How close do you stick to a budget or do you?

**homesteadmamma** · 01-09-2004, 10:33 AM

This is one area I'm really weak in and am working on in 2004. I make a budget, but find it hard to stick too.

How about you?

**guest2** · 01-09-2004, 10:48 AM

Well, I try to stick to the budget, but then unforseen emergencies (like the expensive pellet stove fix) come up and that takes all the emergency and entertainment money!

**QuilterMom** · 01-09-2004, 11:59 AM

We don't have a budget.

LOL! As of Jan. 1st I'm tracking all of our expenditures again though. I had a pretty good handle on where our money was going until we switched our way of eating (organics) so I'd like to see just how much we are dishing out each month in that department (I know MUCH more than if we weren't concerned with eating that way). This will also give me a good feel for how often which items are going on sale so I can stock up accordingly.

**AmyBoz** · 01-09-2004, 12:14 PM

No budget. We track our spending, but we don't assign categories and figure out how much we'll spend on each one beforehand.

**canadian gardener** · 01-09-2004, 03:02 PM

It's like my menus, there is some room. If this month is unexpectedly more expensive in housing due to buying a new fan for the stove, then grocery can absorb that.

Unfortunately dh and I have not done the freedom acct thing so stuff like the tires and the stove on top of some Vancouver visits and odds and ends needed before my surgery, popped us over the top this year and into credit card debt.

I really like that freedom account thing that Mary Hunt talks about. I think it gives better wiggle room than my method.

You save for unexpected or irregular expenses. Put 1/12 or 1/24th aside every pay day depending if monthly or biweekly.

Of the total annual amount that irregular stuff like dentist, vet, home maintenance did you in for last year.

**lucy979** · 01-09-2004, 03:20 PM

We don't have a budget. We pay the bills (what few we have now!!) and then whatever is left over we just spend.

**sunshine** · 01-09-2004, 09:47 PM

We budget to the penny! Every cent gets a specific place to be spent.

We have an emergency fund for those nasty little life occurances that frequently send people searching for their credit cards, and we have a freedom account for the irregular, but expected expenses.

Now we're just trying to dig out from under all the debt we incurred BEFORE we figured all this out.

**Michelle** · 01-10-2004, 09:00 AM

We've always made a budget but with pay cuts and whatnot, things were never easy to track. This year, I'm going to really pay attention. This time it's more so we can save for big-ticket things that we want vs. a real necessity.

**PrairieRose** · 01-11-2004, 12:20 AM

We track our spending but we don't have a set budget.

**simplemom** · 01-11-2004, 07:01 AM

I have a hard time to track down my expenses...

I wanted to write it out starting 2004, but it hasb't been a good start...I really need to do this. I want to know where we spend our money, although it's always about the same thing...

bills, food, sometimes a rental video, a delivered pizza ( ...

)

**mustang80** · 01-11-2004, 07:36 AM

We have a budget, but like CJ said it's very hard to stick to.

I started a freedom account for my "odd" expenses that don't come every month like car insurance, sewer rental, internet, and car registrations. I'm trying hard to stick to leaving the money in the freedom account till it's needed, and not pocketing the money in between these bills, or transferring it to the checking account because I blew the grocery budget.

One of my goals this year is to stick to my budget!

**graci42** · 03-10-2004, 09:48 AM

We NEED a budget. I am using the envelope system for our groc. spending...I'm hoping to lead DH by example. Is that sneaky of me???LOL. I'm hoping to save enough with in the first 6 months to REALLY open his eyes to what has got to be done!

**seadream** · 03-10-2004, 10:18 AM

We don't have a budget.

My paychecks pay the bills and dh checks go into the savings account every week.
If we have a big bill or emergency come up then we take the money out of the savings to pay for it.

**Michele Annette** · 03-26-2004, 11:09 AM

We have a pretty strict budget. We both work full time and we both contrubute to savings automatically. I budget for groceries (because I budget best for that...DH is a disaster in the grocery store!) LOL! We have a specific amout for spending, but we do end up having a little extra just in case, so we don't have to dip into savings unless it is a dire EMERGENCY. We are planning on moving so our budget had gotten tighter.