Budget Categories

[boombatty]

I am trying to come up with a budget, and wondering what main categories do people normally use? I know that it should be different for everyone depending on their spending and tracking etc, but I want to have as little categories to track as possible, and cannot come up with small number of solid categories, so was wondering how everyone categorizes their budgets to get some ideas...

 

Thanks!

[mudnuri]

I am trying to come up with a budget, and wondering what main categories do people normally use? I know that it should be different for everyone depending on their spending and tracking etc, but I want to have as little categories to track as possible, and cannot come up with small number of solid categories, so was wondering how everyone categorizes their budgets to get some ideas...

 

Thanks!

 

 

If you want the smallest amount to track, your budgets not going to be very helpful to you

 

I have

 

Rent

power

dsl

cable (which we dont have during summer)

heating oil

gas

registration/insurance/maintance

groceries

orthodontist

FSA

bdays

christmas

school stuff (field trips, picture days etc)

major purchase - right now thats the account for a down payment on a car next year

savings 1- emergency savings

savings 2- long term

dunkin donuts- yup thats in there, 50 a pay period

clothes

entertainment

 

etc

etc

 

Brandy

[Guest Bree82]

All I have is

 

Rent

Utilities

Car Insurance

Car payment

Gas (Auto)

Groceries

Debt Repayment

Misc (this all stays in the checking account - its gifts, going out, entertainment, etc)

Emergency Savings Fund

 

Once all our debt is paid off in about 4 months that catagory will change to Long Term Savings

Edited July 6, 2008 by Bree82

[Avengerki]

I would tell you but I have around 100 categories I use. Mostly because I want to break everything down to understand where I spend and don't need to. What I did was took the basic categories and then added one for each bill I get and also for each income source.

 

It is all in an excel spreadsheet I got off the internet and have very heavily modified. The thing is now about 3 megs.

Major ones are

Home Expenses:

Mortgage/Rent

Electricity

Gas/Oil

Water

Cable/Phone/Internet

Garbage

Sewer/Surface Water Management

Association

Improvements

Furnishings/Appliances

Lawn/Garden

Home Supplies

Maintenance

 

Daily Living:

Groceries

Personal Supplies

Clothing

Cleaning Services

Dining/Eating Out

Dry Cleaning

Salon/Barber

Liqour

Cigarettes

Soda

Work Lunches

 

Obligations:

Credit card 1-9

Loan 1-9

[Daddy]

All I have is

 

Rent

Utilities

Car Insurance

Car payment

Gas (Auto)

Groceries

Debt Repayment

Misc (this all stays in the checking account - its gifts, going out, entertainment, etc)

Emergency Savings Fund

 

Once all our debt is paid off in about 4 months that catagory will change to Long Term Savings

 

Once you buy a home like you are looking at doing, I think you will have about 20 categories. LOL

[mudnuri]

Once you buy a home like you are looking at doing, I think you will have about 20 categories. LOL

 

I don't own a house, and have more than 20.....I just hate the "misc" category....... you never know exactly whats going where

 

Brandy

[Guest Bree82]

All I have is

 

Rent

Utilities

Car Insurance

Car payment

Gas (Auto)

Groceries

Debt Repayment

Misc (this all stays in the checking account - its gifts, going out, entertainment, etc)

Emergency Savings Fund

 

Once all our debt is paid off in about 4 months that catagory will change to Long Term Savings

 

Once you buy a home like you are looking at doing, I think you will have about 20 categories. LOL

 

Nope. Im simple minded. I will have - Mortgage (inc everything) instead of Rent. Having a ton of catagories confuses me.

[Jen23514]

I found the best way is to download your spending from your bank and cc's and put it into an excel sheet (or Quicken)

 

build your categories from there.

 

this also helps you be realistic about your spending and instead of a budget being a "wish list", it's a real working model of your spending. I recommend 3 months of downloads.

Edited July 10, 2008 by Jen23514