Creating & sticking to a budget

[texas*princess]

Does anyone have any advice on sticking to a budget?

Or any software or programs or anything they would recommend using to stick w/ a budget?

I created a psuedo budget for now that I think could possibly work for me, and now it's a matter of sticking to it. Thanks for any suggestions

[aggieAXO]

I have automatic withdrawl every month into a money market and mutual funds-that way I have no choice but to save money and what is in my actual bank account is what I can spend for the month. This has helped me stick to a budget.

[Tom Earp]

I always figured making a budget and sticking to it was like a New Years Resolution and sticking to that!

[kateshort]

First things first-- you need to track your actual spending to see where and how much you are spending. It's silly to budget $100 for gas if you actually spend only $75 per month, just as it's silly to budget $100 for food if you really spend $150 every month.

Also make sure that you track your cash. Not necessarily tracking what you spend your cash on (though that is a good idea), but tracking how much / how often you get money out of the ATM machine.

Direct deposit of paychecks is a good thing.

I use Quicken and Excel to track my spending. The basic Quicken software will let you assign categories like Auto repairs, School loans, Clothing, etc. I then copy all of one month's data into Excel, so I can track monthly highs and lows in spending at a glance. Some versions of Quicken let you set budget goals and can warn you when you're hitting your spending limits.

Checking your spending every week or every two weeks might help-- set aside an evening or specific time during the weekend to sit down and pay bills and check your spending.

[AGDee]

I do my budgeting on paper, but you do this in Excel too. I have one page in a ledger book per pay check. I have an estimate of what I'll make (mine is the same always since I'm salaried, get a set amount of child support, etc). Then I have my fixed bills which I budget out between pay checks based on due dates. I have a column for what the payment is expected to be, a column for what it actually is and a column to mark when I've paid it. With the remainder, I figure out how much I need for gas, how much for groceries, any special things due (kids field trips, birthdays, etc), dog food/supplies, etc. I itemize each of these. Then I know what I have left to work with. Since I get paid 26 times a year and my monthly budget takes two paychecks, I get two extra pay checks a year. I have the basic bills written out for months in advance so that I remember that the month the car insurance is due, I won't be buying anything extra for the house, kids, etc.

I have found numerous little ways to save money. I make my grocery lists from the grocery ads and plan menus around the sales. I use coupons. I buy more and more generic products all the time (most of the store brands are really good!). I take my lunch and diet pepsis to work every day (saves me about $8 a day, $40 a week, over $120 a month!)

Before I had kids and didn't have to plan quite as much, I used to take out a set amount per pay and divide it into envelopes which I kept in my purse. There was an entertainment envelope, a gas envelope, a grocery envelope and then the miscellaneous cash was in my wallet. If there wasn't money in the appropriate envelope, I couldn't buy it, period!

Dee