlawn, play with our money to get the best interest possible, and check whether or not there are discounts we are missing i.e. hubby gets 20% off at Verizon. We also take advantage of 0% credit card offers and stick the money into a CD. This summer we are spending more time at the pool,and less time at the arcade or bowling alley. Groceries-Kroger gift card(10% bonus) mixed w/ Entertainment Book coupons(15% off this month). I do an extremely large grocery trip to take advantage of all the coupons. The rest of the month we eat the loss leaders from the other stores (Ingles & Publix)Our family of 3 eats well and I spend less than $70 per week.

By Prootwadl

July 1, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this

I used to budget all of our expenses in an old copy of Quicken for DOS, and manually keep track of everything in that one place, but I’ve since moved to a centralized online bill paying service and keep track of month-to-month variations in an Excel spreadsheet.

A budget is important for us — a lengthy layoff a few years ago will continue to make our money tight for several years to come, I suspect. :-(

By Penguinmom

July 1, 2008 3:43 PM | Link to this

jsmom, what I want is a built in excuse to eat out. :-)

We don’t have weekly meetings, but we do make time to talk about the money situation regularly.

I’m the one who keeps up with all of our money (including my husband’s buisness account.) So, he trusts me to know what we can and can’t afford.

We are currently in the final stages of getting all of our old credit cards handled to we now see an endpoint to paying them all off.

By jsmom

July 1, 2008 5:10 PM | Link to this

Penguinmom, LOL I’d like that too… but when “those people” call and want to go out to eat or movies or whatever, we blame Dave, our Financial Advisor.

ESR, this will sound crazy, but getting on a budget and sticking with it was the greatest thing that ever happened to my marriage. I wish you the best of luck talking to your wife. I finally told my hubby how it was eating me inside to be living paycheck to paycheck, and that’s how we got to where we are.

By Penguinmom

July 1, 2008 6:24 PM | Link to this

We were in a pretty tight financial situation a couple of years ago and budgeting was more of a matter of “who do we pay this month.” I still kept up with everything very carefully but it was more a matter of how do we not bounce a check than what category does this money go into?

Amazingly, the thing that got us out of that situation was to begin to give a tithe again. We’re Christians so we tithe to our church but if you are not a Christian, I still believe giving a portion of your income away will actually help your finances in the long run. (I know it’s a paradox.)

It has been unbelievable how the past two years of faithful tithing have caused a flood of new income. I believe it’s God’s faithfulness to His promise, but can believe what you want. It is hard to deny the results. We now pay all our bills, are paying off our old credit cards and have extra money in the bank. All of this after giving away 10% of our income each month.

By Gretchen

July 2, 2008 8:35 AM | Link to this

We took the Dave Ramsey class and got so far as to have saved $2,000 and paid off some bills. Then the gas crunch hit us and we hit a wall and had to start using our credit card again which is driving me crazy. It’s like we took 2 steps forward then had to take 5 steps back. But we’ll make progress eventually again. But I use Word’s calendar and keep track of the month’s bills so I won’t be surprised by what’s due. I use that in conjuction by my bank’s online bill pay so it’s automatically drafted. As far as a budget, I can’t seem to get that to work. We always go over. We try to keep a grocery budget which seems to work, but a monthly budget doesn’t. Something always seems to go break or go wrong.

By Atlgp

July 2, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this

I drink the Dave Ramsey coolaid. No borrowing, no credit cards and save for a rainy day. Its so nice to have extra money now.

By Atlgp

July 2, 2008 10:29 AM | Link to this

I drink the Dave Ramsey coolaid. No borrowing, no credit cards and save for a rainy day. Its so nice to have extra money now.

By Jesse's Girl

July 8, 2008 8:31 AM | Link to this

Oooo…just saw this one. Do what we do. I don’t have to write down what I spend because its right there on the monitor! We figured out how much I spend on the house and family in a week and we transfer that money…plus a few extra dollars for incidentals… into a seperate checking account. We use BOA for both our primary and the household/family one. They both pop up on our online banking screen when we check it. Its so easy to see where the tiniest cent is being spent! There is no wondering ” Where is my money going?!” I can see that…why yes, I did indeed spend that much at Macy’s. Or yes, I spent too much on what have you. Simple, simple, simple….

By Shirley

July 11, 2008 6:17 PM | Link to this

Wlamart will match advertised prices. Also, if an item rings up wrong, you will receive $3.00 off of the regular price or get it free if it is under $3.00.