When do you include budget items for the month?

[Lindahfx]

If you are tracking your expenses, etc. for the month, when do you include items for that month? When they post to your account? Or when the transaction occurred?

[momof1in150]

The day I spend the money is when it gets tracked. Too complicated if I do it on the day it posts.

[LuxLiving]

The day of spending.

[Aleta]

I agree. If used to have the same question. It's always good to do it on the day you wrote out the check or transferred or whatever. I so put a notation on the second line of when it was posted to my bank.

[ktmarvels]

I do both. We use a whiteboard system (along the lines of the envelope system) which we use to record purchases as we spend it. For my computer tracking through Money, I use the date that it is posted to the account.

[JanH]

I put it on the sheet the day we spent it. On automatic payments from my account such as the car payment, I put it on the day it is taken out of the bank account since it is the same date each month.

[disneysteve]

I just count the total for the month, regardless of which day each bill got paid as that really doesn't matter. What matters is how much do I earn and how much do I spend.

[Ima saver]

I write down the day I charge something. Otherwise, everything is accounted for when I do the envelope method. I give each of us an allowance and when it's gone, it's gone.

[vsjhoc]

If I charge it, I record it on the day that I pay the bill, even though it's at least a month after I incurred it.

[tabbycat31]

the day I spend the $$$

[Aleta]

I do the same. I enter a credit card as paid on the day it is paid, even though the purchases are a month old.

[snafu]

I am very aware of the cut-off date of all CCs. I run the cards in rotation to give me the longest pay period but I check balances on-line each desk day. I am careful to pay on-line before the due date as I can't afford interest. DH will cut up any card that ever charges interest.

[MonkeyMama]

When transaction occured.

I set all my credit cards to close the 3rd which pretty much means billing cycle follows the month. Makes life much easier since I post everything in Quicken as it is charged though I don't pay it (or budget the expenditure from my paycheck) until the following month. If something for the following month slips in on the 2nd or 3rd, I just record it in the prior month though. Just easier. It's all the same in the end with consistency. Any large/strange expenditure on the card I just avoid the first couple of days of the month to avoid messing up my budget.