Your Best Budget Thread

💛💕ahhh momentum 🌈Ease,Joy & a hefty level of Safety are Mine 🌈  

Posted on 25/09/2009. Last edited on 13/11/2015.

How many of you spend a lot of energy/time on your
1. bill-budget?
2. your savings for things beyond the immediate bills (down the road-things)?
3. healthy food?
4. and a little fun? etc?

What part of your routine planning is something you believe helps you the most? Let’s really give this some thought to help everyone (no matter what their circumstances are), to be in a better position?

It doesn’t matter how small of a tip, or how detailed of a strategy..Let’s hear from you.

About 15 years back I started reading anything on how to save on food and found some wonderful ideas. Recently with the news that plastic bottles can be toxic it started me saving any glass jars or bottles that other things came in. So now I have made my own glass canisters to put in rice, beans, bulk teas and make sun tea how delicious it is! If you price glass containers (if you can find any) they can be a bit pricey but it didn’t cost me anything.

Dollar stores! what a blessing. If you peruse the isles you can come up with great ideas. There is a ton of savings there. Today my friend went with me and was surprized to see how much of a savings she made.

Right now I am looking into making my own water! That’s right making your own water. There are machines that take the humidity from the air and make water by condensation. At this time they can be expensive. But that will be a great savings for me if I can afford it. I found a great website of people who give you so many ideas on how to make things from objects you have around the house I’m talking about useful things, cooking, planting, college info and a ton of ideas!

My biggest challenge are the Solar Cookers you make out of cardboard boxes. Here in California it has been so hot and cooking in the kitchen is a bear. The outside heat can be used to cook with and that will lower your gas bill. Here is the website that has helped me immensely.

Ladies

Enjoy Mary

When you have fruit that is starting to go a little bad cut it up and put it in plastic bags then place them in the freezer. That way you can use them later for smoothies and they don’t go to waste! You can do the same with vegetables great for vegetable broth or any other receipe.

Peace,
Mary

Laurie, after I became debt-free, I put all of my bills on autopay. I don’t even think about mortgage, electricity, gas, etc. However, one of my “auto-pays” are to myself for my slush fund. I have several savings accounts started that I automatically move money over.

For example, I know that each year, I plan to spend $5000 – $10000 on vacation (depending if it is a local vacation or international). My family is ever expanding with my daughter now married and a child. So, what used to be for seven is now for nine people – if we take her husband and their daughter. For me, I have so many other things going on in my life, it takes me a year to save up for these kind of expenses, so I just allocate per week ($5,000 / 52 weeks = roughly $100 per week) what needs to go into savings. For the years I know we are travelling internationally, I have to double what I save.

I also have another account for the things that I know I will want in the upcoming year. For example, I may want a new stove, refrigerator, and washer/dryer. Not shopping for sales, I do a little comparison for the highest price of exactly the model I want. This gives me the upper end of what I need to save for. I know what I must put into the account each week in order to get what I want. I am willing to wait a little longer to get exactly what I want.

One more account that I have is my Car Account. I do not take loans out on vehicles. I know that pretty soon, I will want a new car. This one is my most flexible account. Whatever I don’t spend in the other two accounts after I have made my purchases gets thrown into this account if I don’t have a new wish on the horizon. Plus, I take the amount of a car payment and throw it in this account each month.

This sounds like a LOT of saving and that we must not live very well each month. However, I am not making credit card payments. Those puppies can get very expensive!! I’ve heard of people whose minimum payments are several hundred dollars each month (most of which goes to interest!). We don’t spend a hundred dollars each month just for all the fancy cable television expenses.

My advice is to prioritize what means the most to you in your world. For some people, that IS television, so they DO spend a huge chunk for cable, HD, premium packages, etc. For us, we want to actually LIVE life and not WATCH life.

Once you prioritize your life – then follow through and actually MAKE IT A PRIORITY!!! Don’t just make the list and stop. Follow up with HOW you are going to get their. My advice to anyone is to cut up those credit cards. If you cannot afford it with cash, guess what! You cannot afford it!! You were alive yesterday without it, you will probably be alive tomorrow without it, too.

One more thing. Take a GOOD LOOK around your house. Is it cluttered with useless items you HAD to have? Does your house always look messy because you don’t have a place for everything? This could be a huge cash-leak of where your money is going.

Look in your closet. Do you have clothes hanging with the price tag still on? Do you have clothes you have only worn one time? My sister (God Love Her) buys a new outfit for every occasion. Each outfit has to have a pair of shoes. One day, she left the mall with TWENTY pairs of shoes from a “good sale”. Do you really NEED that much in your closet? If there are more clothes on the floor (or shoved in the corner – and you KNOW who you are) … maybe you can save money there… :)

Ok, this one is a toughy!! Look down at that little bulging tummy of yours. Are you eating out more than you should be? Eating out is extremely costly. (ask me, I just spent the last month eating out… my tummy doesn’t want to fit nicely in my jeans anymore) This one is costly to both your health and your wallet. (oh, and it hit my self esteem pretty good when my pants didn’t zip as good as normal)

One of the easiest (and yet HARDEST) ways to find where your money needlessly goes, is to take an HONEST look around you. Of course, if you see WHERE your money goes, it might be beneficial to find out WHY it goes also. Do you feel like it satisfies your self esteem or need to fit in? Do you spend it to satisfy a craving for love? Do you just lack self-control? If you don’t get this under control, you may not have good success at saving for the IMPORTANT things on your list.

Yes, I was an accountant for seventeen years, I just didn’t take my own advice for a long time… :)

In response to meditatingmama’s post:

You are so smart MM that’s exactly what I did with credit cards the time I got into trouble and went bankrupt. After realising that half of the stuff I had was really just a “want and not a need” it stopped me cold in my tracks.

The thing the attorney couldn’t believe was that my debt was very small. I just didn’t have the means to pay it then. There were people in court who owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and they came in in the hundreds. Even the attorney said, “Mary you can’t pay this?” No I couldn’t I had become disabled and lost my job every penny was precious to me. It was a great lesson though and now I am debt free for more then 15 years now. Won’t sign up for a credit card the companies finally stopped bugging me.

It’s especially important for college and university students to not get into that negative state of mind of instant gratification. What good does it do you to come out with a degree and several thousands of dollars in debt? I saw so many students apply for loans and credit cards never thinking that they would have to pay back all that debt when they come out of school. You are suppose to come out ahead.

For those who have wealth and accumulation of material desires as affirmations, its very important to be very clear to yourself about your reasons for the desire. Accumulating “stuff” for the sake of having what others have – because of the perceived pleasure it gives them – may be a losing game.

Wanting to experience the good things in life is a nice thing. Just don’t get caught in the vicious cycle of more, more, more until there is never enough and you realize there is no longer pleasure in these things.

You know, Mary… College debt may very well go the way of the housing loan market. People – especially young people – may not fully realize what the monthly payment of their debt will actually be once all of those loans come due. They mistake it as the same as a college grant because they aren’t making payments on it TODAY.

It is ok to have desires and wants and dreams. Just be very careful about what you sacrifice in your future to satisfy them today. :)

Great posts guys!

In response to meditatingmama’s post:
Very good advice.

Another thing I might add is don’t wait until a good time (because there is always something that can interfere) & start doing this today.

‘Hide’ a certain amount from yourself each pay. It only takes 1 or 2 pays before you don’t notice the small amount you are saving and become used to living on less. The worst thing is living week to week on each pay-cheque. I freed myself of this by doing basically what MM has suggested, separate accounts for various things. It’s important to know what’s coming up. If you get a free week where no big bill has arrived – don’t spend the extra cash SAVE IT!! It is so relaxing once the finances are in order.

In response to Vivi exercises daily!‘s post:

This is what brought peace into my life. It turns out that my personality is not equipped to handle the pressures of debt. Whatever “things” I acquired were not worth my serenity!!

💛💕ahhh momentum 🌈Ease,Joy & a hefty level of Safety are Mine 🌈  

Posted on 04/10/2011.

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