ᐅ How do you keep track of your household budget? Paper-based, software, or an app?
Created on: 31 Mar 2015 15:08
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starnight
Hello everyone,
I’m new here, although I’ve been reading occasionally for a while.
My husband and I are planning to buy a house within the next 1-2 years. We have equity saved, and we are currently putting aside a certain amount each month while still living comfortably. So right now, it seems quite feasible. However, we are actively planning a family at the moment... which means that eventually one income will be lost (fortunately the significantly lower one) and additional expenses will arise.
Now we would at least like to get a clear picture of our current monthly expenses. This would help us roughly estimate whether, with one income, there would still be enough left for mortgage payments, especially with an additional family member to support.
So my question is: how do you keep track of your household budget? Paper? Software? App? Online? What experiences have you had with the different methods?
Maybe your insights can save me from unnecessary trial and error.
Thanks in advance for your answers,
starnight
I’m new here, although I’ve been reading occasionally for a while.
My husband and I are planning to buy a house within the next 1-2 years. We have equity saved, and we are currently putting aside a certain amount each month while still living comfortably. So right now, it seems quite feasible. However, we are actively planning a family at the moment... which means that eventually one income will be lost (fortunately the significantly lower one) and additional expenses will arise.
Now we would at least like to get a clear picture of our current monthly expenses. This would help us roughly estimate whether, with one income, there would still be enough left for mortgage payments, especially with an additional family member to support.
So my question is: how do you keep track of your household budget? Paper? Software? App? Online? What experiences have you had with the different methods?
Maybe your insights can save me from unnecessary trial and error.
Thanks in advance for your answers,
starnight
A household budget book is mainly kept to record daily expenses in euros over a longer period, especially for household-related spending where no receipts or only small slips are available. The question often arises: where did my money go when looking into the wallet?
For monthly or yearly obligations, a household budget book is not necessary; a simple annual overview on a sheet of paper, created in about an hour, is sufficient... Is it actually a guy thing to make things more complicated than they need to be?
For monthly or yearly obligations, a household budget book is not necessary; a simple annual overview on a sheet of paper, created in about an hour, is sufficient... Is it actually a guy thing to make things more complicated than they need to be?
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derstefanm31 Mar 2015 23:42There is free software for the PC called koraccou**. You can give it a try. I find it great and it’s faster than on a smartphone.
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Bieber08151 Apr 2015 10:07ypg schrieb:
For monthly or yearly liabilities, you don’t need a household budget; a yearly overview on a single sheet of paper, which can be prepared in an hour, is sufficient. In my household budget, the "daily" expenses are combined with the regular obligations. Additionally, there are various "one-time expenses"/purchases. Only this combined presentation of all items gives me the overview I want.
bortel schrieb:
Additionally, I find it helpful to pay for all purchases by card, it makes things much easier for me. We do that quite a bit as well. Most banks even offer an export function for statements in Excel. If you’re somewhat proficient with Excel, it’s relatively easy to filter out the relevant amounts.