Question

This is my first month budgeting. My fiancé has always been in charge of finances and it’s been terrible. He’s just bad at it so I’m in charge. I am budgeting per paycheck twice a week. So this first paycheck this month I paid half my bills, put money in envelopes for groceries, gas, extras, etc. after all of that I have $40 in our account for two weeks. I’m having major anxiety about it. Is this how it’s supposed to be? I’m scared I’ve messed up or I truly don’t have the money to do the envelopes.  

Answer 1

You paid your bills and you have money for food and gas. Put the $40 in Savings and you’re golden! Good job!  

Comments

The cool thing about Miko is she is open to what works for your situation. She personally likes to keep a “buffer” in her checking account. She agrees that a zero-based budget is doable but scary. It’s up to preference. If you want to keep the $40 in checking. then do that. But give it a name. and a purpose.  

Answer 2

I have $15 in our main checking. It stresses me out. We have a bunch of money in envelopes and other bank accounts, but seeing our main account so low gives me anxiety  

Comments

Nope! You did it right!  

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@outlander this is my first week and this is me right now freaking out. I have the cash and envelopes but that small amount is giving me so much anxiety! Got to get used to that

Answer 3

I leave $40 in my bank account as a cushion and I usually have about $200 left going towards debt a month . Not all of us are able to do huge amounts ! $40 is good

Answer 4

You’re doing great if you have $40 left after putting money where it’s needs to go. With that $40, I would put $20 in savings and leave $20 to start building a small checking account cushion. I know it’s a hard concept to grasp having such little money or no money in your checking account but if you’ve done your budget based on your expenses and what you need to make it through that pay period, then everything you need should be in your cash envelopes. It’s takes some getting used to, but you’re on the right track, just give that $40 a purpose as well.  

Answer 5

I feel super slow as I just joined this group not that long ago. I keep hearing about the Miko method, where do I go to find information on this! I’ve just been enjoying sharing and seeing the wins from others but I want to take full advantage of what’s offered!  

Answer 6

What Miko says is having a checking account cushion is zero based budgeting. All zero based budgeting is is ensuring every dollar has a job. So the $40 you have in your account does have a job. It’s your account cushion. Just remember that’s it’s job is to stay there not to spend.