<p>We aren’t having financial difficulty - no loans except mortgage, maxed out retirement contributions, emergency and college funds. </p>
<p>I handle the finances and my so-called budget plan is completely intuitive. For instance, if we have a major car repair during a month, I will cut back on other items. We always have a large cushion each month but I can’t help shake the feeling that we are wasting a lot of money. </p>
<p>The budget programs I see are for people that have a lot of debt or are living beyond their means. I think I might be looking for something that offers percentage suggestions or other guidelines for “extras” - eating out, travel, entertainment, clothing, DD’s food budget at college, etc. Does such a thing exist?</p>
<p>I followed Dave Ramsey, and still do for the most part, but I’m past the beginning steps.</p>
<p>The best first step is to write down where you are spending your money for a month. Then you can decide when you see where the money really goes if it’s okay or not. Then you should have a general sense of your normal bills, like mortgage, electric, gas, food, dry cleaner, etc and itemize. I used a spreadsheet. </p>
<p>Then you need to work on a savings account - opinions vary on how many months expenses you should have saved - anywhere from 3 - 12 months. Car repairs shouldn’t really be much of a surprise, if you own a car, you put money into it every year, whether it’s tires, oil changes, etc. Look back over the last year and see how much you spent on it, divide by 12 and there is your monthly budget for car repairs - put that in a savings account. You can use a spreadsheet to determine how much of the savings is dedicated to separate items to make life easier.</p>
<p>I have just started using You Need a Budget (YNAB) for a few weeks. I’m sure there’s a trial that you could try to test drive before you commit.</p>
<p>The basic approach is that you live the current month using the previous month’s income. I’m sure it’s more complex than that, but I’ve just been trying to be diligent and recording all my expenses.</p>
<p>But whatever budget software you do choose, it should just categorize all your transactions so you know how much you’re spending, then having extra money saved up for whatever circumstances arise.</p>