Need help keeping track of finances

[Mama~Love]

We are almost to the breaking point. I don't want to share the details of our finances, but just want some general ideas on how to keep track of it all. We have 2 checking accounts, and we are paid every 2 weeks. My income varies with each paycheck (I'm paid by the piece & not hourly). DH's is the same all the time. If something unexpected comes up, we are in serious trouble.

So, how do you keep track of everything? On paper, the computer, both??

Any help would be appreciated!

[tara]

We use Quicken on the computer. This works well for us because I'm the type to write everything down and my partner is the type to stuff his wallet with receipts (so this way we each do our thing but then enter it all into the computer regularly). With a program like Quicken (we've used MS Money, too, and they seem pretty much the same?) you can have stuff that doesn't change (like your DH's income, and like fixed bills) update automatically. You can have many different accounts and if you're diligent about how you enter things (choosing categories for your spending) you can print out reports that show where your money goes. And, reconciling is a snap.

[skueppers]

I've been using Quicken for 10 years, and it's fantastic. If you input all your expected future bills, along with an estimate of how much you'll spend on groceries and the like, it can even forecast how much money you'll have in your account in the future, which I find very useful.

It's also very handy in giving you the answers to questions like, "how much did I spend on groceries last month?" Or "how did my income and expenses match up each month over the last year?"

[TzippityDoulah]

we use the standard cash method. well, okay we TRY to but sometimes it's goes bad... but mostly...

we have a budget on paper and transfer any savings (usually none) to our savings account. then we leave the money we need to pay bills in the checking account. we take out the remainding cash to use thru out the week (or two weeks for us) as grocery money, personal needs, clothes, and the occasional fast food (I know shameful, but sometimes you get stuck out with no food and two hungry kids!)

I divide the money up into allotments... this much for groceries, this much for clothes, this much for hygienic items not bought at the grocery, and this much for the occasional splurge at a resteraunt or whatever.

if I don't do this I end up overspending by accident and bouncing a check or not having enough to pay a bill.

[Ione]

I've just started using Ace Money and am quite pleased with it. I started with the free version (Ace Money Lite) but quickly decided it more than fit our needs and went to the full version so I could have more than one "account" in the software.

[angel04345]

If I may. I use a paper and pencil method. I add up all the bills including grocerys and gas lights phone internet cable rent and car ins then I divide by four weeks thats how much we need each week to pay all those bills. Then I take that money and pay whats due that week and the money left carries over to the next week until the last week when rent is paid then we start over. Any money left is what we have for fun or clothes. Sometimes the electric isn't what I budgeted so I have an extra twenty bucks which as you all know is a lot to a momma who never splurges on ANYTHING!!! (My husband however is quite the spendy spendy! )

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

We use a basic spread sheet program. We write down everything we spend under "bills", "groceries", "gas" and "everything else" We have a monthly total that it can't go over. If we do go over for something it carries into the next month. We also take a little off the top of each budget to put into savings for unexpected things, car and house mantinence ect. If there is any left in the savings at the end of the year we put it in an RRSP.

You said your paycheck varies and your partners is stable. I would plan a budget around his paycheck plus the lowest you can expect yours to be. Any extra from yours can be put in savings for unexpected things or long term savings.

I find it's better to start with how much money you have when planing a budget and then figure out what you can afford than to start with how much you need to spend and try to strech your money there. If you know you have $X it's easier to say no to the things you don't realy need.

[Benji'sMom]

The way we did our budget was to keep track of everything we spent for 2 months (all receipts). Then we made a regular spreadsheet with all the regular monthly bills listed individually, and other catagories for "gasoline", "eating out", and other things that vary monthly. So now we keep enough money in the checking account to pay the regular monthly bills (like the phone, electricity, etc). Everything else we keep seperate amounts of cash for each catagory. And however much we were spending those first two months, we made sure to lower that amount somehow in our budget (like if we had spent $400 on groceries a month, we budgetted only $300 from now on, and all we have is $300 to spend and it's cash so we CAN'T go over. That's a hypothetical example.) It helps us both out if we can actually SEE the money. Whenever we just used the checking account for eveything, it was always overdrawn b/c it was impossible to keep track of. And now I'm in the same situation as you, DH's income is steady and I get paid per project, so we are cutting back even more, but the cash system really helps b/c like I said it's easier when we can see the money. It works so well that I'm really not worried about the fluctuating income all that much. I'm confident that we can make it work.