Comments on: Your Family Budget: Step by Step

By: Ellen

Ellen — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:25:23 +0000

great post! Yes, we are now working from a budget and it feels so much more freeing!!! We have a spreadsheet online that we add in the numbers at the end of the month but during the month we have a snap-shot version of our budget printed on the refrigerator for those varying expenses — (groceries, fun, gas etc) to keep track of how much we are spending *during* the month, so we are more likely to stay on or under budget.

Also, an online budgeting tool that is pretty cool is mint.com and it’s free.

Last, any extra money (from being under our budget), we have planned to take half of it and give it to someone in need at christmas time (trying to employ this character trait in our son) and the other half we get to do something special as a family….so it’s a huge incentive to be under budget!

By: You’ve Got a Budget, Now What?

You’ve Got a Budget, Now What? — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:23:00 +0000

[...] budget doesn’t help you unless you use it. Much is said about making a budget, but what do you with one after you’ve got [...]

By: Finding the Motivation to Make a Change

Finding the Motivation to Make a Change — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:42:12 +0000

[...] not really supposed to. A budget is a tool. It doesn’t make you save [...]

By: The Pointless Pursuit of More: When is Enough Enough? | Simple Mom

The Pointless Pursuit of More: When is Enough Enough? | Simple Mom — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:53:18 +0000

[...] my online friends have written excellent primers on budgeting on their blogs, such as Frugal Dad, Small Notebook, and Being Frugal. I also recommend using an easy program like Pear [...]

By: Geri

Geri — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:08:51 +0000

Great post and alot of good information. I’m also interested in ways to save money and have some pratical tips, others might be interested in. You can read them at http://www.newrinkles.com/index.php/archive/eight-practical-ideas-to-save-money/

By: How do small cuts in your family budget affect your kids? | Crunchy Domestic Goddess

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:56:32 +0000

[...] at Small Notebook wrote Your Family Budget step by step. While my family doesn’t tend to live beyond our means, budgeting is something I struggle [...]

By: Personal/Family Budget « Growth in Action

Personal/Family Budget « Growth in Action — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:44:34 +0000

[...] One of the first steps in my Journey was to start a budget. I got the idea from Small Notebook and made my own in Microsoft Excel. I am not lavish nor am I a spender, and I have no debt. [...]

By: smallnotebook

smallnotebook — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:21:24 +0000

Hi Michelle, the examples in this post are from a spreadsheet. A few years ago I kept my budget in a spreadsheet form similar to this. I still use it to get a quick simplified glimpse of my budget, but now my husband and I mainly do our budgeting in the accounting software MS Money.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:13:13 +0000

Hi there! Great article. I was just wondering if your examples were a spreadsheet program or another program like MS Money? Michelle's last blog post..Lakeshore Learning

By: smallnotebook

smallnotebook — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:10:29 +0000

Karen, I just have a bill category called “Tithes and Offerings” to subtract the amount. So in my budget it looks like the other bills even though it’s really more significant.