What do you budget for?

[CrunchyDoula]

So I am trying to sit down and write a comprehensive budget, but I feel like I'm leaving things out. Would you mind taking a look and seeing what you think and if there is anything else you would possibly add?

MONTHLY Bills-
Rent (Includes Water)
Car Insurance
Xcel (Gas and Electricity)
Comcast (Cable, Internet, Home Phone)
State Farm (Renters Insurance)
Verizon (Family Plan)
CC's
Website Hosting
My Gym
Gym
Groceries
Gas


YEARLY Bills (Need to split up to save for monthly)

Car Maintenence
Oil Changes
Tires
Maintenece

Dog Shots/ER visits

Clothing for all 4 of us

Vacation
Camping

Savings

Entertainment
Children's Museum Pass
Aquarium Pass
Zoo Pass
State Park Pass


What else would you add? TIA!!

[SNRPMom]

Removed

[BetsyS]

We budget with a large number of categories. I am sure that most (normal) people combine the categories. This works for us at this time, though.
Oh, and some of the categories have very small budgeted amounts. We have to save up for a long time in some of them to get something good. LOL

Entertainment (blockbuster, food at a street fair, tickets to something)
Cash money (our money to blow on whatever we want)
Haircuts
Gifts (from valentine's day cards to easter baskets to a birthday gift here or there)
Books/magazines
Household money (we use this for the new mop, gardening stuff in the spring, all the way up to a new hot water heater)
Eating out (could go in entertainment or groceries; ours is separate)

edited to add: we have a flexible spending account that pays for all our medical copays and deductible. Without that, we'd need a separate category for medical. OTC drugs get lumped in with groceries for us.

[Kidsndog]

My husband is a project manager, which makes him EXTREMELY detail-oriented. He took a week to come up with all the catagories for our budget. It's definitely not for everyone to be this detailed, but it makes him happy so I humour him. We have four kids and a dog so here's our budget catagories:

Memberships
Costco
Gym
Nursing
OACETT
PMI
CFAA
Library fines and fees

Subscriptions
Toronto Star
Lotto 6/49
Magazines

Home Office
Computers, mice, router, etc.
Printer paper & cartridges
Tax Software
Web domains & Business Registration
Web subscriptions, blogs, etc
Photos & Reproduction
Postage & Delivery

Banking
TD Mortgage
TD Secured Line of Credit
TD Line of Credit
Chequing Account Fees

Utilities & Taxes
Cell Phone
IP Home Phone (B2B2C)
DSL Internet (B2B2C)
Rogers Cable TV & PVR
Toronto Hydro
Toronto Water
Enbridge - Gas & HWT Rental
Property Taxes

Auto & Transit
Fines & tickets
Fuel (lawn mower)
Lease
Maintenance,Wipers,Antifreeze
Tires: Buy snow tires; Rotation
Parking
Registration & Permits
TTC

2008
Category Description
Pets
Dog food
Dog treats & toys
Boarding
Medical - Routine
Medical - Emergency
Medical - Misc ointments; Shampoo
Clothes, towels, leads, collars
Bed & Crate

Savings Plans
RESP Contributions
RRSP HB Plan Repayment
RRSP Contribution

Medical
Over-the-counter medicine
Dental fees not covered
Drug fees not covered
Dr. N's registration fee

Insurance
Car Insurance
Home Insurance
Life Insurance

Kid's Activities & Equipment
Karate (Alex)
Nursery School (Nate)
Swimming
Soccer (Nate)
Ballet/Dance (Elizabeth)
Skating
Summer Break Activities
Winter Break Activities
March Break Activities

Y&G Entertainment & Activities
Date Night
Misc Spending Money
Baby Sitting

Family Activities
Metro Zoo Membership & Parking
Science Centre Membership & Parking
Museum Membership & Parking
Centre Island & Parking
Harbourfront Centre & Parking
Shows & Events

Food
Groceries
Fast Food
Snacks
Wine

2008
Category Description
Household
Cleaning Supplies
Paper towels, toilet paper
Detergent, Fabric Softener
Home Maintenance
Home Improvement

Personal Care - Kids
Diapers and pull-ups
Wipes & Diaper creams
Shampoos & Conditioners
Bath Wash & Soaps
Moisturizers & Hand Lotion
Hair cuts

Personal Care - Y & G
Shampoos & Conditioners
Bath Wash & Soaps
Moisturizers & Hand Lotion
Makeup, Razors, etc.
Hair cuts

Clothing & Shoes
Kid's clothes
Kid's shoes
Y's clothes
Y's shoes
G's clothes
G's shoes

Donations & Gifts
Church Donations
Charitable Donations
Christmas gifts - Kids
Christmas gifts - Parents
Christmas gifts - Friends & Relatives
Birthday Parties & Gifts - Kids
Birthday gifts - Parents
Birthday gifts - Friends & Relatives
School party gifts & snacks
Toys - Misc throughout year

Miscellaneous
Misc. Other Items

[SeekingJoy]

I see medical for your pet, but not you. Co-pays? Insurance?

[MommytoTwo]

We dont really budget that specifically. We take out for savings, investment, set aside money for certain things that come due - car insurance, life insurance. But things like haircuts and copays for dr visits - that all comes out of our weekly alloted spending amount, which includes groceries and gas.

[aratiaw]

DH and I are currently writing a household budget for the first time in ten years of marriage (I've attempted to before, but this is the first time it's been a cooperative effort). DH has very advanced excel skills and has been a huge help setting up the file. It's incomplete, but here's what we have so far:
Household:
Insurance - Home Contents
Rent
Electricity
Telephone & internet bundle
Telephone - Mobile 1
Food & groceries:
Alcohol
Groceries
Lunches (DH)
Miscellaneous Financial:
Savings
Accountant (Tax Return)
Personal:
Insurance - Health
Tithes
Chemist - DH's meds
Chemist - my vitamins
Clothes & shoes (for all of us)
Dentist
Medical - DH's specialist
Medical - GP, pathology, scripts etc.
Donations - ministry 1
Donations - ministry 2
Make-up/Toiletries
Transport:
Car 1 Service
Registration - Car 1
Insurance - Car 1
Car 2 Service
Car Loan
Registration - Car 2
Insurance - Car 2
Petrol
Public Transport
Discretionary:
Hobbies - sewing etc.

We also need to fill in amounts for gifts, entertainment, eating out, children's activities, wedding anniversary, saving for furniture replacement, large & small appliance replacement, household furnishings, kitchenware, car replacement, car batteries, car tyres, driver's licences. I would like to put a bit more into superannuation, but I don't see where it's going to come from!

[phathui5]

I would add in some spending money for both you and dh. Here we get $20 a week.

[Sharlla]

monthly bills

electric
water/trash
cell phone
cable/internet
storage
karate
car insurance

other

gasoline
food/household/pet food

The rest of the money gets spent as needed where needed

[CandyApple]

I see car maintenence, but what about license fees? (ours are due this month)
Gifts, Christmas and Regular
Gardening - we always spend more than is allotted in the weekly budget for May and June

[dsaucone]

Our budget is very simple.


BUDGET

Rent
Electric
Gas
Internet
Phone
TOTAL ULILITIES: $965

Food
Gas
Insurance
TOTALS: $655

Donovan
Stephanie
Mia
ALLOWANCE TOTALS: $175


Student Loan
DEBT TOTALS: $50

The way it works is that utilities, insurance, and student loan come out of the checking account, along with our disocver payment. The gas and 1/2 the groccery money gets charged to the discover card. The allowances get taken out in cash, along with the other 1/2 of the food money. Once we get this budget down and our washer/dryer paid off from the lowes (no interest no payments) card we'll be taking $50 a month for a date night.

Anything that doesn't get taken out goes into a savings at the end of the month. Just one big savings, no seperate accounts. If there is something that doesn't fit into a category we decide together if we get it or not, where to get the money from, and if it's worth taking money out of savings for it.

[SAHDS]

Ours is a simple monthly budget:

Mortgage (w/ property tax and home insurance included)
Gas (cars)
Insurance (cars)
Union Dues (DH)
Electric
Gas (home)
Water
Garbage
Phone (home)
Phone (cells)
Cable
Internet
Gym (DH and I)
Gym (DD and DS)
Food (dog's included)
Alarm (house)
Haircuts (DH and DS)

Everything else is Miscellaneous (entertainment, gifts, eating out)

It's not very specific and doesn't include things that happen a few times a year or so (Doctor, Dentist, Ortho, vacation, renewing memberships to the aquarium and both zoos, etc.), but we don't budget much. We used to when money was tight, though.