Going Over or Staying Under Budget

In my previous budgeting post I talked about the different categories we use for our budget. Each category is given a specific dollar amount. But, what happens if I go over or under that amount for the month? Well here is what I do.

We will use our School Supplies/Activities category for an example. We budget $65 each month for this category during the months the kids are in school. If I go under that amount, and say we only use $45 one month then that extra $20 gets rolled over to my savings account at the end of the month. I have a seperate savings account where I keep all of our money that is already allocated to a certain category. I have another Excel document where I keep track of those categories and their balances.

If I go over the amount that is budgeted, hopefully there is money in that category that is unused from previous months in Savings that can be transferred over. If not, which frequently happens then you just have to cut from other categories in your budget. Or maybe less money will be transferred over to Savings at the end of the month.

Linked to Works for Me Wednesday at We are That Family.