I'm wondering if anyone has found a bugeting system thats works. My impulsive spending is getting me in over my head. I don't want to ask my family for hlep b/c there 'help' means yelling, screaming, insulting etc.

I need to figure out how to stop spending money. I bring in well over what i need to pay my bills every month but seem to always be in overdraft. I owe people money. My rent is overdue. my phone bill is a month behind etc.

help

I'm no help with actual bill paying. I can write a beautiful budget (I once majored in accounting!) but I can't get the payments out on time. I finally left that task to my husband.
I do have an account that will not allow me to go over my balance, for the most part. I can overdraw if I use my card at the gas station and, of course, if I were to write too many checks... but I never right checks. I use my account for food shopping, kid stuff shopping, gas, and whatever else the house needs or I might need/want. I'm pretty good with those limited responsibilities. Once the money is gone, it's gone.

Having accounts that allowed for overdraws was just plain bad for me. Writing checks was bad for me. Now, if I need to send a payment by mail, I use a money order. There's no way to float those!

My husband is much better at bill paying than I am, but he's still not perfect. Direct deposit for his paychecks and auto bill pay for most of our bills has helped him a lot. He also sets a personal weekly spending amount that he tries to stick to withdrawing once a week. When the cash is gone, it's gone.

My impulse spending usually involves purchases under $100, more often under $50. If it were more than that, I would probably seek professional help for that. Unless I were filthy rich, in which case, who cares?! lol
My suggestion for reasonable spending impulses would probably be to open a seperate, no-overdraft-option account. Companies who offer direct deposit usually give the option to split money between accounts. Why not try having x amount of dollars deposited each pay period and designate it as play money?

hey TD...

I calculated my $ right to the last cent, then worked out my weekly outgoings, then set my internet bank to pay it all on payday.
I set small payments for every bill possible, at the average amount I needed
..eg
$15 for power
$10 for water rates
$10 internet.
$10 house phone

I find anyone who accepts electronic payments accepts small weekly payments too!

For the ones I couldn't pay weekly, that amount went into an account I couldnt eaily access..
so...after all the payments came out of my pay, I'd buy food and petrol, and blow the rest :)
but it didn't matter since everthing was paid :)

sometimes I even find I am slighty in credit, and sometimes just a small pament is al that is needed:p

good luck :)

I thought I posted here already, if it counts, I am no help and I am a math whiz.

I'm wondering if anyone has found a bugeting system thats works. My impulsive spending is getting me in over my head. I don't want to ask my family for hlep b/c there 'help' means yelling, screaming, insulting etc.

I need to figure out how to stop spending money. I bring in well over what i need to pay my bills every month but seem to always be in overdraft. I owe people money. My rent is overdue. my phone bill is a month behind etc.

help

Have a separate account that has the designated amount necessary to pay the bills. Do not have any electronic cards for this account (that means no eftpos or ATM access).

My wife handles the bills in our house. she is so much better at it than i am. still i do have a problem with over spending.

Hmm, been there with the overspending. Problem was I just couldn't quite grasp the obvious - that I can't just buy what I want, when I want - there's simply not enough money for that and pay bills, too. I was kinda just doing whatever I felt like, and "surprise!" where'd all the money go?

What worked for me was making up a detailed list of every expense. I'd never done such a thing, or really thought these things through, so it was a bit of a challenge. Now I mean EVERY expense. Every single thing that I need money for in a week. Of course bills, food, cigarettes (since quit), any lunches bought at work, any eating out or ordered pizzas, laundromat, pet food - - I don't know, the list was quite long. It was quite a shocker to see that when I added up the things I "needed" to pay for, there was very little left over. No wonder my bills always suffered. I was a hard pill to swallow - really - I kept thinking, there HAS to be more than that! Well, like I said - it was that kind of thinking that resulted in my overspending every week.

So anyhow, EVERY week I would list out this budget. Maybe modify it if I found I had not allocated enough money to something. I resented it a little at first - not being able to just do what I want (d*** the torpedos!) - but I soon got used to the idea. It started to feel quite nice actually - to have control - to KNOW that the important things were being taken care of. No more red slips in the bills and creditors stopped calling - I could answer the phone again!

So for me all it took was seeing the truth in black and white to solve the problem. I'd still splurge on small things once in a while - but that was taken into consideration in the budget, as "fun money" or whatever.

My wife has always paid the bills for the household as I used to be quite impulsive. I always have had a problem with overspending. Anyway, I never really knew how much went out the door.

What finally worked for me is the goal of wanting to pay off the debt. hyperfocus this time was a good thing:D. While we are not debt free yet, we have paid off one credit card and our 2 vehicles are now paid for also.:) It was a good thing 2 as it is slow where we work and all overtime stopped.

I did pay all of the company bills on time, that said, I had an accounting package for all the payables. Not sure what or how Quickbooks is and works, but that may help you also, but, you would still need to enter the bills and run the reports once a week.

Once we paid off somethings, we have cash (debit card) available and now we pay cash when we go out, get gas, etc.....

Don't dispair, non ADHD people have the same problems too.

i really apricate everyones help/advise. i sat and worked out some numbers and should be going to the back sometime next week to set up my acconts diffrent. We'll give that a try and see what happenes. I'v also baned myself from a few stores. If i don't go in i don't by stuff

i religiously pay all my bills on the same day I get paid (monthly) - all with electronic banking (even if I dont have the bill yet I just estimate on previous bills!) On the same day I lock my savings away in an online account that takes 48+hrs to physically withdrawal (this way I cant use it for impulsive buying)

It leaves me with the housekeeping funds for the next 4 weeks - and I have learnt that you need to look after this otherwise you wont eat!!!

I also closed down unnecessary credit cards and lowered the limit on the remaining! I am currently hitting the limit with one which means I simply can't spend anymore (not the ideal situation yet its effective - the intention is to get the balance down asap and again lower the limit)

Not long ago I consolidated all personal debts into a personal loan with a lower interest rate which saves me a little on interest payments and also forces me to make regular payments to reduce principle (the thought of getting an overdue fee also helps you make those regular payments!)

I find that budgets are good however what really helps is limiting access to available funds - you need to be careful not to over tighten the strings as it can leave you in some difficult situations, however over time you can refine your controls once you really understand your spending habit, financial obligations and spending triggers!

An important thing is to look long term - some people only think about getting out of the hole until next pay day, next week, next month etc Without thinking longterm you will never actually get out of that rut - savings are so important (imagine if you put away $10 a week since you started school!!!)

Good luck buddy

I guess I have been lucky in this area for paying my bills on time, maybe not the spending so much. I pay my credit card over every month, and bills that come in. I actually don't like instant withdraw as I feel I don't have enough control over the money coming out. I think some of the reasons I find it easy to pay things off if month is.
1. I am a control freak, I handle all the money in my house, my husband trusts me to mange this which I am happy about especially since I am not working right now and he is making the money.
2. I watch my bills very closely, if I see they have charged me for something that they shouldn't have I will call them and get it fix. I also closely watch when my items that are being rung up at the cashier is correct, if not I questions it. I have gotten many free things this way.
3. I get anxious if I don't pay my bills, I don't like late charges. I am such a worry wort.