Do you draw out a set amount every week for spending money? Do you include things like gas and small grocery purchases in this, or is it strictly for things like lunch at work etc? I'm trying to stick by this and usually include gas and small grocery purchases but I keep finding myself drawing out more before the week is over. Obviously I'm not budgeting correctly and need to revamp my weekly budget. Any thoughts?

If you're trying to budget things...I found that over estimating payments help out. Like, let's say you have to make a payment of $15 a month for a credit card. Estimate it as $20, that way, you still have $5 extra left in your account, which you subconsciously forget about.

Does that make sense? Another thing, hide your own debit card and always use cash when buying food and gas. Did you know some gas stations charge more when you use a card?

Maybe it's just me and my husband, but we write everything down the paychecks along with the bills. Our paychecks we underestimate it by about $30, and then over estimate our bills by a few dollars at most by $5. Then, we figure out how much we have left for food (he does his lunch and I do the grocery shopping) along with how much gas we use a week. If we do go a little over our budget, we know we have a little more than what we've already estimated. Sorry if it's all over the place. I hope you get what I mean.

Over estimate your bills, under estimate your paycheck and try to keep on your budget by writing things down. You may also want to write goals with what you want to do with your money. As in, pay off a credit card or save enough within six months. Sometimes it is hard to stay with the budget, but it'll pay off. Oh yeah, with grocery shopping, I usually make a list and either write the highest price I want to pay for each item and if you have time try to compare with other stores and look out for coupons.

sorry it's sooooo long! I can't explain it shorter. Hope it helps!

I pay all the bills, budget enough money for food/gas and savings then whatever is left is my spending money. I don't feel guilty spending money if i know that there is already a set amount in our savings.

I buy what I need. Iunno. I check my balances daily, but I mostly live off my tips.

We used to take "fun money" out every pay check, but then things got tight and it was the first thing to go :(

We live off his paycheck right now since I'm overseas with him. So this is how we set it up (maybe you can use this same technique for yourself):
Every 2 weeks the full check gets dumped into a joint checking account. We each get $200 of fun money transfered to our personal checking accounts. We can spend this as we please. A huge chunk gets transfered into our joint savings, and the rest sits in the checking for groceries and bills. This is going to help us tremendously because our "weekly allowance" wasn't working. We each know we have $200 to spend on ourselves (or each other) and when that money is gone, it's gone.

For myself no. I am good at staying on budget. My hubby isn't so I get money out for him once a month and he gets 1/4 each week till it is all gone. But he doesn't get more than that in one month. When it is gone it is gone. I give him enough to cover gas, haircuts, chew, dry cleaning, and to get himself something to eat or whatever else he may want (that doesn't cost too much).

DH and I each get money deposited into our individual accounts each paycheck. It includes groceries but not gas because I have a credit card that gets 5% cashback on gas so I use that then pay the bill in full out of our joint checking.

We have different amounts for each item. Gas is a certain amount of cash, groceries is a certain amount, and then our "blow" money is what we spend on eating out or going somewhere. We keep everything seperated

I don't include gas/ groceries in my weekly withdrawal, as that is in my budget elsewhere. My weekly withdrawal is strictly fun money ---- lunch at work, spontaneous groceries, impulse purchases, salon, clothes. I withdrawal $40.00 every week, but it usually lasts me a week and a half.

i spend about $50.00 on gas every week, and $30-60 on groceries, so i budget those separately and use debit gas and write checks for groceries, both of which i do on Sundays.

Whatever is left right before payday gets transfered into my savings, in addition to $300 dollar automatic transfer that i count as part of my bills.

Thanks, some good ideas there. I think I have to start writing my gas and petty grocery cash as a separate budget item, since I find those purchases eat up my weekly fun money and I find myself withdrawing cash more than once a week to supplement my set fun money amount. I like the idea of overestimating each bill by 5 bucks or something, seems like a good way to trick my mind into thinking there's less available cash to fritter away. I think part of the problem is my husband got a new job within the past year and it was a HUGE pay increase for him and I'm having trouble dealing with having so much money, if that makes sense. When I have specific goals, I'm awesome at saving but right now we don't have one. We divert money from each check into several different retirement accounts so I have to set my sights on a more specific goal to add to. I did pay my truck off 2 years early just last month, so time for a new goal. Really I just need to get back to the mindset I had when we were younger and poor. :lol