I'm 71 retired & don't have to yet....but...I'm starting to budget by choice! I looked at what I was getting monthly in retirement &
looked at what I was spending...No more!! Going out to eat etc.DUMB....I could save quite a bit by budgeting.Anyone else see where they spend foolishly??
Jim

My wife and I decided several years back to try making a written budget at the beginning of each month and staying with it. We did this for several months, and it turned out for us that we were already doing precisely the same thing without going to the trouble of writing it down in advance, so we decided it was a waste of time tp persue it any further.

It is a good thing to do.

I don't exactly budget, but I live within my means. Being retired, and having no debt of any kind, my income is reasonably well above what my needs are. That's how we have been able to pay cash for auto's, and take trips to Europe. The 1st key is "No Debt". Save regularly any income above what your needs are, don't keep it in your checking account, transfer it into some kind of investment or at least a passbook savings account. I can do it on my computer, transfer money from checking to savings. Carry enough cash for a normal weeks personal needs, and don't ever carry your checkbook. If you use a credit card, don't ever charge more than you can pay in full when the statement comes. Watch the pennies and the dollars take care of themselves.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I cant afford to splurge on much these days. Im an original photos collector and havent bought since last year.

Good advise given so far and spending less than what you make is key.
Several years ago I took a Dave Ramsey course at a local Church. Class was free except for books. We didn't learn budgeting much in school and I didn't know much about keeping one. I tried Dave's method and it worked out fine but in later years I've modified it to my own needs yet loosely follow his still.
It helped get me out of debt and put some money away in savings for emergencies. I highly recommend his class and the price is right too. He also has a radio show that's good to listen to.
I also found a financial advisor through his network that has helped me very much and a life insurance company that would cover a cigar smoker.

Budget . . . . . that ain't no fun.

I figure if I get ODed, the bank will let me know soon enough.

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Georgia On My Mind

I'll be 71 in 6 weeks. when Miss Pam and I got married in 1972 we thought it would be wise to budget. For over a year we worked on it. We had a few memorable (at least to her) arguments over it it just wasn't working for us. We finally just gave it up. As it turned out that's just not the way we roll. We haven't had an argument over money in over 42 years.

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Real men love cats!

I spent about 20 years spending more than I earned thanks in large part to a wife and kids. I finally got to a point where I am earning more than I need, and have made a huge dent in that history but it will take another four to maybe five years or so until I have paid off the years of excess spending.

My luxuries are simple; alcohol and meat.

I guess I try to, but it almost never works. I usually try to leave myself only $200 per paycheck to spend on stuff besides any types of payments I make. I put the rest in my savings that I don't use. Most often I overspend a bit though. I spend on a whole bunch of miscellaneous stuff, which isnt necessarily good, but given my age I am quite happy with what I have saved.

The key for us and I think for anyone is to have no debt. If I remember it correctly it was Ben Franklin who said "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."

Without debt life becomes much simpler. Good luck.

Why in the world would I want to do that? If I ever realized the amount of money I was pissing away, I I'd have to stop

Really, I've always tried to stay within a reasonable budget. Always paid my bills, first. Set money away for a "rainy day", then put money away to let me enjoy my retirement, and finally my play money. 98% of us need to determine what a livable budget is, and stick to it. Not always an easy or fun thing to do, but unless ya want to work until the day you die it has to be done.

P.s. I've noticed that I was spending lost of unnecessary $$ on small impulse items. I.e run to the grocery for milk and bread and return with an extra $20.00 or so worth of items I really did not need.

Budget? Budget? I don't need no stinking budget! I ain't got enough money to budget anyhow!

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Quando omni flunkus moritati.

Looking at your budget honestly will shock anyone:
Electricity$ 175 winter-$350 summer.
Water/sewer $140.
Cell service $162/mo (never had that one growing up).
Cable $202 this month I'm sure they'll delete another channel and raise it $5 a mo next mo. (a pox on the "Bright House"). Another "new" bill.
House taxes/ insurance currently about $300/mo.
Food $600-$800/ mo not counting eating out and that's never fast food.
Car expenses 2012 impala 2010 Silverado gas, insurance (no tires/ repairs) $300 mo.
Paid off the house so that's $971/ mo less but we're still around about $2K/mo.
I'm working till they cover me with dirt. And I'm not complaining because I need the structure and I have literally P'd away a couple fortunes in my youth. Life is good, expensive but good. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

I wouldn't call what I use a 'budget' but I have a spreadsheet where I list all my income and expenses based on the day they are due. Using that I can monitor my bank account to make sure I don't overdraft. It covers the year so I can see if I'm going to come up short like during the summer months when my wife doesn't work.

We never had to worry about money much, we both had good jobs. Enter our adopted son and a few years later was forced to retire on disability. I won't go into details, but lets say that we 'lost control' of our spending. We had a LOT of problems that cost big money.

I managed to stop the hemorrhage when we hit bottom but NOW we are on a budget that essentially consists of not spending anything we don't have to. And it's working, slowly. I told my son that if he continues to do well maybe we could get a used car by his birthday if things went ok. I'm writing this from a rental property that our insurance company sent us to after our kitchen fire messed up the house. I don't consider that to be 'things going well'.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

We have two checking accounts that are on Quicken. My account is dallied with on the third Wednesday of each month. Social security and pension income is entered. All monthly bills entered and I know I have $42.34 to spend over the next 4 weeks.

My wife's account is dallied with every 2 weeks when she receives her paycheck. Credit card payments are made, other bills paid and she has her money until next paycheck.

Every week day morning starts with Quicken, bank log-in and fresh coffee. Daily banking is done before the coffee cup is empty. Using this technique, we have more money than ever before in our lives. We do some dedicated early savings for life's upsets: property tax, new tires, new water heater. Her car needed new premium tires and 4-wheel alignment that cost $35 more than we saved -- no big deal.

Our tenth anniversary is in December and life is good. We write 5 to 6 checks a month, charge everything else, pay all credit card balances every month. We don't have a paper budget document, but we know our account balances daily. We have requested the lowest minimum credit limit possible on 3 credit cards, but don't even use 1/4 of that.

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S&WHF 366

He who fails to plan, plans to fail. The written budget is the key to financial peace.

If you're not doing a written budget, you should. Live off the budget, not the account balance.

Anyone who has not seen this, should take a look: Financial Peace University - daveramsey.com

I was over $25K in debt (not counting the house) and it looked like no relief in sight. Then I went through Financial Peace University and it made a huge difference. I'm now debt free except for the house. I have an emergency fund, I'm saving for the kid's college, I have my retirement going fine, I'm working on paying off the house and I'm insured for any catastrophe. Even better, I have money for my gun hobby. Life is good when you know, not guess, KNOW, where every dollar is going.

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Freedom isn't free.

I have a budget of sorts. I take all my money on the first of the month sit it up in piles. I draw a big circle and a smaller circle. I sit down on the floor; pick up the money throw it into the air. What falls in the big circle the first of the month bills get paid. The money that falls in the smaller circle the bills in mid month get paid. The money that stays up in the air goes into savings.

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Carpriver.

when I and mama were "in the game" we lived frugally and saved more than we spent. we both attained higher education, put our two kids through college and never missed the frills..........

now we have what we want, when we want..........I keep track of income and expenses on a "cash flow" spread sheet projected out for the next year...

too many in society today.... buy every new trinket that hits the market place. ....easy credit and abundant social programs cloud good judgment ....

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There's nowt so queer as folk

Since retirement, I've pretty much taken over the household budget reporting from the wife, much to her amusement. End of every month we have an accounting review, and every month there's a few bucks unaccounted for. Some months it's to the good and some months it not so much to the good.

Pretty much income minus expenses vs the checking account delta; review of the credit card charges; savings accounts and investment performances. Upcoming stuff (property taxes due, vacation expenses, birthdays, etc.) Often makes for some interesting discussions.

I'm finding that the periodic review of just where the dollars are flying off to (and coming from) does somewhat bring us back to reality.

Bill, that is exactly what the banks and government want. Keep most just above abject poverty and in need of assistance. Keep those who are able to support themselves loaded down with long term debt and you have them under control.

Congratulations to anyone who can keep a woman on a budget.

My budget was great until I recently acquired a cute girlfriend with a shoe habit.

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Release the Kraken

Reference this book: I posted this review on Amazon quite a while ago. It still applies:

I bought my copy circa 19XX at age XX and shared it with my wife. Even though we were already instinctively thinking along these lines this book impressed us greatly. It's title became something of a household quip and we found ourselves frequently dipping into it and finding something applicable to the rat race. It became so dog-eared that we had it custom bound as a family treasure. Its wisdom has seen us into a early, modest, and satisfactory retirement.
Lots of products claim that they will change your life. This one does...

Spent most of my money on women, booze, and fun.

The rest I pissed away.

You laugh, but this is the main reason the US is in such trouble.

Because people don't save and don't budget, they spend every dollar they earn and many they don't earn. This is why 80% of the country is in debt over their head.

I hear all the time, "Before I wrote a budget down, I felt like I had plenty of money. Now I don't seem to have as much." This feeling comes because they are spending more than they are earning. They don't know where their money is going so, it seems like they have more than they need. Giving every dollar a name and telling it where to go seems constraining at first. Once you realize how it's helping you, it's more freeing.

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Freedom isn't free.

I have no budget, never had. However, I have always put effort into not paying more than I need to for things. I've saved far more money in that effort than playing budget games with myself.

If you have money in savings, you are the exception. There are plenty of people who don't do a written budget and are able to save. Unfortunately, for everyone like you, there are a million who can't operate this way. This leads to buying on credit and lots of debt.

I applaud you on having a debt free life. I wish more would do the same.

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Freedom isn't free.

This is the key. Earning interest works out much better than paying interest. My wife and I have always been quite frugal. We have everything we want, and it's paid for.

Today, we're working to add to our retirement funds, and also building a cushion to live on between retirement age and when we actually plan to retire. When we get comfortable with the size of this cushion, we ain't goin' to work no more!

Fred, you are exactly correct.

what is annoying to me is the higher taxes I am forced to pay to fund the governments social programs that benefit the shiftless and foreign countries with their outstretched hands...............

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There's nowt so queer as folk

I have been a on budget since I was a little boy if I can't afford it I don't buy it until I can afford it.

And when it comes to the few debts I take my limited income divide it into pieces and I use each individual piece to pay on one of my debts.

Most people don't know the difference between money that is spent and money that has been converted. The idea that I'm secure by putting money I've earned (and niether spent nor converted)into a savings account is believing in the fantasy that banks are safe. They aren't. The cost of keeping earnings in a savings account is outrageous.
The "fools" who put their money in the market 10 years ago are the wealthy today.
Money is just like an employee: if it isn't working, it isn't worth it.

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Halfway and one more step

My financial planner says I can retire at age 127. Hmmm

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It's Alive !!

Yeah my financial planner says HE can retire at 55, if I keep working. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

Right or wrong, my financial planner is me. Money is a very important thing in which to become educated.

My wife tried to budget once, it didn't work out, it didn't leave her enough money to spend.

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Don

I read somewhere once that an average person has less than $17,000 put away for retirement. I started saving for retirement when I was 35, heavily. We now spend less/month than we make in SS and investments, and I'm not a financial genius. We never had brand new cars, or the latest gadget, or took extravagant vacations, but we lived well, and we still do.
It just takes a commitment to live within your means. That's something that a lot of people can't seem to make.

From Shakespeare's Hamlet, Polonius' advice to his son, Laertes:

... See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man...

SCENE III. A room in Polonius' house.

I don't have to budget, my wife has the second dollar I ever made!

Forsooth!

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Halfway and one more step

Periodically over the years I would account for all daily expenses in my Daytimer. In my working days I found I would spend roughly $50./day on incidentals: food, beer, entertainment, etc. In January of this year I decided to do the same and did so through April. Was more than a bit surprised as I spent $1200-$1400./month..and that is just 'walking around' money...not mortgage, utilities, and the like.

This month I have not tracked my cash outflow as I would likely jump off a bridge! I have a good bit of travel with hotels, air fares, game tix, and more. Plus, I am picking up a new car in Kentucky.

That said, I am very fortunate that I benefit from perhaps the greatest retirement system in the history of man and am well situated...literally forever. (Don't try to sign up for it. System was terminated in 1983 and only those in the system at that time were 'grandfathered.') Combine that with my $8./month Social Security benefit and I am solvent. Not a typo; $8./month from Social Security; was $4. Probably costs them that much to process.

I am a lucky guy...but that is tempered by the fact I worked for it and have no regrets...apologies, either.

Be safe.

My dad told me one time that if you don't have the money in your pocket, you don't need what you're looking at. That particular item in question escapes me now but the point is/well taken.

The second part of the advice was that IF you had the money in your pocket, wait a couple of days and see if you think you still need it. After all, his thinking went, you didn't have one your whole life before this minute, why do you think you have to have it now?

My dad was a first generation American from eastern Europe ancestry and grew up during the depression. He was frugal and that is being generous but he knew tough times.

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... a little behind in my work