Spending is easy, saving is hard. Budgeting sometimes work for people, sometimes it just bears time. Richard Jenkins had experience, and by analyzing his spending pattern, he sees a solution. He determines to keep his comitted expenses at or below 60%. Then he plans his remaining 40% income on different type of spending:
After analyzing our spending patterns over the past couple of years using our Microsoft Money data file, I determined that we needed to keep our committed expenses at or below 60% of our gross income to come out ahead at the end of the month.
Committed expenses:
* Basic food and clothing needs.
* Essential household expenses.
* Insurance premiums.
* Charitable contributions.
* All of our bills — even such non-essentials as our satellite TV service.
* ALL of our taxes.
I’m not saying that 60% is a magic number. It’s a workable goal for my family, and it’s a nice round number. But your number might well be a bit higher or lower. At any rate, it’s a good place to start.
It is also interesting to see his plan on dividing his saving into different categories, such as retirement savings, long term savings, short-term savings/irregular expenses, and fun money.
A simpler way to save: the 60% solution – [MSN Money]
