Here's how we handle budgeting in 2022.  I have ours broken down into groups and then individual buckets.  I have fixed expenses at the top (I call it Bills).  I then have "Savings Goals" with individual target goals we create.  My third group is "Variable Expenses" which is everything that isn't fixed (everything we can move and shake around).  Here's what makes up each group.

Bills:  Home Cleaning, Electric, Propane Gas, Garbage, Water, Sewer, Car Insurance, Life Insurance (Term) and Other Insurance (Personal Articles, Umbrella and anything else we miss).

So Home Cleaning is a maid service.  We have a crew come every two weeks to blitz the house.  Electric and Life Insurance are monthly recurring.  Garbage/Water/Sewer are quarterly.  Car insurance every six months and Other insurance are annual.

Savings Goals: Investing, Homeowners Insurance, Holidays, Grandkids 529's, College Football tix for Penn State, Property Taxes, Closet upgrades, Wife Dental whitening, HSA and Roth IRA's.

Investing is for outside retirement.  We have built up accounts at TD Ameritrade and Vanguard for taxable investing.  We like to invest every pay period a portion of income received and I usually put those dollars in here.  Holidays is really for Christmas/EOY so we like to build up a buffer here and use Gifts in variable for the other gift giving times throughout the year.  The PSU tix, closets and wife dental are the current fun ones.

Variable Expenses: Auto, Charity, Dining, Entertainment, Gifts, Groceries, Personal Care, Household, Kids, Medical, Pets, Spending Money, Travel

Auto is anything maintenance and/or registration wise.  Household includes household items and home improvements.  If we come up with a bigger expesne like an appliance replacement it'll get its own category in savings goals and we'll funnel money there.  Medical is to fund expenses without having to touch the HSA so it can grow.  Pets is for the one fur baby.  Spending money eats up the catch-all.

So this is where we direct all of our dollars to.  Maybe this will give some people ideas if you're struggling with constructing a budget.  The setup of putting the fixed expenses in one group at the top of the budget followed by savings goals and then variable expenses forces us to budget top down.  So I make sure the fixed costs are covered and then we're saving before the rest of it.  Whatever's left after funding the first two groups gets allocated across the variable categories.  That way we don't miss a bill and we make sure we're saving on top of spending.

Good luck this month with your budget!