My favorite Budgeting resource

 

Do you ever watch the show "Til Debt Do U$ Part"?  It's one that my husband and I always watch together- the host, Gail Vaz-Oxlade is an expert at helping people get out of debt.  In most cases she does it in under 2 years.

There is a great tool on her website- the Interactive Budget Worksheet.  I would recommend filling it out honestly to start out with- what you make and what you currently spend PER MONTH in each category.  If you need to change labels, there is an Excel version to download also.

DO THIS NOW before reading on!  Don't worry about the columns on the right- just go down the ones on the left (A and B).

When you finish that part- check out the % you are spending in the Housing, Transportation, Life, Debt and Savings section.  Are you spending a lot more in one category than the others?  You can see how much you are under or over your monthly income. 

THEN make adjustments so you are on budget (last line of the spreadsheet "Income-Expenses" should have $0) and not too lopsided in those % rows.  Be realistic- where can you cut?  Did you forget any categories?  I had to add a few and change them around.

Having a budget helps you think about all expenses so there are less surprises later and all your money has an assigned place to cover.

I needed to reallocate my budget and get things more streamlined for the summer and going back to a cash budget.  It even tells me how much to take out weekly and put in each "Jar" or envelope- whatever you use.  These are the variable spending areas, so if you have leftover you can use it toward something else- adding to your debt payments or rewarding yourself for staying on task.  This is where I get the money for a big trip we are saving for!

Let me know what you think! How have you done your budgeting in the past and does it work for you?

Photo from Gail's Blog.

Where does your paycheck go?

Have you sat down lately and worked the numbers in your budget?

Gail Vax-Oxlade has an interactive budget worksheet which also shows by category how you are spending.

She suggests 35% for Housing, 15% for Transportation, 15% toward debt repayment and then retirement when it's paid off, 25% for the rest of life's expenses and 10% toward saving (or giving).  Some are interchangable- if you get cars paid off, put an extra $100 toward your mortgage and get it paid off quicker saving you all the interest, then put the rest in an emergency fund to have 6-8 months of expenses covered in case something happened.

Try out her worksheet and figure out your monthly expenses and even see what you would use weekly if you gave the cash system a try.

Thrifty Thursday- Holiday budget

5 weeks until Christmas!

Once Thanksgiving and December hit, things get CRAZY at our house!  Which is why we plan to be done shopping by the weekend before Thanksgiving when there are good sales but not the madness of Black Friday.  My favorite year was the one when I was done by Halloween, but as the kids are getting older- they are getting pickier- so we have to wait until closer to Christmas.

One way we save money is by doing pixies among both my husband and my siblings- which cuts 6 gifts for sisters and their families down to 2.  It also makes their budget a little higher for their families instead of finding a way to do a $20 gift for families of up to 7 people.

6 siblings @ $20-30= $120-180
vs.
2 siblings @ $30-40= $60-80

So we spend less and get people nicer things.  I know I enjoy a more thoughtful gift from one person over 5 quick gifts from everyone.  
This year I had his mom and my mom draw the names, so not even I know who has our family!  My family is the type that sends out a list of ideas for the person, hubby's family it's a little harder because we have to think of something for them ourselves.

Also, going in on a group gift for the parents or grandparents help get a bigger, nicer gift but without you having to front all the money.

If the budget is super-tight this year, you can opt for a homemade Christmas.  We did that one year with hubby's sisters.  We made holiday decorations- one sister made out of wood and painted 3 Christmas trees then typed up and framed the "3 Little Trees" poem.  We get to display that every year and enjoy having that addition in our home.  Another sister made all of us (10 adults and 4 kids) pajama pants to wear on Christmas Eve.  The PJ bottoms were all fun material that she picked personally for each of us- hubby's had tools on it (cause he's a contractor) and so on.  It made us all want to hang out in our cozy pj's and watch Christmas movies at home. 

What are ways you save on your Christmas budget?