Budgeting During Medical Training

How many of you have an actual budget?  Do you abide by it?  Do you find that you have extra expenses that are not accounted for on it?  Do any of you go under on your budget?

Budgeting your finances through the years of medical training can be one of the best ways to keep your spending from going through the roof.  I devised a budget for our household and we try to stay to it as much as possible.  Almost any expense that you can think of (except those pesky tests and books) was put into our budget.  Sure, I budget the big items like groceries and gas and electricity—but many people forget to budget the smaller items like haircuts and clothing and the renewal of your Sam’s membership each year.  When I first started doing the budget for us, these were the things that I did not put into the budget.  Instead I just called them “extra expenses” and they were to come out of our spending money for the week.  Boy, was I wrong!  We ended up spending way more than we had budgeted.  Now that I have included these trivial items in our budget, we are able to keep to the plan for the most part.  We still over spend from time to time, but I would venture to guess that we keep that overspending to less than $1000 a year.  That’s an accomplishment to me! 

I downloaded an excel budget from Microsoft.com when I started.  I find that programs like Microsoft Money just get too involved.  My sheet is very simple and straightforward.  If you are interested in the form I use, I would be happy to share it.  I am not sure how I can do that on here, though.  Any ideas on how would be appreciated. ;)

I am interested to find out what you and your families do to keep a budget?  Do you have one?  What system works best for you?