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If you are new in the world of budgeting, you might wonder where to start.  Fortunately for you, there are dozens of great online resources that will create a budget for you.

The best one I have found is from CNBC.  At the CNBC budget website, you can just input your monthly take home pay and click “calculate.”  In seconds, you will know what the suggested budget for housing, food, transportation, and so on.  Remember, every situation is different and that is only one option.  However, it is pretty good for the time commitment.

There are many other lifestyle budgeting calculators in a new post from Mint.com.  If you have not checked out Mint, it is definitely worth a look.  You may also want to read my post on services to help you lead an automated, online financial life.

I live paycheck to paycheck.  There you go, I admit it.  However, I am there intentionally.  We all make choices in our lives that impact our financial situation.  Sometimes those choices have the unintentional affect of making us live paycheck to paycheck.  Others give themselves enough financial flexibility that they don’t worry about their bank account balance.  I propose something completely different.

As you know, I use Mint to monitor my budget.  I think it is a great tool to keep my spending on track.  I usually go over in some areas and under in other areas, but do everything I can to make sure I do not go over my total spending goal.

I have a backup plan, however, for when Mint is not enough.  I only have enough money in my checking account for two weeks of spending.  I move everything else into a savings account each payday.

This goes along with the idea of paying yourself first.  Every paycheck, I automatically take out 3% (matched by my company) for my 401(k), 3% for my Roth, and 3% in my company discount stock purchase plan.  Once the cash hits my bank account, I automatically put $250 per paycheck into student loans.  I then manually take a step to pay myself: I put $200 into my savings account.  I can live off of what is leftover.

Some weeks, that is a little tight.  I have made it through with only a little clearance a few times when I make my bi-weekly credit card payment.  That forces me to evaluate my spending and lifestyle.  I have cut back on eating dinner out and spending on things like movies and hobbies to make everything balance.

If you have trouble meeting your savings goals, try my strategy and let me know how it works out.  I know this is the extreme version of paying yourself first, but it has been working for me.  My savings are up and I am still happy with my lifestyle.  I just have to make sure that my lifestyle does not exceed my income and savings goals.

How to you make sure you stay on budget?  Please tell us in the comments.

Ramit at I Will Teach You To Be Rich just published an interesting post with a quiz that can tell if you have a basic grasp on financial literacy.

1. Suppose you had $100 in a savings account and the interest rate was 2 percent per year. After 5 years, how much do you think you would have in the account if you left the money to grow?

a. More than $102
b. Exactly $102
c. Less than $102
d. Do not know

2. Imagine that the interest rate on your savings account was 1 percent per year and inflation was 2 percent per year. After 1 year, would you be able to buy more than, exactly the same as, or less than today with the money in this account?

a. More than today
b. Exactly the same as today
c. Less than today
d. Do not know

3. Do you think that the following statement is true or false? “Buying a single company stock usually provides a safer return than a stock mutual fund.”

a. True
b. False
c. Do not know

You have to visit Ramit for the answers and the rest of the post.  Let me know how you did in the comments.  I suspect most people who take the time to read a finance blog know the answers, but you never know.  If I have failed you, let me know what I need to write about.

I would like to take this opportunity to toot my own horn for a moment.  I got a promotion and a raise!  Yay!  More money, more to do.  Good times.

The question of what to do with a raise is often discussed in the personal finance world.  People can save more, they can raise their standard of living, they can do some combination of the two.  The answer for some is difficult.  While we all know that we should keep living just like we are and save our raise, we are not always that good.

I am a big fan of the percent contribution method of dealing with a raise.  If you make $40,000 per year and put 10% into retirement savings, you should stick with, at least, a 10% contribution if you get a raise to $45,000.  That way, your retirement contributions increase with your raise.  This is in contrast of putting in a fixed dollar amount, $4,000 per year at 10%, before and after the raise, because it would decrease to 8.8%.

Optimally, though, it might be even better to increase your contribution by a percent.  If you can get by living comfortably at $36,000 per year after retirement contributions before the raise, you can certainly continue to do so after the raise.  Why not split the difference?  Increase your contribution by half of your raise if you can, or something higher that what you are doing now.  It is easier to keep living the way you are today than to try to increase your contribution and adjust down later.

This time around, I am going to keep my retirement contributions the same by percentage, and will use the extra income to pay down student loans faster.  Hopefully I can put my next raise 50% to a house purchase fund and 50% to retirement.

That’s just my two cents.  What have you done with raises in the past?  Do you just keep it, keep contribution percentage the same and keep the difference, or raise your contribution?  Please say in the comments.

I always tell you all about what I spend my money on, but I have never shown you my budget. This includes my car loan and school loan payments (that I overpay by a whole lot every month). What do your budgets look like? Do any of you have budgets that are very different?

This is a screen shot of my budget from Mint.com.

You all know that my favorite part of the personal finance arsenal is Mint, a banking aggregation site that helps with budgeting and transaction history.

Thrive has popped up as Mint’s number one competition. The site offers what Mint does with a different emphasis. While Mint focuses on the budget, Thrive focuses on goals and advice. Wesabe, another Mint alternative, gives advice in the form of community support. Thrive acts as a free professional financial adviser.

Check it out at JustThrive.com.

Update: I have written a new post on this, Mint.com vs. Thrive Comparison.  The new post gives an in depth look at Thrive and a full comparison of both sites.

You do not need a budget to get by unless you are a compulsive spender. That said, I like to have a budget. You do not need a budget because you are already investing automatically. As long as you don’t touch that, you are fine for the future. Living paycheck to paycheck means that you are spending more than you can afford and you need to spend less, not necessarily earn more.

I use finance site Mint.com for my budgeting needs. I started my first budget when gas prices started rising. I decided that I was going to cap my gas spending, and my budget grew from there. Here is my first budget:

My first budget was simple. $120 per month for gas. That would be about a tank a week at the time. I also set a budget of $0 for bank fees. Mint would send a warning e-mail if that ever went above zero.

Over time, my budget developed. Here is my budget for October:

Now it is your turn. Since you are already on Mint, it will be easy to setup a budget. Just click on the “+Add Budget” button to set your first budget amount. My budget is a living financial tool that changes from month to month with my needs. Since I set my budget, I follow it. The leftovers go into my savings.

I keep telling you how you should invest, stop spending, and do more for yourself financially. I can not justify doing so without doing so myself. I want you all to see how I am doing it today.
That is my breakdown. You might note that I did not include a budget for my living, fun, and other savings. That is for next time. I did want you to see, however, that I do put 10% into investments first. The trick to automating your investing is that you can live on what is left. If you are feeling a crunch, make a lifestyle adjustment.

A very rich man once told me that the trick to being happy is living below your means. This multi-multi-multi millionaire drove the same Toyota Corolla he bought in the 1980s over twenty years later.

Now that you have seen how I do it, it is time to do it yourself.