Sunday, January 4, 2009

Do you have a budget?

Do you have a household budget? Our budget is my plan (similar to a roadmap) of how we intend to spend our money. I am amazed at the number of people who do not have budgets or any idea how much they spend in specific categories. Unless you have an endless supply of money, I believe budgets are essential to reach financial goals.


Below is a sample list of the categories that I have included in our budget for 2009:

401(k) contribution

Medical and dental insurance

Mortgage (includes taxes and ins.)

Food (Groceries and Eating Out)

Electric

Water

Sewer

Cable/Internet

Telephone

Life Insurance

Car insurance

Gasoline

Gifts

Christmas

Vacations/Traveling

Clothing

Copay/Prescriptions

Haircuts

Aiden’s 529 College Savings Plan

Mike spending money

Sara spending money

Golf Membership (Mike)

Car Maintenance/Repair

Vehicle Maintenance/Repair

Charitable giving

I challenge each of my readers to make 2009 the year that you take responsibility for your finances and start living within your means. If you'd like help setting up a budget, please let me know.

3 comments:

Staci said...

he he he you know we have No budget... :P Our $$ goes where it needs to right out of the pay check and the rest gets spent in numerous random ways.... Jason may have a budget, but I am unaware of it:) But, I am unaware of all things financial in our house!

Anonymous said...

Ours is very similar to this too. Tom's a spender and I'm a hoarder of the money....

Cameron said...

Yes, we have a budget...very similar to yours too. We both are pretty good at watching what we spend. The great part is we just eliminated all debt (a big undertaking) (except one car and mortgage) and so we have not experienced a month with those savings since it was so recent. But, I am hoping to pocket that extra money into the savings and pretend it is still going towards our original debt. Then I can dump it into Cameron's college savings account and other places too! Thanks for sharing your budget!