The “Spreadsheet Queen” is baaaack! You might remember me from when I shared all about – Why I Don’t Give My Kids an Allowance – gasp! Well today I’m sharing Why I Don’t (really) Budget!
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Before I jump into the ever exciting topic of budgeting (HA), or lack there of, I need to mention that my hubby is working on taking over the finances! Yay for me! This month and next, we are deep in “training” mode and then in January he is going to fly solo. (I’m going to have so much more time, time to shop!) 🙂
Being the main money manager for our family, for most of our married life, I have designed a system that helps us to manage our finances and to (most of the time) stay on budget.
(Wait – you’re thinking, “You said you don’t really budget?!?”)
Well…what I have is an “organic” budget.
By organic budget I mean that I have an organized approach to my finances that also includes A LOT of flexibility.
I’ve learned over the years that finances require flexibility (so does parenting, but I’ll save that for another day). So here are the basics regarding how I keep us on track, financially speaking that is…with not a budget but more of a “smudget.”
Program:
I’ve tried a few different programs over the years, but I always go back to Quicken, because it works for me. Having a layer of organization in place helps me to better anticipate our true daily/monthly balance and to see things from a monthly/quarterly perspective as well. Quicken allows me to upload all of our transactions, to categorize all purchases, and to set up a “smudget.”
Categories:
In order to know if we are living within our means, I categorize every purchase we make, but I keep the categories general. For example our “Auto” category includes – gas, maintenance, repairs, payments etc. I don’t like to split things up more than I have to. (But we are diligent to itemize our cash withdrawal receipts so we can keep tabs on where the cash goes, it usually goes way too fast!)
Expenses:
The reality is that generally we have monthly fixed expenses (ie: mortgage, car payment, insurance etc.) and then A LOT of variable monthly expenses (ie: medical, groceries, dining, entertainment…) This is where I take an honest look each month and set up the budget amounts for each category each month, based on what the month has in store. Some months we spend more on groceries (like the month we celebrate a major holiday) and another month we might have a large deposit due for an upcoming field trip. So every month I “tweak” the numbers. I’ve found this is the only way to work with the unpredictability that life brings.
Saving & Giving:
To maximize our saving and giving, I have as many payments set up automatically that I can. When you don’t see it you don’t miss it! (And you also don’t miss a payment due date.) This really helps us to keep our priorities straight, and if we don’t have extra money, we don’t get to do the extras for that month or quarter.
Spending:
We have general guidelines on how much we spend within many of our categories, generally the fixed categories. Then, David and I also have personal cash budgets each month and an individual clothing budget as well. We’ve been doing both for years and the plan works very well for us. Our kids are also already learning how to “organically” budget too. Prior planning prevents problems, fingers crossed.
All in all, please remember this, budgets shouldn’t be black and white. They need to be flexible, they need to allow for the variables in life, keep whatever you want to call them (budget OR smudget) in the “gray.” And remember gray doesn’t mean that you are not accountable, it just means that you are realistic.
If you don’t already, find a financial organizing program that you like (and will use) and then put it to work. Make your money work for you. The more intentional you are with your finances, the less stress and mess you’ll usually experience.
(Also, Dave Ramsey is a fabulous resource, if you are looking for a guru!)
TELL ME: Are you a fan of budgeting? What program do you use?
KISS ~ Good budgeting requires a more organic approach.
