how to budget?

Question

Okay.. long story short :) Does anyone know of any free budgeting programs that me and my husband could use to get our money on track?
We, like everyone..., don't know where the hell our money goes every week. And we try to keep track of it, but you know.. a dollar here... a dollar there... it goes way to fast!!!!

So... we need to figure out how to take every paycheck, and put money aside for each bill... so then when it is due, we can actually pay it, instead of taking it out of the check my husband gets and trying to live off of $40 a week!!!!

Any suggestions or anything from anyone would be awesome!!!!!

Answer 1

Even if you find a free budget program, you can go off the budget. The secret to staying on budget is discipline. If you spend in a carefree manner, you'll always be in debt. You can keep track of your expenses with pencil and paper. Basically you know what's coming in as pay, tips, etc, and how much you have to spend.

Then list all your expenses - rent, food, transportation, insurance, clothes, etc. If your expenses are more than the income, you need to cut something out.

A budgeting program makes the tracking easier, but the success is still up to you.

Good luck. I suggest contacting a local county debt repayment group. They may offer something.

Answer 2

It called paper. At the top of a sheet, write down your income for THIS month. (You should repeat the process EVERY month.) Next list where EVERY penny will go. Keep a running total as you go. If the number at the bottom of the page is anything other than ZERO, change something until it is. After you and your husband agree, this is a BINDING contract. Neither of you can spend a penny unless the paper authorizes it. If changes are required during the month, BOTH of you must sit down and make the changes ON PAPER, BEFORE you spend the money. There is no real secret. You just need to FORCE yourself to THINK about your spending.

Answer 3

U dont need a program, you just need a notebook. You need to write down absolutely everything that you buy for one month.
You need to keep all the receipts as well.

You might have to do this for two months.


Now, you can look at your notes and see that every day, you guys are running to TIM Hortons 3 times each..

Now look at the food receipts..get an average of what you are spending a week. Look for all of the things, like ice cream and junk food and other garbage you are buying that you dont need

Look at how much you are spending on eating out, going out for entertainment,


Then once you have 2 months of data, you can say,

Well, from now on, we'll only get 1 Tim hortons a day, we'll only go to Mcdonalds once a month instead of every other day,

we'll cut the junk food out of our groceries

OH yeah, we both smoke and spend like 10 bucks a day on smokes, yeah w really have to quit for financial reasons.


Then, after you make all the cuts, you have a PLAN of what you can spend per day and per week.

So now when you are going about your day to day activities, you are AWARE, that you already got one coffee, so that's the limit for the day!!

This whole process will just make you more aware of how you are spending money, and then will help you make a plan so the spending is conscious and not just a habit!!

Answer 4

I personally think budgeting is a mistake for most people. It's too detailed and too much work.

I personally like the idea of automatically deducting some money from your paychecks and depositing it into a savings or investment account each pay period. Because you don't see it, you naturally learn to live on what's left. Then just live on the cash you have and don't use credit.

Start at maybe 10% of your pay. If after a month or two, you've had to raid your savings, maybe that's too tight right now and you can reduce it to 5%.

Answer 5

Excel works if you set up a spreadsheet. Also get the book "Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. It will help you get started on the process.

Answer 6

gather all of the bills, and see a credit councilor or financial adviser. or you could ask a parent or grand parent how they did it on way less cash.
or you could get a wire binder and make a list of each $ you spend. do this for everything.
food, bills, expenses.
and no extras at all. stop before you purchase anything and ask yourself "do we really need this ?" chances are you both make enough cash but just spend hazzordly. is it a need {for survival} or is it a want?
good luck.

Answer 7

Wow, no one so far has answered your question; just giving their opinion on why you don't need what you're asking for...

I created CalendarBudget for precisely this - managing a budget.
While its not forever free, it does have a free first month. Give it a try.