This weekend, I closed out February - now #thebudgetmom closes out every month down to the dollar - I'm not that good yet.. but I do like to close out the budget, looking at what I spend the previous month to this one - so I compare the two.. from January to February how much did I save? How much did i lower my budget in categories - like food (a big one for all of us) went down $100.. so that's great...but then it makes you think where did you put that xtra $100?? hmm... that's the trick, right? Probably got to get to closing it down to the dollar, but for now..just having the ability to look back & see WHERE we are spending our money is satisfying to me.. (hey, it took #thebudgetmom years to perfect her budget, don't sweat it.. The important thing is that you are trying to keep track of every dollar & sticking to it).
A few changes for me for March - first of all, I was putting $10 a week into an Emergency Fund, but now in March - going to start putting $25.. makes more sense really & it goes into a higher interest account every two weeks.
Second, I started (yet another) online 'cashless' envelope.. it'll be for Big Ticket Household Items (i know for sure we need to purchase a lawn mower in the spring, this will be for that, among other things (we want to repaint the bathroom, etc.). So, I chose to deposit $25/week into an Ally Bank Account - you can create "buckets" or 'cashless envelopes' on this site (that you can download the app right to your phone) & keep track of it that way..
This will allow us to pay cash for our lawn mower in April/May.. vs. using the credit card.. which we are NOT using anymore.. (i did have to put my real estate course on the cc in February..but I hope to pay extra on the cc in March to get that reduced)
Keep plugging with that budget.. tweak & tweak again.. where can you make extra money?? what credit card or bill can you pay extra on.. a little is better than not.
I'm closing February with $176.00 in savings (on all my "little" savings accounts).. trust me, that is more than I would be saving with this new "Mind" method than before..
I'm more MINDFUL where I'm spending my money..than just spending to spend..
It's one of my intentions this year - Be mindful of where my money goes! Sometimes just starting there.. is enough to keep it going!
:) thanks for reading!
pattie
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