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by herge
3819 days ago
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When I was a young single man, I had an effective way to track my personal finances. At the start of the month, I'd calculate how much money I had left over after fixed expenses (rent, internet, etc) and whatever savings I wanted for that week. I'd then divide that by 4, and 4 times a month, I'd withdraw that amount in cash from my account, and use that for discretionary spending like going out, groceries, etc. That way, I could tell myself by just looking in my wallet: "OK, I went out for drinks twice already this week, I have 40$ left, I'll keep it easy until Monday." |
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So at the start of the week, I take out a lump withdrawal of spending money for the week, and then each day $40 gets divided into the following packets: Me ($10), Wife ($10), Kid1 ($5), Kid2 ($5), General ($10). Me and my wife don't have to justify what we spend our personal packets on, we can use or save it as we wish. However, we make our purchases from what we've accumulated in our packets. The kids money is earmarked for expenses dealing with them individually (diapers, wet wipes, allergen free food, etc). General is for things like gas or other items that apply to multiple people.
It's caused me to be a lot more conscious of what I'm spending money on. I won't frivolously spend the money earmarked for others, and for me it's kind of a game to see how much of my $10 I can save each day. So far the 6 month old is doing the best at saving, he just accumulates his $5/day most of the time - passive income for the win :).
Note: This only deals with "spending money". Our bills are treated as fixed monthly costs. However, it does include things like groceries, household items, eating out, gas, etc.
Since we started this about a month ago, we are for the first time in about 3 years actively saving, which for a single income family in a fairly high cost of living area (Juneau, Alaska), has been a wonderful change.