Old School Budgeting

Michael and I are takin' you back to the old school. When we first got married we tracked every penny we spent and asked for receipts everywhere we went. As things got easier, we chilled out with the budget but now we're back. Here's how we've been doing the budget for the last couple months.

1. We set up some basic spreadsheets, one for each paycheck.
2. We've combined categories to eliminate headaches.
3. We pay some things early to balance spending better for each pay period.
4. J money is back! Well, so is M money and kids money. Any entertainment comes out of this, our personal funds.
5. We use cash as much as possible. We hit up the ATM on payday and when it's gone, we're done spending. This also makes balancing the account easier with less transactions to deal with.
6. We go over the budget weekly and adapt it to reflect any special expenses coming up that pay period.

This has helped us because we don't spend all the money we have, just what's budgeted. It's helped keep the checking account at a comfortable level all the time. We're also planning for things in advance a lot better. We know what expenses are coming up and set some money aside for it now (like Christmas, Nick's wedding, and other things).

So what kinda budgeting do you like to use? Are you old school too? Share your budgeting tips Sand Fam!