We’ve been listeners of the Dave Ramsey show for a long time now. We even have The Total Money Makeover book. We’ve never had the kind of debt some of the callers talk about but we have never been debt free either. We saw a lot of good in paying off things early and getting control of our spending in a few areas. We have never gone with the “gazelle intensity” program but we modified it to work for us.
Back in October 2008 we decided to try a new approach to our household budget. Now BUDGET is an ugly word that I really don’t care for but when it comes right down to it, we needed to keep better track of our monthly spending. When I would head for the grocery store on Friday mornings, I would work very hard to stay within the $150 per week food budget we allotted for. And most of the time that trip would come in under the mark so I thought that was good enough. Then a few days later we would need milk. Or diapers, or a forgotten ingredient for dinner that night. It was those “little” trips that killed us each month. They weren’t taken into consideration when we mapped out our finances for the pay period. There was no accountability system.
Starting that month, we pulled our budget amount out of the ATM in cash. When the cash was gone, that was it. (Unless it was an essential like milk or diapers). It changed the way I shopped for groceries. It stopped most of those “impulse buys” in their tracks! I would just keep them in mind for the last trip of the pay cycle and then if there was any extra money I could get them. Once that was going well for us we started pulling cash out for our Entertainment Fund. It’s enough money for all of us to eat out once at a nice place or a couple times at a fast food place. Or we could go to the movies ONCE, or buy a movie on DVD. Once that money is gone, there is no essential extra.
Right around the time all this change was coming about, I started to get interested in new recipes and cooking restaurant style foods at home. Enter the Food Blog! I read food blogs for about a year before I ever thought about posting my own. I love being able to make food that is better than what we could get if we ate out and it sure is less expensive!
Two years after we first started, we are in a groove with it. In that time we have paid off over $40,000 in debt (excluding mortgage). Things from hospital bills to our travel trailer, Suburban, credit card and we have paid cash for most of the other things. Now we are on the downhill side. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel and have started making lists of the kinds of things we’d like to get for ourselves once there’s nothing else to pay off. We have added more cash withdrawals for things like gasoline, alcohol and miscellaneous purchases (dog and chicken food, clothing, extras).
It’s still a process for us. We still butt heads over what to spend money on and how much to save. Jayme and I have very different feelings on a lot of subjects and money is no exception. Marriage is all about negotiation and compromise and not keeping score. We’ll keep on keepin’ on and one day we will finally be able to say, “We lived like no one else, so now we can live like no one else.”
Sunday Sweets: Flowery Praise
2 days ago
I ordered his stuff two weeks ago, it arrived last week and is still sitting exactly where it came in to the house in opened. I hope we can start soon to get things rolling. Keep up the good work and great blogs!
ReplyDeleteWe don't carry debt other than mortgage and one vehicle (that will be paid off in September... woohoo), but we still try to budget as best we can.
ReplyDeleteWe pay for almost everything electronically using a VISA (that we pay off every month so it doesn't accrue any interest, and as a bonus it's one of those cash-back ones, so we get 1% of purchases back in cash in December), so I track it all online with a spreadsheet. If I see one number (we lump grocery and pharmacy into one budget, for instance) creeping up really fast, I warn my wife (she's the spender) to curtail it for a bit.
I'd love to work with the fixed amount cash system you describe, but honestly, I don't think my wife could work within a fixed limit. Like you said, different people approach money differently, and marriage is about compromise.
We do an approximation of the Dave Ramsey thing too, but we really need to get back to it hard core. The only thing we don't do is the cash, because I hate carrying cash and it makes me nervous. I really don't know why. But anyways, pregnancy and baby phase always puts a cramp on our budget- it has every time- because I'm out of commission and then very distracted with newborn busyness. Eating out and grocery/convenience store trips get way out of hand. Must! Do! Better!
ReplyDeleteOverall, though, we're pretty frugal. We don't buy anything big unless we can pay cash for it, so we don't have any debt currently except our house and one vehicle. We'd be in pretty good shape if it weren't for frickin frackin medical bills nonstop!