Earlier this year Nate and I have set ourselves goals and determination to get our life bugdeted and in order to be financially careful in our spendings and our paying of debt.
This is very sad to admit but after being married for 5 years we still hadn't known the basics of money. We have learned things as we've grown with adulthood, but I can't recall being sat down and actually shown how important or even how to track my $$$. If you are anything like we were, we often found ourselves frustrated monthly with eachother in why we came up short every month! With our recent discovery.. (it took almost a year for me to realize!) We were always spending more a month than what we actually were bringing in! YIKES!!! Of course our overdraft became our best friend and we are forever grateful for the savings in overdraft fees and any other kind of extra money we were spending by going in the hole! With some guidance with a couple of GREAT!!!friends, we were introduced to Quicken. This program has allowed us to talley up our bills and spendings and the best part is this.. we run reports on what our spending habits are and categorize what each reciept was for. This has allowed us the opportunity to actually BUDGET!
Nate and I sit down and we talk about and now have an understanding of what money we really do have and really make conscience decisions together in what our wants and our needs are and we now motivate and help eachother in where our money is spent each month. We found unusual and very unhealthy spending habits, And a lot of unnecessary purchases... okay I love shopping! and we ate out A LOT! I have now learned what my limits are anyway, to make a long story short!
We recently went through and budgeted for the rest of the year, especially with the holidays approaching rapidly we found that we have very little to spend. :( Sad day for me.
I have found a few specific blogs that I reference to frequently for inspiration and guidance in my life. Some of them, happen to be a relative of a friend or a friend of a friend but I am hooked at the constant reminders of life these blogs bring me. And I have to share a link to a site that was up on one of them that freshened my whole perspective on my budget and the spirit of Christmas. check it out here:
http://theerrandofangelsblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/blog-slacker.html.
I would love to hear any ideas you may have on budgeting.
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6 comments:
Here's an idea for Christmas $$$. I make a budget for the yearly expenses (Christmas, car registrations, taxes, etc.). Decide how much you will need for the expense and divide it by 12 (or 24 if you get paid bi-monthly). Take that amount out of your check and put it in a savings account. That way, when Christmas comes around you will have money all ready! Withdraw the money and spend ONLY the cash you have. Then you won't overspend either!
what a great blog!!! I am going to have to post it to my favorites list.
To answer your ? I was called in August to be RS Pres. Can you believe that! Crazy I know.
I have had a couple of people tell me about some awesome sites for saving money. Both are for when you are shopping for your groceries. I haven't quite figured out how to use the Money Sense one yet (I just heard about it on Monday). But I'm trying to do better with how I spend my money. Check them out they are: savvyshopperdeals.com and couponsense.com
Both are great websites. One of my friends only spends 30-40 dollars but actually buys 140 dollars worth of groceries. AWESOME, right?
I love you to death! You are a big part of some of my best memories.
Hey you! Luckily I married someone who is a finance major so he knows all about saving, budgeting, investing, etc. He has a spreadsheet for our budget and every month when we get paid he divides what we have earned into categories (mortgage, tithing, savings, tuition, car, travel, medical, food, gas). He allocates so much for each and so we know exactly how much we have to spend. Like your friend Beth said, if we need to save up for something, like Christmas, we will start a few months early and by the time it comes we have the $$ for it. It helps with shopping splurges because you know you only have so much to spend. If you need help or have any questions, my hubby would be delighted to answer them. I love you girl!
Hi Amber,
It’s been awhile thought I would say hi. It sounds like you are all going throw the same things we go throw sometime in our lives. I do have to say I also love quicken that is like my best friend it’s the only way I can make things work for us.
I also wanted to let you know I have joined the blogging world the girls finely talked me into it so far it’s it been fun. You’ll have to check it out. http://mooregoodtimes.blogspot.com tell the family hi
Nettie
Hey Amber thanks for comment on the blog recently. I miss talkin to you and hangin out. I am glad to hear you are doing well. I am coming out at Thanksgiving and am going to stay for a couple of weeks so we will have to get together.
Katie
Hi Am,
I knew you were working on something like this. I have Quicken, too. It's an awesome program if you keep it working. One of my goals it to get all my budgeting caught up. Good luck in keeping within your limits!
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