Do You Live Within Your Budget

Good morning, there seems to be a lot of making money ideas and links on mylot, So I wonder if you live with in your budget or blow it out of the water so to speak. If you do please advise tips, and if you don't please what is it that causes you to go over budget I would appreciate all answers. Robin

[question posted by RobinJ]

responses and comments:



It is difficult to have a budget when your income is barely at poverty level. I have a different view about budgets. I think they are worthless because they are a form of financial limitation. I would rather think in terms of abundance and having as much as I need. I don't mean to be materialistic, it is that I know what I need to be content and not have to spend, spend and spend again. Even with more money, I would rather live nicely and save and invest the majority of it. Maybe think in terms of having more money instead of thinking in terms of not having enough. [sigma77]
I can only wish for you more proserous times. That is indeed cutting things close. But, your income is at least 4 or 5 times what mine is right now. I have to exchange services for room and board at the moment. I am not complaining, only looking toward what I can do today to improve my finances. Good luck to you. [sigma77]


I admit we don't live within our budget that is why all of our credit cards are run up to the limit and we have two car payments on top of rent the cell phone bill the internet bill the cable bill the gas lights all there is is bills! [hip2bemom]
I hear you it is so hard to get back in control when you have to steal from Peter to pay Paul, it is an endless spiral down because it is almost impossible to get ahead,and some times it is a big decision what not to pay this month in order to to pay something else. I have been there and totally understand your situation,And of course each late or non payment takes your credit rating down another notch. Credit is far to easy to get, and way more difficult to repay. I have 1 credit card and I never put anything on it unless I have the funds to pay for it.You and I know that help is what is needed and that is the hard part asking for it [RobinJ]



Unwanted expenses & lack of bargaining skills(in India)...are the main reasons why I alwayzz go beyond the limit...Moreover I've so big a heart(& a small brain) that I alwayzz feel that the other person is right & then get cheated in shopping. [hardeek]

We pretty much live within our budget...there are the occassional things that catch me off guard...like the transmission went out of my truck and it will cost approximately $2700 to fix it...so I am saving to get it fixed.... Good topic, my friend. [tinamwhite]


We really try to live within our budget, though we will occasionally splurge on something for a nice treat. I've discovered that occasionally splurging actually helps us to stay on our budget--it's not a lot of fun if you can never have things you want, and it just makes you more tempted to throw the budget out the window. The occasional treat or nice item will make it feel like less of a chore to follow the budget the rest of the time. [scarywhitegirl]
you are so right especially when you work for your money, because it just doesn't seem worth it if you can't treat your self. I treat myself by hunting down the best bargain I can find( half the fun is the hunting) and then enjoying my treasure. I will give you an example, one of the local thrift shops had a t least 30 brand new purses donated I think a wholesaler was getting rid of old stock any how there were names like Louis Vuitton,Gucci. Prada dnyk , any how I spotted a prada messenger purse that I fell in love with, but it was $14.99, so I waited until seniors day and went it was still there so I paid 10.49 for the purse I came home and went on line and looked up prada purses, and found my bag New price $275.00 American. I was thrilled even if it was the least inexpensive of the Prada line. It is a purse style I have been looking for for years. I was thrilled as you can well imagine. great answer thanks [RobinJ]


My wife and I havenever really ever done a physical type of budget. we just know how much money we have for our pleasures and wants every week is all. We don't sit down saying we have to save this much for this etc etc. we just know what we have menatlly in our brains. But I guess we live within our budget as we don't overcharge things on our cards etc. So things are okay here financially. HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~ [webeishere]

I live within my bugdet. I live in a poor country and I earned US$800 monthly which is count as a quite a high income in my country. I always bugdet my monthly expense to US$600 and the other US$200 will be placed in the emergency funds. Since I always prepared for the worst and I have quite alot of emergency funds right now LOL [sariayu]

Hello Robin ^_^/ Actually I do live withing my budget. But sometimes it is really hard to achieve. =_=; That is why I stareted to look for different money making programs. I'm only a student, and... In my country, the money that students get for their work is almost ZERO ;_; [yuki84]

Dear Robinj, I am 62 years old. I never did any budget for monthly or yearly expenses. By nature I do not spend on unwanted things. Since I know my income and others, we used to spend as we wish. By God grace there was dearth for fund all these years. God provided us sufficient income. I used to tell my wife to prepare a budget or write down expenses every month. For the last 27 years she never wrote single month expenditure prorperly. I had no habit of writing expenses. Every day I used to calculate what the expenses I did and see to that I have the right balance in my pocket. All my brothers write every day expenses for the last 35 years. [navtech]

We try to live within our budget but sometimes it is hard. I have a hard time keeping my husbad undercontrol because he has no concept of money. If he thinks we need something or wants something he wants it now he will buy it. He wants doritos instead of cheeper chips, he was raised by a mother who spent money like it was endless. I need to say no more. I really have to watch him. I will say at times I will splirge but only when I think we can afford it. I bought my husband three new shirts the other day but they where 7 dollars a piece. I took the price tag off so he would not know how cheaply I got them. lol [teapotmommommerced]

I am self-employed, and even though I am slightly above poverty level, I struggle to make ends meet. I get by, but there's really not enough wiggle-room in my finances to have much of a "budget." By the time rent, utilities, internet service and phone are taken care of, there's chunk left over for food, and very little else. My Costco membership helps me some... buying food in bulk rather than at the grocery has saved me some 20-30% on my food/grocery items. These days I am just saving whatever (whenever!) is left over to make a trip to go see my mom, later this year. With a bit of luck, I'll be able to afford to go, come the end of October. What causes me to stay "within" budget? Mostly that it was credit card debt that put me into bankruptcy some 12 years ago, so I don't buy ANYthing unless it's an absolute necessity. I don't want to go back to that life. [Denmarkguy]

I live within my budget most of the time. The other times I blow it out of the water by buying things right then instead of saving up for them. That is the quickest way to dig yourself into a whole with credit cards and such. [kittikat1119]

I have a very small budget at the moment because I am not working and unfortunately have to rely on my small benefit payment as well as drawing on my savings which is not ideal. Thankfully I don't smoke or drink and just about make ends meet. I do find it hard to budget because unexpected bills come up and when I live with my housemate it is even harder, it is good to rely on a bit of extra cash from the internet to help ends meet. [wolfie34]

I'm not very good at budgeting, I have to admit. And there's not one particular thing that causes that. The worst thing is when I forget that I've given a company permission to automatically debit a monthly payment out of my checking account. But I do seem to have a knack for just sort of hustling up some extra cash when I need it. All my little online money making endeavors seem to help me through. Between doing things like mylot, paid surveys, pay per click sites, etc...I can usually come up with a couple of hundred bucks a month. That's not a good way to be though. Even when I had a job that paid very well, I still wasn't good with budgeting and would come up short. [cblackink]