I mainly keep track of my account balances and make sure I’m spending less than I earn. I have a lot of money automatically going toward retirement savings.

This is one of the reasons we use a spending plan. We get paid – we pay ourselves first (401k and short term savings) – we pay bills – our allowance – anything left over goes to savings. We use an allowance system, so we each get a set amount to spend (the same amount) for half the month with covers all discretionary spending which for us includes gas, groceries, dry cleaning, personal care, eating out, clothes, etc.

So I can spend my allowance on shoes if I bring my lunch every day to work or I can eat out every day and not have any money for anything else. I have control over a set amount of money and when I run out I can’t spend anymore and better hope I’ve got some bread and peanut butter in the pantry at home. This works well for us. Technically we have a budget but we don’t have set budget categories.

I was irresponsible with money when I was younger – I not only squandered a small inheritance, but then got into debt too (and I didn’t have a budget then, unsurprisingly), and spent several years paying it back while living on a very small income, so budgeting was essential. As a result of all that, I’ve kind of gone to the other extreme these days, and become super-sensible! I can’t imagine living without a budget now. It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort, and I don’t see it as a restriction – it’s just a tool to help me manage my money so I can enjoy it both now, and in the future.

That’s pretty much how I feel!!

I budget myself pretty harshly, just what my paychecks are, where the money’s going, etc. I have a built-in amount of spend money, and that’s for whatever I decide I have to have in that two-week period. (Usually $35, it’s surprising how few things I really want when I limit myself and I know I have to save for the bigger things; that and I appreciate the bigger things that much more! I love my $149 coat to pieces.)

Now, for my husband’s checks… Good freaking luck! I can never be sure of what bills will come in when, how much they’ll all be or how much time we’ll have to do things. I take out what I can for savings, and the rest is taken as it comes. I’m responsible for the emergency savings, so that’s under my strict control. (I’m also responsible for investing and travel savings. I have more discipline in this regard.) That way, we’re still able to make good progress towards goals, but my husband doesn’t feel punished by having to follow some sort of spending plan. (He also gets his own amount of “blow money” from each of his checks, and it’s a lot more than mine! Mine’s low because it’s self-imposed to keep impulse purchases non-existent.)

A few times a year I write out a schedule of payments. I take the estimated net pay due each pay period, subtract the payments I know will be due (including minimum payments due and monthly offering to savings account), then subtract the generalized amounts for consumables, then subtract allowance, and what’s left over is targeted for debt repayment (we already have an emergency fund).

I have a weird memory and once I write something down, it’s generally in my head for good, so planning my spending this way I never forget what my commitments are.

I don’t always hit the target; something always comes up. But this rather informal budgeting system has worked pretty well for me for years, and has the virtue of being easily adjusted on the fly.

I make enough money that my regular costs are not even close to what I make in a month. For people who get $694 each month in social security and have rent of $500, you bet there’s a budget. Even if you have food stamps, you have to make sure you have money left for toiletries, a phone bill, etc.

But if your household income is, say, $5000 per month, and your rent, utilities, and loan payments add up to, say, $2500, what’s the point of a budget? The other $2500 gets divided up between savings and food and things you need and trips and so on.

*Note that I’m NOT saying it’s easier or more fun to budget when you make less. Just that it’s more necessary and might make more sense. I’ve been in the “making less than $1k/month” camp and I budgeted like mad.

It seems that every month my expenditures come out to roughly the same amount, but some months (Nov & Dec) it’s $1000 worth of plane tickets and other months (June & Sept) it’s when we both realize we need $400 worth of new clothes for the season. In July or August it’s a vacation. Some months it’s $1k in car repairs. Some months we eat out 5 days a week, some months less than 1x/week. It’s not very predictable.

I’m not a big spender, but every time I’ve done a budget I find myself wondering where the heck the rest of the money goes. And that makes me feel bad. And I don’t think I should have to feel bad since in the end I’m living well within my means and saving a ton. And that’s why I don’t like to budget. I can’t help but think others may be having the same experience.

Instead I shovel everything I can into savings and live off the rest. It doesn’t always work – sometimes I spend my savings – but I have not carried a balance on my credit card in quite a few years.