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Hey everyone!
I'm starting a new journey in my low-buy challenge, by creating a budget for myself, and forcing myself to stick to it.
I'm going to start using the envelope system, which was created by Dave Ramsey. If you are new to budgets in general, you might want to go to your local library and look up 'personal finance' or pick up a book or two by Ramsey. I really like his advice. (Be advised- he's Christian and that comes across strongly in his work, so if that's not your cup of tea, just try to get past it and see the bones of what he's talking about.)
I will suggest also to help you get into the mindset of saving, you might want to check out these few personal finance blogs that really helped me back in the day to keep my spending on track: Get Rich Slowly is one, and The Non-Consumer Advocate is the other. I'm not sure about posting links, so I'll just let you google-search it.
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So, the envelope method is basically where you take your budgeted categories for each month (groceries, gas, rent, etc.) and create an envelope for each category. You put cash from the budgeted amount into each envelope. Then, you can spend the amount in each category's envelope until it's gone. You cannot refill them with money until the next month.
Sounds simple, but if you use a debit card or checks or a credit card, or even online-shop, it can get tricky.
That's what kept me from doing it, but here's my plan to get around that:
~For categories where I know I'll be using a credit card, instead of putting money in the envelope, I will just have a little notecard in the envelope where I will write down my purchases, so that I can see how close it's getting to the budgeted amount. For me, this is going to be gas, and any bills I have.
~For times when I just want to use my debit card or credit card and don't have any real reason for it, I'll just take the amount of cash that I spent from that category's envelope, and put it in the envelope labeled 'next month' so that I can no longer spend that amount in that category, but it's ready for refilling next month.
~If you don't want to carry the entire month's worth of cash on you, you can split it into weeks and just carry that weeks' amount.
This way I can still use my credit card/debit card/checkbook when I want to, but I still have a good way of keeping track of it.
What do you think? Are you going to try it?
I ordered this cute thing on Etsy to help me keep to my goal:
I think it'll really help me stay organized!
Also, if you want to learn more about the envelope method, I suggest this blog post, as it's super detailed: http://www.happilyeverstrader.com/2013/07/how-to-envelope-system.html
So I'm going to try to start this in October, I have a few weeks to get everything ready and to tweak my budget and go to the bank. I'm kind of stoked about this! Because I can still give myself a 'personal spending' category - so I can still buy some makeup, but I'll have a set amount, which I can either save and roll over to have more later, or just ... you know, keep it within the budget.
Anyone else thinking about doing this? Or have you ever done this? Or maybe you have some other budget tips?
I'm starting a new journey in my low-buy challenge, by creating a budget for myself, and forcing myself to stick to it.
I'm going to start using the envelope system, which was created by Dave Ramsey. If you are new to budgets in general, you might want to go to your local library and look up 'personal finance' or pick up a book or two by Ramsey. I really like his advice. (Be advised- he's Christian and that comes across strongly in his work, so if that's not your cup of tea, just try to get past it and see the bones of what he's talking about.)
I will suggest also to help you get into the mindset of saving, you might want to check out these few personal finance blogs that really helped me back in the day to keep my spending on track: Get Rich Slowly is one, and The Non-Consumer Advocate is the other. I'm not sure about posting links, so I'll just let you google-search it.
/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />So, the envelope method is basically where you take your budgeted categories for each month (groceries, gas, rent, etc.) and create an envelope for each category. You put cash from the budgeted amount into each envelope. Then, you can spend the amount in each category's envelope until it's gone. You cannot refill them with money until the next month.
Sounds simple, but if you use a debit card or checks or a credit card, or even online-shop, it can get tricky.
That's what kept me from doing it, but here's my plan to get around that:
~For categories where I know I'll be using a credit card, instead of putting money in the envelope, I will just have a little notecard in the envelope where I will write down my purchases, so that I can see how close it's getting to the budgeted amount. For me, this is going to be gas, and any bills I have.
~For times when I just want to use my debit card or credit card and don't have any real reason for it, I'll just take the amount of cash that I spent from that category's envelope, and put it in the envelope labeled 'next month' so that I can no longer spend that amount in that category, but it's ready for refilling next month.
~If you don't want to carry the entire month's worth of cash on you, you can split it into weeks and just carry that weeks' amount.
This way I can still use my credit card/debit card/checkbook when I want to, but I still have a good way of keeping track of it.
What do you think? Are you going to try it?
I ordered this cute thing on Etsy to help me keep to my goal:
I think it'll really help me stay organized!
Also, if you want to learn more about the envelope method, I suggest this blog post, as it's super detailed: http://www.happilyeverstrader.com/2013/07/how-to-envelope-system.html
So I'm going to try to start this in October, I have a few weeks to get everything ready and to tweak my budget and go to the bank. I'm kind of stoked about this! Because I can still give myself a 'personal spending' category - so I can still buy some makeup, but I'll have a set amount, which I can either save and roll over to have more later, or just ... you know, keep it within the budget.
Anyone else thinking about doing this? Or have you ever done this? Or maybe you have some other budget tips?
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