need advice on planning a budget

[happy_wife_&_mama]

I've pretty much figured out how to plan a budget, but now I'm confused on how to split up $$$ throughout the month. With my particular situation, a BIG portion of our bills are due at the beginning of the month. And then with dh's 2nd check of the month we pay whatever comes in then, but it is always a smaller amount then is due at the beginning of the month. So what is better to do?

Should I take a total months worth of money spent (like last months for example)and divide it in two? And then with this half amount save what we need from the second check so that we have that extra money that we need when the first of the month bills come around? The way that is is happening right now, dh's first paycheck is not covering everything needed at the beginning of the month. And with his second paycheck we have a surplus. Because the mortgage is our biggest payment, I was making sure to have half of it saved from the 2nd check so that it's easier on the 1st. I'm just not sure if I should do this with all our bills? Or just the mortgage?

The second thing I need advice on is what to do about utilities. I want to be at the point where 99% or our spending is planned for. and this includes utilities. So what should I do? Should I take a 12 month average and put that in the utilities account every paycheck? I want to do an envelope system but on keep it on paper for the bills since we do free online bill paying. Or do you find it easier to just pay the whole thing when it comes no matter what the amount and then plan the budget after all bills are paid instead of putting half of the expected amount every paycheck? (if you get paid 2x's a month)

Ugh! So many things to consider!!! : But I want to have a good plan before hand so that I can be sure that it will work for us.

[rachelmarie]

Dh gets paid every week so I subtract 1/4 of each expense from every check. I've been doing things this way for awhile now and I really like how it works. It definitely makes it easier to pay bills. The only variable bills are electricity and gas. However, I can make a good guess as to what those bills are going to be based on the weather as well as how much of each we used at the same time last year. The water bill is always the same.

Our gas and electric companies have budget billing plans where they average it out for you and you pay the same every month. You might want to call and check on that if you are interested in having the exact same bill every month.

HTH

[normajean]

Depending on what your bills are, its better to make smaller frequent payments. For instance, interest on credit cards is compounded daily. So, if you pay 4 payments a month instead of 1, that reduces the overall interest you pay.

Most utility companies will give you an equal pay plan, averaging what you spent last year, and you pay the same bill each month all year. However, I find that with the exception of September & May (when I have a reprieve from heating/cooling costs) it works out to be close to the same all year around.

My DH gets paid every 2 weeks. It gets direct deposited into our account. I set the bills up to pay 5 days before they are due (automatic bill pay), so they will be mailed to get there in time. Then I keep enough $ in the checking account to cover the bills to be paid, and transfer to savings the rest. I do a lot of transferring back & forth, but I don't have an interest bearing checking account, so I prefer to have it in savings until I have to pay that bill, even if I only make a nickel, heck its a nickel!

It only takes a few minutes to look at my online banking screen and see how much money I've spent in a month on any given category, so I can keep track of how much $ is left in my grocery budget for the month.

If you are sticking to your budget the second half of the month, that extra will still be in your account at the first of the month when you need it. You could also try to do the bulk of your "consumable" shopping at the second part of the month-groceries, clothing, household supplies. And you could do the envelope system with that, and still the leftover money would still be in your account waiting for you when the bills come due.

[happy_wife_&_mama]

thanks! maybe I will look into cutting down bills in half to make things easier on us. Now I just need to figure out how much to put aside for all our expenses like clothing, personal care products, home maintenence etc. So much thinking has to be done! :