I am on a mission! I am bound and determined to Budget.
I have been watching, for quite some time now, “Till Debt Do Us Part“ on MSNBC. I just love Gail Vaz-Oxlade – she tells it like it is. She makes it so easy to follow her steps. She doesn’t have 20 million different sheets that you have to keep updated. Just keep track of your money. Nice and easy lemon squeezee!
Well, one of her ways of getting people to saving instead of spending is jars – yep, similar to envelopes but with Jars and a binder to keep track of what you are spending in each jar. Besides the Jars, she gives people exercises and homework that they must complete to help them understand where their money is going and how to stop the leaks for good.
The goal is to have money left in your jars at the end of the week.
I don’t use jars, but I do use envelopes to budget our money. Same concept, just using envelopes that I can carry with me in my wallet.
I ordered last year the envelope refills from Dave Ramsey’s website thinking these would work. Well, they sort of worked but not how I liked. The were a bit flimsy and tore easily.
Pinterest to the rescue! I was on this fabulous site (stay tuned, I’ve found some DIY’s that I’m going to do this year) and came across the Cashenvelopes template while reading this blog post Today’s Money: Budgeting with Cash Envelopes. I downloaded the free template and then went to Wal-mart and purchased 50 sheets of 8.5 x 11, 65lb, card stock in the pastel colors Pink, purple, green, and blue. Dave’s were milli vanilli and drab. I paid 4.97 for the 50 sheets vs. the 20.00 I paid for the two sets of envelope refills that I purchased from Dave Ramsey. Now, I am not bashing Ramsey, I just think Gail is the better budget planner that I can follow and understand.
Last month was my first month that we had significant money left over in our envelopes. How much, it was more than 100.00 but less than 300.00. The amount doesn’t matter as much as the fact, I HAD MONEY LEFT IN EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE ENVELOPES!
I work very hard to keep our horses, dogs, and chickens within a very tight budget while putting money away for those little emergencies that seem to pop-up. I found some round bales that were very good quality and very reasonable at 1/2 the cost that others were selling them – we paid $50.00 each. We purchased 10 round bales. I also found some very large square bales 3x3x8 that was some real good quality hay for 65.00. We purchased 7 bales. I was also able to secure 30 square bales for 6.50 a bale and it was good quality hay from one of my suppliers – because I was a regular customer and was established, I got this price and the biggest thing….I paid cash! We now have hay for just a little over 4 months which should get us to the first cutting of which, I have secured, in advance, 20 round bales.
I tell you this because budgeting is not just the here and now, it is looking out for what your needs will be in the future. I knew we would be in a hay crisis back in May and began the strategy to ensure that my horses did not suffer nor did our budget. I began stockpiling. I found a sale on bags of cubed alfalfa for 8.99 a bag – we purchased 20 bags to help stretch our hay. I also began to stockpile beet pulp as an added fiber source. Because of the Cashenvelope system, we were in a position that when we came across these deals for hay, we were able to make these purchases.
I am always on the look out for coupons for Purina Feed (I feed EQ SR and a customer mix) and have been able to get some great coupons by being part of the Purina Rewards Program. Click on this link Purina Rewards and it will take you to the sign-up page. If you wouldn’t mind entering my referral number: 20120213-66-06465017 I would greatly appreciate it. You are rewarded when friends sign-up with your referral. I took the Purina 60 Day See The Difference Challenge and not only saw a difference in my animals, but also in my pocket!
Back to the budgeting – all of these little things add up into huge savings at the end of the month. Not only am I using coupons for my animals, I’m using coupons for grocery shopping and anything else that will take a coupon. I find codes for online discounts that can give you as much as 50% off! I use Social Media to keep up with what is on sale and what are bargains for stockpiling. I barter for things that we need.
I will keep you posted on how well we are doing on our budget. Now that we are starting to see this money at the end of the month, I am going to start a new savings account for our emergency fund.
So, how do you budget? Any tricks that you have learned to help you budget your money?
