[speaker001:] you keep a budget
[speaker002:] um yes I do
[speaker001:] okay how how do you work that
[speaker002:] well usually it works out pretty well
[speaker001:] does it
[speaker002:] um I try to project out um right now I project out six months
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] you know I have my fixed monthly bills and I know how much they are
[speaker001:] right uh-huh
[speaker002:] and uh I have a percentage of my savings that I attempt to take off the top
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] not unless I have something come up that's unusual that I was unexpected and then I may have to go into savings
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh
[speaker002:] and
[speaker001:] well that seems to work out pretty good
[speaker002:] kind of the formula I use I use uh ninety percent of my check
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] and then I retain ten percent and if I don't use it then it goes into savings also
[speaker001:] for savings oh is it is it hard to set it up for the six month period rather than just a month or
[speaker002:] well my monthly bills are pretty consistent you know you have your house payments the same every month uh car payments are the same you know when your insurance is due
[speaker001:] oh right uh-huh so in fact
[speaker002:] so you budget all that in that's why a lot of times I only use ninety percent of my salary because some months I'll have insurance
[speaker001:] it might uh-huh
[speaker002:] um two or three times a year
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] and I need that extra money and to take it out of savings at that point
[speaker001:] oh so really when you're doing it it probably is just as easy to do it for the six month period rather than just a month at a time oh
[speaker002:] sure um-hum a month at a time is not a really a big picture of what's going on in your life because it doesn't give you any flexibility as far as uh unforeseen situations or something coming down the road that you know is coming down the road that you need to save for
[speaker001:] no uh-huh oh right and then also I mean that's if you do it monthly that's twelve times you have to sit down and figure it out and you could save all that
[speaker002:] yeah I do it uh twice a year and um you know I could adjust it every month that's no big deal
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] but uh I just finished out December and uh when I was done with it I threw it away and I already had January through July made out
[speaker001:] um-hum so you do it January to July and then July to December oh oh does now how did you say you worked your savings do you take your savings right off
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah I take the savings right off the top I pay myself first
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] I'm the type of individual that uh you know I can't I have to put something back for myself to feel like I'm doing my job
[speaker001:] uh-huh right right
[speaker002:] it's my motivator
[speaker001:] and how much at what percentage do you save
[speaker002:] I save about fifteen percent
[speaker001:] oh that's great
[speaker002:] out of what out of my savings account not as well as the Japanese do
[speaker001:] well that that's fairly good do you get paid once a month or by twice a month
[speaker002:] twice a month uh uh actually every other week so twenty six checks
[speaker001:] every two weeks during the year oh that's great we
[speaker002:] yeah  so twice a year I pick up an extra check also
[speaker001:] oh that's right so that helps out
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] gives you a bit there oh
[speaker002:] how do you all do yours
[speaker001:] well we we don't really do very well we have never sat down and made out a formal budget we keep saying you know we're going to do this we're going to do this we we take our savings right out right out first and put you know put it away and then
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] we just uh we're that's terrible but we just kind of spend what we need that's right that's right we take the savings out and uh you know put that in and then
[speaker002:] spend what's left over huh
[speaker001:] spend what what's left over like you said and I know we if we keep but we just don't know how to get down and get started I guess trying to decide how much goes where and you know
[speaker002:] um-hum there's really no certain formula that you can say well I I wanna say this much and I'm gonna spend this much for the house and
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh I'm kind of in a situation right now that my our children are grown and they're gone so uh
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] you know and the house is almost paid for so we're in pretty good shape
[speaker001:] oh oh that's great now how did you get started when you started doing have you always done a budget or what
[speaker002:] uh we've done them for about fifteen years
[speaker001:] about fifteen years oh so quite a while huh did you just sit down and decide
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] this much is this much is gonna go here and the thing we have a hard time with was you know like how much for the groceries and how much for the clothes and how much for
[speaker002:] well one thing we do about the groceries and when and we just got back from the grocery store and we've been doing this for a long time and we know exactly how much we spend at the grocery store because when we come home we write it down
[speaker001:] um-hum oh oh
[speaker002:] so in a given month we know that we spent two hundred and fifty dollars or four hundred dollars or whatever it is and if it's four hundred dollars we look at it and say well why did we spend four hundred dollars
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh
[speaker002:] and we spent four hundred dollars this month because or last month because uh we had several Christmas parties
[speaker001:] December right right
[speaker002:] so but we know approximately how much our our monthly grocery bill is you know and and you should be able to do that too within
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] ten or fifteen percent of what uh what you spend once you get a track record
[speaker001:] right if we just huh so
[speaker002:] and once you establish your track record
[speaker001:] so what