Welcome to week 4. I hope you are beginning to see some things getting easier. I know the fruits and veggies is getting easier for me and I like that.
For week 4 the wildcard is all about money!
First, you are required to track EVERY PENNY you spend. Write it down and categorize it. At the end of the week look at what you spent and see if you can improve your budget in any way.
Second, save some amount of money as cash in your home. The amout will be established by you - what works for you. But come up with a safe place in your home and stash some cash. I know it has always been helpful for me to know that I have some cash on hand at home if I needed it right away. I have found that if I save it in the size of a large bill then I am not tempted to use it for anything either. If it was in one dollar bills it would be easier for me to justify pulling a few our here or there.
Third, post a comment at least one day here on the blog and tell us if you use a program how you like to track your spending and/or give a budgeting tip. Do you use multiple accounts in order to organize spending? How do you manage your savings accounts? What do you do to help other family members establish habits for saving?
Have a great week and save some money!
E
I use Quicken to track all our finances. It has been a blessing. Very easy to use and helps me stay on top of things.... sometimes :) We have multiple accounts and I try to have each account have a purpose. One account for rental properties, one for day to day expenses, etc. Also for savings we are self-employed so I have to take out money for taxes and hide them in an account that my husband doesn't look at and thus isn't tempted to use. We put other savings into two accounts. One goes to my husband's account where he can invest it how he likes and some goes into a different account that I keep there so I know where it is.
ReplyDeleteMy latest money goal is to sell excess stuff we have around the house and then any cash I make goes towards paying off my car. My goal is to get extra money each month... no matter how much or little. I love craigslist and ebay!
I use the good old check register for our main spending account, and reconcile it every month. It does the job for me, but it does not track where all the money goes. We have set up automatic withdrawals for savings every month, so I don't even have to think about whether I do it or not, or how much. And then it is built into the budget. For our kids, I act as the bank and when they earn money it gets recorded in an excel spreadsheet. First, we take 10% out for charity, and then the remaining amount gets split in half for savings and spending. They have saved a lot of money this way by not having the cash on hand. And, since they never saw the cash, it is easy for them to automatically save half of their earnings. I know 50% is too much for them to put into savings when they grow up, but it gets them used to the idea that not all their money is available to spend right away. Some needs to be saved for big, future expenses, like college.
ReplyDeleteI have no great ideas, only to spend less than you make. Pay your church donations first and things work out!
ReplyDeleteI started seriously budgeting last year and hope to do even better this year. I just use a some spreadsheets to keep track of everything. My husband has lots of expenses for work, so software like mint doesn't work for us. I did open another savings account at the beginning of the year, so I have one for an emergency fund and one for vacation, home improvement etc. We will see if that helps. I do a really great job of keeping track of our spending for the month so I know if I need to cut back on groceries for the week or not go to Target or Michaels (I can never get out of those stores without spending something). The other thing we started doing a few years ago is letting our older girls buy their own clothes. We give them a certain amount of money (twice a year) and they get a small allowance each month. They definately don't have as many clothes as when I was buying them, but they also wear everything they have and carefully weigh each purchase they make. It is great practice for them.
ReplyDeleteWe use mint and I think it works OK. But it does work even when I don't want to work:-). We have different accounts for different things. We have two checking (one for Matt and bills and one for me and household expenses like groceries), bank savings for more run of the mill needs and a series of investment accounts for various goals that are increasingly less liquid. Our monthly savings is currently pulled to retirement with the idea that you can take loans for college but not for retirement. But with Gabby getting older that might change! The area we are working on is having both of us in both sets of numbers. Right now I tackle bills and day to day budgets and Matt handles all investments, retirement accounts, 529s etc. We could use some good cross communication!
ReplyDeleteWe use Mint as well and it does have some flaws, but I like it just for tracking where my money is being spent. I also feel like I don't need to get receipts for everything I buy because I know it will show up in Mint.
ReplyDeleteI use a cash back credit card (it has no annual fee) and charge every possible thing I can on the card. We get the credit on our Feb statement every year. We pay the card off monthly so it works for us--I'm terrible with cash anyway and can't keep track of it so I like to use my credit card.
Thank you for having us save some money! I had some stashed, especially lots of small bills since they say to do that for things like natural disasters, but used it before we moved just so we weren't packing cash. It's good to have that money sitting in our emergency bag again.
We have 3 accounts. My husband is a surgery resident. We take his residency paycheck and put it into one account which we use for all our everyday expenses (mortgage, bills, food, clothing...). We have a savings account linked to this account that we keep a small amount in just in case. Our third account is for the money my husband makes working his moonlighting job on the weekends. We try to savethis, but we use this money for car repairs, or for home improvement projects, or for plane tickets... It's nice to have a savings account for emergencies. Because this money us in its own account we really have to think before spending it. So it helps us save.
ReplyDeleteTo help my 8 year old manage money we have him record everything in a check book register, both deposits and purchases. It's a great practice and provides a very clear picture of what's happening with his money.
ReplyDeleteWe open a checking account for each of our girls when they are 12. They help out on our family farm every summer by driving combines & tractors, mowing & whatever else needs done! They work big days in the summer alongside my husband, other employees & I. At the end of Wheat harvest which usually takes the whole month of June we give them each X amount of bushels of wheat to market as they see fit. So 1 of the 3 girls who help on the farm may earn more $ but it was because of her own marketing not because we chose to pay her more. Then they are required to put all but 8% into savings for college the rest the put in their checking accounts to spend on clothes that they want that I will not buy or going to eat w/ friends, a new cd, etc... They have to budget that amount until the next summer when pay day comes around. Keeping their checking accounts reconciled monthly. We as farmers get paid once or twice a year depending on if we have 1 or 2 harvests so budgeting is huge to make it financially to the next paycheck. Last year w/ the drought we didn't have much of 1 harvest, this is when crop insurance is key to keep u afloat & able to keep feeding the world! Crop insurance is based on paying you off of proven yields in previous years when it did actually rain so not that u wanted to know all that but we are trying to teach our girls to budget & this works for us!!!
ReplyDeleteWe are just like Sara Jane - we use mint and we also use a rewards credit card that we pay off each month. It works for us.
ReplyDeleteWe use Mint and no-fee cash-back credit cards. My basic strategy is to try and not buy stuff.
ReplyDeleteI am not the person to ask for financial advice, but I am really good at not spending money on things we don't need. We were in school for a long time and lived on little, and I'm grateful for that. We were happy then and are happy now without lots of stuff:)
ReplyDeletewe use mint to track our spending and also have a cash-back credit card. we also have 3 accounts, one for day-to-day expenses, one for savings that we use for bigger one-time expenses (like car repairs), and one just for saving that we don't dip into. it isn't perfect, but it seems to work well enough!
ReplyDeleteI have two online money helpers that I love love love. The first is called Music Teachers Helper. It manages my student's schedule and lesson payments. I hate to think of the mess that I would be in without it.
ReplyDeleteThe other is an online savings account called SmartyPig. You can program automatic withdrawls from bank accounts to help you save for specific goals, i.e., vacations, new car, education. We have started a bank account for each of our grandchildren, and add to it every month. Hopefully by the time they need the money, it will be a nice little pile of money for them.
I really need a lot of work in this area so I don't really have any advice. My husband gets paid on straight commission and sometimes pay is sporatic so when he gets checks we have to stretch them as far as possible. {Darcy I could learn a lot from you!}
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I find very helpful to not spending is to stay home and stay off the computer! When I stay out of Target I don't see things that could be impulse purchases or things that I think I 'need'. I know it sounds silly but honesly just by staying out of the stores it makes everything easier!
Emily
We aren't the best at this. We've tried mint but it's always off and hasn't really worked for us. Right now we are just trying to focus on the long term so we pay of debts faster. My husband has been reading the total money makeover by Dave Ramsey and wants to try the cash in envelopes thing this month so we will see how it goes.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing we do is to have certain things happen automatically (retirement savings, college savings). That way it's as if we never had that money and we don't miss it. I'm loving reading what everyone else does. Think I'll check out "Mint."
ReplyDeleteLisa C.
I don't feel like we have any super program that I would recommend to others, but we keep track of our money in a spreadsheet that works for us. I have always liked the Dave Ramsey system but haven't used it in recent months. With 8 growing children it's easy to feel like all the needs are bigger than our resources, but my biggest and best tool is to keep perspective in making our decisions and it all works out.
ReplyDeleteWe use Quicken to track everything. It's extremely helpful when it comes time to do taxes. We use a debit card to pay for most everything except for gas. We have had our credit card numbers stolen at gas stations twice so I don't use our debit card for gas.
ReplyDeleteWe don't use a program or anything...but we only have one 2 credit cards that we pay off every month...and we have our checking and savings and can track everything easily online.
ReplyDeleteMy tip is...pay for as much as possible in cash...I find that when you have cash in hand and actually need to hand it over...I tend to make wiser purchases.
We use mint.com. it categorizes what we spend from different accounts and allows you to set up a budget. It emails you when bills are due or if you are over your budget. And it is free. It is a nice way to see everything in one place.
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