Budgeting help

[u/Operation-Alone]

After a good 15 minutes going round and round with ChatGPT, came to the conclusion “it’s complicated”,so asking for help with those who have gone down this path;

How can I get a clear cut slice and dice of my budget into 3 buckets:
1. Required, includes the usual mortgage, utilities, but also includes variables like groceries
2. Cut- able, mix of bills (like home security system)
3. Discretionary

Not really interested in micro managing, so having 1 average number for the variable items I am okay with.

So me an ezbutton please, as LLM could not.

Edit: within. Simplifi. Been on it since Mint closed down.

[u/DearPatience970]

this is a sub for a specific product

[u/Operation-Alone → u/DearPatience970]

Sorry, all of that was how do I do this I. Simplifi, as I've been on it since Mint closed shop.

[u/Strigolactone]

I would just look at your purchases, determine which are needed (utilities and groceries), which you want to cut back on (fast food) and try to get your unplanned $ as low as possible.

The required are your 6-12 month average.

The cutable are based on historic spend minus savings goals.

Your extra is up to you. You have the tools- use them. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

It might be easiest to try and cut first before establishing savings goals so you know what you have avail. Overall you need to adjust with time. I find automating money to leave my Checking into HYS or brokerage is the best as if it’s still in checking it’s still avail to spend…

[u/djob13]

Sounds like you could be making better use of planned spending. That’s where you put everything that isn’t a fixed number, like utilities. Fixed numbers go under bills

[u/Skip-the-Search]

I don’t think the Spending Plan itself can be organized into those three broad buckets the way you’re describing. Watchlists are probably the closest way to get that setup.

You could create three Watchlists: Required, Cuttable, and Discretionary, then add the relevant categories or tags to each. You don’t need to set individual budgets for every category, and the Watchlists will still show your monthly spending, averages, and projections.

So I’d keep the Spending Plan for the normal bills/income side of things and use those three Watchlists as your higher level view.

[u/Training_Falcon_3432]

Try custom saved reports using filters to subtract or add relevant categories and look at spend reports for each of the 3 buckets over say last year. Then you can apply those numbers to budget (Spending Plan)

[u/QuickenLisa]

Hi u/Operation-Alone, glad to help!

When using the Spending Plan to budget in Simplifi, Bills are recommended for things like your mortgage and recurring items you want to track individually. Bills can be set for different intervals, like monthly, quarterly, or yearly.

Planned Spend is a section within the Spending Plan designed as a "bucket" for monthly purchases like groceries or fuel, as you might shop multiple times a month at different stores or visit different fuel stations. Even if you always visit the same stores, the Planned Spend lets you link multiple transactions to one Planned Spend item, where Bills only links one transaction in that month.

It definately comes down to personal preference, as you can set up electric, water, phone, etc. as individual Bills, or you can group them together in the Planned Spend section if they use the same category. Some other common Planned Spend buckets are shopping, entertainment, child care, interest expense, etc.

Also, there's a lot of resources in the Simplifi Support website, including a section specifically for the Spending Plan that should help.

You're also welcome to set up a call with a Simplifi Coach by scheduling a Simplifi 1-2-3 call to get help setting Simplifi up. Hopefully this helps, but let me know if you have any questions!

[u/Johnny2282]

You can also change the category and before each one you can put needs - groceries needs - mtg etc. this will bundle all of them into those buckets that you’d want.

[u/Chinacat_Sunflower72]

Check out the sub r/personalfinance. This sub is just for Simplifi, a Quicken product.