I'd love to see what your budget categories look like, because it seems like I'm always paying for something that wasn't already planned.
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@travelingnanny: I really love Dave Ramsey's budget sheets. They are really comprehensive and offer far more categories than we actually need. It was a great way to not miss things when we were getting started.
Now, we have "blow" money which is our spending money, entertainment which covers eating out and other things we do for fun, household which covers paper goods, diapers, cleaning products, etc, and grocery which is just food. We take all of that out in cash. Then we have a gas budget, which we leave in the checking account so that we can use our debit cards at the pump. We try to not use our debit cards for anything except gas and travel expenses. We find that we spend a lot less when we use cash than when we use a debit card.
I did a long post last year about how we do our budget if you are interested http://www.hellobee.com/2013/09/05/budgets-made-easier/
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We have a catch-all household budget line for all food/household/cleaning items - basically I was having a hard time separating out everything I bought at Target and Costco.
We have a line item for housing, which includes mortgage, utilities, maintenance, gardening, etc.
Personal is fun money, date nights, clothing, makeup, etc. Kids' clothing and toys get looped in there too.
We also keep a line item for school loans, which is our only consumer debt.
Auto includes all car maintenance, car insurance, gas, and any kind of savings going towards our standing repair fund (we always keep $2000 for a car emergency because we drive paid off older vehicles). For things like regular maintenance, we average out how much it costs over the year and break it up monthly.
We also have an "annual" line item, which is an approximation we make each year of how much we will spend on gifts, travel, life insurance, disability insurance, and other things that come up annually, and break it up into 12 payments and put it in savings.
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I just sent our categories to a friend so i'll copy/paste! I separate it out by necessities and luxuries, so I always budget for necessities first (groceries/food, utilities, etc) then go on from there:
everyday expenses
- groceries
- costco (i usually split out costco, so some go to household, but all food purchased at costco goes in this category)
- household
- gas/fuel
- health (copays, meds, etc)
- misc.everyday luxuries
- dining/eating out
- entertainment/dates (this includes kids entertainment like going to theme parks or something)
- DH personal
- My personal
- kids essentials (diapers, etc)
- kids other (clothes, toys, etc)
- personal care (toiletries, etc)monthly bills
- childcare
- mortgage
- car payment
- HOA
- cell phones
- gardeningutilities (i wanted to split out utilities from monthly bills just to see our utilities in one section)
- gas
- water
- electricity
- trash
- internetgiving
- tithing
- hospitality/benevolence (when we donate to charities, or money spent when we host things at our place)
- family supportplanning ahead
- anniversary
- christmas
- other holidays (mother's day, father's day, valentines, thanksgiving, etc)
- vacation/travel
- electronics (like saving up for cell phones, laptop, etc)
- furniture/home decor
- J&N birthdaysyearly expenses
- homeowner's insurance
- car insurance
- car registration
- subscriptions (hulu plus, netflix, amazon prime...)
- car maintenance
- home maintenancebudgeting goals
- savings/retirement -
We do Mint, and our categories are:
Gas/Fuel/Car Oil Changes
Bills
Alcohol
Grocery Shopping
Home Supplies (laundry detergent, cleaners,bath products)
Pet Supplies
Baby Supplies (diapers, clothing)
Going Out
Shopping (hair cuts go in this category)
Husband Work Expenses (he eats on the road 3-4 days a week)
Giving/TithingWe usually have $200 left over and set a goal for that to go into savings, along with any extras in DH's paycheck.
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What a great question! Sorry for the overlapping screenshots; I didn't want to miss anything:
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I'm so glad you asked this question! I am embarrassed to say that we do not currently have a budget plan.
It definitely leads to overspending! Looks like there are lots of good suggestions to get started!
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@birdofafeather: is that in an app or program?
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@DesertDreams88: both! it's from YNAB (You Need A Budget). purchase the program, add the app on your phone, ipad, etc. recommended highly by many bees, of which @Mrs. High Heels: is our queen!
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Thank you so much!!!
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Monthly Bills: (listed by date due)
Property Tax
Cable/Internet/Phone
Electrical
Bank Fees
Home/Car Insurance
Netflix
Gas/Water
Cell Phones
Mortgage
Security SystemChild Care:
Child Support
Child Support (other)
O's Med's
Daycare
Extra CurricularVehicle/Transportation:
Fuel
AMA Membership
Vehicle Registration
Car Repair Fund
Bus PassEveryday Expenses:
Groceries
Spending Money
Restaurants
Medical
Clothing
Household Goods
Pets
Hair
Fitness
Lunches
DH's Fun Money
My Fun MoneyRainy Day Fund:
Buffer (had to start over with this
)
Home Maintenance
Birthdays
Christmas
High Interest SavingsSaving Goals:
Car Replacement
Vacation
RESP DS 1
RESP DS 2
RESP LGiving:
CharitableDebt:
Line of Credit
Taxes -
@birdofafeather: Ha! I'm just happy to spread the love (and savings!). I like how you lumped all your utilities together. I'm going to change mine to look like that!
@travelingnanny: If you decide to give YNAB a try and have any questions, pop on over to that other thread. So many helpful bees, including @birdofafeather: and @.twist.: !!
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@Mrs. High Heels: yeah, it just made more sense! and then the note is the date they are due. now that i've had a few months of the new place under my belt, i'm also going to put an approximate amount so i can better calculate what to budget.
It definitely leads to overspending! Looks like there are lots of good suggestions to get started!
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