Alabama thread!

It looks like it's at an angle to me, so yall are both correct....

 

I hope that new job comes with vision care you really need it

 

Yeah a 90 degree angle,

 

we are looking at the complete driver side of the samurai, can't see any of the front or any of the back...but we can see all of Brian's truck BEHIND the samurai, yes at a slight angle off from behind, but if it was a 90 degree angle we wouldn't be able to see ALL of Brian's truck.

 

those of you married/in relationships/etc, do you have any website/software/etc that you use to handle your budget(s)? I've always just been able to keep track of my accounts and mentally budget for myself, but Amy and I are starting to pay for things together (and will be married one day) and I just want to get a jumpstart on budget planning and such. No, I don't want to pay for some Dave Ramsey crud, just want something nice and organized to use. suggestions?

 

My brain is what I use to budget. If you're organized, there's no need in any app or some BS to manage your finances for you. What do yall bring in together in a month? What do yall pay in bills in a month? Factor in expenditures (gas, food, entertainment) and add that to your bills. We have one credit card in our household and it stays in the gunsafe for emergencies (car repairs, kids stuff, suspension lifts).

 

Appreciate it. I’m not trying to grow anytime soon though. I’ve forgotten how much I enjoy building stuff for myself so I’m trying to keep my little free time that I have open for that.

 

When folks start paying you for doing a hobby, it's no longer a hobby, but a job.

 

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to catch that! lol

 

lol yeah we like cash back more than that and have multiple credit cards each. don't use much cash at all lol.

nah I mean I'm not looking for anything specific, but I just kinda do my budget at a whim and don't do any great like actual "percentage crunching" and I figure I should get away from that moreso when we are dual income and actually have like budget numbers for the stuff like groceries, entertainment, etc etc whereas I just know what I have and what I can spend on like everything instead of breaking it out. shoot even just like income percentage suggestions would be helpful? I've never share income lol

 

And I can hear a mouse piss on cotton a mile away....

 

I was always told to put away a dime of every dollar I make and never touch it again. It's worked so far, I'm vested in my company's 401K, so that's another contribution that I make, that I don't see. Mark has some great ideas about a budget is as good as the 2 people willing to actually stick to it. If you don't need to spend the money, don't. I used to have lots of credit cards too, but damn that shit. I got in way over my head at one time in my early 20s. I have an 800+ credit score now and plan to keep it that way. This way, I can walk into a bank and borrow $100,000 in cash if I ever feel the need to do so, or drive off the lot in a brand new Tacoma.

 

yeah we've both broken 800 with our credit scores, thankfully no real debt for us besides the houses. she just wants me to be the financial manager in our relationship so I want to know what I'm doing before diving in lol

 

haha all good points. we amazingly are only a couple G's off in salary from each other so we've both been living basically the same lifestyles and same financial positions with slight difference here and there.

I know Jonny said "dime for every dollar" savings (so 10% obviously) but do you guys have any hard numbers you stick to for budgets, like "$500/month for groceries" etc etc. that's the kind of stuff I literally don't do right now by myself.

 

Dave Ramsey's "crud" is called Every Dollar and it is free.

 

Easy. One joint account and you pay all the bills through automatic drafts. Helps keep from being accidentally delinquent on something because you forgot about it. Just about every bill we have is an automatic draft. Pick the biggest debt you have (largest interest rate) and pay that one off first. Managing money is not something you can learn through a class, because everyone is in different situations. You have to manage what YOU bring into the house. I have friends that make twice as much money as I do, but don't have a pot to piss in. Not that they are bad people, they just make bad financial decisions.

To feed 5 people in our home, our food budget is $200-$250 a week on groceries.

 

is that an app or a plan or something? by "crud" I meant, books/seminars/videos etc...I can sit down and plan a budget out myself, numbers aren't hard, just looking for the easy tips/suggestions a single guy might not immediately think of when first planning the budget for a relationship....like the woman's hair/nail costs hahaha

 

I’m simple. I save X amount regardless of expenses so it forces us to adapt our spending for the week to fit our “budget”. If we absolutely need extra to get by, I have to pull out of savings so it keeps me honest. It doesn’t happen too often though.

 

Pen and paper is awesome. Hell, I still balance a checkbook! But I'll cross-reference it with my online banking. I'm always right when I compare the 2.

You probably don't even know balancing a checkbook is right @stronghammer?