What's this budget thing about?

[arlington]

I've been reading some of the posts on this website (specifically relating to 13) and people keep talking about a budget that they have to stick to. I know about budgets in general but does the court/trustee give you their own budget that you have to go by? I heard someone mention that they had a certain budget for home repairs but didn't necessarily spend that money every month so they were able to put it aside. I have never included home maintenance in my self-made budget because I never had the money to spend in that area. There were a few other categories that I saw that people budgeted for but I can't remember right now. When I told my attorney how much we paid in groceries a month it seemed as if she didn't believe me because it wasn't much at all. I hope the courts/trustee don't even think about lowering my grocery bill if that is something that they budget for.

[lrprn]

...but does the court/trustee give you their own budget that you have to go by?

No worries about this, arlington. You create your own budget. The trustee doesn't want be in charge of how much you spend for groceries

Here's some good "create a family budget" links to give you a good head start.

http://www.credit.com/life_stages/marriage_family/Create-a-Family-Budget.jsp

http://www.betterbudgeting.com/artic...uilding101.htm (this one explains the envelope system - very effective during Ch 13!)

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/Financial_Literacy/Jan07_budgeting_worksheet_a1.asp

After bk, you'll have the money for house repairs now! Hope this helps!

[arlington]

Thanks. I actually have a budget in place - have for about 7 years now...I thought that the trustee put his 2 cents in as well. Thaks for the info.

[Granny]

I probably posted about setting aside the budgeted amount for the home repairs. The budget I was referring to was the amount that was listed on Schedule J.

For us, Sch J was pretty good at identifying general categories for expenses. Because I have good records using Quicken, I know what we spend in each of those categories listed on Sch J. Filling out that form was not a stab in the dark. Because I have this history, I can plan ahead for what we might need over the coming months, thereby eliminating the surprise when the auto tags come due, or other large expenses pop up out of the blue.

Another example is we spent an average of 140.00 per month on medical care and prescriptions last year. So I know that if we don't spend that amount this month, we might very well have to spend double that amount next month. So instead of spending the unused medical money this month on something else, I try to put it into savings for a future bill. This happened last month, our medical expenses were low and this month I had to cover a 250.00 dentist bill. I had to pull some out of savings to do it, but by the end of the month, I will be able to replace what I spent above my usual 140.00.

My feelings are this is going to be the only way we can survive 5 years in a ch 13. Planning ahead, saving for the unknown, being prepared.

I think the hardest part is when one of those high dollar expenses happens early in a Ch 13. We had a 350.00 repair bill for the house the first month after I filed and we weren't prepared for it yet. It was difficult the first month, and I avoided the grocery store and used the food in the freezer so I could make ends meet. Over time I have been able to restock the freezer by buying more than we needed when things were on sale, such as briskets for .99 per lb. If we get in a bind, I can once again forgo the grocery store, use what we have on hand and use the grocery money for the unexpected expense. We may have nothing but brisket for a month, but hey, it beats eating Ramen noodles for a month.