Do You Have A Budget?

I don't ever have more money going out than I have coming in and I do set limits on things I spend money on. I sit down and go over our income and whatever monthly bills and things we need in future so yes I guess I do budget our income .
 

Leann said:
I have always had a budget, regardless of my income, in the early years on a scrap piece of paper then later in a binder but now on an Excel spreadsheet. Now that I am fully retired, it's even more imperative that I keep one. How about you?
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I read that the credit debt of the average family is over nine-thousand dollars. Budgets are dead and gone.
 
Wow Leann! You wrote: "I have always had a budget, regardless of my income, in the early years on a scrap piece of paper then later in a binder but now on an Excel spreadsheet." I could've written that. You followed the same path as I did, starting from when I was 25, except I don't use Excel but use self generated (projections) along with Vertex Family Budget Planner (actual spending) spreadsheets. I can't believe I'll be retired for 25 years as of Feb 1st. Technically I don't need to keep a budget now but I still do because it is an ingrained habit and has actually become a hobby.
 
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Not really a budget but I do keep track of bills and expenditures of any note. I just went through credit card statements and discontinued some subscriptions and things that I don’t really need or want anymore. It’s very easy to let small bills that are charged automatically to a card linger on past their useful time.
 
I have always had a budget. When I divorced my husband my income was cut in half so it was more important than ever to be on top of things financially. I also downsized my housing costs by selling the house and buying a condo.

I feel much safer in a condo and love that I don’t have yard work. My balcony overlooks the courtyard and every week I can see the landscapers working:)).
 
I have ALWAYS been frugal (habit from childhood as parents lived through the depression). They set an example "to live within their means" (ie no buying on "credit" - pay off the whole amount, including a car).

I don't have a budget - shop @ Thrift Stores, did home exhanges (ie budget travel), drive a 10 year old "well maintained car", no "gym memberships" for exercise as I have a dog that requires daily walking - 2 hours/day.
 
Did budget (roughly) when we were still working. Had to work up an estimated retirement budget when we started doing (rather erratically) retirement planning in our late 40's. Used very conservative #s since guessing what your utilities, etc., are going to be in 15 yrs is pretty much like throwing a handful of darts at a dartboard, LOL.

First couple of years in retirement we traveled quite a bit which is expensive, so I did have to keep an eye on monthly expenses. I simplified it after a while to estimating our traveling costs per day, on each trip. That helped to give me a sense of how inflation was (or was not, in recent years) happening. We don't travel as much now but I still like to get out every 6-8 weeks and get away for a week. No point in living in one of the most beautiful areas of the world and not taking advantage of it, right? I'm thankful I can still enjoy driving.

Spouse's pension has a COLA so amount has crept up over the intervening 12 years. I took SocSec at 66 and had three small pensions that activated at age 65, so that increased the monthly income. When MIL died, Spouse decided to continue receiving her distribution from the taxable acct he inherited, which was another increase.

Although the portfolio lost money last year, it gained enough over the bull market so that both accounts are still higher than when he inherited the taxable acct, despite the monthly distributions we take. That amount is strictly extra in our budget, and since our CFP firm manages it on a tax-friendly basis, most of it is tax-free anyway.

We leave his IRA account untouched, and it has grown substantially. Although we live in a HCOL area, with the portfolio, a SFH that has a very tiny mortgage (we freed up some equity when rates were down to 2.75%, as we did remodeling during the pandemic), and LTCi policies, we are fairly confident we've managed to minimize financial risk as we age. We have no children, and although my family lives nearby, they have their own much bigger financial issues so it wouldn't be fair to ask them for financial help.

I did tell my spouse the other day I'm continually reminded of a funny T-shirt message I saw long ago: "If I got up in the morning and nothing hurt, I'd think I was dead". Old age might be catching up with us sooner than I thought!

LOL :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
 
Leann said:
I have always had a budget, regardless of my income, in the early years on a scrap piece of paper then later in a binder but now on an Excel spreadsheet. Now that I am fully retired, it's even more imperative that I keep one. How about you?
Click to expand...
Yes, just as yourself, I've had a budget very early on. It's VIP to have one. As I'm on very low income since hubby passed away last year and told I wasn't going to receive his pension until I reached pension age and stayed single (which I found very strange indeed!)

Mine is now in Google Sheets and I had to do a speedy recovery yesterday, probably why I didn't sleep well last night and woke up in a fright so early today, but now I'm needing to call for a proposed direct debit from Feb 2023 that I can't afford with the amount which will do nicely and fit my tight budget just now.

Currently, I'm okay but with Postal Strikes mail is incredibly delayed and causing stress as replies not showing up. Fretting about it

In these times a Budget is a necessity...not a luxury!
 
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Never needed a budget - I am frugal (aka cheapskate) and not a shopper or an impulse buyer - the dishes, furniture, clothes (and the pets from the pound) are 2nd hand. Surprisingly, the dishes (from a restaurant supply wholesaler) and the furniture (except beds and bedding), were 2nd hand and have held up 45+ years.
 
Not a budget on a spreadsheet. I don't run up my credit card, pay it off every month, and check my checkbook every three days or so. Mostly, I know in my head at all times where I am for monthly spending. My assets are direct deposited every month, but I know where and when. I don't owe anything except my SUV payment, and that is to keep my credit score way up.
I always have enough to carry over into the next month. It wasn't always like this, but after I became single again I have no problem with my funds.
 
It's a good question. My answer is not really. When younger and really broke, I'd often look what was in my wallet and calculated the days until payday. I actually had no bank account. I was still able to cash checks at the bank.

I don't really budget now either. I have for the future. If I can ever retire. What will cost. I don't need much either. I have plenty of yarn and fabric. I'd need book and thrifting money. I'd hope to have that.
 
I created a budget when I retired in June 2020. I put everything possible on my credit card, so I know if I am tracking ahead or behind my budget each time I look at my transactions. I pay it off at the end of each month. Inflation has made my 2020 budget obsolete. I also knew there would be "extraordinary expenses" from time to time, but now it seems there are those expenses every month. I've blown past my budget but I'm still okay.
 
Yes. Ever since the early years of our marriage. Hubby is a bean counter who thinks the answer to personal finances is to just not spend any money. Unfortunately with two growing kids and a house to maintain, you do have to spend some money! In order to keep the peace I introduced him to budgets. Which I thought odd. He had taken some accounting at college in the past and claims the first time he heard of a budget was from me.

We are in early retirement and still live in a house with a fair bit of maintenance required, so we still have a budget. In fact, we have monthly budget meetings. We look at where we are with net worth, monthly income, monthly expenses, financial goals and how we’re doing on our running total for annual expenses. We assess all expenses to see if they were necessary or an anomaly, and to make sure properly recorded in Quicken, which is what Hubby uses to keep track of every penny.

We plan our big expenditures ahead of time. We have a 1 year, 2 year and 5 year plan. In 10 years we plan to sell the house to move into an apartment or condo. We track our progress in extra health care expenses, travel, and house maintenance (big things like replacing the deck, a new roof, etc.).

As I tend to be the more spendy one, I suggested separate personal allowances early on. This is money we do not have to report to each other. It’s only a couple hundred a month, but it covers clothing, gifts, recreation, entertainment, education, hobbies, eating out with friends, charity and, in my case, business expenses.

So yes, we keep a budget. In my case there is one for the household and my personal money. I don’t think Hubby bothers with one for his personal money.
 


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