That money just goes into savings to wait for next month.

My paychecks also really vary because I don’t always work the same number of hours each week.

That can be problematic.

Here’s what we do.

We try to keep 500’ish in savings.  I fund this pot far and beyond what we need.  Let’s say our total budget is 4000, I try to fund 4500 into savings each month.  This just keeps us on track.

Some months we don’t make 4500, but that’s OK because we have that small cushion in savings.  ALSO, because I don’t have babysitting in my monthly budget I put those checks off until the next month in Quicken, and I fund that the next month.  Does that make sense? I also keep a cushion of extra money in checking (which is taken out as a “fake” transfer in Quicken so that I think we’re nearing zero, but we’re not really — we don’t have overdraft protection in our account, so I always want to make sure things are paid).

There are some months we make more then the 4500, and I honestly think that’s the hardest part.  What to do with “extra” money.  I have come up with a plan for that (of course)

Let’s say we make 5500.  Giving me 1,000 “extra”
Here’s how the transfers would work:

• 500 into long term savings
• 250 into regular savings (to help us with our cushion)
• 125 into family fun
• 125 into home improvement

You can read more about those accounts in the previous post.

Sometimes when we get extra money (like, a tax return) we will talk about it and perhaps put more in one particular fund.  Maybe long term savings if we need more for tuition.  Or, this year we’re going to put a larger percentage into family fun as we REALLY want a trip to Disneyland at some point as a “HURRAH” for getting through grad school.  Because money should be spent.  I’m a HUGE fan of money sitting savings looking pretty, but it’s IN savings in case you need to spend it.  I also feel like Family Fun allows us to see the fruit of our work.  Work isn’t fun unless you’re seeing a little entertainment out of it!

I am aware that pre-funding seems impossible when your paycheck barely stretches month to month but I would make it priority to try to be able to pre-fund.  Extra money goes into savings until you can.  You can do it, it may just take a while.  It will feel great when you can!

I hope this little series has been helpful.  I’d love to know your thoughts below!

This is the first in my budgeting series.  You can read more here.

I also have a post with an example on how to budget right here!

*I am not putting these budget numbers out there to be “woe is me” or “woo-woo look at me!  We’re rich!” type feeling.  I really think if people were more transparent with their own expenses it might make people re-think what they are doing with theirs.  I am sure we spend more and less then many readers on my blog.  I hope this is helpful to some of you.  I would LOVE to see other people’s.  There’s really no reason that our budgets have to be hush-hush.  I didn’t give you my social security numbers, or how much we actually make — this is just our goal to spend.

Check out my other budgeting posts:

Photos from Dollar Photo Club

The post Family Budget: Pre-funding appeared first on Pulling Curls.

In general, the 2 accounts we use monthly are savings (where all our paychecks go) and checking (which is how we buy things).  We buy things in a few different ways:

• Checks — for bills, all done through bill pay in our bank
• Debit — what I use at the grocery store to get my extra money out, or to pay for things in the other pots
• Credit card — what I use for emergency expenses that may come out of another account, or if I buy online and then I also minus this money from my checking account.  I only shop online with my credit card.  I also pay for BIG stuff using my credit card because we do get cash back.  I’m just not sure the cash back is enough for me to use this account for everything.  I think I might get off track just using this.  I’m not sure why, but I  just have a hunch.

We have a lot of accounts though.  I really like separate accounts, I feel like it makes it easier for me to not dip into accounts when I have to make a physical transfer.  Our accounts are:

• Savings — where our paychecks go
• Checking — where we pay for everyday things (get s lump sum payment from savings at the beginning of each month, and has a “fake” transfer to long tem savings to keep it solvent even if next month’s bills get paid a bit early)
• Long Term Savings — only for GIANT emergencies, things we can’t fund in other ways, I try not to touch this pot at all (but it has funded Drew’s masters)
• Family fun — it’s important for me to have a pot for family vacations, I think they are SUPER important and I want to make sure we have them
• Home Improvement/Car — for those little emergencies, and things we want for the house.

We also have college accounts for the kids, an HSA for medical expenses, and IRA’s for both Drew and myself and other retirement accounts at our workplaces (and former workplaces).

I would love to know what the rest of you do for accounts?  Are you firm enough to just not spend what you’re saving for?  You’re better then me!

This is the fifth in my budgeting series.  You can read more here.

*I am not putting these budget numbers out there to be “woe is me” or “woo-woo look at me!  We’re rich!” type feeling.  I really think if people were more transparent with their own expenses it might make people re-think what they are doing with theirs.  I am sure we spend more and less then many readers on my blog.  I hope this is helpful to some of you.  I would LOVE to see other people’s.  There’s really no reason that our budgets have to be hush-hush.  I didn’t give you my social security numbers, or how much we actually make — this is just our goal to spend.

Check out my other budgeting posts:

Photos from Dollar Photo Club

The post Budget: Accounts appeared first on Pulling Curls.

I have 4 other pots I use to remain sane.

I like the Dave Ramsey system, but as I said before I didn’t like all this cash sitting out in our house.  I also was having purchases at different stores that I couldn’t absorb into the weekly money.

I came up with a similar idea but with a spreadsheet.

Those categories are:

• Dating 100 — this can not be touched by our weekly money.  I think this is the pot that keeps me sane.  It has been 100 dollars as long as I can remember and it did, in fact, fuel us even when we were paying for babysitters.  It does include 20 bucks for a kid date night, so in reality it’s only 80 each month for me and Drew to use, but it works for us.  I don’t feel deprived (mostly).
• Household 50 — much of this is used up by things we need to get from Amazon.  Toner for a printer, something breaks in the kitchen, things like that, sometimes also used at Home depot for things that need fixing.  I didn’t want to eat large amounts out of our weekly budget to buy things like weed spray, lumber, etc.
• Clothing 50 — The kids are supposed to be responsible for their own clothing through their allowance system, but I will pick them up something every now and then if I see it on sale or something (also if “they” buy something that’s clothes from their allowance I still use this pot to deduct it, allowance is tricky with our budget).  This is just clothes.  Often used at Goodwill.  I will say there is some flow between these two.  During season changes we may spend more on clothes, and other times we spend more on household.
• Costco 150 — I sometimes shop at other discount type stores (America’s Discount foods) and becuase I can’t usually fit those purchases into the weekly budget they often come out of Costco.  I must admit this is the one I break most often.  It’s a goal people, it’s a goal.
• Personal Money — we each get 50 bucks (which has recently increased) to spend on ourselves.  Drew uses it for Dr Pepper and lunch with colleagues, and I use it for lunch with friends and makeup.   I have no say in how he spends his, he has no say in mine.  It’s much cheaper then counseling.

This is the third in my budgeting series.  You can read more here.

Check out my other budgeting posts:

Photo from Dollar Photo Club.

The post Family Budget: Other Pots appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Does that make sense?

So I came up with weekly money.  Each week we get out 80 dollars at the grocery store.  I should say, we minus our total from 80.  That means, of course, that my total needs to be less than 80 (which, doesn’t ALWAYS happen, but about 90% of the time it does).  Any extra money goes in my wallet to take care of other necessities of the week.

SO, if the grocery store trip was 50 bucks, I get out 30 and put it in my wallet.  That’s all we have to spend the rest of the week.

We have a few other pots that we use a spread sheet to take care of (see our other budgeting posts), but the main money is our weekly money and that’s what we have to spend each week.  Do the math, that averages 360 for groceries.  We have 3 kids, and as soon as Drew is done with school I REALLY want to bump it to 100.  I would like to buy shrimp more often, and nicer cuts of meat, but for now this will do. {we do have 150 in a Costco budget — so the grand total for groceries really should be just over 600 bucks}

I know this budget isn’t for everyone, and I will admit that the purse strings have been drawn a few times and the budget has gone down (it used to be 100).  I am hopeful the budget can expand at some point.  But the main point is that you need to look at what works for YOU.  Hopefully you make more and you can SPEND more, but you need to decide a realistic number for groceries.  It’s too easy to get out of hand and say you “need” this and you need that.  I only buy things on sale, I stock the pantry and if we’re out of something and I can’t get it at a good price, I don’t use it.  I make something else.

So, would weekly money work for you? For me it’s the fresh slate I get each time I head to the grocery store.  I’m hoping to, at some point, only do grocery store trips every 2 weeks.  I think this will save us money and give us some cash in my wallet for little things that come up, or if we want to go out for dinner.

This is the second my budgeting series.  You can read more here.

I also have a post with an example on how to budget right here!

*I am not putting these budget numbers out there to be “woe is me” or “woo-woo look at me!  We’re rich!” type feeling.  I really think if people were more transparent with their own expenses it might make people re-think what they are doing with theirs.  I am sure we spend more and less then many readers on my blog.  I hope this is helpful to some of you.  I would LOVE to see other people’s.  There’s really no reason that our budgets have to be hush-hush.  I didn’t give you my social security numbers, or how much we actually make — this is just our goal to spend.

Check out my other budgeting posts:

Photos from Dollar Photo Club

The post Budgeting: Weekly Money appeared first on Pulling Curls.