I give up on budgeting!

pixalicious · July 2012

I've stopped updating my Excel spreadsheet that lists how much I've been spending compared to my budget. I'm too scared to open it and see how much I've spent over.

Anyone else with me?

cheeseandrice · July 2012

Nope. When it was all said and done, we came in at about 75% of what we originally budgeted.

brilibby4 · July 2012

That sounds like a bad idea. You set your budget where you did for a reason, right? I don't believe in going into debt for a wedding so I really hope you don't take it that far. Also, ignoring the problem is going to make it worse, not better.

We did reevaluate our budget and adjust it as necessary a few times. For example, our venue ended up costing a bit more than planned so we lowered our budget in other areas to make up for that.

AllAboutTheBenjamin · July 2012

Uh, no. As unorganized as my closet is and as messy as my desk at work is, one thing I'm fairly neurotic about is money. I have my checkbook balanced to the cent and it always matches with my online banking. We rarely over-extend ourselves and in that rare instance that we do, we have a savings safety net.

I am pretty much a stickler about money. I refuse to be late on ANY bill. Ever.

pirategal03 · July 2012

For the wedding? We were under.

For everyday, eh. In my mind, not putting half our income in savings/investments means we're spending too much, I"m never comfortable here.

Anysunrise · July 2012

I feel like if you're worried about the budget, completely ignoring it would be counterproductive. Just a thought.

cheeseandrice · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_i-give-up-on-budgeting?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:8fda6216-43c6-48fc-ba8d-f6b2c44e6ef1Post:237905d5-f3ab-418c-b5e0-4e5915d8f776">Re: I give up on budgeting!</a>:
[QUOTE]For the wedding? We were under. For everyday, eh. In my mind, <strong>not putting half our income in savings/investments means we're spending too much</strong>, I"m never comfortable here.
Posted by pirategal03[/QUOTE]

I really need some of this mentality.

jennamarie10 · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_i-give-up-on-budgeting?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:8fda6216-43c6-48fc-ba8d-f6b2c44e6ef1Post:c883cfb3-f23d-4d4c-8a5f-019f74faa52d">Re: I give up on budgeting!</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: I give up on budgeting! : I really need some of this mentality.
Posted by Steph+J[/QUOTE]

Gah, I agree. I don't even know what that would be like. We try as hard as we freaking can to put about 10-15% in savings (not counting 401k and stuff) and a portion of that is earmarked for a boat purchase next year.

brandichamberlain · July 2012

From someone who grossly misjudged what a wedding would cost and had to double our original budget from 5k to 10k for what we wanted you need to look at that. You can do a wedding on a small budget, but you may not do everything you originally wanted.

LesPaul · July 2012

Ignoring it is a really bad idea. Trust me, I've been there.

J&K10910 · July 2012

Might I suggest a financial planner to help you in the future? (Not with the wedding, with life.)

marriedfilingjointly · July 2012

Oh meh gah yes. I got so frustrated looking at my budget that I threw the computer at the wall and went on a shopping spree at Neiman Marcus to make myself feel better. Then I got a new MacBook Air at the Apple store to replace the Dell I broke.

Girlie1030 · July 2012

I give up on resisting Cheetos. They're in my budget though so it's ok.

RailWayWife · July 2012

No way. I want to know exactly how much I am spending and know that I am within budget.

azdancer8 · July 2012

I agree with PPs. You need to know where you stand. Better to find out when you're only slightly over than when you've spent way more and can't change anything. We came in quite a bit under budget for our wedding..15-25% below maybe? Our household budget is balanced every payday, so I always know where we stand financially.

pixalicious · July 2012

Geeze louise! At least there's two of you out there who empathize with my frustration. I'm very well prepared for budgeting the rest of my life. And no, this wedding will not put me in debt. I'm not that ill-prepared.

icefog34 · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_i-give-up-on-budgeting?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:8fda6216-43c6-48fc-ba8d-f6b2c44e6ef1Post:9169facc-ee2e-476a-be37-797be0fe4a1a">Re: I give up on budgeting!</a>:
[QUOTE]Oh meh gah yes. I got so frustrated looking at my budget that I threw the computer at the wall and went on a shopping spree at Neiman Marcus to make myself feel better. Then I got a new MacBook Air at the Apple store to replace the Dell I broke.
Posted by marriedfilingjointly[/QUOTE]
lol!

icefog34 · July 2012

I've had to redo our budget but that's only because my expectaions of how much stuff would cost was, apparently, WAY unrealistic. But like you, we're not going into debt over it.

pixalicious · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_i-give-up-on-budgeting?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:8fda6216-43c6-48fc-ba8d-f6b2c44e6ef1Post:6e237138-693f-4693-bf06-219d744f56d0">Re: I give up on budgeting!</a>:
[QUOTE]I've had to redo our budget but that's only because my expectaions of how much stuff would cost was, apparently, WAY unrealistic. But like you, we're not going into debt over it.
Posted by icefog34[/QUOTE]

Yep. That's what we've had to do. I'm just tired of having to open the dang file and update it.

pixalicious · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_i-give-up-on-budgeting?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:8fda6216-43c6-48fc-ba8d-f6b2c44e6ef1Post:2c598974-04f8-42eb-a01f-cb03bafc5563">Re: I give up on budgeting!</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: I give up on budgeting! : So you'd rather us feel sorry for you instead of advising you not to run away from your spreadsheet? I'm glad you won't be going into debt but you need to stay on top of things. Also, if you're "very well prepared for budgeting for the rest of your life", what are you worried about?
Posted by edielaura[/QUOTE]

I never asked for advice. I asked if there was anyone else in the same boat as me. Perhaps you didn't read my post?

Ali092011 · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_i-give-up-on-budgeting?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:8fda6216-43c6-48fc-ba8d-f6b2c44e6ef1Post:6e237138-693f-4693-bf06-219d744f56d0">Re: I give up on budgeting!</a>:
[QUOTE]I've had to redo our budget but that's only because my expectaions of how much stuff would cost was, apparently, WAY unrealistic. But like you, we're not going into debt over it.
Posted by icefog34[/QUOTE]

I had that happen to me when we first started planning. I didn't know how to start a budget when I had no idea how much things cost. I know they always say to make a budget first and then find vendors that are in your budget, but we had virtually no clue how much to budget for things like flowers, a DJ, etc. We had to redo our whole budget and how much we wanted to spend on what.

MerAndTrick · July 2012

We had a budget for food... then we went to caterers that were "in budget"... We like food way too much to stay in budget there. They were terrible. Whattup TWICE what we were expecting to spend on food. LOL!!!

babeecutee · July 2012

i gave up long time ago and my wedding is in 3 weeks and we've double our orignal budget. He figures we only get married once. plus thing cost more than what we expected. i don't really care because i didn't really want a big wedding but a destination wedding. so he gets his big wedding a bill at the end. But he's been saving for this for a long time now. that being said we didn't think we would do videography, but in the end we did and that was 4000. photography was another 4000. we thought it was only going to be about 2000 for photos. We wont be getting much help from the family but they are goin to help with some of the cost of the wedding. as of now i dont care for the budget. i just want to be married now so the stress can disappear.

I give up on budgeting!

Re: I give up on budgeting!

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