Mothering › Forums › Natural Family Living › The Mindful Home › Frugality & Finances › Budgeting Setup...am I thinking about this the wrong way?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Budgeting Setup...am I thinking about this the wrong way?

post #1 of 2
Thread Starter 
After reading the post about excel budget spreadsheets, it occurred to me that maybe I'm visualizing my budget incorrectly. (and man, do I have spreadsheets!)

We get a big deposit at the beginning of the month. Then dh gets paid weekly (very weather reliant, so never know how much it will be) and I get paid whenever I manage to do work (anywhere from $200-$600/mo).

When I do our budget, I've been entering all our bills as they come in. So I have our expenses calculated. Gas and food are variable, but not by much.

I determine our income by including the big deposit (it pays for rent), and all the money from the previous month. We're always about $300 short. Gives me a heart attack, but we always manage to make it work. Mostly because dh gets paid weekly, so we dip into that for gas and groceries, I guess. We are not using credit cards, and rarely use the debit card.

(Is this even making sense??)

I guess I've been using last month's income to pay this month's bills instead of using this month's income to pay this month's bills. So maybe things aren't as dire as I thought?




.








































































.






8
post #2 of 2
We always use last month's income to pay this month's bills. We set up our system that way. it is much more secure to pay April's rent with March's paycheck, or July's phone bill with early June's paycheck. I like knowing that I have all the bills covered a month in advance.
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Frugality & Finances
Mothering › Forums › Natural Family Living › The Mindful Home › Frugality & Finances › Budgeting Setup...am I thinking about this the wrong way?