Monday, December 31, 2007

Budgeting

I don't know how many of you make a budget each month for your spending, but M and I do. We started shortly after we got married and changed our method a bit once we took a Dave Ramsey class offered through our church in Austin. (My brother calls us Dave Ramsey disciples although we do not follow all of Dave's suggestions. I do have to give Dave some credit though. He helped M and I get completely out of debt twice and has helped shape our views on spending. I hope that we are now better stewards of what God has entrusted us.) After the course, we started having a zero budget each month. This means that every penny of our paychecks and bills is accounted for in our budget and the budget has $0 left over at the end of each month. This lets you know where all your money is going - even savings.

Budgeting is very interesting. I work with budgets at work as most accountants do. At work, it is not always a big deal if someone does not stay within his or her budget. But that is a different story on our personal budget. After all, it is OUR money we are talking about. Well, I have had a hard time this year with my grocery budget. I know I should be able to stay below the budget we have set, especially since there are only two of us in the house (three if you count Max). I feel like I need to change my entire strategy for grocery shopping. Do you have any suggestions for saving money in this area?

3 comments:

Susan said...

I am HORRIBLE at budgeting. Maybe I should look into Dave Ramsey's stuff. You would think we, as accountants, would be the best at budgeting. I wish it were so!

Susan said...

P.S. I have some pics from the wedding I need to download and will send to you. She was beautiful! I so wish you could have been there and Kristen definitely missed having you there as well.

Bellawhoop said...

We just talked about getting back to our budget yesterday. We'll be doing that this weekend. I also have trouble staying within budget with groceries. The stuff that's bad for you seems to be the cheapest. I know that we've been eating out WAY too much, too, and I always end up throwing too much fresh produce out. Also, I hate the fact that organic products are often 3 times the price of regular products that are pumped full of hormones, etc. If I come up with anything, I'll let you know, and please let me know, too.