I love talking about budgeting so feel free to message me at if you still have questions! Because if I budget $600 for those things, it doesn’t really matter that toilet paper and oranges are getting tracked in the same account if that’s how I planned it. Now, I just lump everything I buy they gets used up (food, toilet paper, shampoo, etc.) all into consumables and call it a day. I used to have 10 different categories for stuff I bought at the grocery store and it was excruciating at the end of every month trying to reconcile everything. I utilize the simple budget to account for my money in terms of spending, but more so for how I track my spending. If you are budgeting as a spending plan– for example, you get $2,000/ month and want to make sure your bills are paid before you figure out how much you have for groceries that month, then your automatic deductions matter less as that money never hits your checking account. Then you’d just want to ensure that you are accounting for all of your automatic deductions for your savings within that 20%. If you are the kind of budgeter who likes percentages to base your budgeting around– for example, some people want to make sure they are saving 20% of their income. As for the other money saving accounts, I would say it depends on the kind of budgeter you are. So definitely don’t add your taxes back in. You want to budget with after tax income. I would love to hear about how your budgeting is going for you– please comment below!Ĭreating a Simple Budget with Just 6 Budgeting Categories The other half of it is sticking to the plan! All of those coffees in the morning, the stops for a quick snack here and there added up quite an eye-opening sum of money.īottom line, planning what you want to spend is half the battle. The first month we really started tracking everything, I realized that we were way overspending our budget for eating out. I’m a huge fan of having a weekly budget! It’s far, far easier to correct your course 1/4 of the way into the month than it is once the month is over! If you have not been super diligent about tracking your spending before– you are in for an eye-opening experience I’m sure. You need to know where your money is going! Whether it’s a pen and paper, a spreadsheet, or budgeting apps and software. There are tons of really great ways to track your expenses. You should decide for yourself what you think makes sense for your family.Ī budget is amazing, but it won’t mean anything if you spend money and don’t know where it’s going. If you are a Dave Ramsey follower he recommends you set up your Emergency Fund of $1K and then push all other money into paying debt down. If you have been looking at any of my other posts on budgeting, you know that some other budgeting methods (like the 50/30/20 method for example) have savings and debt together as two sides of the same coin. Personal Care (haircuts, manicures, pedicures, etc.).My daughter only goes part-time two days a week, so this isn’t a huge expense for us, but if your child(ren) are going full-time, I might consider moving it to its own category if for no other reason than ease of tracking. This category is for everything else you are spending (most of which is discretionary spending)! Household expenses (toilet paper, detergent, paper towels, sponges, etc.).Consumables is the answer to that problem. One of my biggest struggles, when I was using a traditional line-item budget, was accounting for my one-stop shopping trips. Utilities (Water, Trash, Electricity, Sewer)Īny expense related to getting to and from places would go into this category.Įxpenses that get used up or consumed, go in this category. Any expense related to housing would go into this category.
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