Lee and I have been on a budget pretty much since we got married. We never did Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University or anything like that, but we did read one of his books. I like a lot of things he says, but there are some things that I don't necessarily agree with. Like credit cards. He doesn't think you should use them at all, but we put EVERYTHING on our credit card. We get points for the dollars spent and then we get gift cards with those points. I can see how some people might get in trouble with credit cards, but we make sure we have the money before we buy anything and we pay off our card every month.
Anyway, since I've been back in school we've been pretty strict on our budget since we're doing without the money I was making. We've been following the budget just to get by without going into even more debt than my student loans are going to bring. I knew the student loan debt would be a lot, but I was talking to my mom the other day and realized it was going to be a WHOLE lot. I really already knew that, but I had been trying to not think about it too much.
I was a little depressed for a little while, but now I've decided it's a good thing because it's got me really motivated to really stick to the budget and cut back where we can. I really want to figure out how we can cut back in ALL the areas of our budget.
I'm going to start setting a few goals at the beginning of every month and then report back on how we did. I'm also going to start writing about any really good deals I find or other ways I've found to save/earn money.
August goals:
- Keep our grocery budget below $250 (I mean really, there are only two of us, shouldn't be too hard
- Pay at least $50 extra on the car payment
- Get back into couponing (I had been doing pretty well...not extreme by any means, but I was definitely saving money...and then I just kinda quit)
Good luck! My husband and I did Dave Ramsey's plan, and we are debt free (except the house)!!! Like you, we didnt go to FPU, but I read the book and took the principals he taught and tried to live by them. The ONE THING we didnt really adhere to is that we didnt sit down every month and make a budget. I had a budget in mind, and some months we went over, some months under, but it all turned out just fine. It took us a month and a half longer than we planned to pay off $26,000 in debt. Right now, we are stashing away money for our Emergency Fund (and trying to get some home renovations paid for with cash before Winter!)
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you with your budget!
I was just thinking about writing a budget post. We have really tried to get serious about it this month. You just motivated me to get it typed up and put out there so maybe I'll really hold myself accountable. :)
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