Hi friends,
Here’s a neat project to try – take a month’s expenses from your budget, and take it out in cash however you like. Take cash out on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis, whatever works for you, and then spend it as usual.
Keep a log, whether paper or on your phone, that logs where and when you spend your cash.
See if this makes a difference in your spending habits for the month. Worth a try to make you more conscious of your spending.
Amy
Hi friends,
Here’s a pretty quick, but scary! mission to take the last month’s expenditures and review how much you spent on restaurants in that period. Information is power when it comes to money and this will be a learning experience. Log in to your bank account, and print out your last month’s transactions. Then, just go through with a highlighter and mark each transaction that counts as a restaurant – convenience store snacks, takeout pizza, dine in restaurant meals, drive thru coffee, and so on.
Then, add it all up. Absorb that number, and set a goal with your family to lower it. Try and beat your total by lowering it next month.
Good luck!
Amy
Hi friends,
It’s a great idea to open up a savings account and tag it for a specific purpose. Check with your bank, you can often open a saving account online, quick and easy, and for free, with no account fees.
Then, once you have it open, label it for yourself for a specific purpose. For example, a rainy day fund, trip fund, or sports fund. Every payday, deposit a little bit of money into your new savings account, whether by automatic deposit or transferring the money yourself. Even $10 a payday will add up, and you’ll be thrilled to see your account for a purpose grow.
I’m doing this now for my trip fund 🙂
Amy
Hi friends,
Do your kids rooms need a makeover?
I’ve blogged before about helping kids organize their things and their clothes, and that would be ideally done before you decide to decorate. I’ve found that it’s easy to become blinded to how a bedroom looks if it’s been the same for a long time, and then suddenly you think, wow the walls look really dinged up and maybe my son’s outgrown the cowboy theme.
I recently did a bedroom makeover on both my boys rooms by helping them go through their items, take everything down off their walls, and painting them. The supplies cost me $125 total and it took a weekend to complete. They are so thrilled and proud of their rooms, and it really took very little time, and cost, just some effort.
I encourage you to plan to do a bedroom makeover for your kids sometime soon, if it’s needed at your house too.
Amy
Hi friends,
We’ve talked about your biggest variable expense here before: your grocery budget.
I recently did an exercise for myself on a day when I really needed to stay on grocery budget – I put a dollar amount next to each item that I was buying at the store and then tried to beat it, even if only by a few cents or a dollar.
It’s really hard for me to estimate my total that I’m spending with buying so many items at once, so I’m often surprised (sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad one) at the totals when I go to the grocery store.
This particular trial exercise was a smashing success and not only did I meet my budget, I beat it by over $30 less than I expected to spend.
Try it out, I encourage you!
Amy
Hi friends,
Do you have a debt that’s been on your mind lately?
The best way to get it off your mind is to face it and deal with it.
Let’s just say that you have a credit card balance hanging over your head, get the current amount that is owing, and your monthly payment amount.
Let’s also say that you want to pay off your credit card in the next 12 months. You need to divide your current balance by 12, add your monthly payment which usually just covers the interest payment, and commit to paying that amount each month until your credit card is paid off, without racking up any additional balance. Write down your plan and discuss it with your partner.
It sounds simple, but in this case, knowledge is power for sure. Having a plan and a deadline is very reassuring, and will dismiss your worries, which has its own kind of value.
Amy
Hi friends,
Budget check! What is your main indulgence and how much does it cost?
First, figure out what your main indulgence is – you probably know what it is already, if you don’t, check your bank statement and it should be glaringly clear.
Usual indulgences are things like manicures, massages, fast food lunches, coffee drive thru in the morning, new clothes.
Take a minute to look at the last 30 days of your spending and see how much you spent on your little habit. Can you afford it? Can you cut down from buying lunch out to two days a week? How much will you save then?
Paying attention and learning your habits will be the first big step to controlling your treats. You still deserve a treat, but just make sure that you can comfortably afford it.
Amy
Hi friends,
My very first post on this blog was about kids allowances and chores – you can read it here if you wish:
Now, a very important part that comes after the doing of chores & paying of allowance is the cash in hand part.
I will occasionally transfer money into the boys bank accounts if they are saving for something special. If that is happening, I show them when I transfer and their balance so that they can remember how much they have saved towards their goal.
If they aren’t saving for something specific, I will give them cash in their hands. I find that this is much more concrete than a debit card, or me paying for their items. I keep their wallets in my purse so that they don’t get lost.
The beauty of kids with cash is multi-faceted. They can’t go slightly over budget with cash. They have to account for GST with cash. If both of my boys want to buy a more expensive item, like a hockey net, they have to figure out the cost and split it between them in cash. Now, each lesson build on the last as they get older, and they become much more financially responsible. They also learn the value of that dollar in their hand since they had to work to earn it, and then by physically holding it and handing it over to the cashier, they feel the loss of it. They further learn that if they aren’t cautious with their cash, and they lose it somewhere, it’s gone for good.
I encourage you to start a chore program with your kids in your house, or continue it, and pay the babies in cash to help them learn those important early financial lessons.
Amy
Hi friends,
Sometimes in life, we have that most excellent moment of having “found money”.
Whether it’s an unexpected check, an extra payday in a month, a tax return, it’s a great idea to have a plan in advance for such occasions, so that your eyes don’t glaze over and you go on a shopping spree or a trip, automatically!
This can be as simple as a post it note that you and your partner agree on.
You can have priorities, like, all extra money goes to saving for a new roof, or the kids hockey fees. Or you can divvy it up by percentage, like if we receive any extra money, half will go to the credit card and the other half we will use to buy a car stereo that we want. Just having that talked out plan will make your financial direction as a team so much easier when you do get an unexpected amount.
Amy
Hi friends,
This post is inspired by a recent discussion with a friend about how unconscious the majority of our spending can be.
Grab your calendar, and mark at least a couple of days a week with an X – these days are your shopping free days. That means no buying anything, no groceries, nothing online or from a catalog, nothing at all. Practice this habit until it’s a conscious one, and see what happens when you attempt to spend your money in a more specific and intentional fashion.
Amy
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