For anyone that is familiar with The Complete Budget and Bill
Organizer, http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/BBOonline.html you
already know that I recommend that you use your checking account
to pay bills and cash to cover your household expenses.

With all of the different items that the average individual or
family spends money on, it can be difficult to keep it
separated. You have to have money for groceries, car gas,
school lunches, Groceries, Dining Out and Entertainment just
to name a few.

You could buy a box of envelopes each payday and sort the money
on payday and stuff the money in an envelope until you need it.
Of course, then you would have to have a safe place to keep it.

If you like the envelope method, then by all means use it.
However, the entire purpose of The Complete Budget and Bill
Organizer is to simplify things. Sitting down at the kitchen
table each payday and sorting cash is far from simple.

It would be much better to try storing it in your wallet or
purse. You would have the money when and where you need it.
There is an element of risk that the money could be lost or
stolen. If you don't feel comfortable with having that much cash
in your wallet and don't have problems handling your checking
account, you could deposit the money for groceries in your
account and write a check for your normal grocery shopping. I
wouldn't write a check for just a milk and bread run.

For a family, a budget keeper should be assigned to sort the
money. They would be responsible to distribute the money to
other members of the family. To do this you will have to clearly
define who in the family is responsible for what expenses. Let
me give you an example:

A family with a working dad and a stay-at-home mom with three
teenage kids may distribute their money like this:

Household Income after money for bills is deposited in
checking: $500

Mom is assigned as budget keeper and keeps $355. Out of this
money she is responsible for buying the groceries, health items,
cleaning supplies, the families clothing, school lunches, pay
the paper boy and other expenses around the house. Mom takes
$50 out of this money for herself that she doesn't have to
account to anyone else in the family for.

Mom gives dad $100 of which he is responsible for paying for his
expenses to get back and forth to work including car gas. Dad
can use $50 of his money that he doesn't have to account to
anyone else in the family for.

Mom gives each of the three kids an allowance of $15. This money
can be used any way they choose.

By sorting your money this way, each member in the family can
keep the money in their wallet and all of the responsibilities
are covered. No, you won't know exactly how much you spend each
month on groceries, car gas, etc. The main point of a simple
budget is to make sure you have the money to pay everything
without the hassles like sorting your money into envelopes and
accounting for every penny.

Mom, as budget keeper, would also be responsible for keeping the
budget, paying the bills and depositing money in their savings.
This does seem like a lot of responsibility for just one person
in the family but, to ensure that their finances are organized
and everything is covered, it is absolutely necessary. It is
also important to make sure dad knows how mom is handling things
so that he can step in if the need arises.

While developing your budget using the Budget Worksheet you will
know what your household expenses are. Simply take that list and
assign it to a member of the family along with the money to cover
it. If you run into problems and somethings aren't being paid,
you will probably have to review your budget and reassign these
responsibilities.


About the Author
Terry Rigg is the author of Living Within Your Means - The Easy
Way http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/ebookadpage.html and editor
of The FREE Budget Stretcher Newsletter and Budget Stretcher
web site http://www.homemoneyhelp.com. He has 25 years of
experience counseling individuals and families concerning their
personal finances.