The B Word
Hello, everyone! Last post, I talked about where to begin for those of you out there reading this that are struggling with debt. This post, I'm gonna talk about something that many people dread...even hate. The B Word: Budget.
As you can tell, I'm very open about our debt free journey. Each time I share with someone our current financial status (debt free, three humans and a canine living on one teacher's salary), everyone says the same thing, "How on earth do you survive on your take home pay?" Here's how: Our Budget
Now, this may not be the sexiest topic on the planet, but let's be real. This is a blog about ways to save money for parents. And here is the biggest secret: a great and functional budget is the key to making the most of your money.
Our budget is very tight, but we still allow for some fun things to ensure our long term success. These fun things are: eating out, fun money (a.k.a. money you can do whatever you want to with and you don't have to discuss its fate with your spouse. For us, it's just $20 each per pay period), and even a line for Play Gym for our daughter. If our budget needed to be tightened down even more, then we would cut those items back or cut them out altogether. We also include sinking funds so we can save up money for things we know we will need to pay for in the future (Play Gym would fall into this category). Our other sinking funds include Dobby (she's our beast), gifts (Christmas is included here), medical expenses, car repairs, and car taxes just to name a few.
The real reason to our success, though is my grocery line. Let's explore this more in depth, shall we? (If you're still reading this and haven't fallen asleep, I applaud you! You are the real VIP!) Our grocery budget is stupid tight. To be more specific, we spend roughly $300/month on groceries (and miscellaneous household expenses such as paper towels, contact solution, etc.) per month. How do I achieve this? I have two secret weapons: meal planning and ALDI.
For meal planning, before you get all crazy-eyed and start saying how we're only feeding two grown ups and a baby, please realize that my husband and I eat a lot. A whole lot. I am currently breastfeeding our daughter and I'm hungry all of the time. I've never eaten so much in my entire life. We easily consume enough food for at least 3.5 grown humans between the two of us, so meal planning is key to our success to not breaking our budget. The other key part (ALDI aside), is really looking at how many meals we can realistically make and eat within a week. Americans waste TONS of food. There are some weeks where I've over-planned our meals and have thus needlessly spent available funds and we end up throwing out food because it went bad. It has been one of my personal mission to eliminate the wastefulness from our kitchen.
Putting together a budget is key to financial success for your family. Write it down (or type it out) and make sure you put your dollars to work and stick to the budget! It takes two to three months of practice to get the budget working right for your family, but it can be done!
Thank you so, so much for dropping by! I have to thank all of you for the support and great feedback, particularly surrounding the first post and how you are choosing to incorporate some aspects of our plan in your own family's Christmas celebrations. I actually went out last week to purchase the "something you want" gift for the JuJuBe, and parents, it's brutal out there! So, so many cute things! Stay strong and stick to the plan.
"How on earth do you survive on your take home pay?"
As you can tell, I'm very open about our debt free journey. Each time I share with someone our current financial status (debt free, three humans and a canine living on one teacher's salary), everyone says the same thing, "How on earth do you survive on your take home pay?" Here's how: Our Budget
Now, this may not be the sexiest topic on the planet, but let's be real. This is a blog about ways to save money for parents. And here is the biggest secret: a great and functional budget is the key to making the most of your money.
"...we still allow for some fun things to ensure our long term success."
Our budget is very tight, but we still allow for some fun things to ensure our long term success. These fun things are: eating out, fun money (a.k.a. money you can do whatever you want to with and you don't have to discuss its fate with your spouse. For us, it's just $20 each per pay period), and even a line for Play Gym for our daughter. If our budget needed to be tightened down even more, then we would cut those items back or cut them out altogether. We also include sinking funds so we can save up money for things we know we will need to pay for in the future (Play Gym would fall into this category). Our other sinking funds include Dobby (she's our beast), gifts (Christmas is included here), medical expenses, car repairs, and car taxes just to name a few.
The real reason to our success, though is my grocery line. Let's explore this more in depth, shall we? (If you're still reading this and haven't fallen asleep, I applaud you! You are the real VIP!) Our grocery budget is stupid tight. To be more specific, we spend roughly $300/month on groceries (and miscellaneous household expenses such as paper towels, contact solution, etc.) per month. How do I achieve this? I have two secret weapons: meal planning and ALDI.
"...I'm hungry all of the time."
For meal planning, before you get all crazy-eyed and start saying how we're only feeding two grown ups and a baby, please realize that my husband and I eat a lot. A whole lot. I am currently breastfeeding our daughter and I'm hungry all of the time. I've never eaten so much in my entire life. We easily consume enough food for at least 3.5 grown humans between the two of us, so meal planning is key to our success to not breaking our budget. The other key part (ALDI aside), is really looking at how many meals we can realistically make and eat within a week. Americans waste TONS of food. There are some weeks where I've over-planned our meals and have thus needlessly spent available funds and we end up throwing out food because it went bad. It has been one of my personal mission to eliminate the wastefulness from our kitchen.
Putting together a budget is key to financial success for your family. Write it down (or type it out) and make sure you put your dollars to work and stick to the budget! It takes two to three months of practice to get the budget working right for your family, but it can be done!
Thank you so, so much for dropping by! I have to thank all of you for the support and great feedback, particularly surrounding the first post and how you are choosing to incorporate some aspects of our plan in your own family's Christmas celebrations. I actually went out last week to purchase the "something you want" gift for the JuJuBe, and parents, it's brutal out there! So, so many cute things! Stay strong and stick to the plan.
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