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This might work well for you, but it's generally pretty bad advice. No, you can't budget for everything, but auto maintenance, hair cuts, and shopping for clothes? You absolutely can, and should budget for those, even if they aren't neat, monthly repeating amounts. This is the type of thing that isn't a problem until the moment that it is.
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May 14, 2013 18:20
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moana posted:I know you can, but why should you? I guess I don't see how it would ever be a problem if you have a reasonable pad in your checking account. If major auto repairs come up, that's why you have an emergency fund. A lot of the other stuff is stuff that can be put off (if I ever lost my job, I wouldn't be out clothes shopping) or eliminated completely. A line-item budget makes sense if you're living paycheck to paycheck or if you have terrible spending issues, but for people whose checking buffer is measured in the thousands, tracking a bunch of small expenses each month seems like more hassle than it's worth. Not everyone has a solid emergency fund or checking account buffer, especially people just getting their fiscal house in order, who were a big constituency in the last thread. That, and every time I've seen someone ask for budgeting help with a "misc" category, it's usually the first thing that gets scrutinized, since it often vastly overrun the 10% mark. Where I think I might've been confusing, by conflating monthly budgeting for irregular expenses with monthly saving for when they arise. Annual, periodic, or bimonthly expenses like taxes, insurance premiums, vehicle maintenance, back-to-school shopping, etc, ought to be sort of 'pre-amortized' through the monthly budget. The point is to remove as much variability and unpredictability from "misc" spending (or as Mint might call it, "uncategorized" spending) as possible, since. It really doesn't take much more time to set up a budget in this way, so I find it tough to agree with the more-trouble-than-it's-worth argument. I'm also of the opinion that the emergency fund is basically inviolate for anything other than loss of life, limb, or livelihood. And to the extent that anticipating and budgeting for less-than-catastrophic large costs like car repairs helps you not to dip into it, it's an important strategy.
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May 15, 2013 17:35
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Briantist posted:But sometimes you have to be cognizant of what the money is really for as you spend it, and not so focused on where you're spending it. Like last weekend when I took my mom out to lunch for Mother's day, I split that transaction, and half of it was for eating out and the other half was a gift. I do this all the time in Mint. Most often for dates. I'll split the transaction my credit card throws at me into Restaurants and Drinking/Nightlife for my food and drinks, respectively, and "Entertainment" for her portion 
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May 15, 2013 20:51
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PhantomOfTheCopier posted:Do the really long nights end up in "Health Expenses"? "Dry Cleaning/Laundry"
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May 16, 2013 14:54
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tuyop posted:Why? It's not like you can change anything or send any money in Mint, it's just a portal to view your accounts all in one place. I think he means that if the data itself were breached you would have usernames and passwords for the actual bank websites. If someone also happens to learn your dog's name or high school mascot, then they'll be able to access your account.
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May 30, 2013 21:04
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