Budgeting

[Based on Faith Academy]

I'm looking for a free budgeting site that allows you to budget but does not require you to give your bank account information. Any help???

[SereneHome]

If you don't find one, you can always use excel.   I've done finance and budgeting for a living for a long time before I quit, and I find excel a lot more flexible to use, especially if you don't want to link any of you bank accounts and credit cards.

[Guest]

Just an idea, but I find we do a better job with 'reverse budgeting'. We used software before but it was such a pain and very tedious, With a reverse budget we achieve much the same end.

 

Here is an article on reverse budgeting from Forbes, that details the ideal basic approach:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterlazaroff/2016/02/29/creating-a-budget-that-works/#33da4bf92d47

 

Practically, in our family, it looks like setting up our bills on auto bill pay, putting aside what we need into savings, getting every fixed expense out of the way as SOON as the paycheck comes in, and that includes hitting our main grocery trip of the month in there. Everything left is discretionary spending for gas, entertainment, surprise food things that pop up, etc. But all the things that need to be accounted for, including credit card payments and savings, are already socked away.

 

That eliminates SO much of the monthly headache with line item budgeting on things like You Need A Budget and HomeBudget. For us it is much superior and saves a lot of time while still achieving the same effect :)

[HomeAgain]

Everydollar.com is free for the basic edition, no account syncing required.

[Based on Faith Academy]

Just an idea, but I find we do a better job with 'reverse budgeting'. We used software before but it was such a pain and very tedious, With a reverse budget we achieve much the same end.

 

Here is an article on reverse budgeting from Forbes, that details the ideal basic approach:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterlazaroff/2016/02/29/creating-a-budget-that-works/#33da4bf92d47

 

Practically, in our family, it looks like setting up our bills on auto bill pay, putting aside what we need into savings, getting every fixed expense out of the way as SOON as the paycheck comes in, and that includes hitting our main grocery trip of the month in there. Everything left is discretionary spending for gas, entertainment, surprise food things that pop up, etc. But all the things that need to be accounted for, including credit card payments and savings, are already socked away.

 

That eliminates SO much of the monthly headache with line item budgeting on things like You Need A Budget and HomeBudget. For us it is much superior and saves a lot of time while still achieving the same effect :)

 

This is a great concept, but I don't think it will work for us. The idea behind creating a budget for us is to help us manage our money better. We don't have much , but I think more could be paid off. I need to show how that can happen and set some goals and priorities.

[Carol in Cal.]

Two tricks that have worked great for us:

1.  Have a separate checking or savings account for recurring, nonmonthly expenses.  These are things like property taxes, annual and semiannual insurance bills, car repairs (estimate an amount for this), Christmas presents, and other gifts.  (Add those up and divide by 12, then have that much automatically deposited into the account every month.)  Then the rest goes into your primary checking account, from which you pay monthly bills.  When one of those 'occasional' bills comes in, try to pay it out of the primary checking, but know that you can pay it out of the other if needed.  Once or twice a year sweep the 'leftover' if any into your savings or investments.

 

2.  Pay ahead on bills that will post a credit for you.  Generally credit cards that you pay off monthly will do this, IME, as will untilities and phone/internet companies.  (Beware--mortgage bills don't work this way.)  Work your way up to where you always have a credit that is bigger than your monthly charge.  That way if things get tight you can skip a month, and if they don't, you know you can save up at least that much if you start the process of putting that amount into a savings fund.