Back on the wagon!

That's what we say every time we get back on our budget.

In my opinion, the first month is the hardest.  Remembering to keep all the receipts or write down what was bought in each category can be daunting.  Our bills are easy to record because most of them come right out of our account and stay the same every month.

Things like grocery or drugstore are also easy. I almost always use my debit card, so we can just look at our online statement.  Although when I buy toothpaste at the grocery store, I do subtract that amount and put it in the drugstore line.

The hardest things to remember to write down is things we buy with cash. This doesn't happen very often, but I've learned to put it in the budget as soon as I get home or I'll forget.

Along the same line, living your life and not focusing on the budget is the hardest the first month. I like to go all in. I put myself on a "no buy" month. I only buy the necessities, nothing else. No clothes, no treats, no Starbucks, nothing.  I buy what we need when we need it. Don't get me wrong, it's hard, but I just go in with the thought of, "I'm not buying anything this month" mentality.  So when I do actually buy something like a gift or a drink it's so unusual that I don't forget to write it down.

The first half of the "no buy" month goes great. I'm excited about my new plan and I'm really focused.  About halfway through the month I just want to buy something, anything.  This is the time when I don't allow myself to go to Target/Wal-Mart/Meijer.  It's just not worth the temptation.

Around this time I also start making a list of things I want to buy next month. My wants list.  What I have found in the past is I usually don't want those things in a month.  I've forgotten why I wanted it or just decided I didn't want to spend my personal budget money on it.  This is has saved me so much money in the past.

And the number one thing that keeps us on the wagon is having a goal.  Some goals we've had in the past, are:

Pay off debt
Save for a vacation
Save for a down payment on a house

This time our goal is save for vacation.  We want to go on a longer/larger vacation next summer and we want to have all the money set aside for it before it's even close.  So, not only is our budget working towards something, it's also releasing some stress of "we are spending so much money on this vacation".  I hate that feeling halfway through vacation when you start to realize how much money you've spent and you're only halfway.

With your budget made, I hope these tips will help you get in the right head space to start your budget.

Up next: goals for my personal budget.

October 1st

October 1st marks the beginning of our budget.  Rob and I have done this a few times before, and it has worked really well.

To create the budget we use google sheets.  Rob is really the one who sets all this up for us.  First, he organizes all our monthly bills that don't change.  After that, he puts in things that we buy that change from month to month, such as, groceries, drugstore items,  veterinarian care, and car maintenance. Then comes the third layer, the "wants".  We give ourselves money to spend each month on ourselves, the kids, the dog.  Ta-Da! You have a budget.

We've done this a few times, so with this budget we added in things like the car payment, but mostly things stayed the same. Rob even colored coded it this time!

I've included a copy of our categories below:

October 2017

House

Insurance

Utilities

Taxes

College

Car

Groceries

Gifts

T-Rex

Gas

Medical

Maintenance

Eat Out

Clothes

Kids

Misc

Costco

Drugstore

Andrea

Rob

Entertainment

Amazon/PayPal

Bills

Needs

Discretionary

Over the next week I'll go into some of the reasons why we decided to start budgeting again, some personal budget goals, and thoughts on minimalism/zero waste living.