https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:02:22 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-397324 Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:31:33 +0000 littlek 397324@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, we budget and DH has financial statements for us. He's a dork. :) We are both in accounting/finance. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-397302 Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:26:56 +0000 SugarplumsMom 397302@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No. We rough estimate once or twice a year when it's time to made additional payments on our mortgage (we pay in clumps). We haven't made a spreadsheet, although it would be nice to have. But we don't spend much to begin with. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-397270 Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:12:21 +0000 ValentineMommy 397270@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We do.....and I admittedly constantly stare at said spreadsheet and wish there was more money in the + side, and less in the -. Lol. I'm always trying to figure out how to make a tighter ship, so to speak. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-386331 Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:31:45 +0000 ladyfingers 386331@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, but I'm still trying to get DH to pay attention to it throughout the month. He doesn't spend much, but ever since we combined our accounts and budget, he doesn't pay any attention whatsoever to our bank balance and it drives me nuts. I always have to be the one to tell him we need to tighten up for a week, and then he wants a blow by blow of why. Sigh. Pay attention! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-385821 Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:28:21 +0000 Lone Palm 385821@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My husband is obsessive when it comes to doing the budget. I swear he does it every day based on what is in checking and what we have coming in. We talk about it and I see his math but I usually let him handle the budgeting. We are both pretty frugal though but it's nice knowing exactly what we have left over to play with. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-385818 Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:27:33 +0000 Andrea 385818@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No, we don't. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-385801 Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:19:40 +0000 MamaMoose 385801@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Nope. We are fortunate enough to be able to buy what we want without having to really plan ahead (except for super large purchases). Our credit card and mortgage get paid on the same day every month and the following day every month I take a look at the account and see what extra we have over our "cushion" amount for the month, and I split that excess between our investment account and the savings account we set up for the baby. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-385789 Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:07:30 +0000 .twist. 385789@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I was budgeting hardcore when I was doing my own finances, after we got married and joined finances my budgeting went down the drain. </p> <p>I'd really like to get back into it, but I got myself in a funk and am having a hard time getting out of it. Maybe if I get a BFP I'll have some motivation to get back into budgeting. </p> <p>I do budgeting similar to Dave Ramsey, he's pretty epic. </p> <p>Our biggest expenses would probably be our mortgage and eating out. I'm trying to cut back the eating out part, yesterday I actually printed off my MC statement and highlighted all the food items and I could be saving about $200 a month on just $4 - $8 dollar food purchases! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-385775 Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:59:00 +0000 oliviaoblivia 385775@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We don't budget. I'm super stingy with my money and pretty much know in my head what our checking account balance is down to the penny at any given time. DH rarely buys anything when I'm not there so I don't really worry about that.<br /> We have set up financial goals every month and distribute to our savings, retirement, education funds monthly. Everything over that doesn't really have a destination. I'd like to get better about budgeting, but every time I resolve to do so, I don't stick with it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-385737 Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:42:31 +0000 Mrs. High Heels 385737@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, we budget using an excel spreadsheet and update it at least 2x a month (usually the 15th and 30th). I hate when things go in the "red" so I make it a competitive goal with myself to "do even better" the next month. I didn't like using Mint.com because of the way it categorized things... I spent so much time trying to re-categorize them so I could have a better picture of where our money was going towards! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-385704 Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:26:38 +0000 mlm2934 385704@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Coco Bee: oh yes! That was us - we used to overdraft and be so confused about our money! budgetting and automatic savings deposits have saved us! I'm a huge Dave Ramsey fan, but I would get a nasty talking to from him if I ever called into his show because we don't budget every dollar and still eat out a lot with student loan debt to pay off. :) oh well, some budget is way better than nothing. And to answer orig question - food is definitely the hardest part, we loooove eating out. If we didn't eat out for a year, I could probably pay cash for a new car lol </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-379395 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:19:43 +0000 Bao 379395@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were doing so good with budgeting until our LO was born at the end of August and things got crazy busy and I was too tired to do anything, let alone budget. I made my own spreadsheet on paper and put it in a folder (old school style lol), but it worked for me. I put everything we bought, where we bought it, how much it was, and if it was a want or a need. I also had a sheet for our bills, when they were due, how much, when I paid them etc. It kept me organized. I really need to get back into it because I think it helped keep us on track. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-379370 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:15:12 +0000 Mrs. Pen 379370@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have to budget!! We went 1.5 years married without a budget and constantly overdrafted or did the "pray and swipe" lol. Now we are so much more in control of our finances. Since we're a one-income household, we hard hardly anything leftover after bills are paid so honestly it's not that much work to budget because we just enter our bills for each month and then with the little bit leftover we put it toward debt, extra savings, or needs that we don't have each month such as clothes, extracurricular activities, date night etc.</p> <p>We budget using a Dave Ramsey system where we budget each and every dollar.<br /> This is what ours looks like:<br /> Rent<br /> Car Payment/Insurance<br /> Gas/Oil change<br /> Student Loans<br /> Utilities: internet, gas, electric, water<br /> Netflix<br /> Groceries (one of the biggest expenses here too)<br /> Savings<br /> Diapers/wipes/baby</p> <p>Each month we tend to have an extra payment or something we need - this month will be clothes as DH needs some new work clothes. Sometimes we budget for those things just a little each month so that in 6 months we have a nice chunk to use toward something. That's how we save toward big ticket items as well. We already have most of the $$ for DS's birthday party saved (3.5 mos away) because we've been putting a little aside each month. Definitely takes away from the blow of big expenses! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-379365 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:14:42 +0000 immabeetoo 379365@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Mint.com didn't work for me when I tried it a long time ago - I felt like it didn't separate things out correctly :/ </p> <p>@mrsjazz I know, he cracks me up. I adjusted it down "a little". I am worried how hard it will be to keep eating out down once baby is here -but we're moving to an area with fewer diverse restaurants.. so maybe that will help!</p> <p>For the record because I don't think I put it initially, we use Google docs so we can both see it whenever and edit it :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-379351 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:12:33 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 379351@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We budget using a spreadsheet. It's really involved. I love doing it and knowing where our money is. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-379338 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:08:06 +0000 mrsjazz 379338@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are just starting to budget. I might be going part-time with work and we live in the most expensive city so we'll take a hit. It's important for us to budget so that we can still save money for the future.</p> <p>We plan on using Excel and having weekly check-ins. I was using Mint personally but I ignore every e-mail they send me so obviously that didn't work for me.</p> <p>@scg00387: I love how much the baby expenses are. Our toughest area is eating out! There is so much good food to be had here and we like to eat it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-379336 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:07:47 +0000 pinkcupcake 379336@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, we budget. With me not working right now, we have to be very careful about our finances. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-379332 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:06:46 +0000 PurplePumps 379332@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I kept up with budgeting for about a year, and got tired of it. We use mint.com now to keep track. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-379323 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:04:44 +0000 Mrs. Lovejoy 379323@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes! My DH does and updates it almost daily (via spreadsheets). It's pretty crazy, but it keeps him sane. I almost never get budget updates unless we are really over. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-379312 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:01:31 +0000 chopsuey 379312@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We budget for a while and kept going over so we stopped. Hah :P </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-379305 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 13:58:06 +0000 birdofafeather 379305@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>we do, but we do it through mint.com because it's automatic. i don't last very long with spreadsheets! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-budget#post-379089 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 12:26:00 +0000 immabeetoo 379089@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were good about budgeting for 2 years until I got pregnant, then I was so sick and our expenses were so variable with what I was buying on sale/used we just gave up and stopped tracking (though obviously still knew our total outputs/inputs).</p> <p>We agreed to get back in the habit with 2013 after all our housing closing costs settle out (and his employer reimburses what they cover) and I'm setting up our Google doc.. and this is what my husband added in for baby expenses, LOL!</p> <p>I'm actually hoping we don't have a ton of ongoing costs and that breastfeeding and cloth diapering works out for us, but it made me curious how many others budget?? What are your toughest areas? For me, it's grocery now that we eat mostly "whole" foods and organic stuff, local meat. It's harder to coupon and buy on sale. We don't usually spend all of our entertainment budgets. </p> [attach=1391/12/md0z3d.600x337.budget.png]