Any suggestions for budgeting?

[Pistol]

I love the happy planner but I want to start tracking our money and working towards paying down debt faster and saving up money. Anybody find any inserts they love?

[jewel]

So it’s not paper, but I love mint.com. I just think it’s the best thing out there for tracking spending/budgeting. It’s so much more detailed than you can do by hand. It’s also helped me catch fraudulent CC charges more than once.

Then once you understand how you are spending your money you can find pieces to track in your planner or make goals. I do monthly income, total spending, and savings (or negative savings in a bad month). I actually have this going back to 2009 for me and like 2011 for H and I, bc that’s when we “combined finances” if you will. I used to tie it out to my savings account balances as well, but as we’ve moved more money into stocks and our IRAs that became to complicated for me so I gave that piece up. It’s super cool to see over time. And like some big headine numbers, like how much we’ve saved together, then how much we’ve saved without paying for H’s grad school, our house down payment, etc.

I do this all electronically though, with a google drive sheet and in mint, I’ve been thinking about putting something in my planner though... maybe some goals, not 100% sure what yet though.

I did try a bill tracker in my planner but I wasn’t great at keeping up with it, I may try again though. The other thing I mark in my planner is pay off dates. We moved last summer and bought a bunch of furniture with 0% financing, which I had never done before and I was so nervous I was going to forgot to pay them off! Most rolled off this summer but happy to report I didn’t forget about any of them or mess them up!

[Pistol]

I’m not a fan of mint. I’ve tried it once before but just wasn’t a fan.

[oliversbear]

I use a Franklin Planner system with both Franklin Planner & Day-Timer inserts for budgeting. There are Year & Monthly Budget pages, as well as monthly expense tracking pages. I also use the check register pages to track my account balances & savings goals.

[McBenny]

I am all over this. I do use the Happy Planner right now but I am seriously considering getting either the budget expansion pack for my planner or getting a budget planner.

I am just not sure if I want it separate or no.

That being said, I highly suggest you watch some Budget with me videos on youtube. I find it motivating and not only that you get all kinds of ideas of how different people set their budget up and their systems, etc. You can determine what works for you and what does not.

I am really into this girl Shay's channel. I think her last name is McMillan or something. Anyway, she is very honest and even shares the monthly meetings her and her H have.

I have been budget planning this way since like May and it has been great. I was able to build up a little savings (gone now with MH's lay off in Aug) and that helped us be in a better position than we were in before.

[blurnette989]

McBenny do you have any links? I started searching budget with me videos on YouTube and there a million different vloggers.

I need to start a budget planner/system too. We've now transitioned from two incomes to one, in a new country and with a new house. So all of our bills are different amounts and I really need to visualize the cost of things here.

[McBenny]

Nov 11, 2017 7:46:36 GMT -6 blurnette989 said:

McBenny do you have any links? I started searching budget with me videos on YouTube and there a million different vloggers.

I need to start a budget planner/system too. We've now transitioned from two incomes to one, in a new country and with a new house. So all of our bills are different amounts and I really need to visualize the cost of things here.

I can't link from here. I just look for the paper planner ones. Some people use apps, spreadsheets etc. I watch and subscribe of I like them. I like Shays videos.

[jewel]

Someone linked these 2 in another planner group I’m in:
Here is one idea

A bunch of ppl said they liked this person: