Yesterday we worked on meal plans and shopping lists. Today we are going to create a price book to help us make sure that we are getting the most for our money along with our shopping lists.
A price book is simply a book to compare what store has the best price on things you normally buy. It can be as sophisticated as you would like, or as simple as you would like. I like to keep things simple, and hopefully you do to, so I'll tell you how I keep mine.
I have a small 3 ring binder, 5x8 size, that I have lines note book paper in. At the top of each page I write an item I purchase regularly. Ex, toilette paper, chicken breasts, canned vegetables, dog food, etc. I don't write specific brands, because brand names really don't mean that much to me.
An easy way to start your price book is to take the receipts of your last few shopping trips and see the prices you paid on your reciepts. Such as, on my receipt from Wal Mart I may see a purchase or a 20 lb bag of Ol Roy dog food for $6.98. So I'll write on the "Dog Food" page, 20 lb @ Wal Mart $6.98 10/01/08. As you get more reciepts you'll have more prices to fill your price book for you to compare.
When you get a sale circular, you may see that Reasor's has Pedigree dog food on sale for $6.50 a 20 lb bag. That's a pretty good price and cheaper than what is normaly paid at Wal Mart. So I'll write on my "Dog Food" page, Reasor's 20lb $6.50... SALE 10/3. I'll write SALE so I can be sure to remember it's a temporary price and not a normal price.
As I find prices at various stores that are good deals, I will mark on my shopping lists which store has the better deal next to the item. That way I can be sure to visit that store, or take that circular if I go to Wal Mart to do a comp pricing.
I don't have pages in my price book for fresh produce because the prices on produce vary according to the season, so I just compare the prices in the circulars and make note on my lists which store has the best prices on what produce. I also like to take advantage of local farmer's markets for my produce.
The great thing about price booking, is once you've been doing it a while, you start to notice trends. Such as certain stores have cycles to their sales, or some items are seasonal. When you start to notice these trends, it gives you opportunity to set some funds aside to take advantage of great meat sales, or buy fresh produce to freeze.
I know it was fairly quick, but I just wanted to give you an overview to get you started. Try creating one and see how it works for you. You can use a small note book, or an excel spreadsheet, its up to you. Have fun and be creative with it.
Be Blessed...
Showing posts with label cutting costs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cutting costs. Show all posts
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
31 Days of Less Challenge! Day 1: Cutting Costs.
Good Morning Ladies!
Today we are going to focus on our entry ways and on our meal plans.
Cutting Costs...
One of the best ways to cut costs is to stock your fridge, freezer, and pantry at home. With a well stocked kitchen, you save in so many ways. You save money because you are less likely to go out to eat or order take out. You save money because you are making less trips to the grocery store (saving time, gas, and money on impulse buying). You save your sanity because you are less apt to succumb to the "5 O'clock witching hour"
Before you head to the grocery store to stock your kitchen though, it is best to have a game plan before you leave your home. That game plan is plan your meals (a menu), and figuring out what you need based on what your meals are (a shopping list).
There are many many variances of how home managers create their menus and shopping lists.
There's the plan for the day ahead method, which may be effective to get dinner on the table, but may not save gas because you are more likely to make last minute trips to the store to get ingredients you don't have in your kitchen.
There's the weekly menu plan. Effective for getting food on the table, and saving you daily trips to the store. You can plan for one week, and make one weekly trip to the grocery store. Most frest produce will stay fresh for one week, so you can also incorporate more fresh vegetables and fruit into your menu.
There's the Monthly Menu plan. Usually this entails buying the majority of ingredients in bulk, preparing, cooking, and freezing meals for the month ahead. While this does save time and money overall, it's probably not the best way for a novice to start menu planning because some times it feels pretty overwhelming when you are facing an one month calendar and you feel pressured to fill each blank square with something to eat.
There's also what is called a rotating menu of main dishes. It can be a weekly menu or a monthly menu. But it's simply several pre made menus that you rotate. There can be as few as 1 or 2 monthly menu's that can be used, or 4 to 5 montly menus premade to rotate from. Each menu also has a pre made shopping list of all the ingredients needed for those main dishes. All you have to do is buy frozen veggies or fresh veggies, or your choice of sides, to go along with the main dish.
I like to keep it simple, and I like being able to try new recipes. I usually use the weekly or bi weekly menu, but I do try to think ahead a week or two and start on the next weeks menu thru out the week. Here's how I do it.
In my home management binder, have 4 blank weekly menus and 4 shopping lists. I keep them in clear page protectors. The menu is on the front and the shopping list is on the back (such asa book page). I also have pantry inventory pages. When I make my menu and shopping lists I write on the page protectors with a fine point sharpie, which can be cleaned off with dry erase board cleaner. That way what I write down won't be smeared, but it can be cleaned off making my menus non consumable and re usable.
Our ad day is Tuesday or Wednesday. That's the day we get the circulars from stores for the next week. I love those days. It's like Christmas for me. I know it's wierd, but hey, it's a highlight in my week.
When I get my add day, I like to do a quick clean of the fridge. You know, do a brief clean of each shelf to find any forgotten leftovers that have turned into a science experiment. It also gives me an idea of what I still have in my fridge that needs to be used before it goes to waste. Fairly often I'll get an ingredient and forget to put it into what I'm cooking. I also take a quick inventory of my cupboard to see what canned and dry goods I have left. I have a small fridge and only one cupboard, plus my fridge is usually pretty empty by this point so it doesn't take me long.
Then I sit down with my ads and I see what's on sale. If I see there's a great price on chicken, I can base my weeks menu on chicken. If meat is on sale, I can work some meat into my menu plan. (If it's a really good price I'll try to buy extra to put in the freezer.)
To help my menu I have lists of recipes handwritten in my recipe binder or on the computer. I have lists of recipes for chicken, roasts, ground beef/turkey, etc. I go through my lists and find several things that sound good for that week and write them down as dinner main dishes. I also have lists for breakfast ideas (my kids love oatmeal, but it gets old if they eat it every day), lunch ideas, and snack ideas. As I see an idea I'll add it to a list either in my binder or on my computer.
When I pick a recipe, I will either print it out, take out the hand written recipe, and put it in my home management binder in menu planning tab behind that weeks menu. That way, I have every recipe in one place and I don't have to try to remember where I found the recipe when I want to fix it. When it comes time to fix dinner, all I have to do is take out that one recipe and tack it to a cork board on my cupboard door. That saves confusion, and that also helps to keep my cook books nicer because I'm not spilling food on them.
If sometime during the week I find a recipe I really want to try, I'll write it on next weeks menu and go ahead and put that recipe behind that menu page.
Also, as I pick a recipe I write down all the ingredients I need on a sheet of paper. After I pick all my recipes I will add up how much of each ingredient I need and write that on my master shopping lists.
When I start to run out of necessities during the week, such as dish detergent, cleaners, trash bags, toilette paper, etc... I simply write it on next weeks shopping list. That way I will remember to pick it up next time I'm at the store.
On my shopping day, all I have to do is take the page protector with my shopping list out of my home management binder and put it in my errand binder.
I'm starting to love my binders....
Tomorrow we'll cover a little bit on price booking, so you can be sure that what you're buying is really a good deal and you are getting the most for your money.
Be blessed today.
Today we are going to focus on our entry ways and on our meal plans.
Cutting Costs...
One of the best ways to cut costs is to stock your fridge, freezer, and pantry at home. With a well stocked kitchen, you save in so many ways. You save money because you are less likely to go out to eat or order take out. You save money because you are making less trips to the grocery store (saving time, gas, and money on impulse buying). You save your sanity because you are less apt to succumb to the "5 O'clock witching hour"
Before you head to the grocery store to stock your kitchen though, it is best to have a game plan before you leave your home. That game plan is plan your meals (a menu), and figuring out what you need based on what your meals are (a shopping list).
There are many many variances of how home managers create their menus and shopping lists.
There's the plan for the day ahead method, which may be effective to get dinner on the table, but may not save gas because you are more likely to make last minute trips to the store to get ingredients you don't have in your kitchen.
There's the weekly menu plan. Effective for getting food on the table, and saving you daily trips to the store. You can plan for one week, and make one weekly trip to the grocery store. Most frest produce will stay fresh for one week, so you can also incorporate more fresh vegetables and fruit into your menu.
There's the Monthly Menu plan. Usually this entails buying the majority of ingredients in bulk, preparing, cooking, and freezing meals for the month ahead. While this does save time and money overall, it's probably not the best way for a novice to start menu planning because some times it feels pretty overwhelming when you are facing an one month calendar and you feel pressured to fill each blank square with something to eat.
There's also what is called a rotating menu of main dishes. It can be a weekly menu or a monthly menu. But it's simply several pre made menus that you rotate. There can be as few as 1 or 2 monthly menu's that can be used, or 4 to 5 montly menus premade to rotate from. Each menu also has a pre made shopping list of all the ingredients needed for those main dishes. All you have to do is buy frozen veggies or fresh veggies, or your choice of sides, to go along with the main dish.
I like to keep it simple, and I like being able to try new recipes. I usually use the weekly or bi weekly menu, but I do try to think ahead a week or two and start on the next weeks menu thru out the week. Here's how I do it.
In my home management binder, have 4 blank weekly menus and 4 shopping lists. I keep them in clear page protectors. The menu is on the front and the shopping list is on the back (such asa book page). I also have pantry inventory pages. When I make my menu and shopping lists I write on the page protectors with a fine point sharpie, which can be cleaned off with dry erase board cleaner. That way what I write down won't be smeared, but it can be cleaned off making my menus non consumable and re usable.
Our ad day is Tuesday or Wednesday. That's the day we get the circulars from stores for the next week. I love those days. It's like Christmas for me. I know it's wierd, but hey, it's a highlight in my week.
When I get my add day, I like to do a quick clean of the fridge. You know, do a brief clean of each shelf to find any forgotten leftovers that have turned into a science experiment. It also gives me an idea of what I still have in my fridge that needs to be used before it goes to waste. Fairly often I'll get an ingredient and forget to put it into what I'm cooking. I also take a quick inventory of my cupboard to see what canned and dry goods I have left. I have a small fridge and only one cupboard, plus my fridge is usually pretty empty by this point so it doesn't take me long.
Then I sit down with my ads and I see what's on sale. If I see there's a great price on chicken, I can base my weeks menu on chicken. If meat is on sale, I can work some meat into my menu plan. (If it's a really good price I'll try to buy extra to put in the freezer.)
To help my menu I have lists of recipes handwritten in my recipe binder or on the computer. I have lists of recipes for chicken, roasts, ground beef/turkey, etc. I go through my lists and find several things that sound good for that week and write them down as dinner main dishes. I also have lists for breakfast ideas (my kids love oatmeal, but it gets old if they eat it every day), lunch ideas, and snack ideas. As I see an idea I'll add it to a list either in my binder or on my computer.
When I pick a recipe, I will either print it out, take out the hand written recipe, and put it in my home management binder in menu planning tab behind that weeks menu. That way, I have every recipe in one place and I don't have to try to remember where I found the recipe when I want to fix it. When it comes time to fix dinner, all I have to do is take out that one recipe and tack it to a cork board on my cupboard door. That saves confusion, and that also helps to keep my cook books nicer because I'm not spilling food on them.
If sometime during the week I find a recipe I really want to try, I'll write it on next weeks menu and go ahead and put that recipe behind that menu page.
Also, as I pick a recipe I write down all the ingredients I need on a sheet of paper. After I pick all my recipes I will add up how much of each ingredient I need and write that on my master shopping lists.
When I start to run out of necessities during the week, such as dish detergent, cleaners, trash bags, toilette paper, etc... I simply write it on next weeks shopping list. That way I will remember to pick it up next time I'm at the store.
On my shopping day, all I have to do is take the page protector with my shopping list out of my home management binder and put it in my errand binder.
I'm starting to love my binders....
Tomorrow we'll cover a little bit on price booking, so you can be sure that what you're buying is really a good deal and you are getting the most for your money.
Be blessed today.
Monday, September 29, 2008
The 31 Days of Less Challenge Begins!!!
My prayer: "Dear God, I humbly come before you today and ask that: just as you put Your Words in Isaiah's mouth, and just as you were with Joshua and taught him what to say, that you would be with me, teach me what to say, and give my hands Your Words to write.
I pray that this challenge would bring encouragement on all who dare to take it, and bring Glory to You."
This week is an awesome week! Amidst the busyness of our daily lives, we are accepting the challenge of living on less for this month. We are going to take this month and make steps to live on less financially and live with less materialistically. And we are going to turn to and lean on God for direction every step of the way.
Today and tomorrow we are going to put together our toolboxes and create a plan for you to cut costs and evict clutter in your life.
Last week we wrote down a brief purpose for taking on this challenge. I'm asking you now, what is your purpose? Why are you taking this challenge? And what do you feel Gods purpose for you in this challenge is? What goals do you wish to accomplish this month? Is it to curb your spending? Is it to find extra money to put towards debt? Is it to speed up your savings? Is it to help you gain more control of how you live your life? What is it?
That purpose and your goals will determine your priorities. Your priorities for your money and your priorities for your home. Let's use these priorities to help us put together our toolbox.
For our cutting costs tool box, the first thing you will need is a budget. Oh yes.... the dreded B WORD! This is such a simple tool, but so many people neglet to utilize it, or they only utilize it for a short while and discard it because they find it too restrictive and limiting.
We are going to use the budget as a tool to help you make better choices with your money and foster habits that lead to a healthier financial future. This budget is about seeking God, putting our money and finances in His hands, and asking Him to direct you. When we are following God, we will not be limited, but we will have freedom!
If you need help creating a simple budget, there are lots of great resources to help you do that. On Dave Ramsey's website here, you will find a great tool to create a budget. I also have an excel spreadsheet that we created to use for our budget in our home that I would be happy to share with anyone who would be interested.
This would be a great tool to create together with your husband. Your budget should reflect your purpose and your priorities for this months challenge. It's your written plan that tell you where your meny is going to go BEFORE you get your money.
After you have your budget, you're going to construct your cash flow management system. There are a wide variety of systems in this big world people use to manage how they spend their money. For this challenge I'm going to ask you to put together an envelope system. Use it and see how it helps you to stick to your bugdet for this month. If you don't like it, you can always go back to your old ways.
Some of your categories can be paid online via E payment or pay pal. All other categories will be CASH ONLY! These categories usually are food, gas, child care, date night, commisssion chores, mad money, etc. Take your envelopes and write the name of one of the categories on each envelope. Then, on the front or the back, you will write the amount that goes into each envelope and when. If your hubby gets paid twice a month or bi-weekly, you'll want an easy reminder of how much cash to put in each envelope.
Each payday, simply pull out the amount of cash needed from the atm or directly from the bank and split up the cash between all of your envelopes.
To store these and keep them handy, you can put them in an accordion check file, or put them in a pencil pouch for a 3 ring binder and keep them in your home management binder (tomorrow).
When you need to go somewhere and you need cash to buy food, gas, pay bills, etc... all you have to do is pull out that envelope and put it into your bill fold. As you spend the cash, put your receipt into the respective envelope, and this will help you keep track of where your money went.
After you pull all of your cash from your account, take your debit card and credit card out of your pocket and put it away some where safe. For this month, suspend the use of plastic and use cash only. The purpose of cash only is to help you be aware and think more about where your money is going. There is less thought when you swipe a debit or credit card because there is less of an emotional attachment to it. You may have a brief emotional high when using your plastic, but that high is only temporary and turns to stress when your balance your account or receive your statement and find that you spent more than you remembered. There's more thought when using cash because it's cold hard cash and when it's gone, it's gone.
So, you are free to spend from each envelope until the cash is gone. When the cash is gone, stop spending. Don't use your plastic. Don't borrow money from another envelope. Simply stop spending.
Tomorrow we'll go over assembling our home management system.
Until then, Be blessed.
I pray that this challenge would bring encouragement on all who dare to take it, and bring Glory to You."
This week is an awesome week! Amidst the busyness of our daily lives, we are accepting the challenge of living on less for this month. We are going to take this month and make steps to live on less financially and live with less materialistically. And we are going to turn to and lean on God for direction every step of the way.
Today and tomorrow we are going to put together our toolboxes and create a plan for you to cut costs and evict clutter in your life.
Last week we wrote down a brief purpose for taking on this challenge. I'm asking you now, what is your purpose? Why are you taking this challenge? And what do you feel Gods purpose for you in this challenge is? What goals do you wish to accomplish this month? Is it to curb your spending? Is it to find extra money to put towards debt? Is it to speed up your savings? Is it to help you gain more control of how you live your life? What is it?
That purpose and your goals will determine your priorities. Your priorities for your money and your priorities for your home. Let's use these priorities to help us put together our toolbox.
For our cutting costs tool box, the first thing you will need is a budget. Oh yes.... the dreded B WORD! This is such a simple tool, but so many people neglet to utilize it, or they only utilize it for a short while and discard it because they find it too restrictive and limiting.
We are going to use the budget as a tool to help you make better choices with your money and foster habits that lead to a healthier financial future. This budget is about seeking God, putting our money and finances in His hands, and asking Him to direct you. When we are following God, we will not be limited, but we will have freedom!
If you need help creating a simple budget, there are lots of great resources to help you do that. On Dave Ramsey's website here, you will find a great tool to create a budget. I also have an excel spreadsheet that we created to use for our budget in our home that I would be happy to share with anyone who would be interested.
This would be a great tool to create together with your husband. Your budget should reflect your purpose and your priorities for this months challenge. It's your written plan that tell you where your meny is going to go BEFORE you get your money.
After you have your budget, you're going to construct your cash flow management system. There are a wide variety of systems in this big world people use to manage how they spend their money. For this challenge I'm going to ask you to put together an envelope system. Use it and see how it helps you to stick to your bugdet for this month. If you don't like it, you can always go back to your old ways.
Some of your categories can be paid online via E payment or pay pal. All other categories will be CASH ONLY! These categories usually are food, gas, child care, date night, commisssion chores, mad money, etc. Take your envelopes and write the name of one of the categories on each envelope. Then, on the front or the back, you will write the amount that goes into each envelope and when. If your hubby gets paid twice a month or bi-weekly, you'll want an easy reminder of how much cash to put in each envelope.
Each payday, simply pull out the amount of cash needed from the atm or directly from the bank and split up the cash between all of your envelopes.
To store these and keep them handy, you can put them in an accordion check file, or put them in a pencil pouch for a 3 ring binder and keep them in your home management binder (tomorrow).
When you need to go somewhere and you need cash to buy food, gas, pay bills, etc... all you have to do is pull out that envelope and put it into your bill fold. As you spend the cash, put your receipt into the respective envelope, and this will help you keep track of where your money went.
After you pull all of your cash from your account, take your debit card and credit card out of your pocket and put it away some where safe. For this month, suspend the use of plastic and use cash only. The purpose of cash only is to help you be aware and think more about where your money is going. There is less thought when you swipe a debit or credit card because there is less of an emotional attachment to it. You may have a brief emotional high when using your plastic, but that high is only temporary and turns to stress when your balance your account or receive your statement and find that you spent more than you remembered. There's more thought when using cash because it's cold hard cash and when it's gone, it's gone.
So, you are free to spend from each envelope until the cash is gone. When the cash is gone, stop spending. Don't use your plastic. Don't borrow money from another envelope. Simply stop spending.
Tomorrow we'll go over assembling our home management system.
Until then, Be blessed.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Cutting Costs Toolbox
This week is prep week for our 31 day challenge beginning October 1st.
Yesterday we looked at the condition our finances our currently in, and hope fully we identified habits that brought us to our current condition. Some of our habits are good habits, some are bad habits, but they are habits nonethless and part of our behavior.
Today we are going to start putting together our toolbox to help us cut our costs. Our toolbox will help us become good stewards of what God has delegated to us financially. It will be fairly simple to put together, and I'm guessing you won't even have to leave the house to aquire one thing :)
Here's what you need to gather:
Now I do want to ask you a question. Who's in charge of the money management in your home?
Is it just you? Try to encourage your husband to make decisions with you. Ask him for his opinion when you make financial desicions. And respect his opinion.
Is it just your husband? Get more involved! I have heard multiple stories of women who have experienced a family tragedy and found them selves alone and had no clue the status of their finances. Ask him about the budget. Ask him how much debt you have. Ask him where the money goes.
Ask him in a non combative way, and don't nag him, and don't start an argument if you find the money is going to something you don't totally agree with.
If you are in a situation where you are primarily responsible for the finances and he shows no interest, or if you have no clue where the money goes and your husband won't include you, then do the best you can and trust God.
This challenge is not intended to cause strive and division between you and your husband.
This challenge is about you. Your behaviors, your habits, your spending patterns.
Do your part and believe God to do His in regards to your husband.
Ladies, tomorrow I'll finish giving you the rest of what you will need to gather to complete your challenge tool box.
Until then Be blessed.
Yesterday we looked at the condition our finances our currently in, and hope fully we identified habits that brought us to our current condition. Some of our habits are good habits, some are bad habits, but they are habits nonethless and part of our behavior.
Today we are going to start putting together our toolbox to help us cut our costs. Our toolbox will help us become good stewards of what God has delegated to us financially. It will be fairly simple to put together, and I'm guessing you won't even have to leave the house to aquire one thing :)
Here's what you need to gather:
- Your purpose for participating in this challenge
- Your past expenses sheets from yesterday
- A fresh new sheet to create a budget and a pencil OR
- Your current budget
- Letter size envelopes
- A zippered pencil pouch for a 3 ring binder or an accordion style check file box.
Now I do want to ask you a question. Who's in charge of the money management in your home?
Is it just you? Try to encourage your husband to make decisions with you. Ask him for his opinion when you make financial desicions. And respect his opinion.
Is it just your husband? Get more involved! I have heard multiple stories of women who have experienced a family tragedy and found them selves alone and had no clue the status of their finances. Ask him about the budget. Ask him how much debt you have. Ask him where the money goes.
Ask him in a non combative way, and don't nag him, and don't start an argument if you find the money is going to something you don't totally agree with.
If you are in a situation where you are primarily responsible for the finances and he shows no interest, or if you have no clue where the money goes and your husband won't include you, then do the best you can and trust God.
This challenge is not intended to cause strive and division between you and your husband.
This challenge is about you. Your behaviors, your habits, your spending patterns.
Do your part and believe God to do His in regards to your husband.
Ladies, tomorrow I'll finish giving you the rest of what you will need to gather to complete your challenge tool box.
Until then Be blessed.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Cutting Costs...
This week is prep week for our 31 day challenge beginning October 1st.
Yesterday we got an overall view of the condition of our home. Today we are going to look at the condition of our finances.
Does this scare some of you? No... don't squeeze your eyes shut trying to keep from looking... no... it's ok.... come on... you can take a peek.... just a peek... Don't be afraid. God is with you here and now.
Today's home work is going to be a little bit more intensive than just a walk around the house taking notes. So I would set aside 30 minutes or more for this assignment. This may be a good time to put the kids in front of a movie so they can be occupied without distracting you.
To get a clear look at your finances we need to look at where you are now. We need to see what habits and behaviors have gotten us to this point. We need to determine what habits are good habits and what habits are unhealthy.
What I want you to do is gather your financial records for the past 3 months. I'm not going to ask you to drag out each and every receipt, but simply pull out your bank and/or credit card statements. If you don't have them in paper form, most banks and credit card companies have statements you can view online. Don't have any statements? Don't have any idea how to get one? Don't sweat it. Just do the best you can.
Also grab a three pieces of paper and a pen. On each piece of paper I want you to write the name of one month (June/July/August) at the top and make a list of categories down the left margin of your paper:
Now, I want you to take your statements for each month. Start at the top, work your way down, and put each and every expense next to a category.
For example, if the first debit on your statement was $120.00 to Krogers Grocery, that would be lists under Food/Groceries. That whole purchase might not of been only food, but we are not going to analyze that now, so we'll just file that under groceries in general.
Let's say the next debit is $38.00 to QuickTrip, write that next to Gas/Convenient store. We don't know if it was all gas or gas and some snacks, but we're not going to rack our brains trying to figure out how much was actually gas and how much was snacks and should be considered food. So just list it there.
Now, some of you this this will be easy, because you already have a budget and all you have to do is pull out your budget and see what is budgeted for each category. WRONG! I want you to see how you are ACTUALLY spending your money. We may THINK we know how much we are spending, but it's good to see how much we ACTUALLY are. Look at each and every transaction and give it a category. I want you to account for every single penny.
When you finish the first month's statement(s) simply start on the next month and keep going till you complete all 3 months.
Now, total up each category for each month, and then add all those totals together for each month.
So.... how did you do? You didn't have a heart attack did you?
How much did you spend each month? Is it more than what your total monthly income was? Was it under your total monthly income? Is it close to what you thought it would be? Were all three months about the same or did your total expenses fluctuate?
Now, we need to see where we can adjust. Most of your expenses will be fixed expenses, like your utilities, mortgage/rent, taxes, etc. But there are some expenses that we can adjust. The two usual suspects are food and gas. But lets look creatively at some of the other categories and see if we can trim them as well.
Look at your Misc Expenses category. Does it reveal that you have a yarn fetish and spend a great deal at Hobby Lobby? Well.. if so that could definately be trimmed.
What about your date night category? Could you get creative about date nights and find cheep alternatives to direct that extra cash some where else?
Clothing is a category we can get creative with. Or it can be cut out all together depending on what's in the closets right now.
Another one is car insurance and life insurance. How long have you been holding your current policies? Maybe it's time to start shopping around. Life insurance premiums are low, because companies are competing for customers who are recluctant to buy in this unstable financial market.
What about your car payment? Do you have a car payment? Can you refinance your car? Or better yet, can you sell your current car and get another one cheeper? Or even better, can you sell your car and do without that car for a while?
Now don't go through just yet and make your full plan of attack. Just make note of what areas can be cut back on and what areas can't. Then pray about it and ask God to give you some creative ideas. Go to your husband, and let him know what your'e doing, and ask him to pray about it too. (You also want to let him know what your doing so he has some fore warning that the spending is about to change.)
Now that we have a fairly good overview of where we are, we can put together a plan of attack! But before we put together a plan, we need to put together a tool box.
Tomorrow and Friday I'm going to give you a list of things to collect over the weekend and the first of next week. These things will be our tools of the trade. They will be what we use to help us execute our plan. And our plan is what we will strategize to come up with on Monday and Tuesday.
"How few there are who have courage enough to own their Faults, or resolution enough to mend them!" Poor Richard's Almanac
Be Blessed today.
Yesterday we got an overall view of the condition of our home. Today we are going to look at the condition of our finances.
Does this scare some of you? No... don't squeeze your eyes shut trying to keep from looking... no... it's ok.... come on... you can take a peek.... just a peek... Don't be afraid. God is with you here and now.
Today's home work is going to be a little bit more intensive than just a walk around the house taking notes. So I would set aside 30 minutes or more for this assignment. This may be a good time to put the kids in front of a movie so they can be occupied without distracting you.
To get a clear look at your finances we need to look at where you are now. We need to see what habits and behaviors have gotten us to this point. We need to determine what habits are good habits and what habits are unhealthy.
What I want you to do is gather your financial records for the past 3 months. I'm not going to ask you to drag out each and every receipt, but simply pull out your bank and/or credit card statements. If you don't have them in paper form, most banks and credit card companies have statements you can view online. Don't have any statements? Don't have any idea how to get one? Don't sweat it. Just do the best you can.
Also grab a three pieces of paper and a pen. On each piece of paper I want you to write the name of one month (June/July/August) at the top and make a list of categories down the left margin of your paper:
- Tithe
- Taxes
- Savings
- Insurance (Health/Life)
- Car (Car Payment/Insurance/Tag and Taxes)
- Gas/Convenient store
- House (Mortgage Pmt/Rent Pmt/Property Taxes)
- Phone
- Utilities
- Food/Groceries
- Clothing
- Child Care
- Legal Expenses
- Vacation Fund
- Christmas Fund
- Date Nights
- Misc Expenses.
Now, I want you to take your statements for each month. Start at the top, work your way down, and put each and every expense next to a category.
For example, if the first debit on your statement was $120.00 to Krogers Grocery, that would be lists under Food/Groceries. That whole purchase might not of been only food, but we are not going to analyze that now, so we'll just file that under groceries in general.
Let's say the next debit is $38.00 to QuickTrip, write that next to Gas/Convenient store. We don't know if it was all gas or gas and some snacks, but we're not going to rack our brains trying to figure out how much was actually gas and how much was snacks and should be considered food. So just list it there.
Now, some of you this this will be easy, because you already have a budget and all you have to do is pull out your budget and see what is budgeted for each category. WRONG! I want you to see how you are ACTUALLY spending your money. We may THINK we know how much we are spending, but it's good to see how much we ACTUALLY are. Look at each and every transaction and give it a category. I want you to account for every single penny.
When you finish the first month's statement(s) simply start on the next month and keep going till you complete all 3 months.
Now, total up each category for each month, and then add all those totals together for each month.
So.... how did you do? You didn't have a heart attack did you?
How much did you spend each month? Is it more than what your total monthly income was? Was it under your total monthly income? Is it close to what you thought it would be? Were all three months about the same or did your total expenses fluctuate?
Now, we need to see where we can adjust. Most of your expenses will be fixed expenses, like your utilities, mortgage/rent, taxes, etc. But there are some expenses that we can adjust. The two usual suspects are food and gas. But lets look creatively at some of the other categories and see if we can trim them as well.
Look at your Misc Expenses category. Does it reveal that you have a yarn fetish and spend a great deal at Hobby Lobby? Well.. if so that could definately be trimmed.
What about your date night category? Could you get creative about date nights and find cheep alternatives to direct that extra cash some where else?
Clothing is a category we can get creative with. Or it can be cut out all together depending on what's in the closets right now.
Another one is car insurance and life insurance. How long have you been holding your current policies? Maybe it's time to start shopping around. Life insurance premiums are low, because companies are competing for customers who are recluctant to buy in this unstable financial market.
What about your car payment? Do you have a car payment? Can you refinance your car? Or better yet, can you sell your current car and get another one cheeper? Or even better, can you sell your car and do without that car for a while?
Now don't go through just yet and make your full plan of attack. Just make note of what areas can be cut back on and what areas can't. Then pray about it and ask God to give you some creative ideas. Go to your husband, and let him know what your'e doing, and ask him to pray about it too. (You also want to let him know what your doing so he has some fore warning that the spending is about to change.)
Now that we have a fairly good overview of where we are, we can put together a plan of attack! But before we put together a plan, we need to put together a tool box.
Tomorrow and Friday I'm going to give you a list of things to collect over the weekend and the first of next week. These things will be our tools of the trade. They will be what we use to help us execute our plan. And our plan is what we will strategize to come up with on Monday and Tuesday.
"How few there are who have courage enough to own their Faults, or resolution enough to mend them!" Poor Richard's Almanac
Be Blessed today.
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