3 Simple Budgeting Categories for Busy Moms | An Easy Way to Manage Your Budget

The cashier shot me an inpatient look as I shuffled through my envelopes.

Fumbling, I dropped the cash in my bag and reached for my debit card.

A checkout deficit can embarrass even the most frugal budgeters. And most of us will throw the budget out the window, at the risk of admitting we’ve overspent.

But why does budgeting have to be so confusing? Do we need 10 different budgeting categories to manage? Does it help us save any more money?

As a busy mom, these budgeting systems didn’t work for me. My guess is they aren’t working for you either. Or they work, but you hate all the bookkeeping.

I decided I needed to create a simple way for busy moms to meet their financial goals. And with that came simplifying budgeting categories so they would be easy to follow and track.

If you’ve tried to budget but find yourself lost and confused by the amount of bookkeeping necessary, I’ve created a simple budgeting method that will work for you.

3 Simple Budgeting Categories for Busy Moms

The First Step: Fixed Expenses

At this point, you should already have your monthly budget (if you don’t, get started here). We’re going to look at the personal budget categories that you need to track.

Before you get there, make a list of all your fixed expenses. These are the expenses that don’t change much from month to month. You may need to check off that they’re paid monthly but you don’t need to track them.

List these expenses. Decide if you want to keep or cut them.

Break everything down so you can see all of the numbers, but once you’ve got it, this number shouldn’t fluctuate much from month to month.

Things This Might Include

1. Tithes
2. Mortgage Payments
3. Home Cleaning Service
4. Pest Control Service
5. Insurance Premiums
6. Student Loans
7. Monthly Subscriptions
8. TV/Internet
9. Phone
10. Health Insurance
11. Car Payment
12. Car Insurance

These are all expenses that you’ll have every month. (You can come back at the end and cut if needed.)

And Then, Variable Monthly Expenses

Now write down all of your variable monthly expenses. These are expenses that don’t change from month to month. But their amounts change.

For Example

1. Childcare
2. Water
3. Sewage
4. Electricity/Gas
5. Credit Card Bills
6. Medical Expenses (medications,co-pays)

Write down the expenses in this column that you have to pay.

The Only 3 Categories You Need to Track

After your fixed expenses, you’re left with 3 budgeting categories to track. These 3 main categories will cover your expenses and make tracking your budget simple. This method will work no matter what your financial situation.

Budget Category 1: Food

This budget is split into two subcategories–groceries and eating out.

Now, if you are on a tight budget and you NEVER eat out, just budget for groceries. But chances are your family spends some money on eating out.

How much should you budget for food?

A reasonable amount is $150 monthly per person for groceries and $50 monthly per person for eating out. (This number is based on my experience and the data I’ve gathered from surveying other families.)

This may vary based on where you live and the type of food you buy. But it’s a starting point.

Sample Grocery Budgets

Blended Families

If you have children part-time, determine the number of weeks each month you have each child (round up to the nearest week) and divide $150 by the number of weeks.

Example

1 child 2 weeks per month = $75 a month for that child

2 children 1 week per month = $75 a month for both children

Eating Out

Eating out is classified as a quick dinner or an individual lunch. Don’t count date nights or birthday dinners. There’s a separate budget for that.

You don’t need to give each family member their $50. Have one family member manage this budget.

Borrowing

Groceries and Eating Out can borrow from each other. Say it’s been a busy week and you haven’t had time to go to the grocery store. You’d rather spend some of your grocery money on eating out tonight. Go ahead.

But remember that eating out costs more than eating in. So don’t make borrowing a habit.

Breaking it Down Weekly

One thing I’ve learned from 10+ years of getting paid monthly is you have to break it down weekly. So take your budget and break it into weekly allowances.

Each week, go to the ATM (ideally) and get your budget in CASH. (You don’t have to use cash it works best for staying within budget on food.)

Feel free to round up or down to make things easier to break into weeks. This is your budget!

For example, my family budget should be $675 monthly for groceries and $225 for eating out. With a total of $900 for our monthly food budget. Instead, I break it into $700 for groceries and $200 for eating out so I can break it into $175 a week for groceries and $50 a week for eating out.

Budget Category 2: Spending

This category is for everything you spend money on. As simple as that. I don’t care if you spend money on home items, personal care, or outfits for your dog. It’s all spending and it’s all coming from the same place.

To simplify it, this budget will mirror your food budget.

Break it down into two categories–needs and wants. $150 per person on needs and $50 per person on wants.

Again, you don’t need to give these amounts to each person in your household. It’s just a gauge to help you control your spending based on the needs of your family.

Keep Spending Under Control

Each week, keep a list of your family/household needs. At the end of the week, consult your list and buy the items you need, within your weekly budget. No need for cash.

This means you spend your money at the end of each week. Not the beginning.

Add your wants to a list too.

At the end of the month, sit down with your spouse/family and spend your “want” money. Or save it up each month to buy something big.

Note: It may take some time to change your spending habits, so don’t give up if this is a struggle initially.

A Want or a Need?

How do you know if something is a need or a want?

If you run out of something you already use or it breaks and needs to be replaced, it’s a want. For example, if you wear makeup and you run out of mascara, that’s a need. If your shirt rips and you don’t have enough shirts for the week, that’s a need. If you don’t like the shoes you wear regularly and want to replace them, that’s a want (if they break and are unwearable, they’re a need).

Ultimately, you decide if something is a want or need. If you can function daily without it, it’s probably a want.

Why This Saves Money

Often we spend money without thinking about it. We “need” items constantly, but when we take time to inventory our needs and wait to purchase. We find we don’t need as much as we thought.

I often remove items from my list by the end of the week/month. Turns out I didn’t need to try a new moisturizer, buy work shoes, or upgrade our toaster. Or we don’t want to spend our precious “want” money on a new baby monitor when the half-broken one still works.

Borrowing

As with your food budget, you can borrow between these two categories. Remember you only spend your “want” money at the end of the month, so by then all of your needs are met. If you have extra, feel free to spend it on a want or save it.

Budget Category 3: Fun

As a family, it’s important to set aside some time and money for fun each month. This category should amount to time spent with others. Whether that’s watching a movie, having coffee with a friend, or going out for an extravagant anniversary dinner.

The reason I like to track this separately is that our money can easily get eaten up by things. Then when it’s time for a much-needed date night, there’s no money.

Try to set aside at least $25 per person a month for fun. Up to $100 per person if you can afford it.

These small indulgences help you prioritize community and energize your life and family.

Things This Might Include

1. A new board game for family game night.
2. A dinner out at a restaurant.
3. Buying a movie for family movie night.
4. Movie theater tickets.
5. A date night out.
6. Ice cream out with one of your children.
7. Coffee with a friend.
8. A trip to a store everyone picks 1 thing to buy.

How to Track Your Spending

With these simple categories, it’s easy to track your spending. But it is helpful to write things down.

Keep an accounting of your spending in each of these 3 categories. Use a budgeting book or budget spreadsheet to write down all of the items we buy and track bills. Using these broad categories makes that process simple.

With this simple method, it’ll take 15-30 minutes a week to write everything down and check-in.

A New Category

When you budget using these categories, you should find one new category–savings. After you’ve followed your budget for the month, take the extra money and allocate it to debt repayment or put it in a savings account.

If you have a big item you want to buy that costs more than your monthly “Want Budget,” you can allocate your savings toward that item.

Navigating the Unexpected

As I wrote down our expenses for the week, I quickly realized we had a problem.

I hadn’t bought our weekly needs, but a few trips to the hardware store had put us over budget.

When this happens, there’s no point arguing or pointing fingers. The budget got blown and there are still spending needs.

When an unexpected expense happens, decide where the money will come from. Will you cover it with an emergency fund or is it coming out of spending? If it comes out of spending, you’ll need to adjust.

Getting Back on Track

Once you’ve paid the expense, look at your budget balances and redistribute it for the remaining weeks. You might have $75 a week instead of $200 for the rest of the month. Try to stick to the bare minimum needs and create a plan to avoid this next month.

If you blow your entire budget and there’s no way to fix things. Try to spend as little as possible and reevaluate next month.

Consider…

Is this a one-time problem or a bigger issue? Do you need to reevaluate your budget?

Whatever you do, avoid using credit cards to cover your overage. When you use a credit card to cover overage, the problem bleeds into the next month. If you don’t pay off the entire balance, it bleeds into many months.

Do your best to cover your monthly expenses with that month’s income.

Evaluating Your Spending

If you consistently don’t bring in enough monthly income to cover your expenses, you have a problem. You can budget no matter how much money you make. The key to being financially stable is living within your means. If you don’t make enough money to cover your expenses, you have to cut expenses or bring in more income.

Look over the items in your fixed and variable expenses, are they essential? Is there anything you can cut?

If you’ve slashed eating out, spending on wants, and fun money, but you’re consistently over budget. See if there’s something you can cut from those untracked expenses. Can you cut cable? Save some money on your phone bill or internet service? Do you have subscriptions or a gym membership you forgot about?

Try to cut things down to your essential expenses. Then add in the amounts I suggested from each budgeting category. If there’s money left add things back in based on their importance.

If you still can’t make things work on the amount of money you have, it’s time to consider ways to bring in more income.

Check out Transforming Your Finances for more tips on money management and Saving Money on Childcare if you’re looking to cut expenses.

Whether you’re just starting out or just can’t seem to stick to a budget, these 3 budgeting categories will make money management simple. After a few months of consistent tracking, you’ll be on your way to financial stability. And won’t find yourself frantically sorting through cash in the checkout line.

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