Parrothead Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 What are your categories (no amounts please) for the envelopes? I don't want to know who each debtor and how much you are paying. I'm looking for categories for household expenses. So far I've only got groceries, dinner out, and a movie fund. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.m Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 I'm going to be honest and let you know that we tried to break it down too much early on. That didn't work for us. So now we use: Grocery (pretty much anything I buy at Wal-Mart to make the household run & food) Clothing Entertainment (this includes eating out for us and the baby sitter fund) Personal Care (make-up, hair cuts) Gas/Car Maintenance Individual allowances Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenL Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 We have the following: Groceries Non-food/Household - ie. the kit we needed to fix the toilet recently, a new ironing board, etc. Restaurants Entertainment Clothing - one for kids & one for adults Personal care/Beauty - haircuts, my MK make-up Babysitter Gas/Car maintenance We're fairly new to the envelope system, and we've been thinking of tweaking it to put Restaurants and Entertainment together or put Entertainment/Babysitter together. Or to even combine the three. So far, this is working out fine though. We have sheets in our envelopes where we record everything we've spent as well so we can keep track of our habits. Dh is an accountant and tends to go overboard with the record-keeping :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in OK Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 I don't use envelopes but budget pages (taken from a budget book put out by Larry Burkett..Crown Financial Ministries..years ago). Something similar they have that you can use on your computer: http://crown.mvelopes.com Anyway, I have: Tithe Bills (this includes mortgage, utilities, and other debt) Groceries Misc. Spending/Fun (i.e. eating out, those "Oh, I need to pick up ___ from the store" trips, etc) Auto (ins., payment, and gas) Dh's travel expenses Savings/Tax Money Surplus Vacation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMom Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 My envelopes: Groceries Entertainment (eating out, movies, etc) Gas Clothing Dry Cleaning Haircuts Beauty Supplies (this is for my fancy shampoo and Bare Minerals ;)) Target Blow Money (this actually goes straight into my dh's and my wallets but it is a cash category) I keep my cash in an accordian file like a coupon file. I've had this system going for about 5 years now and it works perfectly for me.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganW Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 (edited) We record everything in the computer, so ours are probably a lot more detailed than what you are looking for. But maybe this will give you some ideas? Salary Other Income Tithe / Giving Income Taxes Sales Tax Mortgage Property Insurance / Taxes / Mortgage Insurance Home Warranty Electricity / Natural Gas / Water / Garbage / Pest Control Telephone / Internet / Cable Home Improvements / Landscaping Housing - Other (includes things like yard tools and so on) Insurance (Work / Life / Jewelry) Car Payment Car (Gas / Car Insurance / Washes / Maintenance / License / Taxes / Tag) Cell Phone / XM Radio Groceries Cleaning Products / Paper Products Preschool Children's Activities (this is for swim lessons & so on) Baby Equipment / Toys / Art Supplies / Books Vacations / Dates / Day Trips / Related Babysitting costs Hobbies (aka scrapbooking supplies) Picture Developing (yes, we have to have a separate category for that!) Subscriptions (newspaper, magazines, etc.) Books Hosting Parties / Holiday Celebrations Recreation - Other (lots of random things end up here, like the $10 workbook for a class at church) Clothing / Shoes / Dry Cleaning Savings - 401K Bank Fees / Interest Charges Debt Payments Medical Expenses Flex Spending (we use this to record the amounts that get taken out of DH's paycheck, as well as to record the reimbursement checks - should end up at $0 by the end of the year) Diapers / Wipes / Desitin Toiletries Haircuts / Salon Christmas - Immediate Family Christmas - Other (extended family, friends, coworkers, teachers, charity, cards & related postage, wrapping paper, etc.) Gifts Birthday parties Other (office supplies, postage, kitchen implements, etc.) Edited January 24, 2010 by MeganW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMom Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 We record everything in the computer, so ours are probably a lot more detailed than what you are looking for. But maybe this will give you some ideas? That's not just your envelopes is it? Is that all of your budget categories? I thought the OP just wanted the cash envelope categories. I have a ton of categories in my whole budget. I just listed my cash categories. Parrothead, did you want all budget categories? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganW Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 That's not just your envelopes is it? Is that all of your budget categories? I thought the OP just wanted the cash envelope categories. I have a ton of categories in my whole budget. I just listed my cash categories. Parrothead, did you want all budget categories? I'm not doing the envelope thing, so I don't know how it works. Sorry - I just exported my categories out of Money & copied them over! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vettechmomof2 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 insurances taxes coal cars animals camp savings/extra gas food/household Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodallmomma Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 What is the envelope system? I'm a little lost. Could someone explain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in OK Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 What is the envelope system? I'm a little lost. Could someone explain? It's just a way to budget. Basically you take your paycheck(s) and divide it up into categories. Some people use actual envelopes labeled with the categories and put cash in them. When the cash in that envelope category is gone, you don't have anything else to spend. Other ways to do it is on paper or the computer. Keep your money in the bank but keep track of it in the categories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I am brand new to this and I think my envelopes will change month to month. But for my first month the envelopes are- online bills paid house payment/taxes plumber (this month only) ice skating bowling music lessons skating competition #1 skating competition #2 4 envelopes for groceries (one for each week) homeschool (for books I always seem to need/want) extra money (in case of emergency, at end of month goes to savings) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted January 25, 2010 Author Share Posted January 25, 2010 We record everything in the computer, so ours are probably a lot more detailed than what you are looking for. But maybe this will give you some ideas? Salary Other Income Tithe / Giving Income Taxes Sales Tax Mortgage Property Insurance / Taxes / Mortgage Insurance Home Warranty Electricity / Natural Gas / Water / Garbage / Pest Control Telephone / Internet / Cable Home Improvements / Landscaping Housing - Other (includes things like yard tools and so on) Insurance (Work / Life / Jewelry) Car Payment Car (Gas / Car Insurance / Washes / Maintenance / License / Taxes / Tag) Cell Phone / XM Radio Groceries Cleaning Products / Paper Products Preschool Children's Activities (this is for swim lessons & so on) Baby Equipment / Toys / Art Supplies / Books Vacations / Dates / Day Trips / Related Babysitting costs Hobbies (aka scrapbooking supplies) Picture Developing (yes, we have to have a separate category for that!) Subscriptions (newspaper, magazines, etc.) Books Hosting Parties / Holiday Celebrations Recreation - Other (lots of random things end up here, like the $10 workbook for a class at church) Clothing / Shoes / Dry Cleaning Savings - 401K Bank Fees / Interest Charges Debt Payments Medical Expenses Flex Spending (we use this to record the amounts that get taken out of DH's paycheck, as well as to record the reimbursement checks - should end up at $0 by the end of the year) Diapers / Wipes / Desitin Toiletries Haircuts / Salon Christmas - Immediate Family Christmas - Other (extended family, friends, coworkers, teachers, charity, cards & related postage, wrapping paper, etc.) Gifts Birthday parties Other (office supplies, postage, kitchen implements, etc.) Thanks. That does give me ideas. On a side note, dd was almost a year old before I realized that I needed to budget for diapers. Maybe she finally evened out on how many she used. I remember that I had to have $10 a week for diapers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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