Cash budgeting

[Maiden Comfort]

I really want to do this. But I have some issues I need to overcome.

#1. Our bank isn't local, and dh's check gets direct deposited. So I'd have to withdraw the money each week for what we need at the ATM. Not an issue, per se, but it's a habit that will have to be formed. Not sure where to fit it into our schedule (or lack of one really).

#2. Bills - we pay all our bills online. Do you take out money for bills as well, or just the other stuff?

#3. Gas - we use our bank card for EVERYTHING right now. Would you put gas money in envelopes as well?

I'm scared about doing this. I don't know why - except maybe it will keep me on budget (a good thing!! lol, though we don't really have one that we stick to) and I'm scared I won't have enough money for the other stuff I want/like to do.

We don't have a budget. I pay the bills, put gas in the cars, and buy groceries. Some weeks are much harder than others, but if there's extra money, it gets spent. I want to stop that. I don't keep very good track of how much money is going out (no, I don't balance my checkbook - very very bad. Our saving acct is set up as overdraft, but it doesn't happen often at all), so it's very easy to overspend. I think the cash budget will help that, but I don't even know where to start!

[mamabear]

First of all, OMG that cannot be Alannah!!! She is so big. When did that happen? (I have had sig pics turned off due to dialup...eesh! What I have been missing!) Second of all, my birthday is 11/26. Be cool if you had that babe on my bday! I always loved having a Turkey-Day-ish birthday.

On the cash envelopes...I have the same questions. We simply cannot deal with cash for gas...it's so inconvenient. Also, when we have done it (we are trying to do it again right now) we have forgotten the envelopes, so then dh uses the debit card and then we spend the envelope money too. And yes, I had him go to the bank on payday (it's right near where he works) and take out the 2 weeks' worth of money, because we do direct deposit too.

One idea for being sure you get some stuff you want is to budget some "mad money" for each of you (you and dh) - as much as you can/want to. Also another idea, which we did with success, is to track your spending for one month first so you can have an idea of where the money actually *does* go and make reasonable allocations to each area. It's more about spending with purpose than it is denying yourself stuff...I think it can be very empowering if done right. We have been dipping our toes into the pool of a zero based budget with cash envelopes for about six months now and want to finally take the plunge...we could start a buddy/support thread on the board for everyone who's at this point!

[Chels~]

#1. Our bank isn't local, and dh's check gets direct deposited. So I'd have to withdraw the money each week for what we need at the ATM. Not an issue, per se, but it's a habit that will have to be formed. Not sure where to fit it into our schedule (or lack of one really).

I do a once a month system. I (or DH) withdraw my monthly budget for groceries, gas and medical. I divide into envelopes and keep it in a safe place.

#2. Bills - we pay all our bills online. Do you take out money for bills as well, or just the other stuff?

We pay bills online as well. I just use the envelopes for my daily stuff.

#3. Gas - we use our bank card for EVERYTHING right now. Would you put gas money in envelopes as well?

I could go either way on this one. I don't have a temptation to buy extra stuff at the gas station. But.....I still like using cash for gas because if I have extra gas money left over, I treat myself to a ultimate car wash

[craftymama]

Here's what I do. dh gets paid direct deposit also. I made a budget on paper for each weekly paycheck. We pay our bills online as well. I overestimate on bills a bit for a little bit of forgiveness. Whatever is left over, usually goes to our electric bill because it has been so high. Here's our budget so I can explain what we do better:

1st Paycheck
$800 Paycheck without any overtime
- 175 car payment 2 of 2. (I split it up over two pay periods)
- 7 blockbuster
- 25 towards electric
- 525 house payment 3 of 4 (I take it out over 4 pay periods)
----------------------------------------------------------------
= $68 left for food for next month food and gas

2nd paycheck
$800
- 86 car insurance
- 165 electric (balanced pay right now because bills were almost 300)
- 525 house payment 4/4
--------------------------------------------------------------------
= $24 left for food and gas next month

3rd paycheck
$800
- 525 house payment 1/4
- $200 house bills (cable, phone, internet and 45 use to go to credit card
before we paid it off...it now goes into savings)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
= $75 left for food and gas next month

4th paycheck
$800
- 525 house payment 2/4
- 175 car payment 1/2
------------------------------
= $100 left for food and gas next month

Dh gets paid for being on-call twice a month $268 total
so every p/c I withdraw the left over money and usually round up for food and gas the following month.
$267 withdrawn from weekly leftover money
+ 268 pager pay
--------------------
= $535 total for next months food and gas

This is what the piece of paper looks like that we refer to monthly.
How I do it:
1. Every p/c withdraw money for next month's food and gas.

(I do it in advanced because Peter gets his pager pay different times and I like to have the whole month's food money so I can buy the big stuff at start of month).
This goes into an envelope. This is all we have...period...no card for food. Now we do use the card at Costco for gas so that day we get gas I run down the street to deposit the money. I tried keeping track of it in checkbook but was too much for me.
At the end of the month, I will take out whatever money is left over and add it to a vacation envelope. That envelope has been empty for awhile because I have been eating a lot of fresh produce but if we do have somewhere we would like to go we will pare down on food so there will money for gas for vacation.

2. Transfer house payment money into a savings account...I do this online as well. When it is due I transfer money back over. I do this only for peace of mind so if we decide to get lazy I always know the house payment can be made...lol.

3. Keep a small piece of paper paperclipped to check book with a running total of what needs to be left in the account at all times (bills, car payment, ect.) FOr example: check account right now says we have $501 but I need to keep $86 in there for insurance as well as $55 for cable payment. That then leaves us with $360 but I haven't gone anywhere so I know I need to withdraw $200 for next months food money. SO we actually only have $160 in the account extra money.

Sounds way more confusing than what it is. This has worked for 3-4 years for us. Dh does get overtime though. We budget off of this base pay. We budget for 4 weeks and some months there is an extra paycheck. That normally goes into savings but we have some high medical bills right now due to my neck problems so the extra money will go towards that. Base pay doesn't allow us to budget for allowance, gifts, extra. This is where I am lacking a budget because Dh can get up an extra $1500 a month in overtime or as little as none....really not dependable income. I have stepped back from doing the bills for awhile. Dh follows my budget very easily. Its the overtime we really should be budgeting.

Sorry for such a long post! Thriftiness is one of my favorite things as well as budgeting. It is amazing the power you can feel being in control of the money. I am a SAHM so my way of contributing is by our budget and spending the money wisely. I look at it as if I am generating some income. IF we didn't have a budget, the money would be gone...so I am saving money and in a way it is earning it.

I hope this wasn't too confusing!