I've been doing a ton of reading on blogs about saving money. It's different really, when you look at other mom's and women who are actually living in the moment of saving. I love to read self help books about all kinds of topics, but I've found that lately, reading blogs is putting it all together for me.
In many of the blogs people talk about exactly how much each thing is. Like they'll say - my husband makes x and our mortgage is x. Here's how much we spend on a bunch of other catagories.
Don't worry - I'm not there yet! While I admire them for their honesty, that's not something I'm willing to share yet.
So here's what I will tell you.
My husband got a new job in July - and we LOVE it. By we - I truely mean we. All of us - hubby and I and the princess. He's so much more relaxed at this job, and even though he works 50 hours a week - usually about 55, actually - I really feel like he is around a lot! It's wierd, because he was working a 40 hour a week job, and I never felt like he was around. Anyway, back to the topic........
Since he has this new job, I've decided to create a budget based on that. Yes, I know - starting here you ask? What about before? I'm giving myself props for starting okay!
We're very fortunate that he gets paid every week, and we have a bank that will send out checks for us. So...... I took all the monthly payments and divided by 4 and have a checks sent to all our payers every week. I know it may sound silly - but on our house payment alone, we're going to save a ton in interest by doing it this way. And I don't feel like - oh crap - we've got a huge house payment due this week, and then it's party time next week because just the phone bill is due.
Maybe you don't get paid every week, but every two weeks is good too. Even just your house payment is good. I don't have all the answers - but this works for me. Maybe it could work for you too, and you'd save some money.
Keep checking back, I'll be doing a post on bartering, and a post on lowering your phone bill next!
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For as little time as it take to divide your bills by 4...you would think everyone would do it. Ryan was never taught how to manage his money and knew that i took a class on it so he asked me for help....yea that's right he asked for help! haha So I took each of his bills and divided them by 4....now that doesnt mean he uses the resource i gave him, but it showed him that it was possible. I, on the other hand, do this with my pay check every 2 weeks. Another idea.... most banks let you make personalized accounts within your one primary account. Every 2 weeks when i get my pay check i online transfer money into each of these accounts. Then when the bill is due, the money is already set aside. This helps because i know that whatever is not in one of those accounts or in my savings account is mine to use as i please. This also makes it a ton easier to manage what i really have to spend on whatever i want.
Another kinda different take on managing money that one of my friends told me about. She lives on her own, but has a budget on how much she will allow herself to spend on each grocery trip. Kroger had this gift card thing where you can buy 300 dollars in girft cards and get 30 dollars back....doesnt seem that cool, but.....its free money....why not?!? You are going to spend the money there on groceries there anyways right? So since she has these cards she asked for them tobe split up into 3 100 dollar gift cards. She lets herself spend only 100 dollars each month. She says this helps her control her impulse buying. Good idea.... but I would have to do a lot of adjusting on that control of how much i can spend a month.
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