If you've ever felt like your budget "should" be working—but somehow still keeps falling apart—you're not alone.

Most budgets are built around what's happening this month.

And while that might seem logical, it's actually one of the biggest reasons budgeting feels stressful, inconsistent, and hard to stick with long-term.

Because real life doesn't happen neatly month-to-month.

Expenses show up unexpectedly.

Costs fluctuate.

Things you forgot to plan for suddenly matter.

And before you know it, your budget feels off… which can quickly turn into feeling like you did something wrong.

The problem wasn't them, and it's not you either—or your discipline.

What if your budget just wasn't set up to handle real life?

Over the years, I saw this happen over and over again. Before working with me on their budgets, my clients could get the numbers for "this month," but had no idea how to plan or save for the things that would come up.

One of them used a well known budgeting app for ten years before switching to Buckets of Money Budget. When she set up her budget in Buckets of Money she said she could instantly "see" her budget and feel that it was lopsided.

In ten years of using the other app she had never had a visual or insight like she did with Buckets of Money Budget.

Like them, I know you want to be better with money and that includes setting up and maintaining a successful budget. One where you do more categorize transactions.

You want a budget that helps you move forward financially, so that you can easily pay for the things you need and the things you want.

You want to know you have money when things come.

You want to feel good when you buy groceries or go out for a fun night.

That's exactly what the 2–3 Budget Method is designed for.

This method gives you a simple, structured way to set up your budget so it actually works—not just for one month, but over time. It helps you plan not only for what you know is coming, but also for the things that used to throw you off.

The result:

• Fewer surprises
• Less stress
• More clarity about what you can spend
• And a budget you can actually stick with

Instead of constantly adjusting, restarting, or feeling behind, you create a system that flows with your life.

In this post I will be sharing the 2-3 Budget Method, which will help you create a budget that matches your life.

Let's dive in…

2–3 Budget Method is built on two simple principles:

• You separate your expenses/spending into what you have to spend and what you want to spend. You always account for the have tos first and spend the remaining on wants
• You organize both into three types of buckets (consistent, variable and ongoing) that make budgeting and managing your money easier.

Simple, but powerful.

Let's break it down.

The 2-3 Budget Method is a guide for setting up and maintaining your budget.

It is the basis of how the Buckets of Money Budget was built in order to make it easy for people to implement so they can finally get budgeting right.

You start using it in the onboarding process, and then it continues while maintaining your budget.

When you use the 2-3 Budget Method to set up your budget, you are creating a budget that is set up for success from the beginning.

Meaning…

You are less likely to encounter unexpected expenses that throw your budget off, which might have happened in the past and led to quitting on your budget.

Using the 2-3 Budget Method makes money easier over time.

It's not a month-to-month system; it's a budgeting method that sets up a money system that flows throughout months and years.

The best thing about the 2-3 Budget Method is that it creates clarity, choice, and control when it comes to your budget. It helps guide you to make sure there is money for the things you want and need.

There are two components to the 2-3 Budget Method. The 2 and the 3.

2 categories of Money 3 ways you spend, save and manage your money (Buckets)

When you are using the 2-3 Budget Method, this is what it looks like. Each of the two main categories have three types of buckets for your money.

Have To-consistent, variable and ongoing buckets Want To-consistent, variable and ongoing buckets

The first step for using the 2-3 Budget Method is separating your money into two distinct categories, which are:

Have To Want To

When you set up your budget, you start by identifying all your Have To expenses first.

Have To Expenses are the basic things you "have to" pay to live, and debt or other payments you cannot cancel.

These are:

A place to live, including utilities and maintenance Food Transportation to/from your job, including gas, maintenance, and insurance

• Cell phone/internet
• Pets-vet bills, food, medication
• Medication
• Kids' clothes, lunches, etc
• Household supplies: toilet paper, cleaning, etc.
• Debt or other payments you cannot cancel

While there may be a few exceptions, the above list is pretty much all the things that you would categorize as Have Tos. Nothing else is included in your Have To expenses.

You identify and allocate for your Have To expenses first.

Because getting clear about how much money you have to spend on expenses each month gives you clarity about how much money there is remaining for things you want spend money on.

When you set your budget up in Buckets of Money, the system guides you start with the most essential payments first.

It helps you remember everything you need to include in your have to payments, including those things that you might sometimes forget like car maintenance.

When you are going through and setting up your Have To expenses in your budget, you will set up buckets for everything you need monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually, and occasionally.

To create and maintain a successful budget, you need to identify all of your "have to" expenses and set them up to easily track the.

Have To: 3 Bucket Types

The 3 in the 2-3 Budget Method represents the 3 types of buckets you set up.

For each of the 2 categories, Have To and Want To, you have 3 types of buckets to allocate money to, to create financial clarity, ease, and to make sure you always have money for what you need.

The three bucket types are:

Consistent Variable Ongoing

Have To Consistent Buckets

Consistent Buckets: for consistent payments. Things you pay the same amount for each payment.

Example of a "have to", consistent expense is your mortgage/rent.

Yes, your mortgage or rent might change once a year, so you would need to adjust the payment, but for the most part, the amount of your mortgage stays the same each month.

A consistent expense can also something that you pay quarterly, semi-annually, annually, etc.

An example of "have to" consistent payment that isn't monthly from my own budget, is our trash bill. It is a consistent payment of $63, but it's due quarterly.

Budgeting Success Tip: Get as many of your "have to" expenses in the consistent buckets as possible.

This means if your utility bills fluctuate, call the utility company to see if they have budget billing, so you can have a consistent utility bill rather than figuring out how to pay a fluctuating payment each month. If your utility doesn't offer budget billing, I'll cover how to use an ongoing bucket to make this easier further down.

When a utility bill or other bill fluctuates, you have to manage more. If it's $40 this month, and $80 next month, it's hard to get a clear picture of what you actually have to spend. If you are trying to figure it out each month, your budget becomes hard and there is more room for error.

If you use Buckets of Money and have an annual subscription, you can enter the annual subscription, and the system will calculate the monthly amount for you that you set aside each month for the annual payment.

Don't worry, you don't have to think about saving the payment monthly. If you use and follow the Buckets of Money Budget, the money will be in your account when you need it.

Consistent buckets don't need to be tracked.

They need to be monitored for changes, but because they are consistent, you don't need to track them every month.

One of the things I didn't like about other budgeting tools is that you had to categorize these consistent expenses.

It didn't seem efficient to me to have to spend so much time tracking things that were the same each month, and I had already deducted from my budget.

In the Buckets of Money Budget consistent expenses are automatically deducted from your budget to create less work, so you can focus on the things that actually need to be tracked, like your Variable Buckets.

Have To Variable Buckets

Variable Buckets are for categories where you set an amount to spend or use each month, but you don't spend it all at once.

You spend the amount you put in the bucket over several transactions throughout the month.

Purchases made that come from variable buckets need to be tracked so that you know how much you have remaining in that bucket and what you have available to spend.

A great example of a Have To variable bucket is food/groceries.

• You might set an $800 grocery budget, but spend that over 2-6 trips to the grocery store each month.
• Each trip to the grocery store needs to be tracked/deducted from the total amount you have to spend on groceries for the month.
• This way, you know what you have available the next time you go to the store.

What "have to" variable buckets do you need?

The two "have to" variable buckets almost everyone needs are:

Food Gas

How to set up and maintain "have to" variable buckets in your budget:

1. Decide on the total amount you need for the bucket.
2. Each time you spend from this bucket, deduct it from your total remaining.
3. Before you spend money from this bucket, look at what you have remaining so you do not overspend.

How to set up and maintain "have to" variable buckets in Buckets of Money Budget:

1. Decide the total amount you need for the bucket and enter it in amount.
2. Select variable as the bucket type.
3. The system will automatically fill this bucket at the beginning of the month.
4. Each time you spend from this bucket, enter the transaction.
5. The system will show you the new amount you have available to spend.
6. Before you spend money from this bucket, look at what you have available to make sure you stay on target.
7. Use the weekly view to give you a sense of what you have on a weekly basis to help stay on track.
8. If you spend more or less than the bucket amount, the system will roll that over to the next month.
9. If you spent more than you had, spend less the next month or move money from another bucket to cover it.
10. If you spend less than you had, decide if you want to move the extra to another bucket or keep it in it's bucket as a cushion.

Tracking variable "have to" buckets

Using the 2-3 Budget Method reduces the number of things that need to be tracked each month.

An average family, using this method, will have only 30-60 transactions to be tracked throughout the month.

It takes about 30 seconds to track, that is no more than 30 minutes spent on tracking your budget throughout the month. About 1 minute a day.

The less you have to track = easier to maintain your budget.

Use the weekly view for variable buckets in Buckets of Money

In Buckets of Money, you can see a weekly view for variable buckets. The weekly view helps you pace yourself. Sometimes you spend a lot one week of the month.

If you do a big shopping trip at the beginning of the month that uses a lot of the money from that bucket. By viewing what you have remaining every week, you can help yourself stay on track and make it to the end of the month with money to spend.

Have To Ongoing Buckets

Ongoing buckets are key to budgeting success.

When a budget only has options for what you pay monthly, of course, you are not going to be prepared for things that come up occasionally like car maintenance.

Ongoing buckets help you plan for what is coming so you are no longer blindsided by those big expenses that threw you off in the past.

What "have to" ongoing buckets do you need?

If you have a home you own, which means you are responsible for repairs and maintenance you need one for home maintenance.

If you have a car you own, you need a car maintenance bucket.

If you have a bill, like a utility, that you only pay part of the year, you need an ongoing bucket so you have money to cover that jump in expense and it doesn't feel so jarring.

If you have had unexpected things pop up in the past that don't fit the above categories, set up a miscellaneous or savings on going bucket for those things.

When you set up your Buckets of Money Budget, you will likely see other ongoing buckets you need to set up.

How to set up and maintain "have to" ongoing Buckets in your budget:

1. You figure out how much you need for the bucket for the year.
2. Then you take the amount you need annually for each item and divide it by 12 so that you know how much to set aside each month, so that you have the money you need when you need it for the things that you need.
3. Set up a way to track when you use the month.

For example, if car maintenance has cost you $2000/year in the past few years… Divide $2000/12 months = $167/month.

This means you need to deduct $167/month from your monthly budget and set it aside in an ongoing bucket to pay for car maintenance when it comes up.

Don't worry, you don't have to do any math if you are using the Buckets of Money Budget.

How to set up and maintain "have to" ongoing buckets in Buckets of Money Budget:

1. You enter the amount you need annually, semi-annually, etc.
2. Select ongoing as the bucket type.
3. Then the system will create the bucket with the monthly amount, based on the annual amount.
4. The monthly amount will be deducted from what you have remaining in your budget.
5. The monthly amount will automatically be added to the bucket each month at the end of the month.
6. When you have to pay for the expense, like a car repair, you enter the transaction, and the system deducts the amount of the transaction from the bucket total.
7. You transfer the amount in your ongoing buckets to savings, or leave in your checking, but you do not spend the amount on anything other than what it is for.

A new bucket can be added any time so when life changes you can easily adjust your buckets.

Tracking ongoing have to buckets

Have to ongoing buckets are for things that you have to pay for occasionally as opposed to monthly, so each month there should be little to no tracking you have to do for these buckets.

If you get your car repaired, you enter the transaction.

You might go months without tracking anything in an ongoing bucket.

Use ongoing bucket(s) to make fluctuating payments easier on your budget

As mentioned in the consistent section, if you have fluctuating utility bills, a simple way to make your budget easier to manage is to set up an Ongoing Bucket for the utility(s) that fluctuate.

That is because if you have to pay $40 when you set up your budget, you base all your other spending off of the $40. But if next month the bill jumps to $80, you have to figure out what bucket to take that from.

The more you have to think about and mess with your budget, the harder it gets and the more likely it gets messed up.

Using ongoing buckets for fluctuating bills, like utilities, makes it easier to set up and maintain your budget.

If you have more than one utility bill that fluctuates, you can set up one ongoing bucket for all the utility bills to make it easier, if you want. Or set up one for each utility bill.

There is going to be a small upfront investment of time to get the numbers in order to set up the bucket correctly. It will save you time and energy in the long run.

Steps to setting up an ongoing bucket in Buckets of Money for utility bills:

1. Identify all your utility bills. This means water, electricity, gas, heat, etc.
2. Find the total you paid last year for all of these bills.
3. Total that up.
4. Set up an ongoing bucket.
5. Enter the total in amount, select annual.
6. The system will average it out monthly and deduct from your remaining available money in your budget.
7. Enter your bills as transactions you pay them.

Tip for making an ongoing utility bucket successful:

Make sure you add up bills from all year, because utilities fluctuate with the weather. When in doubt go higher. I always add extra to what I think my average bill will be. This is because utility companies raise prices. Having extra instead of coming up short leads to a better budget experience.

Wouldn't you rather figure out what to do with extra money, than scramble to figure out how to cover an area you are short on?

Personal Example: our water bill fluctuates between $40 and $150 a month. If you are trying to budget in the easiest way possible, fluctuating bills get in the way. So I set up an ongoing bucket for the water bill.

We pay $960 a year total for water.

Here is how it works now in Buckets of Money Budget:

• I set up a water bucket
• Selected ongoing.
• Entered the $960 as the annual amount
• The system calculated the average monthly amount
• The system set up an ongoing bucket that gets $80 a month added.
• When the bill is paid I add a transaction. (takes 30 seconds)

It is super easy, because all I have to do is take 30 seconds to enter the transaction when the water bill comes out, and the system automatically deducts it from the Ongoing Bucket. I can see what is still available as we move throughout the year.

When the water bill is less than $80, the extra month stays in our checking account to cover when the water bill is more than $80.

I don't spend this money because I am only spending money from my variable buckets and ongoing buckets. I am only spending what I have available in my buckets. I look at the buckets rather than my bank account to see what I can spend on what.

As long as I hold myself accountable to following the system, there is always money in our account to cover the water bill, and I can manage it in less than 30 seconds a month.

Want To: 3 Bucket Types

After you have set up all of your "have to" expenses, you get to move on to setting up your "want to" expenses with the amount you have remaining in your budget.

Going through an accounting for all your "have to" expenses helps your brain get a good picture of what your are at financially and what you have available to do what you want with.

When you get to this point in your budget set up you get to do what you want. What feels good to you.

When working with someone, at this point I ask, "What are the top three things you WANT to do with your money?"

Take a second and think about that before we move into how to use the buckets for your "want to" expenses.

As you set up your "want to" expenses start with what is most important to you to spend your money on, and then continue with the next most important thing and the next.

Doing it this way gives you control and really helps you see what is important to you. Sometimes when people set up their budget they do it based on what someone else told them.

Over the years, I have found the key to helping people move forward financially is to give them permission to do what the want with their "want to" money.

When you choose what is most important to you first, you feel less restricted in your budget because you are doing what you want most.

If you are in a partnership, you can start with your most important thing, their most important then and a most important thing as a couple. Then continue from there.

You continue adding things to your budget as long as you have money remaining.

It's possible, you will run out of money before you enter your streaming subscriptions or something else you consistently pay. If this happens it's an opportunity to ask yourself

Is one thing more important than the other? Do I really want to spend money on this? Can I adjust a prevous amount to make room for….

Let's quickly review the 3 bucket types and how they often apply to your "want tos"

Consistent buckets for "want tos"

Consistent: these are things that have set payment amounts.

In the "want to" category these are most often:

Streaming subscriptions Retirement Contriubtions Additional debt payments Trampoine park, zoo or other memberships

Variable: these are categories where you give yourself a set amount to spend each month and you spend that amount over multiple transactions.

In the "want to" category these are most often:

Fun Dining out Date nights Play money Money each partner has to do what they want with

Ongoing buckets; there are for things you want to save for. An amount will be set aside each month and you will use the money occasionally.

In the "want to" category these are most often:

Vacation Holiday savings (for gifts, extra food, etc.) Birthdays Clothes Kids sports Savings Kids camps

All these are ideas to make you think about what matters most to you!

Remember, your want to money is yours to do what you want with it. That is why there is even a category in Buckets of Money Budget that is "Yes Money!". It's for you to setup buckets for whatever you want to say "yes" to.

What happens when you follow the 2-3 Budget Method?

When people implement the 2-3 Budget Method, the first thing they get is clarity.

They gain clarity about what they really need to cover all of their "have to" expenses, which gives them clarity to choose what they want to use the rest of their money for.

That clarity sets them and their budget up for greater success with less stress immediately.

Long-term success

When someone uses the 3 different types of buckets, they set themselves up for even more long-term budgeting success for two reasons.

The first is when you are going through and setting up your budget, you think about the things that you need to put money aside for in order to pay future expenses.

The second reason a person has greater budgeting success is because it's easier to manage their money. Managing money is easier because all they have to track are their variable expenses and occasionally an ongoing expense.

Tracking less makes managing a budget easier to do.

Why people fail at budgeting without the 2-3 Budget Method

When someone uses a budget app or tool without implementing the 2-3 Budget Method they often fail because simply categorizing transactions isn't real money management.

Your budget should help you see what is going on and guide you forward.

Without a method to account for all the expenses that aren't monthly payments there is no real shot at successfullly budgeting or managing your money without a giant savings account to cover those. It also needs to be easy to track what goes in and what goes out.

Next Steps

Are you ready to finally feel in control, powerful and one day proud of how you manage your money?

Once you implement the 2-3 Budget Method, you will know exactly how much money you need to pay for your expenses, monthly and occasional ones.

You also won't be surprised by things that pop up because you will have planned for them.

That means way less stress and much more control over your money.

If you want to save, you can start doing that, knowing that everything else is taken care of.

If you want to set up an ongoing bucket for vacation you can do that and start planning, even if it takes a few years to save.

You can implement the 2-3 Budget Method using spreadsheets if you want. The benefit of setting up and tracking your budget in Buckets of Money is that it was designed to support the 2-3 system.

In a spreadsheet, you will need to set up multiple tabs and create formulas to make tracking doable.

Or you can set up your budget based on the 2-3 Budget Method in the Buckets of Money Budget.

The Buckets of Money Budget was built using the 2-3 Budget Method.

Susie had been using a popular budget tool for ten years and when she set her budget up in Buckets of Money Budget she said, "As I went through I could see how a good budget is put together."

She instantly felt more power after setting her budget up and she had been trying to get that feeling for more than 10 years.

If you're ready to create a budget that actually works, sign up for the Buckets of Money Budget.

It walks you step-by-step through setting up a budget designed for real life — with more success and far less failure built right in.

You don't need more willpower. You need a system that fits you and your specific life.

Let's do this!

You'll get the tools, structure, and support you need to:

• Set up a budget on your terms
• Create the buckets that will make money management simple
• Make tracking simple, so you actually do it.
• See what money you have available to use
• Enter planned transactions to make sure you have money left for the good stuff
• Make it easier to stick to your budget with the weekly view option

And you don't have to figure it all out alone.

Every part of the Buckets of Money Budgeting tool is designed to help you get better with money — and feel confident doing it.

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