Our Monthly Budget

We’ve been using our monthly budget system for so long now, I can’t even remember when we started.  I know we didn’t have it right after we got married because I can remember spending money with reckless abandon and stupidity.  And, I can remember the reality and restriction of moving to the budget.  Yikes!  We had to learn some self control!  It was painful in the beginning, but now I would feel lost without it.

We have all sorts of different categories in our budget.  You may think it’s too crazy or strict, but it’s really very helpful for keeping things under control.  We, of course, have categories for gas, groceries, housing, and normal things that you might think of.  But, we also have categories for personal money, clothing, gifts, and entertainment.  Seem weird?  Our dollar amounts are by no means a certain magical formula, they’re just what works for us.  So here are some examples.  We (Johnny and I), each have $65 per month in “personal money” to spend on whatever in the world we want or need to buy.  I can use mine for clothing, accessories, make up, books, Starbucks, whatever.  Johnny usually buys books with his.  We just started a clothing category, and probably won’t keep it forever.  We both need some new clothes, so right now we’ve got the clothing category set at $50 each per month.  In entertainment money, we’ve got $80 a month.  That is used mainly for dining out, and if we ever went to the movies, it would be used for that too.  (For some reason I hate going to the movies now, and prefer to watch videos in the comfort of my own home, in my own clean chair, with a pause button for bathroom breaks in a clean bathroom.)  Basically any type of entertainment.  I know $80 isn’t much, but we only eat out maybe once a week, so it’s enough for us.

For gifts, we’ve got set amounts for the kids for their birthdays and holidays.  It really helps set boundaries so you don’t go crazy at the store.  We’ve even got set amounts for each other for birthdays, Valentines, anniversary, and Christmas.  And if you want to spend more, you can just save up your personal money to add in.  It is hard to budget for wedding and baby gifts, but we have some money set aside for that too.  And we actually do have a whole Christmas budget with everyone we buy for with a dollar amount next to their name.

I know I’ve talked a lot about how much this helps us and make us feel more secure, but it really also saves a ton of money because we’ve got boundaries.  It also helps us be more creative and really stretch our dollar.  I buy all of our kids clothing off season at the end of season sales and get GREAT prices.  I saved nearly $100 on Gabriel’s clothing for next summer by purchasing it in August of this year.

Hope this gives you some ideas.  I’d love to hear your budgeting thoughts!