Budget help needed.

[Russ]

I'm working on the budget and the problem I am having is we do a lot of shopping at Walmart. Trying to go over the past 3 months of bill/cc statements/checking statements is sorta worthless info.
Example: I spent $200 at Walmart on one trip. Unless I had saved a receipt, which I did not/do not, there is no way of knowing what the heck I spent that money on.
Here's a list of what I might have spent it on and many of these have their own category within the budget.

prescriptions
dog food/ toys/ treats
home repair
food - do household items like laundry soap bath soap, etc go in this category?
automotive
garden
clothing
stuff for the home - sheets, rugs, appliances

the list goes on.

Now lets add in anything we purchased at the same store, or any store, for cash. Again, no clue what we spent the cash on..pizza for dinner, ice creams, etc.

Am I suppose to make wild azz guesses?

thanks
Russ

[Drgnfly423]

I have an excel spreadsheet that I made that I track my expenses through out the month. So for the Wal-mart receipt...I'll break it out into separate categories: petcare, food, household, etc. It really helps me identify where we're spending way too much money. It actually works better for us than a "budget" does. It also keeps me in line. I can see how much we've spent so far on groceries so I'll lighten up the next time we go to the grocery store. If you are interested I can e-mail it to you...just PM me!

[Moor]

we use microsoft money for our account.
after i get home from the store, i input what i spent.
we use the catagories. it helps.
then we can get a monthly/ or how ever much we want report on where we are spending money.

hope this helps.

[mom2matty]

We also had to go with an Excel spreadsheet and as soon as I get home I log everything in then get rid of the reciepts! We break everything down too......probably too much but for now and until we really have a handle on everything we will keep doing it this way!!

[Russ]

we use microsoft money for our account.
after i get home from the store, i input what i spent.
we use the catagories. it helps.
then we can get a monthly/ or how ever much we want report on where we are spending money.

hope this helps.

We have Quicken. But the problem there is as I described above. Looking at a Walmart entry just tells you you spent money at Walmart. It doesn't tell you how to categorize it or how to budget for food only.

I'm beginning to think "look forward" not back and just keep track for 3 months and budget as I go. By end of October our budget should be set.

Main goal right now - W.A.G. the budget, bring receipts to the table and divide into the categories. As freely as we spent in the past, it does no good to look at Walmart/Sams club/Meijer/Kroger entries and say we spent that much on food.

[Greebo]

Yes, you make a SWAG, for now. You also need to start updating quicken at LEAST weekly, so the purchases are fresh in your mind, and so you can categorize the expenses properly.

Your budget *is* a looking forward tool - you just start based on looking back. Remember, it's a living document, you will tweak and adjust it about 18 times the first month. Eventually you'll get it down to where you only tweak it every pay cycle. Just remember, its alive - keep feeding it or it will die, and become useless.

[Moor]

i guess i shop differently than most people.
i CAN and DO go to walmart just for specific things. so i look at my reciept and see what sort of things i bought and then that is how i catagorize it. with money, everytime you put something in, it ask's you to assign a catagory to it. so i do it everytime.
for example:

i spent 35 dollars at kroger for groceries
45 at walmart for dog/animal supplies
25 at kroger for gas.

when i put these items in my money account, it looks something like this:
beginning balance
debit 07-18-08 kroger's -35.00 475.00
groceries

debit 07-18-08 walmart -45.00 430.00
pet care

debit 07-18-08 kroger gas -25.00 405.00
automobile

do you see what i am talking about? not that this is actual, but just an example.
then i can go and see what i am spending at each place or for each catagory.

[dcompton]

I agree that the receipts need to be dealt with immediately. There have been times when I've done it as soon as I got home and have had to actually go look through the bags to see what that mysterious receipt abbreviation stands for. The longer it sits, the more guess work there may be about what the item really was. Of course, you probably have a much better memory than I do!

[warramra]

In Quicken you can "split" each entry among several different categories. Example:
Target $105
~ clothing $35
~ gifts given $15
~ household $40
~ food $15

When you go to choose your category, there should be a button on the side that says split, it will then open a new screen to split out all the amounts. It is much easier to do with the receipts, so I try to sit down at least once a week with the receipts.

[Moor]

In Quicken you can "split" each entry among several different categories. Example:
Target $105
~ clothing $35
~ gifts given $15
~ household $40
~ food $15

When you go to choose your category, there should be a button on the side that says split, it will then open a new screen to split out all the amounts. It is much easier to do with the receipts, so I try to sit down at least once a week with the receipts.

i can do the same thing in money. that's why i like it, plus i can actually keep track of things better with it. i have tried quicken and didn't quite get the hang of it. but i know that the programs are similar.
HTH!

[frugalfriend]

I'm with you on this, just getting back into doing a budget again. Keeping all receipts is an absolute MUST! I don't have a program (yet!) so I sit down with the receipts regularly and categorize everything. When checking out at Wal Mart for instance, I try to put non-food items last so when doing the budget it is easier to separate those items. Without receipts, it is impossible to do a budget accurately. Good luck!

[LexTysMommy]

I dont budget for each specific thing. I use more of a "misc" catagory. There is gas catagory. Food catagory. Out to eat one. then there is store catagory. This is for all those extras. I add them together monthly. I have number in my head I TRY to keep it under.

Sorry this is not much help, but i dont find it TOO necessary to know how much you spent on clothes ( unless its overboard!) I do keep all reciepts if i ever needed to look back. Can you start keeping them in shoebox in case you need to look back? or envelopes per month?