Real Life Budgeting – Mindi and Preston An “Average” American Budget?

Is Your Budget Drifting?

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Posted by Jonathan on Jul 19, 2009 in Staying On A Budget

Get your budget back on track

Growing up, my family would periodically road-trip to Oceanside, CA. I still remember how strange it was to run out into the water and play for only a few minutes, look back towards my towel , and realize how far along the coast I’d drifted.

Photo by: TheWanderingAngel

Photo by: TheWanderingAngel

Because we’re human, our monthly budgets can tend to “drift” over a few weeks.

At the beginning of the month your budget may be a shining example of accuracy, but after a few weeks and a couple of typos and missed purchases, that same budget can start playing tricks on you.

There are online systems and personal budgeting software out there that can circumvent this issue by monitoring your bank account, and your spending, and attempting to budget for you. This can certainly keep your numbers precise. Personally, I prefer to take about 2 minutes a month and quickly calibrate my budget myself. It lets me continue to actively budget and keep my budget flexible and customized to my family’s needs.

I only calibrate my budget once a month.

As a macro-manager, I tend to only be interested in making sure I’m mostly synced up. Small differences or inaccuracies don’t bother me – or warrant my time researching. If my budget is “close” to what’s in the bank (which is usually the case), if it’s nothing that won’t be automatically fixed when I set up the next month’s budget, I’m good.

The best time for me to calibrate is right after I get my second paycheck for the month. It’s usually the point at which what I’ve budgeted for the month should match what’s in the bank; I haven’t budgeted any other income for the month that hasn’t now come in. This makes it a pretty simple exercise of looking at my budgeted total and comparing it to my bank account’s total.

Stay active with your budget and it will reward you.

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2 Responses to “Is Your Budget Drifting?”

  1. Siboney says:
    July 25, 2009 at 10:58 am

    Thank you for this post, it makes me feel better that I don’t have to have everything just right. Budgeting really makes me feel overwhelmed. Thanks!

  2. Jonathan says:
    July 25, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    Thanks, Siboney, I appreciate it! And you’re right, a budget doesn’t have to be perfect, just close enough to help you out.

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