The B word: budget.

Tyler and I have been very fortunate since we've been married and have been, for the most part, pretty secure and comfortable in our finances. We have been blessed and God has always provided for us in some way or another. So when we sat down with our Pastor a few weeks ago and started talking about working towards our goal of me being able to stay home, he asked what our budget looks like. Tyler and I both looked at each other and kinda chuckled at the thought of a budget. Not because we're all high & mighty and don't need a budget, but because we have never developed one. So the search began for some sort of money-saving system that we could use and that would actually work.

After talking with some of our friends from church and hearing about "The Envelope System" by Dave Ramsey, we have decided to give it a shot. Here's how it works: In order to figure out how much to put in each envelope, you first look through the previous 2 months worth of your bank statements and figure out how much you spend on different things such as groceries, eating out, clothing, gas, etc. Then you subtract it by 25% (or more!) and put money from each category into a different envelope. So we have an envelope for groceries, one for Tyler's lunch meals, one for my morning drinks, one for Jaxon's needs such as diapers/clothes/etc, one for gas, and then a "misc" envelope for each of us -- we can spend that "misc" money on whatever we want during the month. The concept is simple: once the money is gone, it's gone... no adding to the envelope throughout the month if you run out. Obviously there are exceptions to the rule, for instance, if you're at the grocery store and brought $100 with you and accidentally calculated wrong and your total is $110... in that case, you would swipe your card for the remaining balance and once you get home, take the $10 you spent above your budgeted amount and deposit it into your bank account the next day. Debit cards don't put you into debt, but they can definitely cause you to over-spend!

We've been doing it for 2 weeks now, and already I can see the impact. If nothing else, it has made us so much more conscience of where our money is going, and how much we spend on DUMB stuff! It is so much easier to just swipe your card, even if it is for a small amount, because you know there's money in your account... you don't see the long-term effect and how it's really affecting you even though it's only a few dollars here and there. However, when you have an envelope that only has $20 in it and it's all you have for the month for your your coffee drinks, then you learn to spend wisely and cherish those yummy drinks so much more. Or when you're out for dinner with your family and only have $15 with you, you literally can't spend more than that -- no matter how freakin' bad you want that diet coke or that piece of cheesecake!

The only things you can't include in your envelopes are bills that are paid each month, whether by check or automatic debit. Just remember to keep enough money in your checking account to cover those neccessities. ;)

Anyway, so that's where we're at budget-wise and how we're working towards me staying home. What about you? Any good money saving tips you'd like to share?