who is watching and not done a budget

[PrincessPerky]

Re: who is watching and not done a budget

I have not started a budget yet for the simple reason am clueless.. dont know what to put on it and stuff like that.. know what my bills are ie.. electric, phone, rent, cable but what else goes on it.. have very little income and alot of bills guess i am a little overwhelmed

start by putting those down, then as a 'ooops' forgot that bill comes up put it down too...making a budget is not one stop shopping, it has to be tweaked and reviewed a bit...

[Ima saver]

Re: who is watching and not done a budget

Some parts of your budget are kind of set, you can't change your rent or house payment. but you do have some control over your electric, your groceries, your discresionary spending (clothes, make up , eating out, buying stuff you can live without) Allow some spending money (allowance) for you and your spouse,

[geneandmegan]

Re: who is watching and not done a budget

To all those who may be watching and have not yet done a budget, I think I can understand a few of the reasons that may be keeping you from doing one. For my part, not all that many years ago, the idea of a budget was one of those things that sounded kinda like torture. Thing is, that for me, this was because I was terrified of money. I didn't want to look to closely at money. Grew up in a home where... well, I'm not sure what happened to the money, but I knew that the power, water, roof, etc were not ever really guaranteed and God help us if we should need to eat. So yeah, I was terrified of money. Great amorphous blob that was either there, or it wasn't, and you had no control over which it was.

Then, finally, I tried budgetting and while it was really sucky at first, and scary, pretty soon, it became kinda what I call my security blanket. I knew what money was there. I knew how much I had to spend, how much we made, where it went and what it was for. You can control your money, and you can control your life.

Yeah, so I hope that this isn't like too much information or something, but that also maybe it'll help someone out there. Budgeting doesn't mean, I think, that you lose control over your money. It means you get that control back. Like they say "if you don't tell your money where to go, it leaves".

[Ima saver]

Re: who is watching and not done a budget

Well I got married at age 20, and i was not sure what to do. I had no credit card and no checking account. So, every Friday, I cashed the paychecks, put a percentage in my savings, and then went home and put the rest of the cash in envelopes marked, rent, car payment, elec., water, telephone, heat, gas, groceries ( 1/4 of what was needed went into those envelopes each week)
After that, I always looked forward to coming home from the bank, and doing my budget. I love it and it is the reason I have been able to always save part of my paycheck.

[budgetmom]

Re: who is watching and not done a budget

I am new to these boards and very eager to get started on a true budget. I have my own "losely styled" (for lack of a better term) budget, but it really doesn't seen to be working for me. Is there somewhere on this site I can go to get info on starting a budget? There is so much info here, I hardly know where to begin!

[Broken Arrow]

Re: who is watching and not done a budget

Welcome budgetmom! You are most definitely in the right place.

Many (though certainly not all) newcomers often times will start a new topic and post their their budgets on here to get critiques and suggestions on how to get it under control. That may be the fastest and most effective way to get the help you want.

Otherwise, there are plenty of methods out there, from online Mvelopes to Excel spreadsheets to old-fashion pen & paper. Just whatever method that works best for you.

My personal recommendation is just to go ahead and ask outright. People here are very helpful and talking about topics like this doesn't seem to get old. Well, not for me anyways.

[PrincessPerky]

Re: who is watching and not done a budget

Woohoo! Just got the power bill today and it was only $43.00! I'm ecstatic because we have central air for the first time, so I was worried it'd be really high. Especially since our neighbors in an apt the same size as ours said their power bill averages $100 a month! Anyways, a big relief that was today!

yeah low bill!

keeping the ac at 70 is significantly more expensive than 80....as your neighbors bill showes (peek at their setting sometime, I would love to know what they actually keep it at)