In the past I did have a monthly budget and I stuck to I wrote out of of my
month bills and expenses and subtracted it from my pay. I would then put
everything back into savings. Now I make enough to where I don't feel like I need
to budget even though I know that it will be very helpful .I track most of my
expenses through mobile banking. I shows me very purchase that was made and
how much I spent. That I know when it's time to slow down on the spending. The
app is very helpful and I'm always able to keep track of my funds no matter
where I am at.I chose I high tax withholding throughout the year so at the end of
the year I'm not having to come out of pocket and pay back I even get a small
return some years. I would rather stick to that rather than having to owe. I have
not had any experience actually creating or sticking to a monthly budget. I still get
my bills paid on time, but I have to admit it would be much easier to have a
budget set. I currently keep track of what and when bills need to be paid through
a mental note. I did at one time for a very short period of time decided to track
my spending . I stopped doing this because it seemed a bit ridiculous at times
because I would literally write down everything, I spent that day. Sometimes this
meant writing down things like spending 2.00 on a drink. It also required me to
save receipts which is one of my pet peeves unless I know I will absolutely need
it. The strategies I have learned so far this week is to create a spreadsheet that list
all my monthly expenses, and my income per month. I will also need to track my
spending. This will help me see how much money I have left over after all my
monthly expenses are paid. This being in writing for me will help me to stick to
budget instead of spending so freely. I have to admit I feel that I spend too much
money going out to eat. If I have a budget set and stick to it I could of had so
much more money saved. As for the tax withheld , I need as much of my money
throughout the year rather than at the end of the year so if I usually claim 3
dependents instead of 0. With claiming 0 too much money is deducted that I could
use now, also this way I can have some money that I can put away for savings.
The amount of tax withheld can make a big difference in our monthly income. This
class has really opened my eyes to see that I really need to stick to saving a
certain amount each month. It upsets that all the money I have thrown away on
unnecessary things in the past could have accumulated to an amount that could
have well covered me for at least 6 months if needed. From here on foward I plan
to focus more on saving. Over the past couple years I have called myself making
a budget. I purchased budge planners and sheets to help me keep track of my
spending and monthly bills. I was not consistent in tracking and my budget did not
include my past debt. I would say my experience hasn't been the best because of
my own doing. I tend to lose track when I over spend and then i think well I
messed up and will begin again next month but that next month can turn into 3
months of not being aware of my spending and budget. I find myself looking back
thinking where all my money went. In the past I have tracked my expenses to
identify any changes in my balance. I would make a list of things due and estimate
how much I would have left. Sometimes more and sometimes I had less after
paying bills and getting necessities. That is because every now and then I would
do some excessive shopping without checking if I had enough or if spending this
much will hurt me in the future. I will continue to apply those methods as well as
the new strategies I have learned this week. I will begin to use the budget
calculator and track my expenses to see where my money is going and where I
can make some changes to save more and change the variable. For the first half
of the year I file exempt so that I will have less taken out of my check which
gives me more for current bills and expenses. The next half of the year I withhold
at a higher amount so that I will qualify for a tax return and not owe so much at
the end of the year. During my first marriage, we bought a house and immediately
realized we need to create a thorough budget to help us manage our spending and
make sure we had enough to cover all of the bills as well as attempting to save
money to fix up the house. We stuck to it for years, but a divorce will definitely
set you back financially, especially if you are not prepared for it. I currently use a
rough budget to make sure the fixed expenses are covered along with enough for
necessities, but I am eager to sit down and really set up a sheet for tracking
expenses and get a solid budget put together so we can begin working toward our
life goals.I have tracked expenses, again with my first husband, and while it was
very tedious, it was extremely helpful to see where your spending habits are. We
used a few different budgeting programs that would also show reports and graphs
so you can get a better visual representation of where your money is going. My
husband's hours tend to fluctuate, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting
everything, so it is difficult to know for sure what amount will be withheld for
taxes each pay period. At this point, I work off of a very strict, tight budget just
to make sure we have as much as possible in the bank to cover what we need for
the next few months. I have had positive experiences creating a personal budget. It
allowed me to see where my money was going and how I could cut corners and
save money. It also allowed me to see what money I would have extra for
spending or savings.Yes I've tracked my expenses to see if anything has changed.
My method was I make a list. I list type of bills and how much they cost. And
then I subtract it from how much I make and then I would go over what was left
to see if there was less then there should be at the end of the month. I crunch
my numbers to make sure I stay within my budget and can make sure I pay all
my important bills before I spend on anything else.Tax withholding can affect my
budget at the end of the year because if too little has been taken out at the end
of the month I could be left owing money. And if i'm not prepared for that at the
end of the year it could leave me in the negative and tight on money. If too much
is taken out it could leave me short on money and unable to pay my bills. That's
why I only claim my son on my W-2 forms so I'm not left owing money at the
end of the year. Over the past 10 years (appropriately) I have made a budget and
try to stick close to the budget. I have my excel spreadsheets with every bill and
all income on it. I put in all receipts and balance twice a month. This has allowed
me to save some money before I became disabled. We have had to use all of our
savings and now are left with very little extra after the bills each month. I am
going to get our savings back on track with the help of the tools in this class. I
think the biggest variances is my husbands random spending. He had no clue how
to manage money and so that is one major setback to our budget and savings. Our
tax withholding is always the same as we do not want to pay a lump sum at the
end of the year. We always take out a little extra each payday and always claim
0 on our with holdings. This means we bring home a little less per payday but
saves us in the long term of having to come up with extra at the end of the year.
Over the past couple years, I’ve tried to use a budget. It’s not worked for me yet.
I’ve always been the type of person to buy what I want. The actual process of
creating the budget wasn’t hard per say but sticking to it isn’t a strong point of
mine. I’ve tried tracking my expenses and identifying my variances. However, when
you are a spontaneous buyer its hard. The closest I come to tracking my expenses
and variances is on my monthly utilities. I’ve never been a “saver” and this is
really hard for me. I know I need to save but at the same time I know that I
can’t take the money with me when I’m gone. This week and even last week have
shown me that I could be saving a lot of money for more meaningful things. I
think I will try again to set a budget and stick to it this time. When it comes to
tax withholdings and financial goals, there isn’t much we can do. We just have to
be prepared to adjust the difference to our budget. If we don’t prepare for the
changes it can create a shortcoming for our weekly, monthly, or even yearly plans.
I have put myself on a budget before and surprisingly, I was worth it. I am a big
coffee drinker, and I would always go to Starbucks in the mornings before work to
pick up a coffee. I realized that I was spending way too much money and gaining
weight from all that delicious coffee. I told myself enough was enough. I bought
myself a coffee maker and started drinking my coffee at home. Sure it isn't the
same and it doesn't taste the same, but I did catch myself saving a lot of money
by doing that.To be honest, the only way I keep track of my expenses is by
saving all my receipts and looking at my account on a weekly basis to see how
much I've spent on that week.I know that tax withholding is too much for me. I
feel that with the amount that that gets taken away from every paycheck I can do
a car payment with that. For me, tax withholding doesn't really affect my budget
or spendings thankfully. But I know that with that extra money I can do more
with. I know at then end of each month when my husband and I sit down to
reconcile our checking accounts and go over our receipt and allocate each receipt
to the category of spending we have set up, our budget tends to look different than
reality. We set up our budget as a road map and then we have to vary from that
for various reasons but we definitely try and stick to it as best as possible. We
have a spread sheet made up that has the money that comes in, the money that
goes out and then off to the side we have columns that has categories for where
our money is spent. Whether it is groceries, monthly bills, clothes, entertainment or
our animal expenses. This is helpful for the breakdown of where our money goes,
it helps us make our money work for us, instead of us working for our money.
As for our tax withholding it is important to start off with the correct tax
withholding and stick to it throughout the year so you know what is going to be
withheld and so you know the net amount that is going to be in your paycheck.
This way you will also know if the right amount is being held or if you need to
set money aside so at the end of the year your can pay taxes. I have started using
a personal budget a little bit more now since I'm in the market for buying a house.
I've dibbled and dabbled with budgeting in the past, especially when it came to
wanting to purchase something of value for myself or for my son. Honestly this
time is a little more stringent because I see that in order for me to reach the goal
I want for myself and my future family then it's a lot of things that have to be
cut out and something's I'm putting on the back burner until I satisfy this financial
goal. As far as keeping track of my spending, I know I need to and I think that
would help out a lot more if I did. I do keep track on any debits that come out
of my checking account, but I know it's more to tracking my expenses than just
glancing at my account every 2 or 3 days. I think the biggest strategy that I have
learned this week has to deal with building a personal budget. I feel that is
something my fiance' and I can get into together to help build towards our home
purchasing goal and it's also a good method to teach to our son's. I have found
out that tax withholding definitely has an affect on your budgeting and financial
goals by how much or how little taxes are coming out. I know when I used to
work a lot of overtime I would have to find that median where I would work
enough hours so that I would see the affect and not let taxes take everything. My
withholding has an effect on how much I'm able to put aside each month for a
rainy day fund or emergency backup, especially if I want to keep the amount
uniform month by month. I have budgeted in the past and currently budget each
month. By budgeting, I do it a little differently which makes things a lot more
complicated than it needs to be. Prior to getting my paychecks, I will sit down and
write down all the bills I have to pay between the upcoming check and the next
and then at the bottom I write down what I will have left to pay towards credit
debt or anything else. I don’t keep track of my spending and I feel like that is
one of my biggest problems. I also don’t create a specific budget for different areas
in my life like my coffee drinking habit. I do feel like if I had a budget to follow
for that I would do a lot better with money. I have not tracked expenses to
identify variances, but I do plan on implementing doing so with my upcoming
paycheck. I have learned how to successfully create a budget this week and I am
excited to see how I do now that I know how to do it correctly. Your withholding
can affect your budget or financial goals by how much or how little taxes are
taken out each pay period. In my household, it's my husband that "brings home the
bacon" as far as finances go. However, I am the person in the house that plans
and budgets everything and in a way along with my responsibilities of raising my
children, it is just as important. When I budget, I go look at the bills and when
they are do and then I get my planner which has a full sized calendar in it and I
write down the bills we need to pay on Fridays which are my husbands pay days.
It can be hard sometimes because my husband never has the same weekly hours so
I never know how much his paycheck will be but we do the best that we can and
it generally works out. Sometimes there are variances in his paycheck that force me
to re-budget the weekly bills but generally what I've planned for the week usually
works. I track expenses all of the time but I also feel there is a huge variance in
what I plan to spend and what I actually spend. I am very visual so I write stuff
down all the time. However when you have as many kids as I do, they tend to
need and want things and that budget I have generally changes. I need to get better
at not spending wastefully but it happens sometimes. The only method I use is
writing expenses I know that I will end up spending on but I already know when
I write them that I will probably go over budget. I've learned that I need to spend
my money more wisely. I need to stop blowing it on extra things that I don't need.
I need to make a budget and stick to it the best that I can, and I also want to
start saving up some more money in case of emergencies. Tax withholding can
definitely mess with budgeting particularly in situations like mine when the income
is never one set amount. The more you make, the more they take and you will
never know the set amount that they will take so it's hard to plan for it.
