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What do you do with the money thats left over?

This question is for the folks that have a budget. If you wind up coming under your budget for each category you have set, what do you do with the remaining money? Does it roll over into next month for bills? Do you use it at your discretion?

As I worked on my budget last night, I told myself that even though I have a specific amount budgeted out for each category, I would work on always coming under my budget. But then I had to ask myself, "What will I do with the left over money?".

After some careful thought, I have come up with 2 scenarios. I can either transfer the remaining money to my savings account (the one I had for my home purchase) and then apply it to my cc debt every time the balance reaches $100. Or I can transfer the remainder to my savings account and use it for a vacation (my sister suggested this).

All this depends on how well I do keeping under my budget each month. So none of the scenarios is guaranteed.

Has anyone run into this situation? If so, what do you do with that remaining amount? Do you treat is as "found money"?

Comments

Single Ma said…
All extra goes towards debt.
Dimples said…
I wonder if I should put the remainder in my "spending fun" account? I dunno. It may depend on the amount. I don't think it will be anything like $100 a month, maybe more like $10.
SingleGuyMoney said…
I split the remainder between my Misc savings account (small emergency, unplanned expense account) and my rental property savings account (for emergency repairs and maint).
Anonymous said…
Coming "under" budget?! I hope I have this situation one day soon, lol. If I did, I would definitely put it into emergency savings.
Anonymous said…
Great entry, I've been struggling with this same question, just blogged about it tonight. I think for now my solution is to let it rollover and build up into a "Fun Fund" but with the stipulation that fund is not exceed say, $200. Anytime it gets over $200, I'll start funneling the extra toward debt payoff.

Of course, like you, my rollover will probably be maybe $20-30/month but who knows.
Anonymous said…
Hmmm, great question. You already have a pretty solid emergency fund, so I would say put the extra money towards your debt and monitor how you do on your budget for a month or two. If you find that you are regularly over your budget in certain areas, it could be that that "extra money" is needed somewhere else.
Anonymous said…
Hey GURL, I read your blog and the others have made a lot of great suggestions on what to do with the extra money. I agree with those who put it in a savings acct and I also agree with those who use it towards debt. In my opinion and by reading your other posts putting it towards anything like cc debt would only help a little. I really think it should be towards an emergency/savings account to where when you do come to that situation with your family it would be taken care of. ALSO my extra money goes towards my savings account to earn interest. I have investment accts as you know and they are automatically taken out of my check. Hope this helps!
krystalatwork said…
Hey Dimples, when I found that I had extra money left over each month, I always always always put it towards my debt first before anything else. After all, that's your main goal right, to get out of debt?

I feel like if you're contributing to your EF and anything else you need to budget for, then definitely put it towards your debt. :)
JW said…
We do a zero based budget. In that way all of the money is preassigned in the beginning of the month towards something. But, I'm familiar with several other systems that work similar to what you are trying to do.
Unknown said…
What up Ms. Dimples? I actually have been getting money for my birthday this week and my best friend was one of the people who gave me cash. She told me "you are not to pay any bills with this money." You are to buy you something so I did. I bought three shirts for fall. I think if you are doing well with the budget and you have some left over you should either 1)roll it into the next month as a cushion. 2)Put it into savings. 3) Pay down debt. There are so many options I can't even answer definitively. Ooohh 4) Put 1/2 on debt and 1/2 in savings. Oh forgot this one 5) Treat yourself.
Dimples said…
@ Everyone

Thanks for your comments and suggestions

@ D.C

Girl you silly. I been thinking about all the options also. I am not even sure if I will be able to come under budget, just wondering what I should do if I run into that situation. I think I will do a post about what I have decided to do.
Anonymous said…
i do different things depending on my situation. sometimes the extra goes to savings. sometimes debt. sometimes it'll go into another expense for that month - for example, if i come in under budget on groceries but i need money for gas, i'll use the extra money for gas. i'm flexible with it.
SavingDiva said…
Since I don't have any credit card debt right now, I would add the remaining money to my EF. As a side note, I have yet to come in under budget EVER...if I am under budget in one category, I'm over in another...I'm working on sticking with a budget.

However, I am earning interest on my checking account now, and I'm just going to allow the money to compound in my check account as a little pillow (in case I overdraw...which I hope not to do). When it gets to be a substantial amount, I will transfer the money to my EF.
I would suggest findind a MMA to put the money into. It is just like a saving account but the interest rates are higher. If you keep the money in there, it will grow at a faster rate than it would in just a regular account.

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