[speaker001:] doing good
[speaker002:] how are you doing okay well
[speaker001:] doing great I had a while to think about it so why don't I start and you can chip in when you feel like it
[speaker002:] go right ahead
[speaker001:] uh when we were first married we didn't think we needed a budget and and I think it was fine with the two of us we just kind of spent as we wanted and seemed like we got paid off enough that it would cover
[speaker002:] now now how long ago was it that you got married
[speaker001:] oh it's been about nine years so
[speaker002:] nine years okay
[speaker001:] then when we actually got out of school and employed and we only started getting paid once a month and we found that you really had to budget things or by the last week or two you were broke so that's probably when we started budgeting and ever since we just you know
[speaker002:] what type of budget do you have
[speaker001:] oh I don't know
[speaker002:] no I mean I mean how do how do you keep do you actually look to see what you have spent each month or do you plan on what you're gonna spend for the month or I mean how do you do your budget
[speaker001:] I probably plan what we're going to spend each month I mean we get paid and I deduct all that we're going to have you know all the bills at first and then I set aside so much for utilities that we need and so much for this and
[speaker002:] okay
[speaker001:] then we have a certain amount each week to work with for groceries and and lots of times I go over that amount but
[speaker002:] well see now for myself I'm a CPA so needless to say my budget is probably extremely well fine tuned uh I've been married now for nineteen years
[speaker001:] um-hum  uh-huh
[speaker002:] and every month since the the day that I was married I have had a budget I take all the checks that I write and all the deposits that I make and I put into my computer and it spits out a beautiful financial statement and from the financial statement I can see each month exactly what I have spent to see what I have made and see if there's any profit in leftovers so I can tell if on a month by month basis if I'm spending too much and if I am I just simply go to the wife and say okay time to cut it off you know
[speaker001:] this is how much you spend on this you'd better not do it anymore
[speaker002:] well it's it's it's you know our budget's so much and you can just you can look at it and you can see hey that on clothing we have spent on this particular month so much more than the average I mean was just way out of proportion
[speaker001:] right and that's usually about schooltime
[speaker002:] for us it always seems to be Christmas time and yeah Christmas and summer uh so I have these financial statement and I look at them month by month by month
[speaker001:] oh yeah yeah
[speaker002:] and I can tell you to the penny how much we have spent in groceries how much we spend in utilities how much we spend on entertainment vacations
[speaker001:] that's great
[speaker002:] car car expenses whatnot and we know what we should be spending and uh now for my wife she's a schoolteacher her income is fixed for for myself I own my own CPA practice
[speaker001:] um-hum right
[speaker002:] so we have a uh uh a floating you know my income is not fixed it can go up it can go down but you've got the generalities you know what it's about it's going to be
[speaker001:] right yeah
[speaker002:] and so what we look at is is to see behind us because now I do not plan in advance I can not tell you what we're gonna be spending money on in the month of November I don't I don't know but I can tell you what we did spend in September
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and as I see that I can then say okay here we are in October uh so then you know we're we're a little bit short this you know last month we we spent way too much so we need to hold back let's not spend anything this month or next month so that's how I do my budget um
[speaker001:] yeah yeah that's great I I break mine down quite a bit I keep what's called a nonbalanced checkbook but I put all like fifty dollars away for clothes for the month or fifty dollars for savings bonds and you know and then when I feel like it I deduct that or so it's kind of a different way to do it but
[speaker002:] uh there was a time when I remember I always wanted to put fifty dollars into my savings account but now it just a matter I want to pay fifty dollars off of my bills that I have you know but uh I I I will not allow myself to have a credit card
[speaker001:] yeah we do and that
[speaker002:] that I now I I do have a credit card but I don't ever pay or have a balance of more than I can uh payoff
[speaker001:] uh-huh no we don't either we never we use it to float mainly
[speaker002:] yes I use it to float extremely
[speaker001:] especially on big purchases or around Christmas and
[speaker002:] yes I I enjoy that forty five day float very very much but uh I I have not paid an interest a penny of interest in the last ten years
[speaker001:] yes  yeah we I bet we haven't for two or three years or you know once in a while you you have something come up that is more than you can handle or or you thought you could handle and you have to leave a little balance but we haven't for ages either
[speaker002:] curiosity only only because I'm a CPA uh how do you budget for the April fifteenth or do y'all always have a refund or
[speaker001:] so far we've always had refunds we you know have we have three children and that seems to really help and we probably don't make enough right now so
[speaker002:] and I I assume do you own a house
[speaker001:] but yes
[speaker002:] good
[speaker001:] I think if we did see that we were starting