[ויקרי]

Why you can only use the money in your account and not the known, steady, reliable check that’s coming in two weeks?

It messes me up every time I try to use this thing.

[Megan]

We do budgeting using future money, because budgeting includes future expenses, not just what you are spending today. If you aren’t including future expenses, you will never get ahead because you aren’t looking long term.

An example from our budget is that our mortgage is due Aug 1. Half of that money came out of the July 1 paycheck, and half will come out of the July 15 paycheck. If we only used the July 15 paycheck we would be short on other expenses.

Don’t miss: My husband and I are about 19K from paying off our mortgage.. What would you do if you were in my boat?

[Carol]

I think it is b/c the money isn’t credited to your account until it arrives. Everything you spend is debited right away. If the money (check) isn’t in the account your debit would be an overdraft and subject to fees. Not only that wherever you spent that money would be notified you had insufficient funds to cover your purchase. All sorts of issues can occur.

If you have a bill due at a time when you’re still waiting on your check to come in, perhaps you could have the company change your due date.

[Taralyn]

Because you end up spending future money and not the money you have already earned. It’s easy to get caught up in the buy now pay later because you know your money is coming, but then your future self has less to plan. You can plan ahead for groceries and gas and saving, but don’t spend your future money.

[Wynter]

I budget ahead, I know how much my bills will be, I have an checking account, that I split my check to go there. My only amount of check goes to my money market account that I get high interest, I don’t spend on that account, it is a emergency fund savings. It makes it easier. I know I want to travel so my part time job is used for travel this fall I have 3 account total.

[Breanna]

Your future check isn’t guaranteed sickness and emergencies happen. Personally for me if it’s not in my account.. then it doesn’t exist yet.

[Susan]

What I have helpful is to not budget to the penny. Example I work hourly and it changes every week. But over time it averages out.

So, I round down and use the lower number. My average pay weekly is around $420.00. So I use $350.00 weekly when deciding what I’m paying that week. It also helps to not spend every last penny.

Also, check out: How to stick to budget in emotionally challenging times?

[Monica]

Tracking your expenses for at least a few months or longer will help. Most of us have a pretty good idea of what we will expect to spend on mortgage/rent, groceries, gas, etc. But it’s things like an unexpected major vet bill (last month), needing a new car battery (today), etc that it can be hard to plan ahead for. But the longer you track your actual expenses, the easier it will be.

[Author]

Posts