Have you been struggling to make ends meet? Have you had the "come to Jesus meeting" with yourself over your money?
Let me tell you, it is hard to admit when you are the problem. In most cases though, we are our own problem when it comes to money. I know, hard pill to swallow. Let me tell you a little bit about my story and then I'll tell you how to change it.
We were not even making ends meet. Money was being spent on credit cards for some of our bills every month! You heard me right, EVERY MONTH! We were just digging the hole deeper and deeper. How you ask? We were spending our money unnecessarily. Doing what exactly? Well, we were eating out every day sometimes multiple times a day. We were buying things we wanted "just because" we deserved it after a hard week's work. Yep. Sound familiar?
I'm sorry to tell you, but that mind set has got to change. Living paycheck to paycheck or in our case credit card to credit card until you're maxed out is not ok. We do deserve a treat after working so hard. It does however need to be limited. I mean after all, we have a roof over our heads and food to eat and clothes to wear so what else is it that we REALLY need? Nothing. Just wants. As my mama always says, "You ain't too big for your wants to hurt ya!"
You might have a problem when that refrigerator or car breaks down and you got to pay to have it fixed though. Changing your mindset for this is a must! You have to be willing to make the sacrifices in the NOW so that in the future, you can buy what you want when you want and be guilt free about it!
So, let's talk about a budget. I started with a simple budget. BEFORE SPENDING ANY MONEY YOU SHOULD FOLLOW THESE STEPS!
First a calendar so that you can see which check is going to pay which bills. We never know what bring home pay is because it varies, so I always write the income down as the absolute lowest it should be and work my budget with those numbers. I currently do a weekly budget because our income will not allow us to pay all the bills at one time. So, each week I total up the bills that need to be paid and subtract that number from my income for that week.
Then, I figure up how much I will need for tithes, groceries and gas for that week. I always tithe my 10%, if you don't you can leave that part out.
With what is left, I decide what goes to savings. I have my savings broke down into categories.
- Emergency Savings
- Household
- Car
- Dine out
- Pet - vet, grooming, toys
- Health
- Vacation
- Gifts
- Personal - shopping and fun money for us to spend
I break down the amount of money left by how many categories I have. For example, if there is $200 left (which there never is since I am currently not yet working) I divide 200/9 and get $22.22. So each labelled envelope will get $22.22. It isn't a lot, but it is still something saved. At least now even though you feel broke, you know you really aren't because you have money waiting on you in your saving account or savings envelopes. I prefer the envelopes and then I deposit the money to my Ally bank account and distribute it into the savings buckets they have. It's a pretty cool feature and I love it.
This is called a zero based budget. I always leave $25 in my checking account as a buffer in case I forget about something coming out, but that is built into my budget. you can count it is a bill or just count it separate if you like. Whatever works best for you.
This past week, I was super excited to put back $30 worth of savings. Yep, you heard me right. That was it. For all of those categories they each got $3.75. That was it, but I managed it and I am so proud.
I use these budget binders from Amazon if you want to try the envelope method:
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