Budgeting
Joshua and I are in the process of possibly purchasing 8 acres in
Elkland, MO. Not sure if we will build there or not but we are looking
at it. Anyway, since we've taken the plunge and talked to the bank and
such it's really given us the incentive to start budgeting better. I'm
of course in charge of the budget, which is a good and bad thing. Good
because I can control some things, bad because I get the blame when we
don't have enough money.
Anyway, my SIL and I talked yesterday and she gave me a good idea. I need to make a budget based on percentages each month. I need to figure out how much in each category I can use based on our income. For example, let's use a $2500.00 monthly income. (This is really close to our actual income). So below is what I used and what we actually pay out. I know some months will be much tighter than other months and eventually I would love to up the amount we can put into savings. I figure whatever we have left at the end of each month can be put into savings on top of the $50 we put in. I'm hoping this method will truly work for us. I know the other area we are buckling down on is menu planning! I'm seriously going to post my menus here each week. Will keep me on it!
Anyway, my SIL and I talked yesterday and she gave me a good idea. I need to make a budget based on percentages each month. I need to figure out how much in each category I can use based on our income. For example, let's use a $2500.00 monthly income. (This is really close to our actual income). So below is what I used and what we actually pay out. I know some months will be much tighter than other months and eventually I would love to up the amount we can put into savings. I figure whatever we have left at the end of each month can be put into savings on top of the $50 we put in. I'm hoping this method will truly work for us. I know the other area we are buckling down on is menu planning! I'm seriously going to post my menus here each week. Will keep me on it!
| $2,500.00 | Monthly | Budget | ||||||||||||||||
| Item | % Allowed | $ Allowed | $ Paid | |||||||||||||||
| Housing | 35.00% | $875.00 | $622.00 | |||||||||||||||
| Food | 10.00% | $250.00 | $250.00 | |||||||||||||||
| Auto | 15.00% | $375.00 | $330.00 | |||||||||||||||
| Debt | 15.00% | $375.00 | $400.00 | |||||||||||||||
| Medical | 15.00% | $375.00 | $330.00 | |||||||||||||||
| Misc. | 3.00% | $75.00 | $96.00 | |||||||||||||||
| Savings | 2.00% | $50.00 | $50.00 | |||||||||||||||
| Gas | 5.00% | $125.00 | $125.00 | |||||||||||||||
| Total | 100.00% | $2,500.00 | $2,203.00 |
I should do better with this!!! I bet posting your menus does help keep you on track- might have to do that too!
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