Postings and Budgeting

I just want to let everyone know that I sometimes have a habit of wanting to post several times a day.  I like my posts to be organized into categories so I may write a post that talks about one subject and instead of continuing on will write another post about a different subject.  OK...I'll admit I'm weird. :-)

Now as for my weird budgeting.  And yes it is weird.  I don't make a true budget and I don't do it monthly, but I do keep track of some things monthly.  Have I lost you yet?

I use Quicken to keep track of all my bills, deposits, transfers, etc.  So I do not make a true "write it all out on paper" monthly budget with a bunch of categories of what is due when.  I also base my so called "budget" on each pay period (every two weeks) instead of monthly.  To me it is better to know what is due within a two week period than a monthly one.  Therefore, I am always over-budget if you look at it on a monthly budget because most of our two week pay periods overlap months.  Still with me?

However, I still like to look at monthly totals for things like gas and groceries.  I also keep track of my round up fund monthly, where I round up my payments to the nearest dollar and transfer the total monthly into my emergency fund.

So now that I've totally confused you, here are my April monthly spending totals:

Bills (utilities, doctor, heloc): $876.49

Auto (Fuel): $629.65

Groceries (for family of 4): $255.25

Dining Out (includes a special anniversary lunch): $164.73

Dining (DH's work lunches): $117.47

Other Expenses: $339.17

Auto (Loan) (double payment made): $465.52

I also transferred $42.14 from March's round up fund to the emergency fund and two transfers of $442.60 to cover the mortgage.