On Mar 24, 2009, at 1:59 PM, Lance wrote:
> For people who have managed to reduce their number of buckets, what
> process do you use to set the spending plan amount every month? For
> example, if you have a generic bucket named "Utilities" that tracks 5
> different monthly bills, how do you come up with the total spending
> amount for each month so you know how much income to allocate there?
I keep track of that stuff in the bucket Memo. For example, here's
the bucket memo for my "outdoor pets", which in the spending plan gets
$600 per month:
chicken feed ($10), barn cat feed($10), horse grain ($80),
supplements ($164), farrier($90 bimonthly), lessons ($240), equipment
($400 annually)
I added all those up, figured out my annual expenses in that category
and divided it by 12. Even though I know the farrier only comes every
other month I find it easier to just put $45 in there every month and
let it roll over to the next month.
I keep this bucket separate from the veterinary expenses, because
these are mostly expenses that if I don't use them up in one month I'm
free to spend them somewhere else. If I don't take all my lessons
this month I can spend the portion set aside for lessons on going out
to eat instead if I want. Vet expenses need to roll every month
because I never know when or how much an emergency vet call will be, I
just know that historically I've spent X per year on the vet and so I
should plan on X per year for the future too.
Like you, I break my Utilities out into separate buckets, because some
of them are fixed amounts every month and some of them are highly
variable. I know some people like to specifically budget $300 Oct to
March for heating oil and $5 April to September. I prefer to budget
off my annual expense so that my budget stays more consistent from
month to month, so I budget $150 every month and just let it roll
over. I keep the expenses that need to roll like that in different
buckets than the ones that are fixed every month so that it's easier
for me to tell the difference between truly extra month and money that
only looks extra because the bill hasn't come due yet.
Hope that helps!
-Trish
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