I have been doing budgets on and off for years and the granular I have gotten the more money I have saved. I just need to get better and listing all items(starbucks, gast station stops(non gas) items. I do keep track of periodic stuff like insurance, taxes, and birthdays(annivesaries) but these have been crazy at times. I am trying to better organize these so they are part of my monthly budget(spread out).
@Anonymous wrote:That'sa pretty awesome policy -- taking so much of your check into automatic savings and investments is great!
I know a guy (have known him for 20 years!) who lives this month off of his paycheck from January 2008. Always ten years ago. He has a hilarious process where he withdraws from his direct deposit account what his net paycheck was 10 years ago. He's been living like this since the 70s (before direct deposit of course) and doesn't really monitor much beyond that.
So his "ditch" fund is 10 years of pay. I guess he was homeless in his teen years and has had the same job since he was 18 (factory warehouse manager) and just ignores everything else. Pretty funny that he lives on a forklift operator's salary because that's what he did 10 years ago.
This is insane and good mental way to put away lots of dough. Thats a way of spending "old money" for real! I need that mental setup.
Good topic. First of all, congratulation for raising up your credit scores! That is an awesome job!
The only budget I am planning for this year 2018 is buying a house and paying off my debts. I am hoping not only paying off my credit cards (leave 10-15% balances on few cards to get positive credit scores) but also my loans within 9 months. I am planning to work side jobs/projects to achive that. I created my own spreadsheet budget. I am using it to predict my credit scores, tax return, expenses and saving. By 2019, it would be a real saving without any debt..well except the 10-15% balances on credit cards. I have to keep it that way to gain scores on positive payments and utilizations. Those two categories have the biggest impact on our credit scores. I have been obsessing on getting my credit scores up again within few months time like what I did few years back. I am going loco now..
I stopped eating outside but only on few ocassions and sometime free foods from Casino. Nope, I don't have to play to get the food certificate which offer each week. I have to drop some tips though. Mostly I will just cook from the groceries.
I have to add this, once I have a house (if that happened) I would like to do some credits gardening. 
I keep getting offers on snail mails and e-mails but I am too afraid to apply for them at the moment.
@Anonymouswrote:I don't do a survive, thrive, and arrive section, but I usually know approximate numbers in my head or can figure them out with a quick review of my budget. Mine is so basic. Just a notebook with projected income/expenses and actual income/expenses. I do plan for larger or annual expenses monthly and save for those. I'm not sure you could get more simplistic than my way. I had a fancy excel sheet once but I returned to paper because it was more convenient for me.
You know it isn't about fancy worksheets, special programs and the like ... it is about what works for you! Sometimes we each need to use the tools that we are most comfortable with and stay the course on our money. For myself I developed a worksheet format that works for me and it is flexible enough to allow me to adjust for "life happens". Also, I built in dollars for savings (emergency fund) and investing ... again to each his own. My goal is to stay solvent, clean CBs and the ability to do what I want when I want (financial freedom). So go for it
@Anonymouswrote:
@Anonymouswrote:I don't do a survive, thrive, and arrive section, but I usually know approximate numbers in my head or can figure them out with a quick review of my budget. Mine is so basic. Just a notebook with projected income/expenses and actual income/expenses. I do plan for larger or annual expenses monthly and save for those. I'm not sure you could get more simplistic than my way. I had a fancy excel sheet once but I returned to paper because it was more convenient for me.
You know it isn't about fancy worksheets, special programs and the like ... it is about what works for you! Sometimes we each need to use the tools that we are most comfortable with and stay the course on our money. For myself I developed a worksheet format that works for me and it is flexible enough to allow me to adjust for "life happens". Also, I built in dollars for savings (emergency fund) and investing ... again to each his own. My goal is to stay solvent, clean CBs and the ability to do what I want when I want (financial freedom). So go for it
Seriously, I say this all the time but I have a friend who budgets using checkbook registers. And more power to her. I save mine for her. It would drive me insane, but she knows what she's doing and it works for her. Just like you said, that's all that matters in the end.