Comments on: I Have a Secret… I Don’t Budget

By: neurosciency

neurosciency — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 19:51:55 +0000

i set a budget as a guideline every month. i rarely follow it, but at least i am mindful of it.

By: Emily @ evolvingPF

Emily @ evolvingPF — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:03:56 +0000

Oh, we definitely budget. Mint makes it REALLY easy. I don’t like being off for the month or two it would take to figure out what was happening.

By: One Frugal Girl

One Frugal Girl — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 01:10:22 +0000

In reply to Donna Freedman. I love your comments Donna and I completely agree about the massage. I'm only 34 and couldn't function without them.

By: Donna Freedman

Donna Freedman — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 05:54:30 +0000

I don’t track my spending and I don’t budget on paper. Keeping the basic numbers in my head — rent, $700; health insurance, $440, etc. — is enough to keep me from buying anything I don’t really NEED to buy.
I take that back: I get my hair cut and colored every six weeks or so; while I do consider a decent haircut necessary, coloring is a “want” and I could probably find someone cheaper. But this woman’s in business for herself and I like supporting small businesses.
Oh, and I get one professional massage a month. More a need than a want. No machine runs for 54 years without some maintenance issues. 😉
And, of course, being single and middle-aged means I don’t have a partner with whom to parse expenses and I don’t have kids at home vacuuming dollars from my wallet (field trips class pictures new shoes college application fees….).

By: One Frugal Girl

One Frugal Girl — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 19:48:37 +0000

In reply to S C. That's also an interesting approach. Rather than budgeting all categories, focus on the areas of weakness and address just those. I'd never thought about that.

By: One Frugal Girl

One Frugal Girl — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 19:47:48 +0000

In reply to Liam. Thanks for the comment Liam. That's an interesting way to do it. A high-level budget of sorts. Interesting.

By: One Frugal Girl

One Frugal Girl — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 19:47:16 +0000

In reply to Newlyweds on a Budget. That's exactly what we do. We pull back if we see expenses are high in a particular category the previous month. You know a lot of people spend money even when they don't have it. You should pat yourself on the back for recognizing how much you have and keeping your spending within limits!

By: One Frugal Girl

One Frugal Girl — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 19:45:52 +0000

In reply to Michelle. Do you adjust the next month's spending after you reflect on this month's expenses? That's how my husband and I do it.

By: S C

S C — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:13:42 +0000

I tend to overspend, so I try to budget in categories where money flows out the easiest – shopping and dining out. While I’m conscious of the budget amount, I’m still working on sticking to it! At the very least, budgeting helps me spend less than I normally would if I didn’t have a budgeting consciousness. 😛

By: Liam

Liam — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 02:19:36 +0000

By your definition, I don’t budget either, although I would still consider what I do budgeting…

I have automatic deductions coming out of my account when I get paid – a set amount goes into a “Bills” account (I projected the full amount on utilities, insurance etc. etc. for the year, and got a weekly amount), a set amount goes into savings (high interest account), and a set amount is left in the ‘transaction’ account for anything we want. We don’t budget down to categories of expenditure any further than this because there is too much administration involved!!