I had been doing really well at following the “Envelope System.” When we went through our marriage counseling with the Dean’s, Jen showed me this system, then we read Dave Ramsey’s, Total Money Makeover and learned more.
Anyway – it really is a great system – basically a ‘cash’ system where you take out as much money as you need for grocery, entertainment, out to eat, etc. and put each in it’s own envelope.
We were doing good at keeping up with it – I kept the holder (really a coupon organizer) in my purse. But lately we’ve slacked. Mainly because our income has considerably shrunk – so there wasn’t really anything to put in the envelopes once we paid our bills (we used to take out money for date nights, trips to IL, out to eat, allowance, etc.) – all we have it ‘grocery money.’
So I just figured (the last 2 paychecks), I’ll just use the debit card, and not worry about taking the $100 out for grocery. But the problem is I shop at 3-4 different places, that might work if I bought everything in one place (maybe). Well instead, I end up going over. Last paycheck I only went over by $10 – this time I spent $150 on groceries!! Way over! And I had a list!
And I attribute it to the fact we didn’t use the envelope system. It works. Had I had only $100 cash I would’ve done a better job keeping track of what I bought/what I was spending and NOT going over. Now we’re feeling the pain as we could’ve really used that $50 for bills!
So this all to say – the envelope system works!
To see how we budget – go here!
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Belated Meal Plan « That’s Swell said,
October 8, 2007 @ 9:01 pm
[...] I decided to make it for 2 weeks – for that paycheck – so I made a long meal plan. And then I spent $150 on groceries (over my $100 [...]
morethanamom2four said,
July 12, 2008 @ 10:16 am
It is so easy to over spend with that debit card. I went to lunch with my sister last weekend, had the cash on me, and still paid with the debit card. It is a hard habit to break! I think I should leave it at home next time.
leanandgreen said,
December 26, 2008 @ 6:49 pm
I use a computer program that I wrote to show me how much money is in each spending category I established. I run a report that shows me how much I can spend … since I can see that a certain amount is in groceries but other amounts are sitting in mortgage, car insurance, etc. it keeps me on the straight and narrow! I also write the check for our giving first and then make a deposit to savings. That means whatever is left has to be on budget or we’ll be in trouble!!
I agree that problem categories should be cash! You wrote a great post! Did you know a link to your blog automatically generated on mine?