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2014 Budgeting?

November 22nd, 2013 at 07:32 pm

I usually do my budget 3-4 months at a time. I am thinking about doing the whole year. So I can see what's coming up and not forget anything. Anyone plan the whole year? Is it better to keep it 3-4 months a time?

Posted in Budgeting | 8 Comments »

8 Responses to “2014 Budgeting?”

  1. Nebraska girl Says:
    November 22nd, 2013 at 07:47 pm 1385149629
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    I'd do the whole year, but be open to adjustments if necessary.

    I plan to figure expenses for the whole year, but my income fluctuates quite a bit.

  2. MonkeyMama Says:
    November 22nd, 2013 at 08:13 pm 1385151211
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    We budget annually - I think it makes more sense and is easier to stick with (less surprises). In addition, we don't beat oursleves up about monthly obstacles. IF we have a bad month, then we still have the rest of the year to make it up.

  3. snafu Says:
    November 22nd, 2013 at 08:45 pm 1385153125
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    We make a spending plan for the year but call it financial goal setting. We do it mostly because we seem to have some home update/upgrade or big ticket item that will cost major sums. We attempt to make it mesh with our five year investment plan for retirement and taxable portfolios.

    it's been very helpful to give us something to work towards like keep utilities within 4% of last year; it identifies that some years utilities gouge [electric/water/gas. I've been less successful with auto operations and maintenance. I often work out of my home office and at certain times of the year work out of the country which makes mileage so erratic.

  4. Kiki Says:
    November 22nd, 2013 at 09:26 pm 1385155580
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    I budget for the entire year so that I can save each month for those yearly expenses (car insurance, house insurance, new glasses, contacts, etc.). It allows me to track what I have saved and where I stand as a balance and shows me a picture for the entire year. My excel spreadsheet shows me and entire year, at one glance. I can go back to 2002 for any information on the additional sheets.

  5. HouseHopeful Says:
    November 23rd, 2013 at 03:23 pm 1385220219
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    I do look at the year as a whole, but what I do is create a monthly budget that includes monthly contributions to sinking funds that will be used for those periodic and expected expenses. This includes holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, routine car maintenance, expected travel, new glasses, house maintenance, ect. The monthly budget can be adjusted each month as needed without leaving those irregular goals unfunded.

  6. Buendia Says:
    November 24th, 2013 at 01:51 am 1385257914
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    I do the whole year because some expenses only come around once a year... that way I can divide the yearly expenses by 12 and budget them into the month. That monthly amount just rolls over to the next month. Basically exactly how HouseHopeful does it! We have things like summer camp or my daughter's bday party that I fund monthly but only come around in the summer.

  7. rob62521 Says:
    November 24th, 2013 at 07:00 pm 1385319619
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    We try to do ours annually, but it isn't written in stone. We call it goals.

  8. ceejay74 Says:
    November 25th, 2013 at 12:32 am 1385339558
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    What a coincidence, I'm just starting an annual budget, after years of having a monthly budget that I would forecast out two or three months at a time!

    I always did "escrow" or I guess sinking funds where I put aside a little each month for annual expenses. It was tough to add the amounts into the escrow line and delete those items as they came up. In looking for ways to simplify, I realized I can afford to pay annual expenses when they come up; I'll just have more to put toward debt/savings on months when I don't have a big one-time expense, and less to put toward it in months that I do.

    I made a 13-sheet Excel file; each sheet is a month's expected budget, and the 13th sheet shows total expenditures on each category for the year so I can make sure my budget is close to the 50/30/20 ratio that many experts recommend. I'll paste each month's budget into my "future checkbook" Excel file as they come up, so I can track in more detail and make sure everything balances.

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