Foo - Do you budget, or just spend as and when necessary?

Just wondering how many folks here plan their finances and work according to a specified budget, or whether you "just do" as and when necessary.

ie. If you budget $X for entertainment and you reach that sometime in the month, do you then curtail any and all entertainment expenses until the following month ?

Just curious what others do....

(I don't, but I realised recently that I have no idea how much we spend on groceries, kids' stuff, etc etc and thought a retroactive summary may be useful to have every now and then).

I spend when my wife tells me to do so.

I "budget"...but its flexible.

I have fixed expenses of lets say - 330 a week
I have variable expenses of say - 350 a week
I bank (combo rrsp and savings account) - 300 or so a week

The fixed are easily defined as things I have to do...so rent, hydro, phone etc.
Variable is my bike, food, supplements etc. Things I want but dont "need"...of that I spend it more or less how I want. I have some guidelines (125 food, 60 supplements, 70 entertainment etc), but its the 350 limit that matters. Sometimes I do pull from the next week but its rare. If I need to go well above and beyond, I budget a payable amount from the variable expenses into my savings account, where I pull the money from to make a capital purchase. Further to that, if its a MASSIVE purchase....I do the same but to whatever credit I may have used.

With this system I run out of the fun stuff, but always have money in my account to cover the day to day living :)

cheers :)

I just keep spending for what I want/need, until she tells me to slow down...... Then, wait a month and start over......

At the beginning of every month I have my plan all laid out. Then at the end of the month I am scratching my head wondering WTF just happened :)

But I NEVER EVER go into credit card debt!!!!

I tend to semi-budget.

After the fixed amount come out of my pay each fortnight for Mortgage, savings and storage rent, I then pay any utilities, rates and other bills. I then buy sufficient groceries to get me through the fortnight and then I spend whatever is left.

budget, but only in large categories.

Housing, Clothing, food, entertainment, automobile, Investments, other.
Other includes biking and related interests.

i'm broke, so the only time i don't budget is the several times a year i buy a game or watch a movie.

I tried the whole Quicken thing, but it's just too much work. Instead, I just pump a set amount into investments, and the rest we spend as we want. As long as our Long Term Plan is on target, we're good.

We basically spend as we go (as long as everything is paid up to date) If we end up broke by the end of the month we just wait and start again at the beginning of the next month, but only because our goal for our future (and our childrens futures) were reached more than a few years ago ;)

I too tried the quicken thing. I budget, my wife doesn't. She spends money on the kids and has little foresight towards upcoming expenses. I am trying to set up a system that will let her spend the account down to nothing each month but gets all the bills paid.

I am thinking of just taking my raise and putting it in the savings account every month as a start. Large recurring expenses will be auto deducted on a monthly basis.

I am kinda of unsure of how to pay the utilities so they don't bounce the checking account. All of them are on auto pay which is very convenient.

I don't know but my wife was forced to quit work because we had twins. We are holding our own with 4 kids, but going sideways. I am afraid, I need to worry more about my career path than pinching pennies at home.

Yeah, its been on my mind.

all my money is spent ahead of time so i dont have to worry

No mon, no fun, ya know what I mean, hun?

I have to budget. I have a low paying job. Took me two years to save up for my bike and even then I still owed.

bottom line you got a good bike , always room in the budget for bike stuff

No mon, no fun, ya know what I mean, hun?

I have to budget. I have a low paying job. Took me two years to save up for my bike and even then I still owed.

That's really surprising...and very cool Siu.

With the nice truck and all the sweet bikes, I figured you made bank.

Then again, I haven't been truly single since I was 20. Never really knew what it was like to keep all you made without a dependent (or four).

No budget..I spend as and when I need. I am careful about making sure dont have any CC debt, even accidentally.

That's really surprising...and very cool Siu.

With the nice truck and all the sweet bikes, I figured you made bank.

Then again, I haven't been truly single since I was 20. Never really knew what it was like to keep all you made without a dependent (or four).

I'm paying two mortgages right now, so I have to come up with a tad over 3k a month. A relative of mine is very sick and cannot work right now.

As for the truck, I got a deal I couldn't pass up. And I always wanted a short truck. :)

I always have a running budget in my head. I don't have much income (few hundred a month), and even lower expenses, I live an ascetic/frugal life, so its no biggie.

"Buh-jet??"

no, my finances are a :trainwreck:

No budget, no planning...other than to make sure to withdraw enough from my IRA so that I always have money in my checking account to pay off my credit cards before I get charged interest.

Budget? Yep. Every month.

spend when required. Also know monthly expenses.

I've never really had to budget up until recently- I'm good about not overspending, and putting cash in savings. its going to be a bit more complicated with my new apt since I'm paying through the nose for rent- so, I put myself on a budget plan. ;)

*sigh* I haven't balanced my checkbook since Katrina:o

Well, I would say no, but ever since graduating school, working full time, and paying off my student loans, I've noticed I usually spend about a certain amount every month (I use a credit card and review all purchases to see where exactly my money is going since I buy everything by CC, and yes it gets paid off). So if I spend over a certain amount, I might cut back a little the next month. That amount includes food, bike stuff (ugh...), out to dinner a few times a month, and cheap misc stuff. Living close to work pretty much cuts gas out of the equation, so thats one good thing.

Most of my salary goes to savings each money, I forget the exact percentage, but definitely > 50%, so I could really live it up if I wanted to, but then I'd never be able to own a house (not an apartment or coop), especially in this area.

I could budget my food, but I hardly splurge and the amount is so small relative to other expenses like rent, bike stuff, and beer.

Every hour we work......we pay a dear price for it. We trade our life for $. Every hour you work, you don't really make your hourly rate. You must first deduct expenses like: the car you drive to work, insurance for car, work clothes, union dues..etc.

Then, once you figure out your true salary, I bet it isn't what you thought you were making. Before you buy anything new, ask yourself ... "is this purchas worth X hours of my life"