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im just starting this.
how many do you have? what catagories do you have? how much do you determine how much goes in? you to constantly have to tweak the envelopes and the amounts???
help me oh so knowledgeable ones!
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Maybe beofre you start enveloping, monitor and record your spending, so you know where all the money is going, then make categories and a limit for each category.If you dont know how much you are spending then how can you limit yourself? maybe you keep the limit too high or too low?
I think category wise each family is unique, but I would sayt he general,Mortgage, Credit Cards, Utilitys, Grocery, Car Fuel, Car Payment, Insurance, Call Phone/Home phone, Eating out, Gifts, Entertainment, Gas/Home heating Oil,
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i guess what i dont get is that you take the cash out of your checking to put in an envelope to pay a utility bill then put the cash back so i can write a check? this is the part im missing..................
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All my bills come out on the 15th. They get written then. Then I have envelopes for the following
Spending Money $150
Groceries $300
Bj's - 150 (diapers, wipes, meat)
Household $30
Pizza $50
These are the items that I spend cash on. I'm still tweeking the whole system.
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We have 8, I think.
Groceries/Toiletries
Eating Out
Entertainment
Diapers
Clothing (we plan to save this money month to month to be able to get new clothes as needs arise)
Gifts (Bdays, Anniversaries, save ahead for Christmas)
HairCuts
Blow Money (Miscellaneous) Ramsey recommends this b/c there will always be a time that you aren't going to keep within your budget so you might as well "budget" for it
I would recommend that you start with envelopes even if you don't know how much to keep in each one. For one thing when you use cash you will spend less in general. But you will find that you will keep tweeking your budget on a regular basis.
All of our regular bills (mortgage, utilities etc) stay in the checking account. But basically everything else is CASH! Does that help.
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Originally Posted by crazykelly
i guess what i dont get is that you take the cash out of your checking to put in an envelope to pay a utility bill then put the cash back so i can write a check? this is the part im missing..................
This is what we do. I get paid monthly. DH gets paid every week. DH paychecks get cashed and put in the envelopes. We set up our bills to be paid at the end of the month/beginning of the month. We have no bills that are due in the middle of the month.
So, when i get my paycheck, i go through my bills and figure out how much it is total. Let's say it comes to $1200. So, i put $1200 in checking and the rest i get in cash to put in the envelopes. None of my envelopes are bills. I have: fun, gifts, groceries/supplies, gas, clothes, and misc. expenes (like hair cuts, oil changes, new tires, etc.)
HTH! And Good Luck!
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What I do is all in the bank, I use Excel and great envelopes/categories in there are set a limit and deduct when I pay something online. I do my banking online, so this way it is easier, I use the debit card all the time and deduct the amount used from the corresponding category.
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My envelopes are based on the budget. All of the bills that get paid online doesn't go into an envelope. That is basically the only money that stays in my checking account. I too didn't like taking all the money out just to put some back for bills. Too many trips to the bank for me!
We have divided into very specific envelopes and done our budget accordingly. (i.e. Groceries, Eating Out, Entertainment, Hair cuts, Clothing, Car Repairs, Personal $, Gifts, etc.) I just keep a note on the outside of the envelope what amount goes in each. Each month I take out the right amount of cash, put it in the envelopes, and that is what we use day to day.
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Where do you keep your envelopes? Have they ever been lost or stolen, or are you afraid that might happen?
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I use my debit card ALL the time, however, I am thinking about using an envelope for grocery money and one for the "other" stuff. It's so hard at walmart because there are so many things in there and I find that I put stuff under grocery catagory because I'm in walmart but I want to purchase BASIC groceries not like fruit snack etc. So I'm trying to decide what foods I consider groceries and what I would consider "extra's" that would come out of our "extra" money. Sorry if this sounds complicated I don't mean for it to.