Humor me... I need a household budgeting tool

[Anonymous]

I've used Mint.com for tracking spending, but never actually set out a budget for the future. I'd like to do that now, and feel clueless about where to start. I should just go off of take-home pay and expenses, right? I'm college educated and I have a good job, HHI is about $150k and I am budget-clueless. I am googling but don't know what to trust or what might be most useful. Or do I just use a pencil and paper?
Thank God for anonymity.

[Anonymous]

Yes, pen and paper.

[Anonymous]

I'm using mint.com as well, and I put in budget amounts for categories after using the site for a few months. You need some data to set your budgets for individual categories. I would just start, then go incrementally.

[Anonymous]

youneedabudget?

[Anonymous]

You can use Mint to do this--use it to identify areas where you think you spend too much, and then adjust your budget amounts for these categories. For example, Mint will tell you that you've spent an average of $1000 on groceries per month, and then you can set your budgeted amount for groceries to something below that.

[Anonymous]

I started using YNAB six months ago: http://www.youneedabudget.com/

We have a similar HHI to you and it has made a big difference. We've gone from using the credit cards every month, to actually paying down the balances. I can't say enough good things about it. They have a 34 day free trial. Definitely sign up for one of the free classes. Really helps you understand the software.

[Anonymous]

Finansavvy.com

[Anonymous]

We have a similar HHI to you and it has made a big difference. We've gone from using the credit cards every month, to actually paying down the balances. I can't say enough good things about it. They have a 34 day free trial. Definitely sign up for one of the free classes. Really helps you understand the software.

How did you do this? Did you notice trends in your spending that you were able to curtail?

[Anonymous]

We have a similar HHI to you and it has made a big difference. We've gone from using the credit cards every month, to actually paying down the balances. I can't say enough good things about it. They have a 34 day free trial. Definitely sign up for one of the free classes. Really helps you understand the software.

PP here. sorry, not good with the quoting. So posting again. What made you be able to start paying down the credit cards? Suggestions welcome!