After Reading The Money Saving Mom's Budget by Crystal Paine this week, I was very motivated to get our finances in order. The biggest thing that really jumped out that we are not doing right now is using cash. Sure we don't have any debt not even a house payment(Praise the Lord!) or use credit cards for our home. Yet Crystal says, "debit cards give you a false sense of security and the opportunity to cheat on your budget when the temptation arises." That is so true! We have known about the cash envelope system since taking the Financial Peace class back in 2008; yet we always came up with some excuse like: we track our expenses on a spreadsheet, or we are too disciplined to need to use cash only. Time after time after time we would overspend on our budget even though we tracked it all down, even seeing it on a spreadsheet in the red did not stop us because we had "extra" and were not going into debt or anything. Chris' job now has irregular income since it is commission only so we really really need to get this right!
Here is the "envelope system" We label each category of our budget and stick the money in it.
We also stick an index card in with the monthly allotted amount, purchase dates and prices
The book also has several charts and maps to fill out at the end of the book. We brainstormed some financial goals. We set some really big goals Like paying cash for a second car and turning our current home into rental property after saving enough in cash for a second home.
I was also convicted about my daily schedule or lack thereof so I really enjoyed filling out the "time budget" worksheet at the back of the book! I will need alot of prayer and help from the Lord and my husband to stick to this!
My husband was very motivated too and made this very intricate spreadsheet on excel to map out all of goals and progress! I think he should have been a professional chart maker..... =)
After Reading The Money Saving Mom's Budget by Crystal Paine this week, I was very motivated to get our finances in order. The biggest thing that really jumped out that we are not doing right now is using cash. Sure we don't have any debt not even a house payment(Praise the Lord!) or use credit cards for our home. Yet Crystal says, "debit cards give you a false sense of security and the opportunity to cheat on your budget when the temptation arises." That is so true! We have known about the cash envelope system since taking the Financial Peace class back in 2008; yet we always came up with some excuse like: we track our expenses on a spreadsheet, or we are too disciplined to need to use cash only. Time after time after time we would overspend on our budget even though we tracked it all down, even seeing it on a spreadsheet in the red did not stop us because we had "extra" and were not going into debt or anything. Chris' job now has irregular income since it is commission only so we really really need to get this right!
Here is the "envelope system" We label each category of our budget and stick the money in it.
We also stick an index card in with the monthly allotted amount, purchase dates and prices
The book also has several charts and maps to fill out at the end of the book. We brainstormed some financial goals. We set some really big goals Like paying cash for a second car and turning our current home into rental property after saving enough in cash for a second home.
I was also convicted about my daily schedule or lack thereof so I really enjoyed filling out the "time budget" worksheet at the back of the book! I will need alot of prayer and help from the Lord and my husband to stick to this!
My husband was very motivated too and made this very intricate spreadsheet on excel to map out all of goals and progress! I think he should have been a professional chart maker..... =)
2 comments:
I think you will really like the cash system. I guess I am a visual person, because it really helps me when I can physically see the cash (or lack of) in the envelope. I keep my receipts for purchases for the month in it's appropriate envelope, that way if I need to return something the receipt is always handy too.
That is a good idea Liz, Chris just told me last night that is what we should do and I told him that is too much paper stuff going on in the envelope....but I guess that is the best thing to do =)
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