Budgeting question: Paying lump sums

[Bades]

I know a lot of us probably pay some lump sums to save money in the long run. I know I save $50-75 by paying my Car Insurance every 6 months. Also renter's insurance for a year I pay all at one time.

How do you guys budget in lump sums and how do you account for them in your monthly statements? Obiovusly if I pay $500 one month for car insurance for the next 6 months, it appears as if I spent an extra $500 more than usual that month.

When budgeting, do you take what you know the annual price will be and just divide it by 12 and budget that way?

[riverwed070707]

To further the mint discussion, if you use budgets in mint, you just need to make it so the budget rolls over from month to month. Then if you pay your car insurance in Feb., it will say you spent $500 of $83 budget. Come March, it will roll over -$417. When you don't spend anything that month, -$334 will roll over to April, etc. By the time its time to pay again, you will have spent exactly what you were supposed to and your budget will reflect that. Conversly, if you don't like the negatives, have your roll over budget start the month after you pay your next bill and then it will keep adding $83/month until you make the payment. Either way, rollover funds is the secret.

[skydivingchic]

I use Mvelopes, which is similar to Mint in that it is an envelope budgeting system. This system allows for accumulating money for these types of expenses. So yes, I budget 1/12 of the annual budget each month for these types of expenses. Envelopes I do this for include both fixed expenses (annual auto registration and other memberships) and variable expenses (such as auto repairs, vet bills, gifts, and medical expenses). Many months I don't spend anything out of these envelopes, but I still add the 1/12 of the annual budget to them. I don't allow these envelopes to go negative.

[Bades]

Yeah I've never used Mint's budget feature, taking a look at it now, seems really good, thanks for the info.