We woke up to these sweet little faces yesterday morning, who thought it would fun to share the crib for their morning giggle session
They always manage to keep us entertained. Sweet babies.
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In other news, New year means new budget around here.
(insert intimidating "dun dun dunnnn" music here)
We have an online budgeting tool that we use and love, but we went a disgustingly huge amount over budget last month. Oops.
We want to be responsible with the blessings that God has given us, and honor him buy using our money wisely. We also want to be more free to give generously to those with less financial blessings. With this in mind, we trimmed the fat on lots of categories and are making much larger efforts to get rid of debt on those evil little plastic things sitting in our wallets. We are pretty close to having them paid off, so I plan on having a big celebratory destroying-of-the-cards photo session when we do!
Lowering our spending allowance on certain categories has been more difficult in some than others. For instance...it's only the 10th day of the month, and I have already used up all but 31 dollars in our grocery budget. Dangit. Maybe I need to dabble back into the world of couponing again? We shall see.
Does anyone have any suggestions for how to stay on budget? I've heard of the cash envelope system, but haven't been brave enough to try it. I feel like if I have a large wad of cash sitting in my purse, staring at me, I might accidentally run to target or Hobby Lobby, and spend it all even if the envelope is labeled "groceries." Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, friends!
I never know how much money we have and that helps IMMENSELY. I use to be in charge of the budget but it became too stressful and time consuming. Joey manages everything, pays all of the bills and I don't even know our online password anymore. Before if I knew our balance, I'd spend because I knew I could, now I don't know and I only spend when necessary. I rarely carry cash but if I do it's only like $5-$10, enough to treat myself to a burger or a nailpolish but that's about it. I was hesitant at first thinking we'd ahve no electricity because Joey forgot to pay the bill but he's done great with it.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea! I have been in charge of our budget since forever, and although I love budgeting and numbers and am good at getting it all figured out, I am really the one that puts us over on most categories :( We talked about it last night, and I think we will try passing the torch to Michael and letting him lead us in this area. This scares me a little for the same reason it scared you, haha, it's winter and we need electricity!! We will see how this goes, wish us luck! And if we have no electricity or food, we might be coming to stay with you guys for a bit, so get out beds ready, hahaha. (JK, I am SURE he will do just fine)
ReplyDeleteGerald takes care of all the budgeting and bill paying. I am like Lena, if I don't know how much is in the account i cant spend "just b/c it's there". When I go get groceries or clothes or anything I need he always says "don't spend over "this much"" I say ok! I like it this way b/c when I did have some control over the spending I made daily trips to Gap Kids, now I only shop/spend when I have too!! I like this way, I let G worry about everything, lol!
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