Comments on: The Anti-Budget, Budget

By: J. Money

J. Money — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:35:58 +0000

YUP! It’s hard to “pay yourself first” when your expenses overshadow your income.

By: Mikhaila

Mikhaila — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 04:28:15 +0000

I’m a huge fan of automated finances, but there’s a right and wrong way to do it, which is exactly what you’re describing here. You do have to monitor your spending for a month or two to see how much you can afford to put away and then still live comfortably while paying down debt and putting away money for your goals. If it’s a matter of trimming your entertainment or restaurant budget so your savings can continue as planned, then you’re doing just fine. If it’s a problem for you to eat and pay rent, then you need to adjust your savings expectations (or your living situation if there’s room to improve there).

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:00:41 +0000

@Neo – Nice! Glad it’s working for you so well :) 30% is no joke either (And the 70%!), helluva good rate my man, keep killin’ it!
@JG Larvan – Yeah, that part blows.. if it’s every now and then it’s not *as* bad, but when it’s every month it makes you wanna punch yourself in the face ;) hopefully you don’t have to do much of that! haha…

By: JG Larvan

JG Larvan — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:55:49 +0000

I kinda do both. I have a savings account where every month, a certain amount is automatically transferred from my salary account. And then from there, I track where my expenses go. So that whatever’s left, of the salary, I know where it’s going and if I have to withdraw from my savings, I know why and which one to adjust in the next month. Although I agree with you when I have to withdraw from my savings account, I usually feel soo bad because I wasn’t able to stay on budget.

By: Neo

Neo — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:53:38 +0000

I am totally onboard with the anti budget concept! My approach is pretty simple; I save 30% of my after tax income every paycheck and at least 70% of every bonus or side hustle income. Everything else I spend on living expenses and whatever I else I want in this world that I can pay cash for. That’s the budget, end of story. Some months I will spend 25 or 30% on dining out and 40% and expenses and “other”‘ but who cares, I just saved 30% of my income by paying myself first. Saving 30% is huge and that’s all I need to know about my budget. I am not keeping any track of how the 70% of my paycheck is spent because it simply doesn’t matter.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:02:14 +0000

@SmartAssetTeam - Oh, most DEF adaptable! Whether you have a lot, or a lot of nothing, you always have to adapt and tweak cuz life is all about movement! It never stops changing, so we gotta go with it :) @iwantmyhdbflat - Yeah it is! And I've heard nothing but awesome things about YNAB too, so glad it's working for ya! (I've never tried it personally, butI want to one day) @Yazmin - Oh yeah, a lot harder. I actually created whole separate bank accounts under my company name to "pay me" like a regular paycheck as if I were working, haha... so I get the same amt every month whether I hit the goals or not (when I go over my goals, the money sits in there to make up for the months I don't. So far it's been working, but if it starts drying up I'll have to change methods fast. Fingers cross it doesn't! :)) @Christa - YUP!!! We're very much like :) Glad your normal budget is working! @Jen - Wowwwww, impressive! And once the rates get back to normal (unless we're in the NEW normal?) then those will just climb back up again! Nice find :)

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:33:35 +0000

@Jen – There you go! I have nooooo idea how you get 2.65% interest either? Scwab account? Do you live in the U.S.?

I live in one of the flyover states :) and I bank with a Credit Union. When I joined, it was 4%. I’ll still take 2.65% interest, when CDs are touting .9% interest as “competitive”.

By: Christa

Christa — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:37:58 +0000

I had the same problem in right after college. I wanted to save a certain amount of money each month, but I certainly wasn’t budgeting for it. I transferred the money automatically and then always had to dip into savings to pay the bills. I do much better on a budget system than the anti-budget.

By: Yazmin

Yazmin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:45:49 +0000

The first thing I do when I get my paycheck is put away my tax money. Then I save a certain percent each. For the rest of my money, I use the envelop budgeting method where I mentally put aside money for bills. The rest is discretionary money. As a freelancer, I think it’s harder to budget as there’s always an influx of money coming in.

By: iwantmyhdbflat

iwantmyhdbflat — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:27:49 +0000

I am in debt so i budget aggressively! First, i track my expenses using YNAB (it has been 3 months). After the first month, I sorta figure out how much I need per month, which includes rent and a mandatory 10% into my emergency fund. Then I dump everything else into debt payment. If my plan goes well, I will be debt free by next May, and once I get rid of debt I will start saving for a house!
I love knowing how each and every dollar works for me… budgeting is addictive! :D