What a great lesson this week!! This was my favorite the first time I went through FPU. What I learned the most and reiterated to our small group is that the budget will not be perfect the first time.
THE BUDGET WILL NOT BE PERFECT THE FIRST TIME!!!
As a perfectionist, that was a huge weight off my weak shoulders. I easily get frustrated when something that I do does not work the first time around. I mean…it should. Normally I plan and plan and plan….and plan. So by the time execution comes it should work.
Not so!
Even now, six months after taking FPU we still have to tweak our budget. Granted I’m not spending hours on it, but it is still a work in progress. I still have to figure out the kinks in it.
My personal struggle is to figure out the zero-based budget while using the checking account. We use envelopes for necessities like food, hair, household, etc. But we still use the debit card for gas for our cars and medical.
Why?
Well, since I normally have three children in the car when I get gas, I do not feel comfortable running into the gas station to pay for it. For me, it’s personal safety that guides my decision for using the debit card for gas.
As far as medical bills, it is the way I keep track of our medical expenses so I know what has been spent for taxes.
Last night we had some great questions about the envelope system. I’ll just share what my envelopes are:
Food (Groceries)Household
Clothing
Entertainment
Hair Care
Gifts
Misc/Pet
Babysitting
We have discovered that by using envelopes that we usually have $100-$200 left over by the time the next paycheck comes around. That is AWESOME!!! I take the extra cash and throw it towards our debt. When we used our debit card or credit cards we NEVER had extra money. We always seemed short each month.
I LOVE the envelope system!
**I found this great link to a woman who created her own envelopes and offers the template!! Here is the LINK**
