On the whole, my budgeting sucks, simple as that, but I still have some sort of method to follow.
To start with, I have a spreadsheet that I put all my numbers into for tracking, and I keep it up to date almost daily. In this age of technology, it’s super easy to do with my phone. I can access my bank, credit cards, Paypal, Venmo, etc. so that I can keep tabs on any new transactions. Then I also have access to my spreadsheet through my phone, so it’s just as easy to bounce between the apps.
Each bill or monthly charge is tracked as a line item, and I keep track of each of their relative due dates next to them. Those are the first two columns, and I freeze them in place for scrolling for the next part. The rest of the columns have the Pay Dates for the year and the anticipated amount earned on that check. Then I go through each bill and add the amount due for each pay check that will be closest in date before the bill is due. Everything gets calculated at the bottom, and I have line items for Food/Groceries, Gas, and Savings. Those last three are more fluid because there will be weeks I don’t need to drive as much, or I have extra grocery money because I didn’t need to spend extra on something like bulk laundry detergent. This is where I say my budgeting sucks. Because I don’t do a good job with having the extra money that I don’t ultimately put into savings. I take out cash for the food and gas to try and limit myself, but I will sometimes go over or find myself in a situation where I need to pay for something that I can’t use cash for, so it ends up on the credit card (because the bank account would overdraw otherwise.)
There you go. My brief budget rundown.
The Dragon's Grove 