budgets - categories & capturing everything

[Anonymous]

What are the categories you use for your budget? I feel like I'm missing something but so far I have the following:

Home - mortgage, hoa

Utilities - gas, electric, water (lump sum of 120 - a buffer is built in here as gas & electric bill amounts flip with the seasons)

Telecom - cell phone, internet

Auto - loan, gas, insurance (includes home)

Student loans

General savings - retirement contributions come off the top and never hit my checking acct

Debt reduction - should disappear within the year and get transitioned somewhere else

Vet bills - don't always occur but he is old and special needs so I set some aside every month.

Food - groceries & meals out - lunch is covered during the workday so only have to worry about breakfast/dinner and it leans towards paying someone to make it for me.

Incidentals - catchall for small items

Clothing - may not use monthey but still budget that way

Anything I may have been missing?

Or what are your favorite tools for tracking your budget versus actuals or actually sticking with a budget? I've heard some like the envelope method but found that only works well with physical cash.

[ddemari]

For me, the best way to budget is add up my bills, the kind that dont change month to month, rent, phone, student loans.

From there, I factor into account saving around 15% min. of my pay check. 

Deduct that from my monthly net income and realistically give myself a budget of x amount. if i try to get way to specific with a budget plan, I end up saying forget it. but different things for different people. there are some good templates online ive found from just doing some google searches. 

[Anonymous]

Great question! Id love to see more of this in the personal finance section here. I know there are other places online for it, but i like myfico and learn so much here. Im interested to see more responses.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Great question! Id love to see more of this in the personal finance section here. I know there are other places online for it, but i like myfico and learn so much here. Im interested to see more responses.

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Thanks!

i know it's something that would have thousands of hits if you google it but I feel budgeting is sort of like productivity solutions. There are so many experts that will tell you how to spend your money or time but so many try and fail because the rules don't fit them and how they operate. Many bounce from one method to another or find a hybrid system that's works for them. Since people on My FICO obviously care about their credit or scores it seems like a great place to get "in the trenches" reports about the methods they had success with. 

[thelethargicage]

Get "You Need A Budget". Best $60 I ever spent!