When we first started budgeting I used the program from Dave Ramsey. It was an okay program and I used that for the first year or so. The problem with that particular one was that I couldn't fund my vertical envelopes to accumulate since we budget for things year round. It also didn't allow you to put in a transaction and split between categories.
One day I read a blog post where someone was introduced to You Need A Budget. I figured it wouldn't hurt to take a look and use their free month trial. It was so worth my time as a love this site. It is so user friendly and has the features I was missing with other programs I had tried in the past.
So here are my 5 favorite things about YNAB:
- I can fund my categories in advanced. I know how much we will spend per year on a certain thing, like insurance, and split that into monthly payments. When the bill is due I have the amount already set aside. This also works well with our seasonal employment. I can fund our winter account during the summer. The program tracks all of this for you, other programs I used and checked out, didn't. I had to keep track of things myself.
- I can split a transaction between categories. I really love this. How many times do you buy toilet paper, clothes, and groceries. I have a better idea of what I'm spending my money on when I can split categories.
- There's an app for it! Who doesn't like being able to quickly enter in a transaction as your waiting for the kids to buckle. This makes bill time go much faster. You can also check to see where you are, especially if you are a family who lives pay check to pay check. A quick check will tell you, yes you can buy that item or no you have to wait. Plus you AND your spouse will have access to your budget.
- You can set up recurring payments. There are several bills that come out of our account automatically and are the same amount every month. You can set that transaction to repeat monthly or weekly. Again it makes bill time easier as I don't need to enter in all the information. I can just check that yes it went through.
- I have access to a summary of what was budgeted last month, what was spent last month, average budgeted, and average spent. This makes it easy to adjust our budget if we have been spending too much the past few months or too little.
If you want to try out You Need A Budget click on the link here and we both get a month FREE!
We've been on a strict budget for years now. In the process we've paid off almost $50,000 of debt in the first 18 months, kept ourselves from getting behind for the winter, saved up money for a down payment on our new house, and watch God reward us for our obedience.
It hasn't been easy. Our first year and a half we had a bare bones budget. Our grocery budget was almost nothing which meant a lot of beans and rice and other very cheap meals. We spent no money on vacation and used all our tax return on bills. There was no fun money for movies and dates. We buckled down and got that debt paid off leaving us with almost $1,000 a month extra to put towards other things.
We used the snowball effect to pay down debt and boy did it snowball. When we started we had a couple payments left on my husbands emergency room ride, which was only $100 a month. It doesn't seem like a lot but when the next lowest payment was a little more then a $100 a month and you are making almost 2x payments every month, it gets paid off quickly. Within a few months we had an extra $300 that we put towards medical bills. That summer we were sent a letter that stated if we paid XXX amount, our bill would be forgiven. They took like 40% off our bill! I don't know how we did it, but we found that money. Now we had about $600 that was going to my last student loan. It took a year to pay it off but we did it.
There was such a relief when that last bill was paid and we had that extra cash in hand. We started saving for vacations, enrolled our kids in activities, paid extra on our house, and had plenty of money set aside for the winter when my husband is unemployed.
I have become more aware of what money was being spent on. We were in control of where our money was going and being spent, instead of the money controlling us. I cannot tell you how important it is to set a budget and stick with it. Get debt paid off and make your money work for you.
Check back on an upcoming post on what budget program we use.
On Saturday my husband and I went shopping together. This doesn't usually go the best, but this time we talked about what we were going to buy before we left the house. At the check out neither my husband or I had a panic attack at the amount that rang up. Usually he spends the rest of the trip asking if I needed everything.
I have changed how I do the envelops and instead leave the money in our checking account and keep track of what is in each category on a spreadsheet. That way we can carry money over from month to month and have the ability to buy without having our envelops in hand.
The first thing on my list to buy on Saturday was some new clothes. I've bought very little for myself except maternity in the past 5 years. Shopko had some great deals so I picked up a new pair of jeans, a sweater dress, and a long sleeve shirt.
We also have money set aside for Christmas so I snagged up ornaments now because they are 50% off already and are gone by the time I start looking.
My largest purchase is one I've been waiting for a long time. My mop broke in the middle of the cleaning challenge back in May. We haven't had the money to buy a new one so I've been waiting for money and a good deal. This is where I believe God made it possible. Shopko had the Shark on sale. I was a little disappointed the next step up was sold out but I am happy I have this one rather than none.
This was one of my best shopping trips ever. I usually get worried about what the husband's going to say and he usually gets upset because it's money leaving our pockets. Budgeting and planning ahead has changed our marriage so much. I don't think we've had a fight about money since we started budgeting in December.
Well my husband and I have been on this adventure for nine months now. It has been such an amazing journey. I always knew that money is one of the most argued about topics with married couples. I think I understand that better now then ever before.
Until we created a budget we had no control over our financial situation. The bills kept coming and we kept paying. It seemed like we were on the hamster wheel. We kept running but went no where.
My husband would get upset at least a few times a month because I spent X amount of dollars at a store or he thought there should be more money in our bank account.
I understand now it wasn't that he was mad at me but at our situation. He works long hours to bring home a paycheck that is gone before we even get to see it. Since he is the bread winner of the family, it is disheartening for him to see all his hard work not paying off.
For the first time ever I can buy clothes or shoes and my husband knows that we already have money set aside for that purpose. He doesn't get upset thinking that his money is disappearing too fast. Although he rarely looks at our budget, he is welcome to any time and I don't feel I have to hid anything from him. We discuss almost all purchases making sure it is worth spending the money and we have the money to spend.
I never thought I'd say this but I actually enjoy paying my student loans. Of course I hate that we have less money to spend or save but when we started 9 months ago we had 6 debt payments totaling over $37,00. We are now down to 2 debt payments totaling $21,000. We still have a ways to go but we are paying things off faster then I thought possible. I enjoy being able to pay extra to my student loans that is at least 9x the normal payment.
God has really been blessing us on our journey. Money seems to just start appearing out of thin air. Never before have we ever paid this much extra towards debts or had this much in our savings. Going into the winter we feel confident knowing that we will have money in savings to cover the difference of unemployment and our expenses.
We are finally in control of our money and it feels good. We don't have a strict budget but a flexible one but we are still more cautious and consider our purchases more diligently. We never spend more then we take in. We are on our way to becoming debt free!
The month of April brought about some new challenges for us. Usually my husband is back to work between April 1st and April 15th. Because of the large amounts of snow in April, he didn't return to work until the last week of April.
We have our budget based on 8 months of work and 4 months of unemployment. We ended up using some of our tax return money to live off instead of putting it towards debt. Thankfully I am working part time as a PCA for my little sister who has special needs. God has provided us with extra income which should help us pay off more debts faster.
I am very happy to say that we used as much of our tax return as possible towards debt and have cut 5 months off our original debt free date. We are now down to 4 debts and the smallest being just over $1,000. I am very excited and am praying for ways to keep paying extra until that is all behind us.
If you haven't set up a budget I would encourage you to do so. I am amazed every month at how little we spend and how much is left over. There are so many great online programs to help you decide what might work best for your family.
Check out:
www.crown.org
https://www.mytotalmoneymakeover.com/
https://www.mint.com/what-is-mint/
Well March taught me a lot. It isn't about how much you are spending in each category as long as the money going out equals the money coming in. Not every month will be the same. We had to adjust our gas budget and our utilities budget. It just meant we had less extra at the end of the month to put towards debt. We still had enough left over to make an additional payment and then some to our smallest debt.
With our tax return we were also able to pay off a very small debt. Two down 4 to go! It feels so good to see those gone from our lives. I am feeling the momentum and ready to get the debt out of our lives forever!
My husband came to me a few weeks ago and decided he wanted to build a shed with a play house on top. We have spent time talking about how much it will cost and how much we are holding back from our tax return to build it. Since we aren't holding enough to pay for it out right, we are going to budget a little every month for a few months to finish it. It feels so good to discuss our money together. In the past he would have just started to buy what he needed and then we would fight over the money when we looked at the statements. We are on the same page and he now knows what I know too.
Budgeting isn't about not having any fun or getting anything extra. It is about looking at what you have and putting it to work. What do you need or what do you want to save for. We have a few things we are saving for in addition to paying down our debt fast. My husband has a brother who lives 27 hours away by car. We would like to go visit every year. In order to do so we have to save for it. My husband will need a new truck soon, we are putting money away for that. Once it dies we will buy a different one with cash. Saving for something is a goal and goals are what keeps you motivated. What are you motivated about?
I am happy to say February was great in so many ways. We were under budget in many categories. I am finally feeling like we have control over the money and not the money controlling us. I feel much freer than ever before and so much more confident about our finances.
I am learning more and more how to juggle the money and spending on what we need instead of what we want. Our change of mind and attitude has made a huge difference in our checking account. We have spent about $500 less than we normally do by just asking ourselves whether our purchases are needs or wants and can we wait to buy this? We don't elimante all wants from our lives but instead decide what wants we can acutually afford and truely desire as a family.
This isn't easy. Watch a few commercials and you will be told that you need this car or this phone to be cool. Use your credit card and you can go anywhere or do anything. The problem is YOU have to pay for it. It's simple math. You can't spend more than you take in, if you do you will be broke and then some. Paying for things on the credit card or through loans will only have you spending more for something you could have saved for a few months and purchased with a discount.
As I look around at our neighbors and their brand new cars, boats, campers, snowmobiles, and four-wheelers I wonder how many actually own them. Our vehicles may not be brand new but we own them and never have to worry about someone else taking them from us if we don't pay. We feel like being "cool" is paying cash for things we want in order to stay away from being in debt to someone else.
January was so much better with our budget. We were able to not only stay on track but discover changes that needed to be made. We added items that will be cash only to our envelope system and created more specific categories.
My husband and I actually sat down and discussed the budget and where our money is going. This made a huge difference and we are finally on the same page. He saw places that we needed to budget to avoid a large bill coming out of our emergency fund down the road.
We have decided we needed to add three more budget items that go into the envelopes. With the envelopes, the money is added every month and taken out as needed. It makes it much easier to save for bigger items. Our three new categories are car maintenance and repairs, house repairs, and entertainment including our membership to the zoo.
Something else I overlooked was that we are going to need to replace our old beat up pickup. In April we will start putting away money to replace it. After a year we should be able to pay cash for a used but decent pickup.
Yesterday I looked over our budget and was amazed at how little we have been spending compared to before the budget. I go to Sam's club with a calculator in hand so that I can buy the big things but not walk out spending $200 like I used to. I stick to my lists. Now I can go every month and get $50 of groceries and about the same with household items and stay under budget. In almost every category we were under budget or exactly on. The few categories we were over, but it was a very small amount and unavoidable (two categories were only $2.00 over).
Ending the month of January has felt so good. The spending was limited and we have more in our checking then we usually have. I feel less stressed and very optimistic that we can begin paying extra on our debt and pay it off faster. If you are thinking about your finances I'd encourage you to read My Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. There is so much information and advice on how to be smart with your money and build wealth for your future by paying off debt, making the right investments, spending money wisely, and being smart about spending what you have.
In beginning our budget I never thought about when would be a good time to start budgeting. We've always had enough money to pay our bills so we never saw the need. Now I really see how important it is especially when you have an ever changing income. My husband is a seasonal employee so four months out of the year he is on unemployment. This can be a difference for up to $800 a week. During his working months we put away money so that during the winter we can make up the difference. By budgeting I know exactly how much we have to be putting away each month and if we are meeting that goal.
December is probably the worst time to start a budget but I am so glad we did even if we couldn't stick with it. I have decided to take our clothing budget and put it into an envelope so when Carter's has it's end of season sales, I can use the cash then instead of a small amount every month. This is also for shoes, socks, and underwear.
To help us stay on budget for birthdays and Christmas, I decided to do the same as the clothing budget. I figured out what we spend on gifts (which is not that much) for the entire year and divided it into 12 months. The beginning of the month, cash goes in the envelopes for gifts and clothing.
I strongly encourage you try to get on some sort of budget. I am much more aware of how much we spend and am more inclined to wait on things that may not be in our budget for the month. The chances are it is a want rather than a need.
I love Dave Ramsey's resources and am very encouraged by him and others' stories like mine. You don't want to wait until you are in serious financial trouble to start a budget. Do it now and start building wealth.
If you are anything like I used to be when it came to bill paying, you need help organizing your bills. I didn't often mail things late but the bills would sometimes get lost. I would stack them on the counter and then my husband would look through them and they would never be put back the same way. The envelopes would be missing and I would have to sift through everything to find them again.
We tried an organizer, which quickly got filled up with just about everything. Bills would be scattered from the organizer, the entry way table it sat on, to the kitchen counter. It was just never organized and it was costing us money for those times we were late becuase the bill was misplaced.
Finally I found something that really helped me out. Echoes of Laughter gave a really easy way to organize and make sure all bills are paid. I took her idea and made it work for us.
I took an old binder left over from my college years and some left over page protectors. The front cover I put the check book, all unpaid bills, and Post It's in case I need to write down anything.
I picked up a free calendar from our utilities office to write down when everything is due. Since I use the Gazelle budget from Dave Ramsey, I write down any bills that we have automatic bill pay in addition to those I have to write checks for and when I need to apply for my husbands unemployment (he is seasonal so it is only for a few months and I sometimes need that reminder). I sit down every Monday and pay all bills that are due the next week or two and fill in our Gazelle budget. Once they are paid I use my highlighters to cross it off, so I can just glance and know what needs to be paid.
The page protectors I use to orgainze our paid bills. Most bills only need to be kept for a month. I put last months bills in the burn box and it keeps my filing cabinet cleaned out. The back pocket has everything that does need to be kept and filed. You should keep pay stubs, receipts for taxes, charitable donations for taxes, and one to three months of bank statements.
This has been so great. I feel so organized and we have not misplaced any bill since starting this. It is so simple and takes a few minutes every week to pay bills.
Unfortunately, the word budget has gotten a bum rap – it is basically just a PLAN.
When you budget, you're spending on paper, on purpose, before the month
begins. But many people view a budget as a straight jacket that keeps
them constrained. Freedom and budget just don't seem to go together. --Dave Ramsey
December starts the first month of our family budget. I've wanted to do this for awhile and finally got motivated to jump in and get it started. We have debt but thankfully we've been pretty good and only have medical bills and student loans to pay off. If we stay on track we will be able to be debt free in a few years.
Getting started wasn't the hard part, Dave Ramsey has great tools that make it easy to set a budget and keep to it. I love the Gazelle budget. Everything is online and I can just roll over and make minor changes month to month. It lets you know what you've spent and what is left in your budget. There are also guides for how much should be spent on each catagory.
The next awesome tool is the debt snowball. All debts except your house is added to the program. For each debt you input the total debt, minium payment, and interest rate, then by using their system it will have you debt free in months or a few years depending on the amount of debt.
Talking about a budget with your spouse is probably the hardest part. My husband didn't see the need because we've always done fine. I asked him to give me three months to see how it's working. The whole point is to know where our money is going and what we might be wasting money on. The combination of the Gazelle Budget and Snowball program lets us have a real plan. The debt snowball gives us motivation to keep paying down our debt and get on the track of investing money in our future and the future of our kids.
In the coming months I will share with you the ups and downs of our family budget and I hope you will be encouraged to take the journey with me. I'd love you hear from you. Let me know how your journey is going and we can be an encouragement to each other.
Dave Ramsey's Total Money Maker Over
Decorating has always been hard for me. I love a decorated house, don't get me wrong. I just hate walking out of a store paying way more than I wanted to.
My mom has always been a big decorator and I my house is boring compared to hers. My mom has several tubs full of decorations and I have one. Half of it is hand me down Christmas odds and ends from my mom. After realizing that, this year I have decided that I need to decorate just a little more. I don't need 4 or more tubs full, but pieces I actually like and use.
I started by pulling out things I had and reusing them in different ways. I can't spend much this year so I will use what I have first and see if I can get by spending a few dollars here and there to get my house festive.
Here are my tips on decorating for Christmas on a budget.
1. Don't over do it. Sometimes a few simple things is all you need. The houses in magazines may look nice but the cost to decorate for that photo is enough to purchase a new car.
2. Your tree is your main decoration, make that the focus. It will be what your guests notice most. I picked blue and silver for my tree colors 7 years ago and have added to it since. We have an open floor plan so I try to stay with blue and silver with anything in that space.
3. A little touch here and there is all you need. A scented candle in the bathroom will remind visitors of Christmas (sight isn't the only sense we have). Get seasonal dollar store towels for your kitchen. They may be cheap but they don't look too bad.
4. Think small, not big. Add one thing every year or change something you already have. If your tired of that old wreath, take it apart and redo it. A trip to a craft store and a few dollars will make something look new again.
5. Everyone loves holiday dishes. Instead of buying a whole set, (which you probably don't have space for anyway) get a few dishes for entertaining. A couple cookie plates or bowls are more than enough. They can also be used as decoration by hanging them on a wall or putting them on a shelf.
5. Craft stores like Hobby Lobby have all Christmas craft items on super clearance, often 70%, just before and right after Christmas. (I got Christmas balls for my tree one year for less than $1.00 for a pack of four) Get pieces that can be used in anything. The picture below is an example. It can be used in just about any craft project and will stand the test of time.
Invest in a quality wreath. Hobby Lobby, JoAnne's, and Michaels are great places to get your wreaths or swags. They are much better quality than you can find anywhere else. They are also at least 50% off before and after Christmas. These will stand the test of time when you are continually pulling them apart and redoing them.
The most important thing to remember when you are decorating is to keep things simple for you. The more you have in decorations, the longer it will take every year to put up and take down. As a mom of three little ones, I don't have time to spend hours decorating my house. My goal is to just make my house inviting not overwhelming and not go in debt over it. Sometimes less is more.
