Envelope system of budgeting- questions

[doinbetternow]

used vehicles

Used vehicles are the only way to go. Let someone else take the huge deprectiation punch when they drive it off the lot. plenty of clean used vehicles, many still under warranty out there. Let the Jones' take that punch.

[13inOR]

I agree on the used car, we bought a 2005 with only 16K on it in 2/06 and saved easily 8-10k and it still has a 100K warranty! Thats what you call savings.

[mike9302]

Minnie your statement above is basically the teachings of Dave Ramsey. But I bought a new vehicle once and wont do it again because of how much the value drops after just 1 year. I have now a Nissan Frontier that is 2001 with 88,000 miles on it. I have never had a problem with it and will only buy used in the future.

[JeepMom]

Dh used to get the supplier pricing, it's below employee pricing. We would have been in great shape had we not been upside down on our trade.

I'm spoiled and my vehicle shows. I like a new vehicle that is new to me. I like the security of a warranty until after it's paid off.

[uwishtoo]

fake money

Those of you that use this method, how do you do it. Do you literally have envelopes and get your paycheck in cash and divvy it up? I use MS MOney to balance and keep up with my checking and savings account. I have thought of making it look like I have written and spent the amounts budgeted for each category and then going back and changing the info when I actually need to spend the money. I worry about having all that cash on hand, especially when some things we do infrequently, like auto repairs( nock on wood) and pers property taxes.

I would like to know more, especially from those of you that use the envelope system and also use Money or Quicken to keep up with everything.

Yes, I do that with all of my bills. But I actually have Money Orders made out and then I make them to myself and leave them at home - but when I had a checking account I used to deduct the money from my balance and that way it was saved back

[Minnymouth]

Lots of people during the bankrutpcy process use the envelope system if they want to keep track of their expenses without using a checking account....

Me, I use a "household" checking account....... I take all my bills and make a note of the highest one of each bill for the year. Total all of your bills up and I add 5% to the total of all these for emergencies. I take this total and divide it by 12 months. This tells me how much money I have to deposit in the checking account each month to make sure all bills are paid..... Anything left in the checking account each month starts adding up as excess for emergencies in the future....

By the way, always us a interest bearing checking account.

I only write checks out of the household account for bills only.........nothing else....... NEVER...... (unless emergency - repairs, etc.) Not for everyday use.....

Then I have another checking account for everyday purchases like groceries, gas, cigs, meals out...... often I just use cash for these......

Bills are paid first, then have a automatic savings withdrawl monthly, and the excess goes into my "other checking account"......

At the end of each day, I throw all my change back in a jar...... (have done this for YEARS)...... and for many years I have done my Christmas shopping with my change............ It's amazing how fast change adds up..... Also its there for a quick emergency for lunch money, etc......

Trial and error will tell you what "works" for you when it comes to budgeting..... just be deligent about it and stick too it....

[CurtInKS]

My wife and I have set up our post BK budget. It's pretty simple, but it'll be a lot of work. We are currently putting out $1,000 a month on the debts that we are filing on. What we plan to do with that money is put $350 a month of it our vehicle payment, $350 on our mortgage, and the last $300.00 into savings. That will pay our car off in 19 months, and our house in 33. It'll also get us around $10k in savings at that point.

[CindyLou]

We have implemented a very similar plan as minnie's except that we had to include our gas, groceries, and prescriptions in the "bills" account. We call it our NECESSITIES only account. Everything else comes out of another checking account. And it there's no money in it then thats that..no extras if not money in the "extras" account. If its an emergency it comes out of savings. No exception on what we use the necesssities account for!!

[JRScott]

I use a simple envelope system.

I only have really 2 envelopes myself. One is for Food/Grocery expenses and one is for Gas/Oil/Car Expenses.

Each time I deposit my check I take out in cash the amount that is suppose to go into these two. (For me it is 35 dollars each a week....which is probably unrealistic for many of you but I'm single) I get paid every 2 weeks, so I take out 140 dollars from the check in cash and put into the envelopes, 70 into food, 70 into car.

Now as you might imagine some weeks I spend less than 35 in gas and more in food, or vice versa. Very simple. I make a conscious choice to move some of the money from one envelope to the other.

I have found the system very useful in cutting down the food budget. I find I buy less frills and get to the meat and potatos of what I need. That's not to say I don't get the occasional thing of ice cream or other treat, it just means I look hard and fast at the purchases and give a thought whether I actually need it or not.

I've been doing this now for about 2 months, I've had no problems with having enough to eat or gas in the car. I do run low on funds before the next check comes in though and have spent it all the day before the next check but that's fine as it gets replenished the next day.

Now I don't really do much coupons however you can use coupons and put them in the food envelope too. The important thing about a coupon is to ask yourself would I buy this if I didn't have the coupon. If the answer is no, then its probably not a necessity, and the coupon is just enticing you to buy something you'd normally do without. So I would only get coupons for items I know I would purchase anyway, that way you avoid the traps. Oftentimes you can find a non brand or store brand comparable item that is cheaper than the coupon item even with the coupon discount.

When I shop I almost always buy the store brand or no brand items if one is available. They typically are cheaper and taste virtually the same to me in many cases.

As for my other bills I write checks for the utilities and lot rent so I don't actually get cash for them, I just leave that money in the bank with the note on paper for what it is for and then write the necessary checks as needed.

Good luck