Married or Single? Second Income?

my wife works and brings home about 3x as much as I do. We don't have any huge loans, so we get by pretty well. Getting ahead is a whole other story though
 
EDUC8-or said:
Please do post. We're thinking about having kids and my wife who works now and makes twice as much as I do would probably stay home with the kid(s).
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We didn't come up with this, nor is it a new system, it's just something that works: The Envelope System.

We have come up with a monthly budget based on the minimum guarantee for the month (or in the case when I was at Skywest, an amount of pay that I knew I could consistently get month to month). For items that you can pay cash for, get cash out. For us it's groceries, clothing, dining out/entertainment, personal care (haircuts, etc.), gifts, my trip money, and a miscellaneous category. The program calls for a separate envelope for each category. We have a little zippered accordian file with labels on each slot. Each paycheck I write a check to cash and put it in the alloted slot. When the slot is empty, we don't go out to eat, scrounge through the pantry or fridge or wait for the next paycheck. For those things that aren't cash transactions: utilities, car payment, gas, etc. we have a budgeted amount for and those are the only things I'll write checks or use the debit card for.

I've got an excel spreadsheet that helps me track what amount of money is in what category. We just moved to Alaska so I'm not quite sure how much our utilities are, so I had to make a guess as to how much to budget, but as time goes on, I'll be able to tweak the system.

The budget is set for the minimum pay per month, so if I fly more than the minimum we're ahead. I can either sock that away for a rainy day (read: big screen TV), pad some of the other categories that I'm unsure of, or take the family out for a night of fun! It's quite liberating to be able to spend money like that knowing it's covered, budgeted, and not on a credit card!
 
If you have Bank of America they have something called "My Portfolio". It is pretty amazing. It can track all your accounts automatically that you can login to - Investments such as Fidelity IRA's, Brokerage accounts such as E-Trade, workplace retirement accounts such T.Rowe Price, Credit Cards, Student loans, car loan, mortgage, etc. If you cannot login to it online, you can manually input the info in as needed.

It also categorizes your spending looking at your checking account and tallies it into certain categories. You can make it so that if a certain name appears in your account for which it categorizes as "general" (such as "WaWa") it will automatically know that is an "automobile expense" (gas).

You can track cash flow in/out, expenses on each segment of your life (ie rent, food, utils, etc.) and then set budgets for them.

I thought it would be a PITA to set up but it isn't since it is mostly automatic.
 
Cheechako said:
We didn't come up with this, nor is it a new system, it's just something that works: The Envelope System.

We have come up with a monthly budget based on the minimum guarantee for the month (or in the case when I was at Skywest, an amount of pay that I knew I could consistently get month to month). For items that you can pay cash for, get cash out. For us it's groceries, clothing, dining out/entertainment, personal care (haircuts, etc.), gifts, my trip money, and a miscellaneous category. The program calls for a separate envelope for each category. We have a little zippered accordian file with labels on each slot. Each paycheck I write a check to cash and put it in the alloted slot. When the slot is empty, we don't go out to eat, scrounge through the pantry or fridge or wait for the next paycheck. For those things that aren't cash transactions: utilities, car payment, gas, etc. we have a budgeted amount for and those are the only things I'll write checks or use the debit card for.

I've got an excel spreadsheet that helps me track what amount of money is in what category. We just moved to Alaska so I'm not quite sure how much our utilities are, so I had to make a guess as to how much to budget, but as time goes on, I'll be able to tweak the system.

The budget is set for the minimum pay per month, so if I fly more than the minimum we're ahead. I can either sock that away for a rainy day (read: big screen TV), pad some of the other categories that I'm unsure of, or take the family out for a night of fun! It's quite liberating to be able to spend money like that knowing it's covered, budgeted, and not on a credit card!
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THANKS! Sounds like a pretty good system. My wife already said I'll have to put her on a budget and give her an allowance because she it TERRIBLE with money. I can't complain now because she pays the mortgage.
 
wheelsup said:
If you have Bank of America they have something called "My Portfolio". It is pretty amazing. It can track all your accounts automatically that you can login to - Investments such as Fidelity IRA's, Brokerage accounts such as E-Trade, workplace retirement accounts such T.Rowe Price, Credit Cards, Student loans, car loan, mortgage, etc. If you cannot login to it online, you can manually input the info in as needed.

It also categorizes your spending looking at your checking account and tallies it into certain categories. You can make it so that if a certain name appears in your account for which it categorizes as "general" (such as "WaWa") it will automatically know that is an "automobile expense" (gas).

You can track cash flow in/out, expenses on each segment of your life (ie rent, food, utils, etc.) and then set budgets for them.

I thought it would be a PITA to set up but it isn't since it is mostly automatic.
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I thought Bank of America was a pretty sweet bank.....until they lost $930 of my money.

I had to make a deposit but they closed down the bank due to a snow storm so I had to make the deposit at the banks ATM, all in cash (big mistake but I needed the money in the account). I jumped in the car and put the money in the drive up ATM. I vividly remeber inserting the envolope into the machine and I kept the reciept. The money posted to my account then two weeks later they reversed the deposit sending a couple of transactions into overdraft.

So after their so called investigations (that they conducted from Charlotte NC when the deposit was made in New Mexico) they said there was nothing they could do they never found the envolope. Because it was a drive up ATM Bank of America contracts the loading and unloading of it to an outside company.

As soon as Im done training here in Columbus Im filing a lawsuit and cancelling any dealing with them.
 
dbrault17 said:
I thought Bank of America was a pretty sweet bank.....until they lost $930 of my money.

I had to make a deposit but they closed down the bank due to a snow storm so I had to make the deposit at the banks ATM, all in cash (big mistake but I needed the money in the account). I jumped in the car and put the money in the drive up ATM. I vividly remeber inserting the envolope into the machine and I kept the reciept. The money posted to my account then two weeks later they reversed the deposit sending a couple of transactions into overdraft.

So after their so called investigations (that they conducted from Charlotte NC when the deposit was made in New Mexico) they said there was nothing they could do they never found the envolope. Because it was a drive up ATM Bank of America contracts the loading and unloading of it to an outside company.

As soon as Im done training here in Columbus Im filing a lawsuit and cancelling any dealing with them.
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Wow that's nuts - I'd be pissed too! Not saying it wasn't their fault, but honestly that could happen at any bank ATM. Whenever I deal in cash I always go to a teller - always.
 
I'm the same way. I don't use the ATM's to deposit funds - ever.

Tough one dbrault, hopefully the lawsuit goes well for you. I also hope you have changed banks by now :)
 
When I was 18 and single, I was dying to fly. Was given the option of help with that, or help with college. After alot of soul searching I chose the college route as it seemed like the better answer long term. After college, I worked for a large coporation, was very successful and was "living large" (at least in my eyes). After five years of that, I started my own company, and had to go back to top ramen as my staple for a couple of years. After 12 years of busting my butt 70 hours a week building a successful business, I got the proverbial "offer I couldn't refuse" and sold the business. I then went back to my dream of flying. Fortunately I made the right decision early on regarding pursuing a dream (flying) or reality (college). Now the lousy paycheck doesn't mean a whole bunch, and I've been blessed with two amazing little ones in the last couple of years. Oh ya - my wife doesn't work, although what she does daily with the little ones makes my flying job look like a piece of cake - and it is.
 
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