A month is too long! It's too great a distance for a budget to travel.

This is what always happened to me: I'd be close to my limit, but there'd still be 12 days left in the month. My willpower is not strong enough!

So now I reset my "spending allowance" every week because if I blow it all by Thursday, I only have to wait a short 3 days before getting to start over. So much more doable.

Let's get specific. How much can I spend in a week?

For me, it's $1,402.69.

Here's how I know that.

1. I added up all the income I expect to bring in for the next 12 months.
2. I did the same thing for my fixed expenses (anything I've already committed to paying for).
3. Then I totaled up what I wanted to save for vacation, celebrations, and emergencies.

The Simple Formula

Income - Fixed Expenses - Savings = What's Left

I call "what's left" my discretionary money because I can choose where I spend it, when I spend it, and how much I spend. It's what I can control.

For my family, that number is $72,940.07 for the year.

Divide that by 52 weeks and you have a weekly target of how much you can spend that's within your control and you know that everything else is already accounted for.

It's that simple.

What's Your Number?

You could use a spreadsheet, or you can use Tend; designed exactly for this.

P.S. It gets even better when Tend shows you how much of this you've spent, and how much is left!