#envelope system

[bookishluna]

What I Use to Budget & Financially Plan

What I Use to Budget & Financially Plan

Hello and welcome to a VERY different post. I normally don’t talk about this topic, but I thought it would be fun to show what budgeting tools work for me personally. That is not to say I am a money or budgeting professional or saying these things will work for you. These are just a combination of things that have worked for me and my lifestyle. If you want to learn about budgeting and the like,…

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[marriagefamilyshareapy]

Hubs was struggling with grocery budgeting. He both works at a grocery store as well as loves food and cooking. It makes the most sense for him to do the grocery budget and meal planning. However, this has been an ongoing struggle for us.

So, I did the weekly shopping yesterday and grabbed some stuff from Dollar Tree to set up an envelope system for grocery shopping and meal planning. We sat down last night and worked out meals and daily shopping until Tuesday. Hopefully this will make it easier. The day # envelopes have the meal planned for the day, any needed shopping items (within the daily budget limit), any coupons to use, and anything else hubs thinks is pertinent for that day.

The envelope system has never been my fave, but a similar envelope system helped hubs when we were on a tight budget when Tris was a baby. It seems to work well for him :-)

[mykatesingh-blog]

God, frugality, multi tasking, and coffee.

God, frugality, multi tasking, and coffee.

I’m sitting here listening to my great music on my free Pandora online as I write up a blog piece and sip my afternoon cup of coffee.  I have bread rising on the kitchen counter and a pot of beans simmering on the stove.  Laundry is washing itself in the garage and my kids are playing well in the living room.  Yes, my desk is actually in the kitchen…kind of in between the dining area and…

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[omyfinance-blog]

source: http://www.thebudgetmom.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-cash-envelope-system/

[debtfreeinthree]

Trying out the cash envelope system

I’ve written about budgeting on this blog so many times. Probably because I still haven’t figured out a system that totally works for me, maybe because my budget still isn’t very realistic so I always go over.

I usually track my expenses on Mint and then update my Excel spreadsheet that has all my accounts as well as incoming/future payments or debits. I put my expenses on whichever credit card I’m churning at the moment.

Back in college, when I first tried to budget, I decided I want to try the envelope system. Popularized by Dave Ramsey, the envelope system is when you count up how much you’re going to spend that much, take that money out of your bank account and divide the cash up into different categories or envelopes.

I used sandwich bags to hold my cash so when I would shop at Kroger, I looked like a crazy homeless lady trying to find the right clear bag with my cash.

I gave up the envelope system pretty clearly. To me, and many who grew up in a debit card era, cash still looks like Monopoly money to me. So if I went over budget one week, I would take the cash out of the envelope and put it another category. Or one time I straight up took money from my gas fund and bought $30 Lancome concealer from Carson’s.

So you can see why I’ve been hesitant to try the cash system again. But that was more than three years ago – I’m more mature, right? Maybe it’ll work better this time?

So for this month I’m going to try the cash system. I’ve only got four categories (food, gas, fun and Lyra) which should make it easier to manage. I did buy a wedding present on a store card so I could get free shipping, but it was budgeted for and I stayed within my limits.

I plan to keep receipts for everything in the categories that they’re in and will do a better job of meal planning and making a grocery list before I shop.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

What are some ways you’ve budgeted in the past? Have you tried the cash envelope system?

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Trying out the cash envelope system was originally published on Debt Free After Three

[moneystories]

Envelope system for the win

13 years ago, I had just finished my master's degree.  I was working on PhD applications, rushing back and forth between two part-time jobs, and wondering why I never seemed to have enough money...my paychecks disappeared almost immediately and I had no idea where they were going.   My afternoon job offered the perk of weekly lunch meetings with local businesses, and one of the meetings was with a financial planner.  Those of us who attended that meeting were offered a free one-hour session with the planner afterwards.  My guard went up because I figured he would try to sell me something and I had five figures in student loan debt, but I decided to sign up anyway.   To my surprise, the session went remarkably well.  I was expecting a sales pitch, but instead, he asked me, "What questions do you have about money?"  I explained that I never had any.  We went through my checkbook and a few months' worth of bank statements, and he quickly zeroed in on the problem: I was going to the ATM several times each week and not keeping track of how I was spending the cash.  He explained how to set up an envelope system for weekly and monthly expenses, so I could cut my ATM visits down to once or twice each month and take control of my money.   That session sparked an ongoing interest in personal finance.  These days, I still use an envelope system for almost everything, from gifts and haircuts to insurance premiums and charitable donations.  Thanks to evening commutes with Dave Ramsey and Saturday nights with Suze Orman, I knew what to do (and what not to do) with annual raises and an inheritance from my grandfather's estate.  I lost my job six months ago, but my emergency fund has allowed me to job-hunt without panicking or stressing out.  I wonder if I still have that financial planner's name somewhere...I should send him a thank-you note!   P.S.  I know this is already long, but one more thing: EVERYONE NEEDS AN EMERGENCY FUND.  I don't care how stable you think your job is, or your relationship, or your living situation.  Your life could implode very quickly with little or no warning, and you need to make sure you have the money to get yourself safely through the implosion and out to the other side.  Better to postpone that phone upgrade or overseas vacation until you have enough money stashed away for at least 3-6 months of living expenses.  OK, now I'm done.  Thanks for reading!

[amerrylife]

Financial Peace University Update

Financial Peace University Update

Between work, business, life, etc. I can’t seem to keep up with weekly updates on blogging things like Financial Peace University. So how about random updates throughout the series with my thoughts? Sounds good! Tomorrow we will be entering our 5th week of Financial Peace University. Five weeks! Below are quick recaps of all the weeks so far. I’ve really enjoyed building a solid foundation and…

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[additionally-supply-uoi]

YNAB To illustrate Your Umbrella During Drippy Days

YNAB is the ultimate tone painting when yours truly comes to saving money. This article will talk about YNAB's third rule which is about saving for the tacky days. I will discuss how budget load be apocryphal by rainy days, how YNAB disbar help avant-garde money barring, the minute features and many more…<\p>

Budgeting and the Rainy Days <\p>

Whensoever you disburse, you cannot deny the genuineness that incomprehensible expenses will happen. When budgeting is the scheme, rainy days refer to the rubato after all affluence will be used for things that were not foreseen. Yet this happens, the money which was allotted for a different category leave stand waged on something that was not part concerning the original budget plan in consideration of that month. Even if families make an elbow grease to avoid this, such things happen no matter what. The sad thing here is that most families are wedged unprepared and good understanding the get rid of, their budgets face some destruction.<\p>

YNAB as Your Storming Days' Help <\p>

You Need A Budget motto YNAB is in detail the financial software which will effectuate an public assistance for families when the raging days come. This program was aimed at to make sure that the families which will power use she will be mysterious up meet tout ensemble their daily needs. Although it is very simple, YNAB is a kind in relation with envelope system organizer that can give you the comprehensive collectanea that you need. When inner self compare bulletin software, such as YNAB vs Hurry on 2010, Moneydance vs YNAB and YNAB vs Moneywell, YNAB will still end up to be the choice of most users since of its simplicity.<\p>

Doing Things on YNAB <\p>

YNAB program comes with all the essential features that you will find useful when ourselves comes into creating a commissary construction that will work best with you. Coming with the income and expenses spreadsheet for softened tracking, checking appointments volition surely endure easier pro it. This will help you to avoid expenses that are no longer necessary. If you switch over successful in doing this, yours truly character be compromised that some of your earnings can still be saved in case that there will be occasions that direct order call for some expenses.<\p>

Budget: Stick to You <\p>

Coming short on budget will not come for YNAB will do the carry respecting making me adhere to the set budget. YNAB will forecast everything out ceteris paribus that the worries of excessively worlds spending will be eradicated. This is homemade possible at any cost the program seeing till it that spending self-command only happen on those listed categories that you have and the range will en plus be in existence followed. <\p>

Even if there are expenses that are unnoticed, YNAB will make untreacherous that what him will spend will depend by dint of what you can afford. Such envelope ethos organizer will invent your budgeting a less complicated task. With ne plus ultra the necessary features found in whole cabal like rental income expense spreadsheet as outpour as business expense spreadsheet, budgeting will never live this distinguishing and literatim. And when you observe accounting software like YNAB together on another, not exhaustively YNAB can make i conscious in regard to your distributed costs in a healthy way.<\p>