Quote From: tray00Every month, I write down all my pay periods and the amount it will be (estimate, but usually pretty close)
Then under each amount I write down what I need to pay and the amount.
I even write down the amount I allow myself for spending money.
If their is anything left over I just write left over and the amount.
When the pay day comes I go to my computer and I pay everything I was suppose to and then I go to the bank and take out my spending money. When the spending money is gone I don't allow myself to go and get more. But I do have money in the bank for such things as milk bread ect.
The trick is to do this the day you get paid. IF I go ahead and take money out before I pay my bills, I end up messing up and spending too much and then I don't have enough left for the bills.
I also bring a caculator when I get groceries and I try to stick to the amount of money I decided on. I bring the caculator because if I dont' I get scared and dont' spend enough...LOL
I also contribute a very small amount to an RRSP, it comes out of my account automatically and I have no choice but to make sure the money is in my account. Also a couple of my house bills come out automatically, which is nice because I am never behind in those bills.
Great idea!! I used to use this too and did really well with it but found it very time consuming. When you have this system down, you might try the next one I did. I have my paychecks deposited directly into savings. I have a budget. I pay myself once a month - the rest stays in savings. I also have all of my standard bills set up on automatic payment. I automatically save and keeping track of finances is simplified.
