At the beginning of the year the hubby and I set a savings plan in place... Nope hasn't worked because of one thing or another always ending with got to use the savings.
So right now as of today we have set up a new savings plan. Doing whatever it takes to get it done.
Tracking each months total savings is a great idea. Even going so far as to adding in extra money when ever we have it instead of spending it on things we don't need.
First up is right out of each paycheck is usually an automatic 50$ that's good, but we need to go farther. We know that taking 10% out each check is what we should do, but some weeks that can't happen, so each week we'll put away 10% or 50$ which ever is more.
Tracking each months total savings is a great idea. Even going so far as to adding in extra money when ever we have it instead of spending it on things we don't need.
First up is right out of each paycheck is usually an automatic 50$ that's good, but we need to go farther. We know that taking 10% out each check is what we should do, but some weeks that can't happen, so each week we'll put away 10% or 50$ which ever is more.
Cash wise each week I will take out a 20$ bill and set it aside for actual oops I forgot to pick up money. That way we are never using the savings account.
Setting up the 5$ plan as well when we use cash. We don't come across them often because we rarely use cash but from today on anytime we get a 5$ we have to set it in a savings jar as well. Just imagine the possibilities.
And lastly, I love the idea of the 52 weeks of savings for Christmas. We did start it last year but the money was used for this and that a few too many times so we're starting over. This Friday I will take week one and put it into a jar as well.
Actually the jar is just a symbolic idea. I will have a few card sheets set up to hold money in my savings binder. Even with all the money we want to save we still have to keep track of what we spend. That is helped along greatly by a few websites with great printables.
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Free monthly cash flow tracker
Receipts go here, from now on everything needs some kind of receipt. Even if I have to make one.
At the end of each month we'll go through each receipt and find what we could have cut out to save even more and store them away for later use
I even have envelopes for Holiday shopping. So I don't spend more than I have. Christmas for the extended family is hand made only, everyone gets pretty much the same thing. Last year we made salt dough ornaments and jar mixes for a full chili dinner. This year it's mixes for breakfast. The kids are only getting 3 things, a need, a want, and a book. We'll still do our family traditions of small gifts through out the month but most of them will be hand made.
Next up, the monthly cash flow chart with large estimates for the first month, just in case. I'd hate to budget for less than what we really use in a week.
Monthly cash is followed by a better look at what we really spend our money on each day. Adding up to a basic pie chart of what gets spent where. Oh boy I have gone off the deep end.
Receipts go here, from now on everything needs some kind of receipt. Even if I have to make one.
Next up, the monthly cash flow chart with large estimates for the first month, just in case. I'd hate to budget for less than what we really use in a week.
Monthly cash is followed by a better look at what we really spend our money on each day. Adding up to a basic pie chart of what gets spent where. Oh boy I have gone off the deep end.
We have decided one 3 weeks out of each month is a nothing but needs time. No going out to eat, no shopping for stuff we want, if it costs money we don't do it. We will be on a strict gas limit, trips to work and planning out the grocery shopping only. The last week/s of the month we get to have a little more fun and go a bit wild after bills and savings have been taken care of. This is where any extra cash can be set aside for the next month so we can have some fun outings on necessity weeks. So for the month of October we'll have NADA for the month as the plan is set up.
The holiday's are going to be the hardest, we have so many bucket list items and while most of them are free as long as we have a stocked home a few are not and will have to be dealt with accordingly. Not going to be easy for me since I just LOVE doing things and decorating for the holiday's. Right now I have so many Halloween crafts to do but no funds to finish them since I have to go buy the last items needed.
The new year brings new troubles as well, we want to work on getting more of our debt knocked out as well as put more to our mortgage and pay it off early. But I have no doubt we will prevail and yes I'm sure there will be set backs but in the end...
BOOM BABY!!!!
The less stressed life will begin.
The less stressed life will begin.
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