Perhaps this isn't the best avenue to address this. But what really is? I figured all you peeps out there can come to my rescue!! Calling all peeps........calling all peeps........Advice needed for family down the street....calling all peeps!!
The current state of our economy is dizzying and nauseating at best. But, I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about the dreaded beloved 'B' word. That's right my friends let's talk budgets. Call it out to me:
Gimme a B, Gimme a U, Gimme a D, Gimme a G, Gimme a E, Gimme a T....what does that spell???? UPSET STOMACH!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!
Lately I have been feeling that our family finances are doing this. Yep, just money down the drain. Spending without making good decisions. Squandering the amazing blessings that Heavenly Father has blessed our family with. Not being faithful in my desire to be prudent and wise. Seems we have often looked for the perfect 'plan' around here, only I seem to be the last one following it very well. 
In all honesty, finances and I have never gotten along very well. I loathe talking finances, planning finances.....I love the end results of good planning and careful execution and so grateful for good influences in my life in regards to this. I would rather consider money in general as I would consider a roll of toilet paper. You don't think about it much....you're just glad it's there when you need it.
So, my wise and helpful friends, I wish to beg for your advice or your thoughts. What has worked for you??? What hasn't??? What motivates you to stay on track??? What jumps you off the train????
I am anxiously awaiting your wisdom...I am biting my fingernails....see, told you I was anxious :-)
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Going....Going.....GONE!
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12 comments:
Oh Anna, this is a tough one for me as I too spend without thinking at times. We are tightening our belts a bit in the area of eating out and buying too much junk at the grocery store. I am not what you would call a "cook" so I tend to avoid cooking but I am now making weekly meal menu's, buying everything I need to stick to the plan. My husband commented the other day that he likes looking to see what's on the menu and everything has been tasty so far. =) I share in your struggles girl, I get it. I LOVE to shop and I find sometimes out of bordem I will hit Target or Wal-mart. I've been praying about it and I see it's kind of tapering off. My real challenge will be the holidays. Hope this helped to know you're not alone.
Hugs and love,
Amy
This is not my forte. My husband is good at it though, and am sure that he would be happy to give me some tips if I asked him ;) I really do think it is a skill that everyone will need, and I want to learn to be more aware. I think it is astonishing how much money just vanishes into meaningless things.
I use the budget %'s from Jean Chatsky. She is a regular on the today show. She tells you how much you should spend on everything based on %'s of your income. When we first started we realized we were way over on house budget so had to borrow from an area we didn't spend much money on. The best part and how it controlled my useless, careless spending was getting out cash on Mon. for the week. I did not use the debit card or checks. It became a game and I started trying to save some cash, stash it away for something special and I didn't feel as guilty doing it because it was budgeted (even if it did take a few weeks to save for it). Anyway, her idea seemed to work for us. Also we have used Dave Ramsey in the past, he is also great especially if you want to get out of debt. Good Luck. I know how you feel. After doing my grocery shopping today at Wal Mart I noticed many of the items I buy regularly have gone up from 15 to 50 or more cents in just a week, that adds up!
oh my...this is a toughie! I've found that not carrying a credit or debit card helps. If I'm not going to the store, I don't need to have money on me (in the car is okay, but not in my purse). I like the weekly cash thing...I'm going to try that with my next paycheck! Thanks...and good luck.
This always causes bumps in the road...and it is not fun. One thing we did this past summer was to sit down and just delegate certain income we knew we would be receiving to pay off some things in a timely manner. It wasn't too specific other than that, but I knew that when we got such & such extra income, it was for our refrigerator or whatever - rather than just wasting it away on random things. Like you, I love when that good planning ends up in good and productive results - it is such a good feeling. And, having made our list together, we were on the same page with the timing of all of those things. It's time for us to do it again!
By the way, a really great book on money is The Treasure Priciple by Randy Alcorn (actually, all books I've read by him are amazing...he has one fiction book out called Safely Home that is based in China...I LOVED it!)
Oh Anna, I wish I had some words of wisdom for you, but Frank is the one who is so great at this...certainly not me!! lol! I have to admit though, in light of the current state of the economy, I find myself just "holding back" in general & really thinking before I take out the $$ to buy.
Hey!! I see you're doin' the strikethrough!! Good for you!! I was all set to email you the directions when I saw your post!
Anna! You did it! YAY! I hope that means that my instructions were not as horrible to understand as I thought they might be. Maybe you got the directions somewhere else. But whatever the case, Bravo! I have no budget advice for you. John was deployed last year and it was the first time in 17 years I had to do the finances around here. Before that, I never even paid any of our bills! We log in everything on Quicken to keep track of expenses...but a lot of my friends do the Dave Ramsey Peace University program and love it. They say it totally changed the way they thought about money and budgeting. Maybe a church near you is doing a seminar/class on it. I hope you get some good advice!
Like you, I get a stomachache when it comes to sitting down and doing the budget. My hubby wants us to start doing the "cash system" that Dave Ramsey recommends. I have many friends who have gone through his books and seminars and think it's great. Good luck!
It always worked for me to budget, and review weekly, congratulating myself on achievements and goals met. Its harder now with 2 - I am married to a spender who can't seem to even think about budgeting. :)
Well, we seem to constantly jump on and off the "budget train" so I am afraid I am no help. But we HAVE made some changes in our spending (mostly out of necessity) and learned how to do without certain things! Like - do I really need EVERY size of Ziploc bag? Or - do I REALLY need the Reveal light bulbs instead of the soft white? Or do I REALLY have to put meat in the spaghetti sauce?? Things like that. :) Just little things like that really add up!
xoxo
I am going to second Lisa said DAVE RAMSEY!! Honestly, our lives really changed when started following his plan. And BOY did I hate it at first! I hadn't realized how much I shopped for fun... I had to find a new way to spend an afternoon with no kids that didn't involve Target and several hundred bucks :)
Let us know what you decided to do! I'll be glad to offer any advice if you do want to do the Financial Peace University (daveramsey.com), just email me :)
I need to 'third' the Dave Ramsey method!! We have friends that teach the class, and their oldest daughter recently got married and she and her husband have begun to follow the DR path and what a difference I see in this young couple! They are both architects and they bank her salary and save a good chuck of his. They will soon be buying their first home with CASH! No mortgage and they are determined to wait until they are able to do this.
IMO, its not fun to start this, but from what the horizon looks like ahead (economy wise) I feel it is absolutely necessary for our family! This is a great discussion.
PS- thank you also for your very sweet comment. You have a BEAUTIFUL family.
Love the T.P. pic ;)
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