ChatterBank1 min ago
How do you budget?
21 Answers
My partner has 2 jobs, so 2 paydays. But one job monthly pay and the second is fortnightly. I get paid end of each month, plus tax credits each week. Our household costs 1600 a month, which includes everything. Nursery fees, car, food and all household bills like petrol etc.
I find by the end of the month that I don't have enough to cover bills as I'm all over the place at the minute, I think I have more money and so spend it.
I know the best thing to probably do is to leave it all in the bank till he end of the month, but I need to buy food weekly etc.
How do you do it? I need tips. Also, do you pay your bills in front or just as they come. I have a new baby due in October and don't fancy struggling :/)
I find by the end of the month that I don't have enough to cover bills as I'm all over the place at the minute, I think I have more money and so spend it.
I know the best thing to probably do is to leave it all in the bank till he end of the month, but I need to buy food weekly etc.
How do you do it? I need tips. Also, do you pay your bills in front or just as they come. I have a new baby due in October and don't fancy struggling :/)
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Budget structure guidelines | learn how to make it & use the free template.
Introduction to Buckets
This is a quick introduction to the bucket system. The following posts will help you understand each bucket and create a nice Budget structure guidelines.
What is a Bucket?
A bucket is an amount set aside that will spend on something specific. You already pay your buckets, but you do it without knowing how much is going into them. Examples of buckets would be Cell Phone Bill, Television Service, Mortgage or Rent, Food, etc. Simply said, a bucket is an expense. I will show you the Budget structure guidelines. how you can do that properly for you.
Why use buckets instead of calling them expenses?
Expenses are a set amount that you pay each interval they are due. For example, you may receive a mobile phone bill for $100 but in one year you know you are going to need or want a new phone. Your current practice is that you just keep putting $100 in the bucket and it goes away. What happens though if you start putting $150 into that bucket for the next year instead of $100? Well, at the end of the year you will have $600 to buy that new phone you wanted. Your monthly device payment drops off of your account so instead of paying $100 for the next two to three years, you are now paying $75 a month. Over two years of $25 savings you now have another $600. If you kept putting $100 into that bucket instead of $75 you would be able to upgrade your phone every two years without a contract, and if an emergency arose you would have cash on hand instead of a monthly payment on your device.
Two Types of Buckets
There are two types of buckets, and I will get deep into each of them in the next posts, but just to quickly give an overview.
Capped Buckets: A capped bucket means that you put the same amount in every month, and pay the same amount out every month. An example of this would be your monthly Netflix payment. What purpose would you have to save more in that bucket? I can’t think of any. Therefore, it is capped.
Uncapped Buckets: An uncapped bucket allows you to store money in it for something later. You may have an outflow every month, but you are putting in more than the flow out. It may just be something you are saving for in the future. Uncapped buckets can virtually not have too much in them. The more you have in them, the better that expense is covered. You may have an uncapped vacation budget that you put $100 into each month. At the end of three months you could take a $300 vacation, but at the end of the year if you wanted you could take a $1200 vacation. The sky is the limit based on what you put into it.
Without further explanation lets get into the details and talk about the overall simplistic structure of the budget you are going to be using and what each line item on your budget will mean to you exactly. Getting the right structure can be the one-way ticket to success. if you need any more suggestions for Budget structure guidelines tell me in comment option.
Introduction to Buckets
This is a quick introduction to the bucket system. The following posts will help you understand each bucket and create a nice Budget structure guidelines.
What is a Bucket?
A bucket is an amount set aside that will spend on something specific. You already pay your buckets, but you do it without knowing how much is going into them. Examples of buckets would be Cell Phone Bill, Television Service, Mortgage or Rent, Food, etc. Simply said, a bucket is an expense. I will show you the Budget structure guidelines. how you can do that properly for you.
Why use buckets instead of calling them expenses?
Expenses are a set amount that you pay each interval they are due. For example, you may receive a mobile phone bill for $100 but in one year you know you are going to need or want a new phone. Your current practice is that you just keep putting $100 in the bucket and it goes away. What happens though if you start putting $150 into that bucket for the next year instead of $100? Well, at the end of the year you will have $600 to buy that new phone you wanted. Your monthly device payment drops off of your account so instead of paying $100 for the next two to three years, you are now paying $75 a month. Over two years of $25 savings you now have another $600. If you kept putting $100 into that bucket instead of $75 you would be able to upgrade your phone every two years without a contract, and if an emergency arose you would have cash on hand instead of a monthly payment on your device.
Two Types of Buckets
There are two types of buckets, and I will get deep into each of them in the next posts, but just to quickly give an overview.
Capped Buckets: A capped bucket means that you put the same amount in every month, and pay the same amount out every month. An example of this would be your monthly Netflix payment. What purpose would you have to save more in that bucket? I can’t think of any. Therefore, it is capped.
Uncapped Buckets: An uncapped bucket allows you to store money in it for something later. You may have an outflow every month, but you are putting in more than the flow out. It may just be something you are saving for in the future. Uncapped buckets can virtually not have too much in them. The more you have in them, the better that expense is covered. You may have an uncapped vacation budget that you put $100 into each month. At the end of three months you could take a $300 vacation, but at the end of the year if you wanted you could take a $1200 vacation. The sky is the limit based on what you put into it.
Without further explanation lets get into the details and talk about the overall simplistic structure of the budget you are going to be using and what each line item on your budget will mean to you exactly. Getting the right structure can be the one-way ticket to success. if you need any more suggestions for Budget structure guidelines tell me in comment option.
