How do YOU budget?

[Miss_Dee]

Currently I pay bills as they come in and haven't been sticking to much of a budget at all. DP and I are about to combine our money and will be splitting it 50% towards living expenses (rent, food, bills, etc), 30% to savings and 20% to spend as we please. Doing that will cover all our bills, give us a very nice savings fund and still leave us with enough to have a bit of fun week to week.

[Gigi]

that sounds like a good plan Miss Dee. I know many people, for whom, just their rent/mortgage IS 50% of their income, so that's great if you can pay rent AND bills out of the 50%.

[Rowellen]

I am curious, what the other side of that coin is. How people in functioning couples, do the money/bills together. So that it's fair. Unsure if this means shared accounts, or separate. I suppose it's complicated if you do things like buy a big asset (house) together. I've just never known what people in functioning r'ships do about this (i was brought up never to ask about money, so now i'm ignorant).

DH & I have everything joint now with an account for personal spending each. We pay ourselves an allowance each month & everything else goes on mortgage/bills. I do all the budgeting & bill paying because DH has no clue. We are lucky that both of us have a similar view on finances so we have never ever disagreed or argued about money.

[Astrid]

All our money goes into a joint account that DH can't touch (he admits he can't be trusted). I then divide up the money to bills, mortgage, petrol, groceries and pocket money. DH loves to interfere though, refuses to look at the budget spreadsheet, but then complains when I say there is no money.

When we started off together, we had things seperate. DH would pay the rent, petrol, clothing and entertainment expenses. I would pay bills and groceries. It worked it out once and it pretty much worked out to be even, except after awhile whenever DH paid the rent, he would then ask me for money to get through the week, so I changed things.

[sas85]

ok, this is going to sound really nerdy, but.in my defence I just cut my working back to half a day instead of 3 and well, you our tax business fluctuates, o . . I calculated all of our projected income, and expenses on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual basis including extra money I wanted to pay on the mortgage and always, always overestimate if you have to, then, broke it down into a monthly average and created a spreadsheet for every month, linked it to another spreadsheet I update weekly to make sure we're not going over quota,. Thataway, I can use the credit card. bank account, cash, whatever and not let the budget get away. (I actually get a kick out of updating the spreadsheet, ech, I am getting weirder every day)

[Miss_Dee]

that sounds like a good plan Miss Dee. I know many people, for whom, just their rent/mortgage IS 50% of their income, so that's great if you can pay rent AND bills out of the 50%.

Yes, we are very lucky in that regard. Living in SA combined with living with other people means our rent is very low.

[Gigi]

oh right, i saw "Sydney" in your signature, and i'm always being told Sydney rents are astronomical, so i was assuming Sydney rents.

[Arimeh]

Thanks guys for letting me know that I am doing it the right way - well at least the best way to not get into financial trouble!!

I've sorted out our finances and we've dropped several things from the budget so we are back on track with DH working 4 days a week instead of 5.

But I've just found out that you can get a Thermomix on finance for 3 years... which works out to about $15 a week (and 9 months of it is interest free!)... so I'm wondering what I can cut to afford one of those (and in my defence, it would totally cut down on our food bill by making everything by scratch and we'd be heaps healthier without all those nasty preservatives......)

Back to looking at the budget....

[blingy]

Now that we have a new and very unexpected baby coming we need to start a budget

Currently we just buy what we want and don't think too much about it
We have child left at home who is about to start uni so have to start expecting some expensive booklists coming our way
We don't have any car loans or credit cards, but we were just about to start saving for a desperately needed new car

And we an investment property that is costing us more than it brings in and have just found that it needs some BIG renovations done to it *think we may have to sell it and hope that we cover the remaining loan on it*

Anyway I'll be reading this thread for lots of hints

[Tinks]

All of my bills are set up to direct debit so I never have to worry that they're not paid. I have my electricity bill set up so that an amount gets direct debited every fortnight, I never have to pay the balance, even if it's in debit. My phone, net and moblies are all on 1 bill, $50 is direct debited in to that each week. I pay the balance if there is any when the bill comes in. House and car insurance comes out monthly, direct debit again. With rates etc I pay an amount fortnightly into another account, house payment comes out of that and it leaves us with money for the rates when they come in. Whatever is left over at the end of the week I spend .

[sas85]

Oooooh, What's a thermomix?

[Arimeh]

Oooooh, What's a thermomix?

Haha! Google it

[SammyRo]

I have what bills I can come out on a direct debit - with insurance, it does work out a bit dearer, but I'd rather that than have to find $600 odd each year. For things like rates and rego, we have an amount going into a savings account each fortnight, and then when a big bill comes in, the money should be there (in theory, doesn't always work in reality ). I have done an excel spreadsheet and broke it down into fortnightly amounts for everything, and I try to stick to that. But, we always rely on our tax return to get us back to having money in the savings account (although this time, its paying for airfares to the UK).
I like the idea of having an automatic payment into gas/electricity so I think I might look into that.
Gigi - DH and I set up a joint account when we got engaged to save for our wedding, once we moved in together, we transferred all our pay into the one account, and closed our seperate accounts. I'm the one that keeps track of and does the finances, and DH doesn't mind what I spend as long as all the bills get paid and our long term savings goal is being reached. DH will always earn more than me, even if I go back to work full time, but for us, it is still our money. I only have to ask if I want to buy something expensive - its not really asking for permission, its more discussing it - ie he normally makes me see that we can't afford it and don't need it, like the new carrier I want (anyone else see the gorgeous petunia pickle bottom ergo's?) or the new pram

[Gigi]

i asked, when i was looking around at insurance, the difference between paying annually, or monthly. I was expecting to hear it was cheaper to pay annually, but actually, it was the same, whichever way i did it. Obviously that's only ONE insurance company, but just saying, it's possible.

[emc2]

I don't own very much so my plan is to have some savings, rather than contents insurance.

My father gets quotes every year and then goes back and bargains with their insurance company to get the premium down.

[alish]

first of all - my husband and i have seperate bank accounts. we dont really "share" money unless one of us needs it - usually me lol!
we have 2 mortgages - i pay for the littler one and a bit of the big one. he pays for the main one.
i pay all bills - except for his bas/car regos/insurances/his speeding tickets (lol)
so once a week x amount comes out for my mortgage repayments and $50 goes into my savings account (this is used for emergencies or something we are saving for)
i then have 200 or so to pay bills/live on each week.
i usually put my bills in order or urgency to pay and just pay what i can each week or whenever we have a bill. if its a big bill i pay half of it one week, half the next

[ladybird11]

We have separate bank accounts.

We both lease a motor vehicle each which I like as the cost incorporates new tyres, servicing as per log book requirements, insurance, petrol, the vehicle itself, rego etc - so when time comes for those to be paid out there is no need to dip into savings or anything as all the money is in the kitty.

I am the 'saver' so I put money into our holiday and kids schooling accounts, and I pay the rent.

DH pays the utilities and usually for most of the groceries too unless I happen to do a little food shop here or there (we do a few shops each week instead of one big shop. And we buy a lot in bulk when things are on special too).

This works really well for us, we've never had any $$$ issues, but we do both make good $$$.

[Gigi]

i had never had, or felt the need for Contents Insurance, until last year, when i became a single mum. I felt very conscious, that, if the house burnt down, and i had to start again, even though my things individually aren't worth much, if i had to replace everything (especially the white goods), it sure would be difficult, to come up with that amount of money, all at once. I now feel, i can't take the risk, of NOT having it. (a personal choice). I know i don't have relatives who would help me out in a crisis like that, i know i don't have the savings to cover a crisis like that, so paying $30 a month, for Contents Ins, is what i've chosen to do. I'm still learning all the time, how to budget, what to spend it on (wants vs needs), maybe my priorities will change, as i learn more. But i'm going with Contents Ins for now, not sure what else to do. I don't have Life Insurance, and that worries me (what would happen to bilby if i died). Each time i ask about Life Insurance, it all seems too overwhelming, so i don't go ahead with it.