Budgeting for dummies

Reddit could help you in this case, but I can't remember the name of the thread. You can always google for it though.

 

I have also created a bill board at home. We have a white board and have all of our bills listed, as we pay them, we mark them off the board and it is a bit of a rewarding experience. It has helped us keep track of things much better.

 

I don't know of any books because I just always did this on my own... I agree that budgeting to save is very important and I hope you'll find a way to save that will work for you.

A lot of people may think they can't do this, but I had a talk with myself "back then" and made some decisions. I'll share what mine were with you... you surely have some of your own as well.

1. Cable. Absolutely 100% true story that the TV was being used to watch a cooking show a couple of times a week and as entertainment for the cat. Yeah, I'm not proud of the fact that we were paying $70 a month for a few cooking shows and pet entertainment, but at least I dropped the cable when I realized. Even if anyone in the family *had* watched it, we could have all watched things online for free and probably would have made the same decision.

2. This was a big eye-opener for me. I have a camera to take pictures/videos and a desktop, laptop, *and* tablet for the Internet. A smartphone became a silly luxury with a monthly bill attached when I didn't need it for camera or Internet. This added to the cable bill savings was more than $100 a month for the savings account. I bought a TracFone that costs $110 a YEAR for a lot of minutes. (I don't use the phone heavily anyhow.)

I have some friends who experimented with this at the same time and all had good results. One was paying for an extra ISP just for a large capacity mailbox. One cut cigarette smoking in half to save half the money at first, but then eventually gave up up completely (talk about huge savings there!)

 

You are right , it all depends on your bills and how much you make, it is up to an individual to know what they need and what they do not need, it will also depend on your monthly shopping for the house, you just have to budget it yourself.

 

It is funny how budgeting can be so hard for some people, and come completely naturally and easy for others. I am on the latter half of that, and unfortunately for my credit card, my girlfriend is on the other side. She absolutely sucks at budgeting. I die a little bit inside each time we go to the mall.

 

Hmm...since I had few rough years, here is my advice:
1. First write down what you regularly spend on, bills and all else. If you aren't sure spend a month or two writing down every expense to see where you waste more than you absolutely have to.
2. After that, write down the money you usually get.
Now, look at all of it, and see on what things you can make small compromises. Those can mean a lot in a long run. There are the usual things like drinking water at restaurant instead of juice. That didn't work for me since at the time I could barely afford restaurants. Also, my advice is cable would be easy to cut if you guys happen to have computers and internet. You can join one of those sites with small membership where you can watch things, and you can always connect the computer to bigger screen. If you are anyway paying for internet, I don't think cable is necessary.
3. Start savings. A dollar here and there might not be a lot, but it will be something after a while. Emergency cash is very important and can save you a lot of headaches. I think the tip for "I don't have any spare money for savings" was to always gather the coins/change you receive and put it in a jar, and eventually exchange it for bills when you get enough.
4. Start reading on investment- don't just look into salvaging your situation, make it great.
5. Reading- read some things on frugal living, I'm sure that would help. Zen Habits blog has some great articles on saving money and on getting rid of debt if you have such.
As for books, I keep seeing the same book recommended a lot. I haven't yet read it, but I have heard so much about it, I can't wait to read it. Dave Ramsey- The total Money Makeover. Give it a try.

 

I'd say forget books and do some digging to find what's up on the net. Forums like this one are really useful for tips on money management. That way you have up to date information with you always. Books go out of date quickly except for more evergreen content, but that advice is basic common knowledge for most people.

 

I've been noticing this more and more lately... about the common knowledge "advice." I started seeing it when suddenly everyone and their great aunt Matilda can self-publish a "book"... now that's great if it's new or good advice.

But I've seen things like (I don't buy them, I download a Kindle sample first) "don't eat out so much" and "buy generic food" in money saving books, "start early" in retirement books, and "drink more water" and "eat fewer calories" in health books. We didn't all know those things already?! Problem is that too many people can't or don't check out the samples and end up giving money to these "authors."

Amazon reviews are quite helpful, too... remember to check if it's an "Amazon Verified Purchase" though... often it's padded with friends and family or paid reviews at first.

 

Whatever you do, KEEP TRACK OF YOUR SPENDING. I use an app on my phone, but you can use excel or whatever. It's a lot easier to know how much you spend on things and see if you can reduce or cut spending somewhere.