We do not have an official budget. We really need one. We have been working at paying off our debt and should be very close to doing this next month. The problem is we spend what we make. Not more than we just spend what we have. Then on months we get our high bills it kills us. We pay all our insurances and our home taxes 2x a year. I want to find a way to set up a budget that allows us to save for these things and put some money in savings.
I am going to make this the year we have a budget. I do not want it to be complicated. I love the envelope idea but I am afraid of keeping all that cash in the house. Yet I feel as if using the debit card all the time just begs for trouble.
Crystal over at Money Saving Mom is doing a challenge and going to walk through making a budget. I am going to take her up on this one and see what I can do. Dh would love to have it all in order if I present it to him it would make his day. I am excited to be able to serve my family in this way. Let's get financially responsible.
1 comment:
Right now I'm reading The Complete Cheapskate by Mary Hunt and her plan takes into account those little things that can catch you off guard if you forget to plan for them (property taxes, car insurance...). She has you go ahead and account for them by guesstimating (or putting in actual amounts if you know them) what you'll need, then either dividing the yearly amount by 12 or whatever it takes to get what you should pay monthly. I really like the plan, see if you can get her book from the library, it's a good read. Also, she doesn't completely nix credit cards like Dave Ramsey, but she advocates ONLY responsible use (generally budgeted expenses that you pay off in full each month). If you can't trust yourself to use them responsibly at first, then she says to stick with cash. HTH
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