Budget Binder

This is a little creation of my own and I really love it, so I though I'd share -

To manage our finances, I have a "Family Finances" binder where I keep a paper record of our family expenses.  It includes, starting from the beginning:

1) Pocket Folder for receipts

2) Sheet Protector side a) Outline of our Monthly budget - how much we spend each month (or that I wish we had each month!) to spend on the things I'd like to spend money on.

3) Sheet Protector side b) automatic payments by day - so a monthly list of our different bank accounts and what charges are automatic from each account and on what date.  Our includes things like Rent on the 1st, utilities on the 3rd of each month, life insurance on the 15th, student loan on the 15th, car payment on the 22nd, etc.

4) Sheet protector #2 side a) I've written out all of our card numbers for me and my husband and online account usernames and passwords, so that I don't have to go find my cards in my purse when I want to make a online payment or something.  Things on this list are:

• credit and debit card #s, expiration dates, pins, etc
• all our bank account #s and log on info
• drivers license #s
• library cards
• utility account info
• student loan info.

5) Monthly Money Tracker - I think I got this idea from the book "America's Cheapest Family".  I write down all our monthly expenses, and divided our expenses into the following categories and put the corresponding "code" on each line depending on what expense catagory it falls into.
A - Auto (gas, payment, repairs)
C - Clothing
D - Debt
E - Entertainment (date nights, movies, 1 on 1 dates, movies or redbox, birthdays)
G - Groceries (includes all food plus household things like tp, paper, toys, anything I get at walmart and Costco.)
H - House (rent, repairs, yard stuff, decoration, tools and appliances)
I - Income
L - Lunches (hubby's lunches at work)
M - Medical
O - Other (b-day presents for friends, bank fees)
R - Recreation (Kid's sports, ballet, family outings)
S - School (school fees, music education, books & cds from Amazon)
T - Tithing and Charity
U - Utilities
V - Vacation (Trips, timeshare maintenance charges)
X - Taxes
Z - Mom'z Stuff (my once a year haircut or other things for me)

Then after the monthly money trackers, I have little Code tabs for each of the above categories where I keep track of the monthly amount spent on that thing and am able to see how much we spend (or need to stop over spending.)

Then behind that I have a few different articles about Money, Charity, and Provident Living:
Provident Living.org: Finances
One for the Money
All is Safely Gathered In
Happily Living Within our Means
The Priviledge of Giving

So that's my little family finances binder.  I use this each Wednesday to plan when I do Errand Prep.