How detailed is your family budget?

I don’t have a set budget. I know how much money is in the bank at all times, I know whether we can afford something or not and I use my best judgment.

When I did budget, the numbers always seemed to not add up and we were always broke. I was stressed out all the time and couldn’t stop worrying about money. Now, we live comfortably and happily.
References :

1) Mortgage/Rent
2) Food
3) Household Supplies (toilet paper, windex, laundry soap, etc)
4) Gasoline
5) Utilities
6) Cable/Phone
7) Insurances (car, home, life) Kids (diapers, clothing)
9) Medical (premiums, co-payments, medication, therapy sessions)
10) Savings
11) Other (dates for my husband and I, that cute shirt I want, my friends kid has a bday party and I need to get a gift, the car broke down, etc)

We take what we have, pay the bills, look at what we have left over and then divide them accordingly to each "category" I make grocery lists and stick to them to keep my groceries low, and I attempt to put money back into savings and other each month for those unexpected emergencies. And no, we are nowhere near rich! We just know how to budget, lol

But my husband is going to school to be an accountant…..
References :
mom to 2

I wrote down ALL THE BILLS that came out each month.

Mortgage
Car
Car
Car Insurance
Gas
Electric
Water
Internet
Cell Phones
Credit cards
Loan

Then made an estimate of the things that aren’t "bills"
Gas
Groceries
Eating Out

Added it up, added up our paychecks …. figured out what we had "left over"….not much
References :

do not actually have one. i did have an extremely detailed one (a la quicken) back when i was first starting out and our finances were tighter. at this point, i already have a good grasp of monthly expenses and income and we have more leeway in our spending, so expenditures don’t really need that kind of detailed tracking.
References :

i put all my bills in one large list. take a piece of paper and divide it in the amount of paydays there are in the month (4-5) and then list a bill under each pay day until all have a set spot. i then decide how much money we will need for gas and food those paydays. Whatever is left over (if there is any) goes into savings or paid as extra on a bill.
References :
Jenn

Bills every month:

Rent
Car insurance
Water
Home phone/internet
Electric
Cell phone
Netflix
Dish network

We also have groceries
References :

Well most bills are pretty close to the same every month…..paid at the same time every month. My husband gets paid weekly, so I have certain bills I pay each week.

Week 1 – Electric/Water $250ish
Week 2 – TV/Phone/Internet $150ish
Week 3 – Truck Payment (which will soon be paid off) $300
Week 4 – Student Loan $140

Weeks 2 and 4 I pay other bills sometimes that I don’t regularly have – insurance, a credit card purchase (I always pay in full), propane, stuff like that.

Otherwise I just go with the flow – I know I spend around $100/groceries per week and around $60/gas per week. Some weeks we just pay bills/groceries/gas…..some weeks I may have bought something or we may have went out to eat. We generally spend all the money my husband makes in a 40 hour work week and any overtime goes to savings……but savings doesn’t last long – we are currently building a house and paying cash for the first 1/2 of construction – so when we get enough saved we usually spend it on something for the house.
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