For the past six weeks, I have been giving myself a biweekly budget. Several days before I get paid, I gather up all of the financial obligations that I will have come out of that paycheck: bills, groceries, gas, etc. and I create my budget around that. It helps me not only to see where my money will be going but also is helpful to look back at previous budgets and see where I am spending my money. Overall, it's been working pretty well.
Each budget period, I have managed to stay within my budget. I do take into account surprise expenses that either I have forgotten about or that just come up unexpectedly. Only then can I take money out of my savings as I am trying to accrue my savings into something not quite so sad. When that has happened and it's only been once so far, the next budget will include a "savings" line item and I will return that money to where I borrowed it from. It works for me.
My biggest issue is dividing up my money within the budget. Having a few budgets under my belt will help me with that. Some weeks I give myself $150 for gas and I only spend $50. Or I will give myself $75 for entertainment and I spend $120. Overspending in one of my line items does not really bother me as long as I am staying under the grand total and so far that has been the case. For my next budget, which I will work on this coming week, I will look back at the previous ones and get a better sense of how to disburse my money this time. I think that will work.
Either way, it's going well so far and I am proud of myself for finally sticking to some kind of financial goal! I'm not saving for retirement because, let's face it, I will never be in a position to retire but it's nice to really focus in building something for when I need it.
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