How do you manage money? Help!

This may be a personal topic but I am not asking for exact numbers of course..

I am not that great when it comes to saving and my dh is even worse. I was wondering what percentage you put into the bank? Do you leave money out for spending or do you use atm mostly? Do you save the same amount each week for bills and then pay when they are due? We need help in this area big time!

I will deposit my check and keep $100 out to last me for 2 weeks. When it comes to grocery shopping I use the debit/credit card. I try to use cash as much as I can.
If I need clothes, I try to use gift cards and wait for sales.
Save your change. It adds up quick!
We also recycle our soda cans/bottles which helps knock $$ off our grocery bill.
Its tough, but you can do it.

One thing that's helped me: I have an account with TD Waterhouse. I can move money from my regular checking account to that account online. Whatever is left in my account at the end of each month is transferred over there. Also, I have money automatically taken from checking and sent over to that account.

I also have an account with my credit union. I have $50 a check automatically taken out and deposited to that account. So this way I have money saved automatically without thinking about it.

I don't have easy access to either account, which also helps. In emergencies, it's there, but not for day to day stuff.

I have always been terrible with money too. But those things help.

I use this:

www.thebword.com

I really like it, especially cause DH is a freelance writer. It's different and a little hard to set up, but it's working so far.

---

Posted by prncssrachel

Also, make a list of EVERY SINGLE THING you spend money on on a regular basis. We did this to see exactly where our money is going to. That's how we knew exactly what we could save, spend and use for bills.

---

This is pretty much what I do. We make decent salaries, but keep very close track of everything we spend. I have a little notebook and DH has a list he keeps. I list EVERYTHING, even the $1.08 big gulps. It is not that big of an effort, I just put the receipts in my wallet and write them down every couple of days. We pay for most things on credit cards, but pay them off monthly. This way, we get the cash rebates for the things we would be buying anyway (gas, groceries, car repairs, things for the house). It also cuts down on spontaneous spending, because the credit card bill shows when and where you spent money.

We use coupons all the time, and I shop in stores that take double coupons. I rarely buy clothes that are not on sale. We also both drive older cars and will keep driving them until they become unreliable. The insurance on my car is very low and his is not bad either. We brown bag it to work. I stopped buying coffee on the way to work- I brew extra at home and bring it with me in a thermos or insulated cup. All of these things make a difference. If you are not paying attention to where the $ goes, you spend it much faster. We can afford to spend more than we do, and we do on occasion (for vacation and something tangible for the house, like furniture) but we would rather take the time and effort to make lunches and be smart shoppers and spend the extra on more important things, or save it. We basically live on DH's salary and all of mine (minus my spending cash) goes into savings.

I take out about $50 for spending $ per week, and on occasion if I need more I use it, but really try to stick to that. I almost never use the ATM because in the past, I found that it was very easy to forget to write down withdrawals. We pay bills immediately upon receiving them, so we don't lose track of whether or not they were paid.