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August
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6 comments:
We have just changed the way we do the budget. Previously, my husband had created a whole system on Excel that we used to divvy up our month's budget into the appropriate categories. I was then responsible for updating it, ideally on a weekly basis. However, I wasn't always able to get to it and sometimes it would take up to 4 hours to do because of various interruptions.
Recently, we've switched over to using Quicken. My husband has taken over doing the budget, which holds me much more accountable to the spending. (I'm not a huge shopper or anything; I just like to have fun foods in the house.)
Through this switch to the new set-up, we identified our trouble spots -- areas where we have a tougher time sticking to budget -- and we went to the envelope system. For those three categories, we pull out in cash the budgeted amount for the month and when it's gone, it's gone!
Food is one of those categories, and we've had a tight couple of months here because of being over-budget previously. We're learning to coupon, to make use of the food we already have, and to only buy necessities. It's not fun, but we're much more at ease about the budget.
This is a hard one. We've never paid much attention to our budget and have really regretted it at times. Although I'm the accountant my husband pays the bills (he feels it's his responsibility and I do enough numbers at work). Recently I found out that we have a balance on one of our credit cards, so as of August 1, we are on the envelope system, too!
We did do Quicken at one time, but even that was more effort than we wanted to put into tracking money. With our new envelope system, we're doing the Dave Ramsey zero-budget approach, where every dollar is assigned to something at the beginning of the month and we don't deviate from that plan. Again - first month, so I can't give a verdict yet, but it only takes about 15 minutes, plus the time to write down where we spend the cash. If it doesn't work, we will go back to Quicken.
I agree, Karen, it's not much fun!
This is my husband's area. I periodically gives me updates just to let me know what is going on and talk about any decisions in the budget or our spending/saving. For a while we used Crown Financial's Mvelope online system and that was good to be more aware of where all of our money was going. My husband taught Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class at our church and I would HIGHLY recommend it for anyone with questions about finances or certainly if there is debt. We've had a number of people in our church come out of a bit of debt quite painlessly with Dave Ramsey's program.
Mostly, we don't buy things we don't need or spend so little on the extra that it doesn't amount to much (rummages and thrift stores! Hooray!) and are putting extra in savings for the times we have an "emergency".
So, for those of you who do the Dave Ramsey Program, how did you hear about it? Where did you take the class? How much did it cost? Do you like it?
I am the one in charge of our finances in our home, and though I don't do a terrible job, I know I could do better and would love to find a program that would work for me. Right now I just have a "paper budget" with no computer programs, or specific systems, but I know I could be using our money more effectively. We have had bad luck in the past with Ameriprise financial advisors and have been given poor advice on investments, which has made me learn to do more stuff on my own and find a simple system that doesn't drive us into the ground. I'm not sure how much it helps us though, and that's the point we're at now....wanting to save more, give more, invest more, etc. I'm interested to find out more about Dave Ramsey's program.
Dave Ramsey is an excellent resource for dealing with finances. Check out his website www.daveramsey.com . We were really excited to read his book "The Total Money Makeover." (Check to see if your library has it.) He's really blunt about what you're doing with your money, but it makes total sense. HIGHLY recommend his stuff.
Yeah, I think that's what I need. I did check out his website, and was able to locate a FPU course at a church in my city, so I think I'll enroll for that. It's nice, because its close and free, so there's really nothing to lose. Plus, judging by the demo video on his website he's a great speaker, so I won't get bored. :)
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