Share how you track your spending

[Trixie007]

Sorry, browser froze and posted twice!

[spearmint]

Thanks. I will go and read all about it.

[eddiep]

Crap, I have a lot of work to do! We have never had a budget before, we had credit cards! This is something that is completely new to me and I'll be honest, I am struggling. I have been beating myself up because we just can not stick to it. But I think it is because our budget was just too tight. But I was able to reduce one of my fixed expenses so this should help alot.

This weekend we decided that we were going to give my son $50 a month and that he is going to have to figure out how he wants to spend it (video rentals, skiing, snacks,) He has been trying so hard to work with us but he needs to be on a budget if I am going to stick to mine. When we were really struggling he asked for absolutely nothing, now that we are starting to get back on our feet I feel like he is asking for too much. It has been difficult to strike a balance with him. And this is where my budget falls apart every month.

[Flowers]

I am trying to figure out how much of a % one spends on certain things.
Anyone have a clue?

how much on mortgage
how much on food
how much on gas
entertainment like movies
anyone have any suggestions?

[HHM]

Mortgage: the rules say 31% or less of gross monthly income, but realistically, that number should be less than 28%, and "ideally", less than 25%. A mortgage, after all is a liability, not an asset. You should be devoting as much money as possible to retirement (preferably into instruments that yeild tax free income at retirement age).
The era of buying your dream home and living off of social security are over, you need to make a bit of a sacrifice when it comes to housing to insure your not destitute come retirement.
Food: this number is too variable as it depends on family size, which is unrelated to income. The USDA puts out an interesting report on food cost and what a family of "x" size "should" spend. http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodCost-Home.htm
Gas: again, too variable as it depends on family size, age of kids, and location.
Entertainment: $100-$200, but again, family size plays a role.

[CurtInKS]

I keep it pretty simple. I have envelopes, an excel spreadsheet on my laptop and my best tool my bank's website and online bill pay. I don't have time to over complicate my budgeting. I want something that works for me, and I can take care of quickly, and this system works for me. I keep all my input and output on the spreadsheet, track credits and debits online, use the envelopes for things like gas, groceries, extra curricular, etc.

[Confused33]

There is a website called http://www.mint.com that is pretty neat. My brother in law uses it and I would like to, but they don't support my credit union.

[reb512]

I use a program calld money manager ex to track my expenses and to track my savings and checking account. It's a really great program for my needs. I'm still learning how to really utilize it's features.