Jonathan and I aren’t what you might call extravagant spenders. Well, I guess everything is relative, right? Regardless, we’re in a spot where we’d like to be able to save more and spend less. That means BUDGET. We’re already saving a great deal, but there are always places that we could trim. I’ve used the envelope system before, but I’m curious to know if anybody has any tips for doing that with two people? Who gets which envelope? Or do you have two sets of envelopes for each category? In this electronic age, how do you account for that? We are currently debt-free aside from our mortgage, but we want to be able to save and be able to give when there are opportunities that arise where we know our $$ would be used for God’s purposes.
Things we already do:
Save a set amount each month that is sent to a separate account that is not easily reached.
Bring our lunch to work whenever possible.
Make most of our food.
Make coffee at home so we’re not buying it at work.
Conserve fuel by carpooling/busing.
Turn our heat down to 55 during the day while we’re gone and the evening while we sleep.
Shower less than daily.
Wash almost everything in cold water.
Use the dryer in succession so it is warm.
Turn off the lights if we’re not in the room (my dad ingrained this in my head-Thanks dad!).
Consuming fewer animal products and more veggies and legumes/quinoa for protein (cheaper and probably better for us).
So, we’re asking. How do you budget? Where do you find you can save the most? We have friends who are better savers than us-many of them have children and one or both of them are in school. If you have a great money saving tip, please pass it along! Thanks!
You have to check out Mint.com (if you have already, then kudos!) It is a really awesome online system where you can see how your are spending your money. You can set limits on how much you spend and it will text you if you go over!! So awesome. It has helped me to see what I’ve been spending my money on. =)
Quicken! The downside, as with any asset tracking software, is you have to invest (no pun intended) the time to set everything up. Though once done it is easy to allocate what you have and track spending. We even allocate our monthly allowance. Yes, we each have an allowance.
Also… the Financial Peace University is worth attending at OCC.
We use a virtual envelope system, using a software to track the envelopes. I would highly, highly recommend Crown Money Map Software from Crown Financial Ministries. (www.crown.org)(http://www.crown.org/cartproducts/product.asp?sku=MM966)
It took awhile to get used to getting a receipt for everything and tracking every single dollar, but it works so well now. We also use credit cards a lot (for the rewards, not the credit) and this software has an excellet way to track that.
Ryan and I each have our own envelope. We get a small amount each month to do with whatever we want. It’s kind of fun.
Also, there are a ton of blogs and resources out there about frugal living. Sounds like you’re doing a lot of good things already. We keep our heat at 63 but I never thought about turning it down even lower. Thanks for the tip.
Have you read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover? I would highly recommend it or take his course at a local church called Financial Peace University! Matt and I are avid listeners to Dave’s radio talk show and have attended Total Money Makeover Live event! We are currently facilitators in FPU at our church! Dave takes you step by step of getting rid of debt, making and sticking to a budget, managing investments, building wealth and giving! It’s truly life changing and no matter what you stage your at financially everyone can benefit from his teachings! You can visit his website for budget tools, http://www.daveramsey.com
I would second Molly Jo’s recommendation of Mint.com. I *love* it.
Additionally, I “diet at the store” by having my bank automatically withdraw a set amount from checking each month and move it into savings. This way, saving is not an option – that money goes into saving without me thinking about it. It’s great!
I’m responsible for grocery shopping and household purchases, so I get a set amount every week for groceries + household +contingencies. That’s less of a “reduction budget” and more of a way to make it into a recurring, set expense rather than a wildly variable one.
We do the automatic savings thing, too. It comes directly out of my check like the other is directly deposited into our bank account. A set amount gets sent to our savings, and when we budget we do it based on the “leftover” amount.
I wanted to take the FPU so bad this semester at church, then Chris had a night class on Wednesday night! Drat! So I guess I’m going to read the book first, pass it to him, and perhaps we’ll go to the class.
We’re really working on our “out to eat budget.” That is where we don’t have much of a budget. We’re suckers for, “Hey guys! We haven’t seen you in a while, want to grab a bite?” We’re trying to actually think through this without saying no all the time. We have coupons we are using (buy one get one free) that allow us to stretch our new budget further.
My sister plans her meals in a great money-saving way, so now I do it, too. When the grocery ads come in the mail, she looks them through and plans what she’ll cook during the week based on sale items. It’s fun for people like us who like to collect recipes.