With 4 kids, 3 pets, a mortgage and a car payment we spend lots of money. My husband is the only one bringing in a salary right now so it is important that we budget our money. This wasn't always the case. At the end of the month our checking was nearing 0 and we had no money in savings and we could never figure out where all of our money was going.
One day my husband and I sat down and reviewed our checking account summaries and added up where all of our money was going. It was going towards eating out and Walmart...lol We love to eat out and I can't go into Wal Mart and buy one thing! We decided to make a budget. We added up his monthly salary after taxes and made a bill chart. We wrote down all of our monthly bills that we had. Mortgage, Car Payment, insurance, etc. Then we looked at how much we had over after those bills. After looking at what we had left over we decided to make an allowance for food, gas, and other. Other was the trickiest part. We broke down "other" into smaller categories and wrote on envelopes each of the broken down categories.
Hygiene & Cleaning Supplies(toothpaste, shampoo,diapers, paper towels, etc.)
Eating Out/ Entertainment
Pet Care
House Maintenance
Car Maintenance
School (field trips, supplies, etc)
Misc (everything else)
When then wrote down a number on each envelope. This number was how much money every pay period(for us every 2 weeks) were we willing to contribute to each of these areas. For eating out and entertainment we decided that we would spend $75 every 2 weeks in that area. That seems low but we make it work. Anyway each pay period add that amount of cash to that envelope. You will slowly see some of it grow, which is great in case your car breaks down or if you need to take your pet to the vet. It's also a great way to see and control where your money goes.
We also make sure that we put money in our savings every month and after all of this we allow our checking to grow by a small amount.
Another alternative if you don't like having cash is to open a separate checking just for food, gas, and "other" Use that account for only those areas that way you know that you will always have money for bills.
If anyone wants to see an example of the bill chart we made using excel then let me know and I will email it to you.
I will be adding new tips every week as to how our family is starting to save money in different areas of our lives.
Every month we have a free item of the month. For the month of September we are giving away Halloween Costumes. You can purchase these costumes or get one of your choice for free with every $50.00 purchase.
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