Not mom related question..

My parents usually use one of their incomes for bills and everyday life. They have folders for each thing. Example they have an entertainment section, grocery, car, etc and they use cash and put it in that section. Worked really good for them

We put how much we have them break our money up to bills, groceries, money for us, etc. but we always do bills that we have to pay first and then go over what we have left. And we always make a grocery list and add up as we shop to make sure we are staying on our budget. I'm very good at all the budget stuff because my fiancé is the only one that works so we have to make our money go a long way.

@ecahanes, so they just kinda went with the flow? Like they had $10 and put it in a folder? $20 here and put it towards this?

@mpeterson62530, yes! My husband is the only income, and his way is NOT working so I'm gonna see if I can get out of the hole lol

@babynumber2ishere, ya if I let him do everything we would be completely broke. I love him but he can't budget and if I don't go shopping with him we end up having pop tarts and mac and cheese in the house for the week 😂

No my mom made an income of like 1100 every two weeks and they would use that. Money would last them two weeks or more (the whole point) and my dad would put his into savings. Figure out your monthly spendings and break it into paychecks. Whatever you have left over from bills put towards everyday life and savings.

@mpeterson62530, 😂I can soooo relate. My hub is quick to spend $300 on nonsense then wonder where all our money went. I'm like hellooooo? Earth to Adam... lol

But my point is use actual cash for everyday life stuff so you don't end up over spending. It works so much better!

@ecahanes, ok! That helps! Thank you

@ecahanes, yes it does. It's so easy to just swipe a card with hundreds of dollars on it🙅🏼

@babynumber2ishere, I had surgery a little while ago and I needed a straw to drink so I sent him to get straws. He comes home with Oreos, fig newtons, a movie and forgot my straws. He spent a whole $25 on stuff I didn't need and forgot the one thing I needed. You better believe he went back and got me my straws. He can't be trusted alone in the store. 😂😂

@mpeterson62530, 😂😂😂😂sounds like my hubby! That's funny!

Budgeting....account for how much comes in each month and then subtract your bills that go out each month. Then, with what is left, determine how much you have leftover to split between groceries, savings (even if it's just $5 a month!), and incidentals. If you find that you're running short, begin calling all those monthly bill people for different payment terms...maybe lower interest rates or a graduated payment or a lower payment.

https://www.google.com/amp/twocents.lifehacker.com/how-to-budget-when-you-re-broke-1561620381/amp

@erinflaherty818, thank you!

On Wednesday I know how much we will both have on Friday so i schedule everything Wednesday. I do la round about assumption of what I will have and make arrangements from there with budgeting

@smash6684, wow I inspire to be like you one day!

I use ynab ( you need a budget)

Truly, you already are living a budget. I separate my budget by categories. ( I'm a Dave Ramsey fan) so I have my "4 walls budget" which is all the household bills including debt payments, gas for the cars, groceries, dog , baby...this is all the bare bones stuff I need to spend to live.

Next I have me true expenses, hobbies, blow money, eating out, etc. Stuff I don't need to spend but is regularly popping up in my account register.

Then I have Sinking Funds. Things like, medical expenses, auto maintenance, home maintenance, vacation, birthdays, Christmas. I figure how much I will probably spend in a year on that particular category and divide it by 12 and that's how much i need to set aside a month for that. Then when something comes up I already have that $ set aside ( flat tire, oil change, roof leak, really good sale on something that I can give at Christmas)

The last category is saving funds, things I'd like to buy in the future. Like a PS4 or a new mattress. Or a new car.

We are striving to retire completely debt free.

Here's a helpful link.

community.babycenter.com/post/a64292011/welcome-to-the-we-are-debt-free-board-start-here-resources?cpg=1

We have an emergency fund of 1k. that is strictly for extreme emergencies. After we pay off all our debt we will take the $ we were spending on debt and start throwing it into the emergency fund till we get to 6 months worth of expenses.

@dmm1976, thank you sooo much!