{ The Weekly Budget }
I'm ashamed to admit it, but when Judah was first born, I began watching 'Til Debt Do Us Part' nightly as I nursed. I have never watched the show before and decided to PVR it for those 12 a.m., 2:00 a.m., 3:30 a.m., and 5 a.m. feedings. I couldn't seem to stay awake without watching t.v. and feared crushing my baby in moment of tired weakness. Hence, numerous, repetitive episodes of Gail Vaz-Oxlie giving budgeting advice to couples in horrifying amounts of debt. I think I've watched every episode.It did get me thinking, though, about our family goals. Primarily, to travel without going into debt, landscaping our backyard (yikes!) and renovating our kitchen. The kitchen currently has no handles because I took the bronze ones off in a moment of interior design rage and they have remained handle-less ever since. I refuse to pay for cheap, temporary silver ones until we renovate and the permanent fabulous ones go on. I know, I'm a freak. So, handle-less we stay. Its gets confusing for company.
A few weeks ago, in a moment of ingenuity, I thought of implementing Gail's budget tips to help us become more aware of our spending and, hopefully, achieve our goals faster! Jody was all for it.
Our new budget looks like this:
* Weekly Allowance: $20 each (sigh.)
* Transportation: $30 (Jody has a work vehicle, so its just gas for me!)
* Food: $125
* Entertainment: $25
* Other: $25 (usually spent on Starbucks dates with my girlfriends or Jody!)
It has made us very, very aware of our spending and allowed us to save more than I realized, even on my measly maternity leave pay cheque. The most difficult part has definitely been the food budget. I'm going to start meal planning next week, in hopes it will help. Thank heavens for the Costco trip before starting the budget... I cheated a little in the meat department, knowing this budget was coming! :)
(Note: Thankfully, Judah now sleeps a lot better and feeds a lot faster. No more Til Debt Do Us Part for me. Luckily, I've already watched them all. ha.)
Ya for budgets! Aaron and I have found having a budget is actually freeing! As long as you both agree to the amounts of money in each category (and no one feels cheated over the other person). Personal money is great too because than the other person can feel they have some freedom (i.e. Aaron buys subway sandwhiches with his money and i totally feel that's a waste of money - but since it's his money he can do what he want..meanwhile I usually save up my personal money over a couple of months for bigger purchases like a nice camera, etc.) Ah, I could go on forever about budgets....but I'll stop. It's a great thing to do!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement, Katherine! I've found the exact same thing about spending vs. saving the allowances and the freedom it gives you. I didn't think that I'd be as into 'the budget' as I am! Any tips are appreciated! :)
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