on budgeting, part two

At the beginning of August, I shared about our need to revamp – and actually follow – a budget.

Guess what? We did.

I know. Technically, we do have one day left, but I want to get this all down before I forget.

Because I will.

And can I just say that when you get paid once or twice a month, August is such a looong month. Back to school expenses…new schedules…there are a lot of budget landmines to avoid.

For the most part, we managed to avoid them. We went a little bit over on eating out (by about $30) and a little bit over on groceries (around $10)…and a lot over on home stuff, which was my fault. I purchased new dinnerware with some birthday money, only to realize what I thought were place settings for 10 were actually 10 inch plates. Somebody needs to learn to read packaging better! That put us over, along with needing to replace the shelf in Hanna’s closet (a far bigger and more annoying project than I’d expected) and my frying pans. We also had some car maintenance that cost more than expected.

Over all, though, I’d call it a hugely successful month of budgeting for us. Even with spilling over on a few budget lines, we still ended up with money in savings, toward vacation, a gift fund – plus two Christmas gifts purchased – and a little fund for winter clothing – 6 years in Florida and some weight loss left our winter clothes fairly lacking…and by that I mean mostly non-existent.

I can’t remember the last time we ended a month with extra!

Best of all? The biggest stress about money I had this month was making sure I got to the bank so we had the proper cash for my little envelopes. It’s been a little tighter than usual here these last few days, but because I’d stocked up on basics early on it hasn’t really been an issue.

Cash only was a huge help. It kept us honest – that debit card is too easy to go over on. Accountability is so important and seeing each envelope get thinner really makes me think about my purchases and how necessary they are. It’s also made it easier to tell the kids, “that envelope is empty” and let them see that money doesn’t just magically pop out from the ATM machine.

It’s also encouraged me to start using a few coupons again and do a little stockpiling. Generally, I don’t use a lot of coupons – mainly because we don’t eat a lot of processed food – but if I can save on the everyday cleaning supplies and personal care items we always seem to need, it’s worth it to spend a few minutes each week on Coupon Mom to find the good deals. My coupon strategy is a bit of a lazy one, but it works for me.

One little extra help I did do this week was to plan out a couple of sample budgets, based on our varying monthly income possibilities. When I sit down on the first of each month, I can just pull one out as a base and make adjustments depending on exactly how much we have to work with. I’m also planning to type a necessities sheet – somewhere to keep track of the regular monthly bills, along with when they’re due and what needs to be budgeted for them. And I plan to save each month’s budget worksheet, in case we ever have months with similar incomes, something I think will definitely be a time-saver in the long run.

Honestly, I’ve spent the better part of this month wondering why I’ve never been able to budget this way before. It has lifted such a huge burden from my shoulders and I’m so grateful for taking the time to make it work. And I feel like we were able to steward our finanaces and honor God in a way that we never have before. I’m a little sad that it’s taken me 15 years to figure out a way to budget that works for us, but I’m thankful I finally did.

Helpful Links:
Dave Ramsey’s Budget Forms

Shared at Heavenly Homemaker’s Gratituesdays.