Obviously every one of us falls into a different category according to income levels and our expenses. Some may make 6 figures annually, but be in so much debt that they are living paycheck to paycheck. Others could have a lower salary but no debt and they may have investments or other means of income.
So my question is: How do you make your financial situation work for you? Is it working? Do you have an actual budget?
I'm not asking how much you make or to list your debts. But what system do you use for your financial well-being?
Some questions to think about: Is there one person in your household who handles finances or is it a joint system? Do you use a paper method for tracking expenses or electronically or not at all? Do you pay bills by check or online banking or automatic debits? Do you plan ahead to know how much you will spend for things like groceries, eating out, vacations, etc?
As for us, I am the one who takes care of the finances (for the most part). We use our Debit/Credit card to pay for just about everything (easier to track where our money is going). I pay the bills online through our bank's website. I use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all of our expenses. This is the basic info that is on it. At the bottom I list each paycheck or other deposits. Excel does all the work for me (thanks to Tim creating all the formulas). I enter the amount each month and then I can see totals and percentages. It will take our total income for the month, subtract our total bills and come up with a number. If that number is RED, we are in trouble!!
Bill JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC ANNUAL
Mortgage
Verizon Cell
Nissan: Armada
NJ Water
Comcast
S. Jersey Gas
Electric
Sewer
Groceries
Car Gas
Shopping
Rx
Eating Out
School lunches
Gymnastics
Vacation, Holiday
MAC
EZ Pass
Memberships
Dr Copays
Car registrations
Car Insurance
XM Radio
I also use our web banking as reference to list every expense in a notebook for easy tracking. This way at quick glance, I can see, for example how much our electric bill averages each month and which parts of the year it is highest. Also, we can easily tell what things we may be able to cut back on (such as eating out) because it is all there.
Those systems work very well for us and I have been using this similar format for a few years now. Prior to that, I wrote checks for everything and not only was it time consuming, but the cost of postage was crazy.
What is not working for us?? We are not saving as we should. We do not have any investments. Financial planning for the future at this point means looking maybe one year ahead. We really need to find a way to start college funds for the girls.
So, what works for you? I'm hoping we can all help each other come up with suggestions or new ideas of ways to make our current systems work better!
1 comment:
It is definately something interesting to think about. I handle all the $$ mostly. I pay all the bills. I only use checks for a few things that I need to but 98% of things are paid online. I prefer to go to most websites directly and pay instead of using it through my bank but I have used my bank and paid my bills that way to. I just like knowing I went to the site. I print all my reciepts into a program that keeps them on the computer so its not real paper but I have them if I need. I would love to try and use an excel sheet but I am no good at those formulas. Is the one Tim made you generic or specific to your needs? maybe I could covert it:) I keep a pocket size calender in my purse with my checkbook which I am anal at keeping up to date so I can look at it at any moment. as far as I am concerned if it is in the checkbook it is out of the account-even if it hasn't cleared out yet. I put all the due dates in the calendar and highlight them and then look at it daily to make sure I am not missing something! I then cross them off as I pay them so I know. I am very visual and looknig at a month at a glance pocket calendar with the bills highlighted I can quickly see what is when if I have to look ahead to the next week.
As far as saving-we are not as good at that. I am trying to pay down some things and I can keep up without falling behind but I dont get ahead as much as I would like sometimes. We both have 401k stuff for the long term but that is about it at this point. I am sure I forgot something you asked though!
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