Katsmeow
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2009
- Messages
- 5,308
I have a budget however I never figured out what I've spent. This thread prompted me add up my annual projected expenses for 2014 based on my monthly budget. Health insurance will be taken out of my pension check. Do you guys save receipts or log everything spent on a daily basis, what's a good way to track expenses? I'm thinking as long as I stay within budget I'm doing ok. Thanks
$10,284. Mortgage
$11,556. Property Taxes, HOA, house insurance, including flood, car insurance, AARP health care opt
$3780 House/Car maintenance fund & co pays
$10,800. Emergency fund
$1000. Donations
$3,600. Investments
$480. Weight Watchers
$3252. LTC insurance
$300. Pest Control
$752. House Alarm
$1740. TV/Internet/LL
$1704. Electricity
$1920. Water/Sewer/Fire
$600. Gas
$744. Cell
$780. Meds
$1200. Lawn
$600. Monthly House cleaning
$4800. Food, car gas
$1908. Misc
$2600 Vacation
$5760. Car fund
I actually enjoy budgeting and tracking spending. I'm one of those people that if I didn't do that I could spend way too much money.
The best for budgeting is a program called You Need A Budget.
Personal Budget Software - Finance Software for Windows & Mac
There really isn't a way to use it without tracking your spending. Basically you budget each month based upon what you have in hand right then. You can certainly plan for the future but the budget is based upon what you have (no, that doesn't mean you have to spend every penny. You can budget money to categories that won't be spent for months - or years).
If you don't track your spending how do you know if you met your budget and, how, you might want to change that budget going forward. I periodically go through the budget and compare it to the spending and adjust as necessary. I used to perennially under-budget groceries. It was more wishful thinking than reality. So, now I budget more realistically. Conversely, if I have a category that I over-budget to then I can adjust that one down.
Also, looking at spending in comparison to the budget categories can give me good ideas for where I might be able to cut the budget without negatively impacted my lifestyle.