Does your family have a monthly budget? If so, how did you come up with it? We currently don’t have…
Does your family have a monthly budget? If so, how did you come up with it? We currently don’t have one because we haven’t felt that we “need” one, but I’m wondering if it would be helpful.. We’re doing well financially, but I’m a saver and my husband is a spender. Often times, it is difficult for us to meet in the middle or see eye to eye when making big purchases.
The EK 💋·
We don’t “need” one either but we have one. I’m the saver in our relationship. I wrote out all of our monthly expenses, then looked at what was left over. A majority of that goes straight to savings (I’d estimate around 80% of the “leftover” money is saved). We set aside around $500/month for whatever - restaurants, movies, museums, etc when all those things were open. For bigger purchases we consult with each other before spending. If we don’t spend the full $500, the rest gets transferred to savings at the end of the month.
Oh, also all of our bills and autopays get deducted from one checking account, we have a second checking account linked to our debit cards for gas/groceries/whatever, and then a savings account. Having the separate accounts has worked for us bc my husband is a spender.
Linley ··
I like the idea of setting aside a certain amount each month for whatever such as dining and other activities. We have honestly never done that. We just spend whenever we want to do something, so that might be helpful. We have several different checking and savings accounts already. I think maybe we just need to monitor how much goes into and out of each account better each month.
scream.queen·
We don't need a budget, but I try to keep a budget on what we spend on groceries which is $400 every two weeks. My husband is a spender and I'm a saver lol. We keep out about $300 every 2 weeks for dining out ect. Bills are on auto pay so the rest goes into our savings account. Any big purchases we talk to each other before hand.
Linley ··
Do you feel like $300 every 2 weeks is a pretty good amount for dining out and other activities? Do you always stick to that budget?
scream.queen··
For us it is. We eat out 2-3 times a week. We don't really do anything unless it's going bowling. If we go to an amusement park we wait until my husband's company picnic every year because he gets free tickets and they supply food, drinks, and beer, but we just go off on our own and buy food and drinks when we want to eat.
Nicole·
Мама троих детей
We don’t “need” a budget either but we use the app every dollar and it is just easy to use and makes it so you can see where your money is and where it’s going. And for us we have a spending money section for my husband and I and that’s what we can spend on whatever we want and no more than that a month unless it’s presents or something like that.
Linley ··
I’ll have to check that app out. Thanks!
Nicole··
Мама троих детей
sure
XryztalRoze·
We have one at all times even when we don't "need" it and that is what allows us to have a beautiful life even in times like these where I am not working and we have lost 2/3 or more of our income, and have a minimal income currently. It's always a good idea. And we get to splurge on occasion without worrying about breaking the budget because we always save where we can. If you're good at saving then gift your husband an "allowance" from each paycheck. My DH does that for himself and sticks to it. We each had our own healthy spending habits before one another and then we put them together and I am responsible for our groceries, electric. He pays the mortgage and other household bills. We have several cars but no car payments. That helps a lot! Any specific questions?
Linley ··
How do you decide how much of an allowance to have monthly? My husband and I have differing ideas on that. We put $2k or more into savings each month, easy. Because we work hard and are doing well financially, he thinks we should be spending more on enjoyment than I do.
Jay·
Мама сына (6 лет)
We don't need a budget but I definitely think its smart to have one. I'm the saver. I have a decent sized savings, but my SO is a spender. Any ideas anyone wants to share about budgeting or saving, I'm all ears. We also live in So. Cal, so things are like extra extra expensive
Linley ··
We live in the Chicago suburbs, so it’s pretty expensive as well. It seems like the guys are usually the spenders! Lol I love to hear tips on saving as much as possible as well.