I had never been a Budget Person until this year. Growing up, my mom had always kept a meticulous budget. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that.
meticulous: with extreme care, precision, and attention to detail
Meticulous might even be too tame of a word. I think she has a 3-ring binder for each budget category. When she receives receipts for purchases, she breaks down each receipt into it’s own category. By hand, on this funny green paper that folds over to save space in said 3-ring binders. She uses a ruler and each single- and double-line has its own special meaning that is clear only to her.
It seems like it is a completely overwhelming system – to both of us.
That said, I’ve always had an aversion to budgets because I kept imagining my mom’s budget system. I am not happy when I have to play with numbers, and thinking about all the numbers Mom plays with every week…let’s just say I have a similar anxiety attack when I think about attending the dentist (more about that another day).
In January, though, it began to be immediately imperative that I create a budget for my family. Where to start, where to start, right? Well, I did some research. I looked online, and signed up for a year of PearBudget. In the end, though, at 31 years of age, I defaulted back to what worked for me when I was 22 and finally responsible for my own car insurance.
When I was young, I kept an extra column in my checkbook. Every paycheck I received, I would set aside a certain amount towards my car insurance so when the semiannual invoice arrived, I could just write the stupid check without having to think about it. This was smart, but the rest of my money handling habits were stupid – I still basically lived paycheck to paycheck for everything else.
Almost ten years later (that’s January, 2009), when it came time to make my budget, that extra column is what I thought of. Hey, why couldn’t I make a column for all of my categories?
Did I mention that I also like to make things harder than they need to be? Yeah, I do. It’s tough being me.
I set up an Excel spreadsheet. I made it look just like my checkbook register, so I enter the date, item, confirmation/check number, ATM time, and debit or credit amount. Then I also have a column for what category the item is for.
That was the easy part.
The hard part was setting up each category, because of course I didn’t want to have to do any of the math myself – I want it all to be done automatically! I have a column, then, for each category (insurance, loans, groceries, gas, free money, Netflix, etc). Basically, each time I receive a paycheck (INC category), the set amount that I need to save per category automatically gets assigned to that category. Then I have a highlighted column that shows me the total balance minus of each of my budget categories – basically, what non-assigned funds I have floating in my account.
Oh, and I still record things in my check register.
This is way complicated, but it works perfectly for me – for now. I recently learned about Mint, and although I’m a bit squeamish about giving all my account info in one place, I’m getting encouragement from others and giving it a shot anyway.
Wish me luck!
Hey, I read a ton of great personal finance blogs. If you found your way here and liked this article, you definitely don’t want to miss J.D. @ Get Rich Slowly; David @ My Two Dollars; Not Made of Money; PT @ Prime Time Money; or Trent @ The Simple Dollar. I’m pretty sure I’ve thought more about money and learned more from these guys (and one gal) in the past eight months than I have in the last eight years!